We asked our staff to weigh in on their tattoos and the meaning behind their masterpieces.

Kelly Agee

I wanted to get tattoos because I love art, and what better way to show your love for art and different things, whether it be TV, movies or military service, through ink on your own body. My favorite part about getting a tattoo is being able to show off my interests. I always get people asking me, “Is that a Star Trek tattoo?” It’s a conversation starter into the best show of all time. It’s a Starfleet Insignia from the original Star Trek. It was my first tattoo and I got it in Texas in 2012 along with my sister, Kathryn, so we have matching tattoos. We used to watch Star Trek together. She passed away in 2020, so when I look at it, it reminds me of all the fond memories we had together and our nerdiness over the show.

 I also have a bat tattoo of Eddie Munson from Stranger Things, and a lot of fans take notice. Another one I have is a very Navy tattoo, a Shellback, which I got in 2016 when I was stationed in Okinawa. I got it because I went on deployment on the USS Nimitz in 2013 and we went through the Shellback ceremony when we crossed the Equator. Since I got it in Okinawa, I wanted to add something to the tattoo that reflected the culture, aka why there are colorful flowers beside the turtle.

Denisse Rauda

I waited a long time to get a tattoo. But, as soon as I got my first one back in 2018, it was pretty easy to grow my collection to the seven I have now. I chose each carefully, even the ones I’ve matched with loved ones.

One of my tattoos spells out “eternal love” in Spanish, which I put together by photoshopping my dad’s handwriting I found when sorting his belongings after he passed away in December 2018. My little sister also has one in my dad’s handwriting, but hers says “love is patient,” after a reading I did at his funeral mass. My dad had interesting penmanship, and we get to preserve and wear it every day. My most recent tattoo is a design I copied off a print I bought a long time ago. This tattoo represents my career and my passion for writing as it is an old-school typewriter with flowers blooming from within. I don’t presume my words are always flowers. However, for me, the art of writing and creating does take time and patience to bloom.

Jeremy Stillwagner

I got my tattoo in the summer of 2021 on the tail end of a TDY supporting Exercise Swift Response. I was in Wiesbaden, Germany, regrouping with other members of my unit before returning to Fort Campbell, Ky., and wanted to bring something back to remember my time there. I had no room in my suitcases, so I got a tattoo! I went to Purple Ink and decided to get a tattoo of a bonfire from the Dark Souls video game franchise. In the game’s story, bonfires act as a sort of home for the player and other characters and are scattered across the world. Getting this imagery as a tattoo is a reminder to myself that home doesn’t necessarily have to be a single place, it can be wherever I want it to be, and can change as I travel.

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