Oak Park Mall

An insider’s guide to the Oak Park Mall–where you should shop, and how you can do so without spending too much money.

Tattoos

Aaron Monson, a 21-year-old Shawnee male and the manager at Ice Fire Hookah Lounge, has several tattoos–one of them being a gang affiliated tattoo–something he regrets today.

Monson is one of many who get tattoos, but all for different reasons. According to a Smithsonian magazine article called “Tattoos: The Ancient and Mysterious History”–the very first tattoo was done on a man known as “Icemen”, a 5,200-year-old mummy, as a form of acupuncture to treat arthritis. Since then, tattoos are done for different reasons: as an act of rebellion, to gain status, to make a fashion or personal statement, to carry a sentimental value, etc.

Reasons

Tattoos nowadays are done to make a fashion statement or to show off your personality, as compared to Iceman’s tattoo, and other ancient tattoos, which were done to serve a purpose, a punishment, or as a status symbol among tribes, religions, cults, etc.

“I got the tattoos for the idea of personal representation of what I was trying to portray to other people. I wanted to send a message,” Monson said. “You want to hold a certain position amongst your friends.”

Cons/ Concerns/ Regrets

Tattoos are permanent, and it’s almost impossible to take them off completely after they’ve been done, which sometimes can result in regret. One way to avoid regretting getting a tattoo is by thinking about what you’re getting and what it means.

Polynesian or tribal tattoos have been done in the United States for a long time. Today, they’re just looked at as designs, but back then they represented tribes, families and religions.

Martin Camiño, a 46-year-old tattoo artist and the owner of Ichiban Tattoo in Lawrence, thinks tattoos need to be well thought about before someone decides to get them.

“It’s not good to copy something you see from a picture when it comes to tribal tattoos, because they were done in a spiritual way,” Camiño said. “Copying something like that is considered bad luck.”

Tattoos can also come with a health risk. Many tattoo parlors practice unsanitary procedures while performing tattoos. Using the same needles to perform tattoos can result to the transferring of diseases through blood borne pathogens.

Some people are against the idea of getting tattoos.

Iqbal ‘John’ Nasiri, a 21-year-old Shawnee male, and the owner of Ice Fire Hookah Lounge, would never get a tattoo, because it’s against Islam–the religion he practices.

Fardin Khan, a 23-year-old Lenexa male shares Nasiri’s beliefs.

“My mom would disown me if I ever got a tattoo,” Khan said.

Monson, who has a total of seven tattoos, regrets the tattoo on his right arm–a gang affiliated tattoo, which he got when he was just a teenager.

“It (gang affiliated tattoo) does give you ideas of what you have done in your past…so some things you want to forget, but you can’t forget about them, because it’s now marked on you, and it’s always something you’ll remember,” Monson said.

Pros

Some people get tattoos to remember certain incidents in their lives.

“It really is up to personal choice and if you’re wanting to tell a story on your body–something that you can carry with you instead of hang on your wall,” Monson said.

Camiño thinks the society is becoming more accepting of the art of tattooing, nowadays.

“It’s just art. I fell in love with tattooing. I don’t understand why the society fails to see that,” Camiño said.

Transcript

Annureet Kaur: Aaron Monson, a 21-year-old manager at Ice Fire Hookah Lounge tells us about his tattoos, what they mean to him, and if he regrets getting any of them.

Aaron Monson: The first tattoo I had gotten was my initials on my back. My initials are ‘AJM’, and when displayed, it also has a mix message inside of it with an ‘MJ’, because I used to…what’s the word for it…distribute drugs. Another tattoo that I had gotten was here on my arm…a representation, which involved myself with the wrong group of people…gang affiliation, and criminal actions. I have ‘MOB’ tattooed over my ribcage…personal mission that I had towards the idea of gaining status over relationship and live by it to this day. The last tattoo that I have is ‘illuminati’, which you can view both upside down and right side up. The reason that I have that tattoo is for the reason that…there’s someone always watching over your shoulder and that you can’t see them, but they can see you. I regret one (tattoo). The one of my arm, primarily is more employment. Also it does give you ideas of what you have done in your past…so some things you want to forget, but you can’t forget about them, because it’s now marked on you, and it’s always something you’ll remember.

Multicultural Fashion Show

Thiago Vianna represents his native country, Brazil, on the runway

From left to right: Bithia Gutema and Sundus Javaid host the multicultural event at JCCC

From left to right: Helena Kim Salt from Korea, Noor Sheikh from Pakistan,Annureet Kaur, Ana Tripodi from Ethiopia, Dhruv Patel from India, Jon Hargett from Afghanistan, Sundus Javaid from Saudi Arabia, and Kedar Jagtap from India- after the event

The Lawrence fashionista, Annureet Kaur, at the multicultural fashion show

Johnson County Community College held a multicultural fashion show on Friday, April 5, which showcased cultures from all over the world.

The multicultural fashion show presented outfits from Brazil, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Indonesia, India, Kenya, Korea, Palestine, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Africa and Senegal.

Atama from Nigeria, habesha libs from Ethiopia, sherwani from India, shadda from Nigeria, and salwar kameez and saree from Pakistan were some of the outfits that were worn on the runway.

The event hosted about 100 people and they were amazed by the vast amount of diversity at the event.

“I’m so happy that students from all over the world came. It’s from events like this that we learn about other people’s cultures. It’s a great thing,” said Akilu Damtew, father of the vice-president and host of the event, Bithia Gutema.

The event was put together by a club called Invisible Children at JCCC, and the money collected from the event would go to children in Africa.

Sundus Javaid, the president of the Invisible Children, was satisfied with the audience turn-out and worked hard to raise money for the event.

“We started doing fundraising events like bake sales, volleyball tournaments, etc. to raise money for the event itself, and also for the children in Africa” Javaid said.