The Briefest of Prides – a Tattoo of Giving

by Paul Brown on 28 June 2004

The whole of my Pride experience this year consisted of walking home from Civic Center BART through the throng. I saw John O., ‘s ex, and we chatted for a few minutes, and he wanted to see how my tattoo was progressing, so I took off my shirt. A small crowd gathered to look, so I decided to keep my shirt off while I walked through the rest of the crowd on my way home.

As I was approaching Van Ness, I put my shirt back on, and this young lesbian boi came up to me saying she had only gotten a glimpse of my back and would I mind showing her my ink. I pulled up my shirt to give her a look, then we started talking for what turned into an interesting talk into tattoos, the challenge of enduring the pain, getting into the “zone,” and body adornment in general. I mentioned to her that I had been contemplating putting a calendar of tattoo images together, and she seemed really excited by the idea, especially as a fundraiser for the Melanoma Foundation. Her girlfriend had a boyfriend in high school who died of melanoma, so she was empathetic to the plight of those who suffer from skin cancer. Click here to read a fact sheet on Melanoma.

On the rest of the way home, I was thinking more seriously about it, and realized that instead of having a Tattoo page soliciting funds for my own selfish needs, I need to be doing something bigger and more generous. I’m going to re-work the tattoo section of my site for my calendar project.

So, what I’m doing here is throwing the idea out there. I really need to find Photographers, Subjects, and a Graphic Designer who would be willing to work on this project with me. And donations: I need between $1500 – $2500 to print calendars, depending on how many I have printed.

Would anyone be interested in helping out on this project?

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