Shannon Larratt is Zentastic

It's an excerpt from an essay I was throwing together about play piercing (and other things)… I'm not sure if it makes sense or not, it's just a “rough sketch” of what I'm trying to say. In the light that history casts on play piercing type acts, I think it's in the right realm…

I'm seeing play piercing submissions to BME more and more — that is, needles pierced through flesh, often by the person themselves, without leaving any jewelry in place behind it. It's very important that I first point out that these things are not being done in a self-abusive manner. There is little relation between play piercing and self-cutting related psychiatric illnesses. Play piercing on the whole is undertaken as an act of self awareness and self exploration. The end result is an individual far more in touch with both themselves — physically and spiritually — and the world around them.

At our core we are built on an instinct-driven foundation that for most people shakes in fear at the proposition of pain being inflicted upon it. We've proven over and over that we as a species are very good at inflicting pain on each other without really understanding it. So now we have to ask — what will a generation of young people that is in touch with pain (and not afraid of) turn into? How is a person who understands their body and the nature of its nervous structure different than a person who is ignorant to their own make-up?

Play piercing is an act of transcendence from the physical by indulging in the physical. Play piercing makes the statement that the body is a tool of the mind, or of the soul, or perhaps of the heart or even a tool of God, as ones personal philosophies dictate. The act of surrendering to the needle says to one's body, “Yes, tell me what you're feeling, fire up those nerves, but don't try and lie to me about it. I'm not an animal and I'm not a coward — I'm a human, and this is my decision.”

Oh, and so far the upload is going well — I'm at 10% so far (it's about 90 meg in size) — assuming that continues and the connectivity stays good on the dish, I should be able to unzip it on the server when I return.

First, huge thanks to Jim Ward — probably one of the most significant influences many of us have had — for hamming it up in this photo, and thanks also to Sean for making it happen!

I wrote this for the scrapbook. Haven't decided yet whether I'll squeeze it in or not:

Persecution

It's commonly said that “the difference between tattooed people and those without tattoos is that tattooed people don't care if you're tattooed or not.” That is, we don't have a problem with them, but they have a problem with us (even though we've done nothing to them).

I find it truly frightening when I hear about young people — generally bright creative young people — who are threatened with expulsion from school for choosing to have body piercings. What does it say about our society that we feel that a person who modifies their body does not deserve even basic rights such as education (which it should be added they have paid for via taxes)?

You want to make fun of us? Fine, parade your ignorance; it reflects poorly on you, not on us. You want to try and deny us our survival by using every heavy handed means at your disposal to take away our right to express ourselves? That is a declaration of war, and it is an act of genocide.

For while we are not overtly born into this appearance as with race, neither have we simply chosen it on a whim. It is who we are, and to take it away is to murder a part of us.

glider