Sarah Channels Emma Goldman

I recently had the intense displeasure of discovering that my camera had broken. For someone whose spare time is spent taking pictures of other people's tattoos, this was a harrowing experience, especially since my BlackBerry's camera is flash-less and takes good pictures under only specific lighting conditions.

So what's a poor inkspotter to do? Pass out his card and hope for the best.

And despite dozens of cards distributed to many people with cool tattoos, the only one who has really come through for me is Sarah, who I met last Friday on the subway platform at West Fourth Street, as I waited for the D train to Brooklyn.

Possessor of several tattoos, the one of Sarah's I spotted was on her inner left forearm. My photo was blurry and, as the D pulled into West Fourth, she handed me her card so I could follow-up with her. Thankfully, she is a woman of her word, and sent me this photo yesterday:

Since Sarah is a writer and journalist, I'll let her do the talking. You can check out her work at  her website ohyouprettythings.net and/or read her blog at champagnecandy.tumblr.com. Sarah explains:

It says "It's not my revolution if I can't dance to it"

The tattoo is my most recent, and it's a paraphrase of a possibly-apocryphal Emma Goldman quotation. It's a line that spoke to me the first time I heard it. I'm a political journalist and a feminist activist, and Goldman's always been someone I looked up to. Also, I became a political person through music, and dancing and music have a particular significance for me.


It was done by Ryoko at Brooklyn Tattoo [who we most recently saw inked Julie Powell's tattoo here] and she's super-awesome...

As a lover of type tattoos, I had inquired about the font used and Sarah did not disappoint: "the font is Garton and the words revolution and dance are in Miama".

Thanks to Sarah for sharing her tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!