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Posted on 01/27/2005 12:50:51 PM PST by Dashing Dasher
Kelly Namowicz has a plan for the rest of her life.
"I want to go the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco," she says. "I want to be a professional chef."
But until now, there were 14 things standing in her way: tattoos that once almost covered her hands and arms, forcing her to wear long sleeves to job interviews to avoid being stigmatized.
"People judge you," Namowicz says. "People don't want to admit it, but it happens."
Now, the tattoos are almost gone, thanks to a city program called Clean Slate. It pays for laser treatments that erase the tattoos, and help wipe away the past. Namowicz says her kids helped her decide to do it.
"I want to be that positive role model for them," she says.
Now in its tenth year, Clean Slate is targeted at helping young people turn their lives around.
"You've got to be 14 to 25, live in San Jose, and you have to have gang-related tattoos in the exposed parts of the body," said project coordinator Juan Avila. "That's hands, neck, wrist, face, arms."
That made Victor Guizar a prime candidate. Just 24 years old, Victor has been incarcerated for a third of his life -- beginning at age 13. He has tattoos on his arms, chest, neck, and head. He even shows us some in his mouth. Most of his tattoos he got behind bars, and almost all are gang related. But he's leaving that life behind because most of his friends are drug addicts, in prison, or dead.
"I told my homies, 'My life is going to be different now,'" he says. "They said, 'We've been waiting for that.'"
The procedure just takes a few minutes. It stings, and leaves a mark like a sunburn that eventually wears off. But people like Victor Guizar say it's a small price to pay for starting over.
If you're having a midlife crisis, that is exactly when you should not do anything permanent, like getting a tattoo. You know it is a time you are not thinking clearly.
And if you must, get it somewhere not obvious, and get a small one. Less to regret.
Anyway, what the heck is a tattoo going to do that will help you in any way?
Are you defending government college loans?
I do. A perfect example of government intruding where it is not needed and doesn't belong.
In a few years, some enterprising young doctor is going to invent a cheap and painless method of tattoo removal and make millions.
Why, it will make me feel younger, of course! And then I won't die!
Judge not lest ye be judged....ring a bell?
I know....I think the same thing all the time, I am in X and I am supporting my daughter in her dream of becoming a plastic surgeon, a cash cow waiting....with all the tattoo out there.
I believe an employer has every right to "judge" a person who is asking for a job and covered with tattoos.
If I run a nice jewelry store, for instance, do I want someone with numerous tattoos, or a clean-cut looking person, assuming they are both qualified?
This is not "judging" in the Biblical sense. This is making a common-sense decision for your business, customers, etc.
If I have some neighbours who are very rough looking individuals, who look like they are stoned or hung-over half the time and they have a child the same age as mine, am I being "judgmental" when I prefer the children play at my house rather than theirs? I prefer to think of it as making a wise decision. We assess people and situations all the time. We are supposed to. God gave us a brain for this reason.
LittleLight...would you hire the first person posted in #132 for anything other than a freak show? I would say a person who so mutilates herself is under demonic influences.
I know several people who will ask for another person to serve them in a restaurant if the waitress has multiple piercings. They feel uncomfortable with people who practise self-mutilation. They could have a point.
I didn't know tattoos will make you feel younger and you won't die!
LOL. You could find yourself a little disappointed there Tonto.
In the USA, real conservatives don't think the government has legitimate business making loans, interest free or not. I guess Canada is different.
Very few cases.
But we all know regardless of what laws are in place deep inside we all make personal judgments upon people because of their appearance, and it is wrong.
No it isn't.
People's appearance can say much about them, and the things that it says often are legitimate reasons for making judgements.
As you demonstrated, the most misunderstood, misused, abused verse in the Bible, often by Christians.
Exactly. Good post.
I agree. I don't believe for one minute the government should come along and repair people's stupid mistakes. It infuriates me what they hand out up here.
I just think since they are already handing it out, they should certainly demand it back. Think of the poor suckers who have footed the bill for a change. These people manage to come up with the bucks when they want the tattoo, they can fork over the money for its removal.
Welcome to the USA. We need more people who think like you and fewer like some of the "conservatives" we have here who advocate this nonsense. (or fail to oppose it)
Boy, I hope you're being facietious with that one. :) If you're poor, you shouldn't be able to go to college?
I think it is not okay to discriminate when the feature you are judging is beyond the person's ability to control or fix, or if it is something that there is nothing wrong with, but it is one's own prejudices.
For example, judging on skin colour, height, weight (to a certain extent), NATURAL hair colour, etc....wrong.
If someone dyes their hair orange, pierces and tattoos their body, and dresses in a bizarre fashion to get attention, then they take the reaction that comes with it.
I think many have used the "do not judge" scripture in an erroneous way. I would not hire a person who is determined to have an in-your-face attitude, but I would sure be willing to do what I can to help that person to grow and know his or her value and thereby lose the wrong attitude.
Thanks.
I say if you've got tatoos on your arms and legs and can't get a job, you'll just have to wear pants and long-sleeved shirts all the time, whether you like it or not.
If you've been silly enough to put them on your face, you can try to earn a living by speaking at schools, telling everyone to NOT make the same stupid mistakes you did, because now you cannot get a job! (They should try Walmart, though, I have seen some scary-looking people working there!)
My daughter was wise. When she was about 16 and the tattoo rage started in the high schools, she was considering one of those thorny-looking things around the ankle. I was having a minor fit, of course, and suggested that she get the kind that stays on for a week or so. She did, hated it in about 2 days, scoured it off, and that was the end of that. Phew...
facietious=facetious.
Spel check iz my frend.
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