10 days after starting my service year position as an Americorps VISTA working in HandsOn Tech program, I found myself seeking advice in Frank’s office on 500 Grant street. I have always been an enthusiastic student to take on many ideas and responsibilities, I want to do the same in my career. However, this is the first time I actually work full-time, let alone in an environment that I only had two years of experience and understanding. So just to be sure that I am doing the “right” thing to blend in my work environment while becoming a better professional, Frank naturally becomes my advisor as I mentioned already in a previous post Internship and beyond that he is a guardian.
So I popped in his office and had a constructive conversation with him. Towards the end of the meeting, he shared some information about a Tattoo convention that was taking place in David Lawrence, Convention Center, couple blocks away. I was very much intrigued and asked whether I could go or not. He was too nice to reject my proposal. So off we went together to the convention.
They are artists! All those tattoo works, along with the way they were presented, are just different forms of art. Not more and not less. Just like music, some people may like classic, while others like country or rock. Although I am not a big fan of "Ink art" and remain conservative about tattoos due to my traditional Chinese upbringing, I found myself admire the artists’ intricate tattoo designs, passionate nature about what they do, and the amiable characters that may be camouflaged under their flamboyant tattoos that might be sometime perceived as scary.
Talked to several artists. Except for a few local artists, the majority were from all over the country. Without compensations, they used their own money and invested their own time to travel hundreds of miles to Pittsburgh so that they could be present at this event and show visitors what they have to offer and to meet other like-minded people. When they were asked about their experience in Pittsburgh, they seemed to be satisfied about our city and what it offers, and promised would visit some sights after finishing their exhibit at the convention before they headed back.
Beer winning trivia @ Tattoo, David L. Lawrence Convention Center
1. The modern revival in tattooing stems from the voyage of British explorer Captain James Cook in the late 1700s. However, tattooing has been practiced for centuries in many cultures and spread throughout the world. The Ainu, an indigenous people of Japan, traditionally had facial tattoos, as did the Australians. Today, one can find Atayal, Seediq, Truku, and Saisiyat of Taiwan, Berbers of Tamazgha (North Africa), Yoruba, Fulani and Hausa people of Nigeria, and Māori of New Zealand with facial tattoos. Tattooing was popular among certain ethnic groups in southern China, Polynesia, Africa, Borneo, Cambodia, Europe, Japan, the Mentawai Island, MesoAmerica, New Zealand, North America and South America, the Philippines, and Taiwan.
Today, tattoos had negative connotations in historical China, where criminals oftentimes had been marked by tattooing and tattoos have remained a taboo in Chinese society. The Government of Meiji Japan had outlawed tattoos in the 19th century, a prohibition that stood for 70 years before being repealed in 1948. As of June 6, 2012 all new tattoos are forbidden for employees of the city of Osaka. Existing tattoos are required to be covered with proper clothing. The regulations were added to Osaka's ethical codes, and employees with tattoos were encouraged to have them removed. This was done because the strong connection of tattoos with the Yakuza, or Japanese organized crime, after an Osaka official in February 2012 threatened a schoolchild by showing his tattoo.
Current cultural understandings of tattoos in Europe and North America have been greatly influenced by long-standing stereotypes based on deviant social groups in the 19th and 20th centuries. Particularly in North America tattoos have been associated with stereotypes, folklore, and racism. Not until the 1960s and 1970s did people associate tattoos with such societal outcasts as bikers and prisoners.
2. The initial David L. Lawrence Convention Center was completed on the site on February 7, 1981, but as part of a renewal plan the new, completely redesigned center was opened in 2003 and funded in conjunction with nearby Heinz Field and PNC Park. It sits on the southern shoreline of the Allegheny River. It is the first LEED-certified convention center in North America and one of the first in the world. It is owned by the Sports & Exhibition Authority of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County.
The convention center was named after David Leo Lawrence (June 18, 1889 – November 21, 1966). He is also to date the only mayor of Pittsburgh to be elected the 37th Governor of Pennsylvania (1959-1963). He was Pennsylvania's first Catholic Governor. During his four-year term as governor, he passed anti-discrimination legislation, environmental protection laws, expanded Pennsylvania's library system, passed Pennsylvania's fair housing law, and advocated historic preservation. He also passed vigorous highway safety legislation, a move some attribute to the fact that two of his sons were killed in an automobile accident. His expansion of state bureaucracies came at the price of budget deficits and tax increases, a move that angered many fiscal conservatives.
Previously, he had been the longest tenured mayor of Pittsburgh from 1946 through 1959, who was the primary force behind Pittsburgh's urban renewal projects including the Mellon Arena, Gateway Center, Fort Pitt Tunnel and Point State Park. Lawrence fell ill and collapsed at a campaign rally held at Pittsburgh's Syria Mosque for gubernatorial candidate Milton Shapp on November 4, 1966. He died 17 days later having never regained consciousness, at the age of 77. He is buried in Pittsburgh's Calvary Cemetery at 718 Hazelwood Avenue in the Greenfield and Hazelwoods.
Your ID @ Tattoo Convention
1. What’s the name of the Tattoo Convention that was held on September 13th-14th 2013 in Pittsburgh?
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