#p.ink

i always think of it with a capital 'A'.

but when you have to do it with your own two hands…

it feels more like illusionism, like being a card shark, like tricks

unless it’s purely abstract, but i don’t tend to those images. but creating the illusion, especially with paint, is, well, just that, making an illusion. trickery.

i just don’t feel like that about writing. with writing it’s more like an urgent description of something i've seen, even if only in my minds eye. i suppose art is a description of something you’ve seen, but Art isn’t…

anyway

See what I did there? That’s called IRONY, boys and girls. Or maybe it’s called satire. Or maybe it’s both. I don’t know. Would some wordy types like to weigh in here? 

Oh wait. I AM a wordy type. 

Damn. 

The white-man hero I’d like to introduce you to is named Dan Ryan. (pictured on the left up there.) Many moons ago, Dan and I went to college together at George Mason University. He, Warren (aka Renno) and I met during my freshmen year and immediately formed a sort of happy threesome. (No, not that kind of threesome.) I spent inordinate (and some might say “inappropriate”) amounts of time in their dorm that spring and their friendship was a safe haven from the extreme cattiness of the females in my own dorm. (Don’t get me wrong… I LOVE women… but these girls were being passive-aggressively mean to me.) 

Can I use an adverbial form of passive aggressive? Wordy types, feel free to weigh in. 

Dan was my buddy. (I hope he still is, despite the years and distance between us.) I cracked jokes with him. Drank FAR too much alcohol with him. Sprawled on the dorm lounge’s couch with him, spouting the half-philosophical inanities of early adulthood, and passed out (at least) one time his room after drinking the deceptively-dangerous and aptly-named Slip-N-Fall. (I missed a DC pro-choice rally the following day because of that infamous night…) 

Slip-N-Fall

12 lagers (Corona was used during my own tragic Slip-N-Fall evening…) 

6 lemons, sliced

6 limes, sliced 

1 bottle of vodka

1 can frozen lemonade concentrate

1 can frozen limeade concentrate

1 bottle Sprite

Throw it all together, mix and enjoy... carefully. 

Apparently, Dan has been reading this blog fairly regularly and something I wrote moved his kind heart (and his deep wallet) enough to donate to a cause I hold near and dear. In a recent blog post, I mentioned that I wanted to get a “bad-ass tattoo on the reconstructed breast” and that when the time came, I wanted to get connected to my tattoo artist through an organization called P.ink (http://p-ink.org/). Not long after that post, Dan wrote to tell me that he’d donated $1000 to this organization. 

Wow.

Getting a tattoo over your scars isn’t just about getting some “cool ink.” Having someone create a thing of beauty in the exact spot where so much ugliness has taken place is a powerful way for women to recover psychologically from the ravages of breast cancer. And believe me when I say that this disease DOES ravage you. It touches so many aspects of your being – your body confidence, your sexuality, your self-esteem, your femininity – that there are days when you truly don’t recognize who you are anymore. 

Sometime in 2018, I also hope to officially close this devastating chapter of my life my having one of P.ink’s tattoo artists cover my breast with a meaningful piece of art. And even if Dan’s gift doesn’t directly benefit me in my quest to spiritually recover from breast cancer, his donation supports a group that strives to help all of us survivors heal and move forward.

Thank you, Dan. 

P.ink Day / Beautiful Mastectomy Tattoos

Check out these inspiring survivors — last year P.ink paired 10 breast cancer survivors with talented tattoo artists, who provided beautiful mastectomy tattoos. This was the very first P.ink Day at Saved Tattoo in Brooklyn. P.ink Day 2014 will take place in multiple cities worldwide. Visit http://www.p-ink.org for more.

Hey guys, I recomend this video about a breast cancer survivor and what she decided to do with her scars. It is sub in spanish, so spread the word!

Molly's P.INK Tattoo