New tats...

I finally got my tattoo. I don't, however, have pictures of it. I was waiting until it healed up a bit. It was a 4 hour tat. It was definitely red, swollen and angry looking. During that waiting period my house was broken into and my camera stolen. Just my camera... and the charger for its battery that was in a different room. Very odd. At any rate, the tat looks awesome. There is one spot that I 'tore' in karate class but it's pretty well healed save for that one spot.

I'll post pics soon!

I'm excited to hear from folks. Hope you are all working on designs and stories!

The Promise of Peace

My tat was inspired by the 1000 cranes story. Traditionally if a person folded 1000 cranes, then the ancient ones would grant that person a wish. It was thought that if the person was patient and driven enough to fold 1000 cranes, then she was deserving of such a wish. Families also folded 1000 cranes for weddings to bless newly joined couples. A crane is known for its fidelity, its loyalty to its partner.

More recently, the 1000 cranes tradition entered the international consciousness because of the story of a Japanese girl named Sadako who got sick with Leukemia caused by the radiation from Hiroshima. Sadako was hospitalized when she was 12 and a friend brought her a folded crane and told her of the tradition. Sadako started folding and had folded well over 1000 cranes wishing for peace in the world. When she died, she was buried with those cranes and a monument was erected in her honor with "This is our cry, this is our prayer, peace in the world" etched at the bottom. So in additional to the traditional meaning, they are now a universal symbol for peace.

It was because of these connections with all those symbols that my husband folded 500 cranes for me when we married in 2001. He told me he would give me 10 more each wedding anniversary until we reached our 50th year when the 1000 cranes would finally be completed. We joined the Peace Corps just after we got married, which meant that the peace connotation of the 1000 cranes was just as important to us.

With our separation in 2006, I folded my own 1000 cranes and
essentially reminded myself, with my wish, that I was okay on my own.

So I wanted to remember that with a tat. I asked Susan Behney, a
tattoo artist based in Washington DC at Jinxproof Tattoos, if she could combine a design with origami cranes, cherry blossoms (for DC) and a moon (for guidance). She did. This is the result.

Julie Hochgesang

Origami on TED

Promotional piece!

Nick Gehlhausen-Indianapolis, IN

Been meditating and keep remembering the line from a hymn, “Let there be peace
on Earth and let it begin with me.” I am left believing that I can make a
difference by contemplating peace. Thoughts lead to actions which may make an
impact. As there are monks who pray for humanity and there are holy men who
dream of Nirvana, my impression is that by treating my soul as an instrument
from which the song for peace will ring out to others, mankind will benefit.
The connection of me to all the Earth. The ego and the divine are not
separate. Tapping into the core of life, that energy which stimulates and
attracts is a concept worth exploration. Not to be an evangelist and bring
others with me but to remain calm and joyful in this life. I will benefit as
I become more aware of myself, my actions do make a difference. But that is
not the most powerful impetus. It is to harmonize with existence, becoming a
true creature of nature without the cloak of modernity as a costume, distorting what is real.
The tattoo is just a physical reminder of this.

Beginnings

As the project begins to unfold with the wonder like what Ryan recently posted I get more and more excited. What's more, he'll be visiting my little dot on the map very soon and plans for the ink flow to begin are being made.

Want to get your crane on the day we get ours? Keep an eye out here for the date in upcoming weeks. Make sure you take your cameras and the pdf info sheet that will soon be posted here so that you can document your crane creation and leave info with your artist!

Thank you for helping this awesomeness come into being!

Very soon,
Darren

Tattooed on the inside.

*Disclaimer*

I think that one of the most wonderful things about this project is that although all the tattoos will be "the same," each one will be unique, both stylistically, and in the sense that it will mean something different to each person. For this reason, I almost hesitate to give my "why" for fear that it will be construed as somehow binding. That being said...

I want to say for the record, that I do not "hate peace," no matter what certain people might say. Admittedly though, it is not a profound love of or longing for peace that drove me to participate in this project. It was love though. Love of people, I suppose.
Picture this: It is ten years from today, and 1000pct has taken off in a big way. Somewhere in the world, there are 999 other people (probably a lot more) who are marked in a way that connects them, meaningfully, to myself. Maybe a handful of these people are friends of mine, or have become my friends through this project. Most of them though, are a mystery to me. This is a beautiful thing. This way, every time I pay for gas, every time a waitress tells me her name, every time a stranger on the street smiles at me, I will wonder, what is that peeking out above the collar of her shirt? I could be a tattoo of a paper crane. A tattoo just like mine.
I believe that we are all connected intimately to people we don't know we are connected to. You might be traveling in a foreign country, thousands of miles from anything familiar, and meet someone in a train station who grew up in the same hometown as you. You might read a book, and then take a new job and talk to someone who works there about the book and learn that the author was her first boyfriend. We are linked to others in beautiful and unimaginable ways. These tattoos will be a physical manifestation of those bonds. A constant reminder that no matter how lonely we may feel, we are never alone.
Moreover, once we start wondering "could this new friend have a paper crane tattoo?" we will realize that the answer doesn't matter. We will assume that everyone sitting on the bus with us DOES share our unique bond, even if they don't display the outward "symptom."

I'm Ryan Scott, and this is what my crane means.