Blago, oh Blago. Where for art thou Blago? Oh yah, you’re in prison. For those of you that don’t know, he was the Gov’nah of this fair state that I reside in….Illinois (‘nuff said). So suffice it to say, I don’t shed a tear for the man. See, him and I go way back…all the way back to 2006. I, along with the whole tattoo community, were taken aback when he announced that he wanted to raise the age of consent for tattoos from 18 to 21.

That was a punch in the gut for our family because this meant that our income was going to drop due to a significant loss in clientele.  That’s huge. The gut slam was quickly followed by a bitch slap to the face when we heard his reason. He was so hell bent on getting the age of consent raised because....he didn’t want his daughters to get tattoos when they turned 18. His daughters, at the time, were still in elementary school. I was livid and I wasn’t alone.

Our clients were just as pissed off as we were and saying things like, “They can send me to Iraq and fight for this country, but I can’t get a tattoo?” And they were right. Blago wasn’t thinking further than his own family. Besides, who’s to say the girls wouldn’t hop the border to get one if they really wanted to? If they want it that bad, they’d find a way.

It wasn’t long before this hullabaloo made it to the local TV news and newspapers; nothing big, just a blip. But still, it was something. I began to see articles that had interviewed area tattoo artists about the proposed age change. They were just as outraged as we were. They knew the impact that this was going to have on all of us. A group of artist even gathered in the city to protest.

The news stations didn’t follow the story for very long. I was surprised, actually. What news media doesn’t love a bunch of “freaks” for increased viewership? Without any warning, the focus on age of consent stopped. Blago’s camp announced that they were not pursuing the matter any further.  Just like that, we were done. We won!! Well, we didn’t know it right away, but we won because Blago was under investigation. Tattoo and piercing ages didn’t seem to be of much concern anymore.

A happy ending!