An Ugly Badge of Courage

This author is the type of person I would not want to hang out with. Although her writing is engaging and she kept me reading because I wanted to know what type of tattoo she'd decide on, the more I read the more I disliked her. Certain things kept getting on my nerves, like how she called the lady who cut her hair her "hair therapist" and how she made this out to be the biggest decision of her life. The thing that sent me over the top was when she wanted to tell the younger people at the tattoo parlor that tattoos were "for those of us who have lived enough to have something permanent to say." I laughed out loud. Who is she to judge these people and what they want to do with themselves? Another thing that made me laugh is that she brought a doctor with her to make sure the needles were clean. No wonder people were looking at her funny. As far as looking at this story through her writing, I thought she did a good job with telling the story and keeping the reader engaged by not giving away what the tattoo would be early on. The most important thing in journalism is to keep the reader reading. But, some writers rub some readers the wrong way and she was too abrasive for me. Also, her tattoo sucked. It was a good idea and the symbolism of it was touching, but unless you read the article no one would be able to tell what was on her ankle.