Okay, since we're exploiting this blog to promote our psychiatric practices, let me join in:

I help people raise their consciousness every day. I am a 2nd generation tattooist and body piercer. The experience of pain is one we all relate to; In many ways, it brings us all onto the same level - I work on folks in every social and economic strata, on all sides of the law, on atheists and religious folks alike - and everybody reacts pretty much the same way.

Getting tattooed or pierced can be enlightening - Pain is a life-affirming experience, as dead people don't hurt. You'd be astounded at how people open up and share the most personal stories with me while I'm working on them - it's kind of like being a bartender or a counselor. I've had people hug me afterwards and thank me for helping them commemorate a lost loved one or to gain closure to a failed relationship by simply covering a name. I've had people burst into tears and sobbing so deep, it had to be more than just the discomfort of the procedure. I've worked on people who were cutters / self-mutilators who were able to shift their self-injurious behavior over into a more artistic activity. I've even had people confide that the experience brought them to orgasm (!) much to my bewilderment.

Difference is, instead of pretending to be some prophet, guru, psychiatrist or spiritual leader, my only claim is to being a PERFORATOR OF FLESH.

Roscoe at Johnson Tattoo
Check out some of my work at:
http://www.myspace.com/johnsontattoo
or http://www.johnsontat.com