Teachers ink papers on weekdays, bodies on weekends

Tattoos are far too wild for any teacher on campus, right? Wrong. Several teachers at school have tattoos of which they are proud. No, not the easy stick-on kind from Safeway, but the real deal.

Peter Bjorklund

Almost one-fifth of history teacher Peter Bjorklund’s body is covered with various tattoos. Bjorklund got his first tattoo the day that he graduated high school at the age of 18.

“The actual tattoo doesn’t mean anything to me, but the time that I get it definitely represents certain times in my life,” Bjorklund said.

Most of his tattoos are illustrations of biomechanics, which is a type of life-like, organic-looking design.

“It’s all very trippy and artistic,” Bjorklund said. “It’s really painful, but I still like [my tattoos].”

Bjorklund said he has no regrets and plans on getting more tattoos in the future, although he does not know when this will happen or what they will depict. According to Bjorklund, he “never knows when [he is] going to get a tattoo.” In getting more of these creative designs, Bjorklund does give his artist complete artistic license.

“He’ll just come in and draw on me, and then he’ll start tattooing,” Bjorklund said. “I really don’t know where he’ll go with it.”

Although tattoos may not be the “thing for some,” Bjorklund finds himself entirely content with the numerous ones displayed on his body.

“I like the way they look,” Bjorklund said. “What can I say? You get addicted to it.”

Perla Pasallo

School counselor and Latin Student Union adviser Perla Pasallo is another school staff member who sports tattoos.

“I have a heart coming out of a dark cloud, [which], at the time, was sort of a ‘love conquers all’ thing,” Pasallo said.

Pasallo has a second tattoo of the “life and death Egyptian glyphs.” The glyphs are Egyptian drawings representing ancient scripture.

This tattoo was inspired when Pasallo visited Egypt as a tourist, and “just became captivated.”

“I thought, ‘I’ve got to have something [from Egypt],’” Pasallo said.

It was important to Pasallo that her tattoos were meaningful and symbolized her personality and life choices.

She believes this tattoo really does reflect her personality and “taps into the slightly morbid” side of her character. Day of the Dead and other celebrations are very important to Pasallo and provided further inspiration for the tattoo that she wears today.

Suzanne Williams

Science teacher Suzanne Williams has a tattoo on her ankle of a phrase symbolic to her. The tattoo is of three Chinese characters which translate to mean “To experience freedom is to ride a horse.”

According to Williams, the phrase symbolizes the spirit of freedom which can be found in horses. As a child, Williams loved horses, and she still feels passionate toward them today.

“All my life I’ve wanted [a tattoo],” Williams said. “I never wanted to decorate my body, but I’ve always wanted a single [tattoo] to represent and be significant of me personally.”

Williams grew up around horses, and they have always been important to her.

“I wanted to have something symbolic,” Williams said. “Horses have always been my first love.”