Nicole Blanchard
Editor-in-Chief
Michael Callender is a student at Idaho State University. He is a musician, an entrepreneur, a world traveler and a music enthusiast among many other things. He is also a canvas.
Callender, like so many other students at ISU, has tattoos. But his can’t be covered with a simple T-shirt or pair of socks.
Instead, most of Callender’s arms are covered in a variety of tattoos, as is his chest and, most notably, his neck.
“I was like 17 when I got my first tattoo,” said Callender, who paid homage to his late grandfather in the form of a forearm tattoo.
“[It’s for] my grandpa Red because he was a jazz musician and he was one of my main inspirations,” explained Callender. “Pretty much all of my tattoos have meanings to them, a lot of deep meanings.”
He’s not alone in that.
ISU senior Tomas Sanchez is, like Callender, heavily tattooed, and said the majority of his tattoos hold special meaning as well.
“This one has a lot of meaning to me and says ‘Hold My Own’ with some handcuffs that are open,” said Sanchez, indicating a tattoo on his forearm. “A lot of my family has been to prison and I’m trying to break the cycle.”
Though “Hold My Own” is a favorite, Sanchez said he also favors a black-and-grey piece running the length of his left forearm. It depicts the Seattle skyline, a nod to his hometown.
Callender has a similar tattoo that makes up part of a chest piece. Palm trees and buildings contribute to a piece that is representative of his hometown, Los Angeles.
According to Sanchez, who has also spent time in California, his appearance turns less heads in bigger cities than in does in Pocatello.
“I would say Idaho is more conservative,” he explained. “In California or Seattle you’ll walk down the street and see people with tattoos, no big deal. But here it’s probably more rare so I would say people here view it in a different way.”
Considered by some to be a modern-day fad, and revered by others as a global tradition dating back thousands of years, tattooing is sometimes a polarizing practice. Sanchez and Callender said they’re sometimes met with disapproving looks or prickly attitudes due to their body art.
“When people first meet me and they just see I’m covered in tattoos, they look at me a certain way,” said Sanchez, “but once they get to know me they know I don’t have a thug label. It’s frustrating but I think it’s moving toward not having such a stereotype.”
Callender kills chilly reactions with kindness.
“I just smile at them,” he said, displaying a smile of his own. “It’s funny, I like when people look because they have no idea who I am or what I’m about or what I do, so I just smile at them.”
Despite the first impressions passersby may have, Callender and Sanchez are anything but stereotypical tattooed thugs. Sanchez is an athlete, playing for the ISU basketball team, as well as an aspiring graphic designer. Callender is a musician whose love of music is taking him to NYU in the near future and has offered him the opportunity to travel to places like Umeå, Sweden.
“It’s art and people express art in different ways,” concluded Sanchez. “Some people do graffiti, some people get tattoos, and I’d have to say it’s a piece of art.”
Callender concurred, adding that body art has always been recognized as such within the community.
“It’s always been looked at as an art by tattoo artists, but by the world…” Callender trailed off and threw up his hands, offering one more look at the artwork that he loves.
