There comes a time when a man must mark an important landmark into his skin. This time has come. Kansas, no matter what, will always be part of me even if I wander off from it. To commemorate the mark Kansas has left on my soul, I have sketched this historical jayhawk into my arm. It celebrates a number of important elements in my life quest.
1) 4 important years in the state of Kansas...my walk through the desert in the plains, one that made me a man
2) My love affair with the city of Lawrence.
3) A celebration of the important friends I have made here
4) John Brown and the other jayhawkers' fight for the abolition of slavery. (Kansas, a Free State, is where many consider the war to end slavery began. See Henry David Thoreau's A Plea for Captain John Brown and John Brown's biography by Frederick Douglas.)
5) A victory in the 2008 Orange Bowl
6) the 2008 men's basketball national championship.
7) Hope. Where nobody thought that hope might exist. Down by 9 with 2:09, the jayhawks pulled off a national championship. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, there is always a way to find hope. To this day, the seal of the city of Lawrence depicts a phoenix rising from the ashes. Its motto is "from ashes to immortality". The seal and motto exhibit the determination by the people of Lawrence to stand and fight for the rights and dignity of people everywhere.
Here is a little article about the bird on my shoulder:
http://www.kshs.org/publicat/khq/1944/44_1_mechem.htm
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