Confession #2

I emailed one of the Skin participants. I think I mentioned this in class Monday, but I was really curious why participants chose to become a part of the text. I'm not saying it's completely ludicrous that anyone would want to be a part of Jackson's project (hey, I might do it), but I wondered whether participants just wanted a tattoo or actually wanted to embody Jackson's text, as she says the participants do.

I sent the email before I found the community blog for the Skin participants, so some of my questions are perhaps answered on that. Nevertheless, I was excited to get such a quick response, so I wanted to share it with all of you. I have to add, I was really worried the person would be annoyed that I wasn't a word but still emailed her. I emailed the participant on the "footnotes" page with the word "floating" because we talked about that post in class and because the participant said she was from California and Ohio, so I felt I could make somewhat of a connection to her. I explained I was in a class that recently studied Skin. Here is part of what I wrote: "My classmates and I were curious what you felt like after you got your word and, later, read the story.  Was it thrilling to finally get your word and read the story, and was it ever a disappointment?  Also, do you feel like you are an 'embodiment' of your word, as Jackson says you become?"

And here's part of what I got: "i was really thrilled when i finally got my word, and immediatly ran out to get it tattooed. that said, i wasent in much of a hurry to send her pictures (a requirement to read the story), and still havent gotten around to it, so i havent any clue what the story is about. that said, im sure once i do read it, itll totally consume me for a few days, then i will forget about it. Honestly, i dont even remember that the tattoo is there unless asked about it. Im not really an embodiemnt of the word, im just a 21 year old with a random word on her foot that loves to make up nonsense to confuse people. if asked why i have floating on my foot, i tell people (sometimes) that i just walk on water like jesus.  regardless, im very pleased to be part of the project, its something that i  wanted really bad."

Of course one participant can't speak for everyone, but I did find it interesting that she's very pleased to be a part of the project yet she isn't particularly eager to read the story (which would be a top priority for me, I think). It shows me that not all participants think of themselves as the embodiment of the word, and they don't necessarily even care what the story is or how their word fits into the overall story. For me, this demonstrates what crashingintowalls points out in a recent post, and that is that participants can reclaim, in a sense, some of their authority and power even though they are tattooed and don't get to pick the word. "Floating" seems to be participating in the project in a very different way than Jackson intends, and I think that's cool.