All Sewn Up

Tattoo with Becky at Show-off Ink Artistry August 2021

This is a tattoo I’ve waited my entire life for. After having top surgery I felt free for the first time. I no longer feel like I have to be “nice” and play it safe. I no longer have to placate people to keep myself safe. I am now me in every sense of the word and in every way that being me can mean.

I was 14 when Hedwig and The Angry Inch came out. I was mesmerized. It became part of my arsenal of Queer Cult Classics that kept my inner self sane. It sat on the shelf next to Rocky Horror Picture Show, But I’m A Cheerleader, Too Wong Foo, Repo! The Genetic Opera.

But Hedwig was different. The story was much more visceral, emotional, less campy and instead felt real. It presented to me the opportunity to grow, to discover oneself, to be…to finally breathe. The best part of the story was watching Hedwig experiment with their identity. To watch them think they know only to discover they never knew and could gain to knowledge for their most inner knowing. I felt that moment when they sang Exquisite Corpse, I felt that feeling deep within. And now I get to be All Sewn Up in my deepest knowing. This tattoo, this song, this film, this story, all some of the greatest gifts the universe and humans have offered me and for that I am truly grateful.