Introduction
Carol Rose posted the essay On Pins and Needles Defending Artistic Expression on Boston.com on April 8, 2010. According to the site, Rose works as executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts (Rose par. 1). Therefore, she is a professional in the spheres of law and human rights. In her essay, Rose explores the legal state of tattooing as a form of artistic expression in the United States. She addresses the historical context of this skin art and the recent banning of tattooing in Massachusetts and other states. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the essay by Carol Rose including her claims and warrants.
Analysis
The essay by Carol Rose is posted on one of the websites owned by the Boston Globe. The articles on this site cover a wide range of themes including news, politics, sports, culture, travel, and cars. The design of the site is simple yet pleasant and features intuitive navigation. The choice of themes and general presentation of articles reminds of good old newspapers for businesspeople. The information about the authors of the articles adds to the reliability of the presented materials.
In her article, Rose writes about tattooing as a form of artistic expression. She underlines the social meaning of this skin art referring to Japanese yakuza (Rose par. 3). The images etched into the skin have been an inseparable part of many cultures throughout the centuries. Rose claims, “Tattooed mummies have been found in all parts of the world, including Egypt, Libya, Asia, and South America” (par. 8). People from all over the world use their skin as an easel to create magnificent works of art that unite paint with body curves. In many countries, museums open tattoo exhibitions. An annual tattoo convention is always a popular event for professional tattooists and people fascinated by skin art. Nevertheless, recent banning of tattooing in Massachusetts and several other states show that the authorities are not so fascinated with this form of artistic expression as the citizens.
Carol Rose strives to prove the historical and cultural meaning of tattooing as a form of artistic expression. She presents vivid examples of this skin art in many countries around the globe what underlines the importance of tattoos for people independent of their race or nation. In her protection of tattooing against banning from the local authorities, Rose acknowledges the need to control hygiene standards in the tattoo parlors. She is logical in her statements and supports her point of view with widely known facts, statistics, and historical context. At the end of the text, Rose underlines that she has no tattoos on her skin, but she protects this form of art out of pure fascination. This confession also adds credibility to her words.
Conclusion
The article by Carol Rose presents a good example of an argumentative paper. She protects tattooing as a form of artistic expression supporting her point of view with facts from history and recent statistics on the popularity of tattoos among the population of the United States. Although she is clearly fascinated with skin art, she acknowledges the necessity to control tattoo parlors in terms of hygiene. Therefore, Rose supports tattooing while understanding the dangers of this art. The facts, statistics, and personal attitude of the author warrant her claims and add reliability to her article.
Work Cited
Rose, Carol. “On Pins and Needles Defending Artistic Expression.” Boston.com, Web.