Quote for 11/20/09: Dan Brown on Tattooing

The act of tattooing one's skin was a transformative declaration of power, an announcement to the world: I am in control of my own flesh. – Dan Brown in the Lost Symbol, Chapter 2, page 11

The Color of Your FACE: Sammy Sosa

It’s all over the news. Sammy Sosa is apparently bleaching his skin. Michael Jackson did too. Since I’m white, I don’t understand what the fuss is about. Maybe the black community sees it as a betrayal. I’m not sure.

I’m not just Caucasian. I’m really pale … as in ghosts have more color. I use a moisturizer with tanner in it. (I don’t tan, because my aunt died of skin cancer.) However, the average tanning salon grosses about $21,000 per month in the busy season and $14,000 per month the rest of the time. My point is everybody wants to be something else. Apparently some blacks want to be lighter and a lot of whites are paying to be darker. Who knows? Maybe we'll meet in the middle.

In The Lost Symbol, Dan Brown talks about tattooing as being in control of your appearance. I think this falls into the same category. As does cosmetic surgery, hairstyles and dieting. We want to control of our lives and appearance is part of it.

But I think Sammy looked better before.

Quote for 9/15/09: Dan Brown

I did not ask if you believe in what man says about God. I asked if you believe in God. There is a difference. – Dan Brown (Angels and Demons)