In this episode, Cody has a conversation with tattoo artist Deb Yarian. Deb started tattooing in New York in 1979. Back when tattoo culture was reserved for outsiders, or what Deb calls “carnival people.” The tattoo culture then was predominately male, and women usually found their way into the culture through a man, because men were the gatekeepers. More recently, those barriers have been broken down, making the culture more equitable. Today, Deb and her husband Don own and operate Eagle River Tattoo.
Early in Deb’s career, her mom told her that she didn’t want Deb getting tattoos because she didn’t want people to judge her by the way she looked. Deb responded by saying, “If people are going to judge me by the way I look, then those aren’t the kind of people I want in my life.”
Deb says that the difference between tattooers today and tattooers in the past is that their journey is different. When Deb entered the scene, there was a lot of inequality and even violence. Deb has a history with domestic violence. One that she tries to talk about as openly and honestly as possible. She talks about those seedier origins of the tattoo culture, the sanctity of the tattoo shop and how people with tattoos need to be responsible for their actions if they don’t want to be mislabeled.
EP 152 Exonerating Alaskans with Jory Knott
EP 151 Things can get better with Heidi Huppert
EP 150 Furniture, basketball and family with Buddy Bailey
EP 149 Human trafficking in Alaska and decolonizing data with Josie Heyano
Chatter Marks EP 83 Moving home, revitalizing a language and the magic of radio with Shyanne Beatty
Chatter Marks EP 82 A chip on my shoulder with Mario Chalmers
EP 148 Skating Anchorage in the ‘90s with Anthony Black and Jerry Smyth
EP 147 For the glory and the story with IG
Chatter Marks EP 81 Life lessons from fish camp with Angela Gonzalez
EP 146 Searching for understanding and forgiveness with Robert Stark
EP 145 There is no excuse with Andrew Kurka
EP 144 Deconstructing the myth of The Last Frontier with Kaitlin Armstrong
EP 143 A Christmas they’ll never forget
EP 142 The history of slime with Christopher Michlig
EP 141 What we’ve been through is not who we are now with Travante Williams
EP 140 From middle school teacher to pro wrestler with Freya the Slaya
EP 139 Embracing the variance of poker with Adam Hendrix
Museums in a Climate of Change: Chatter Marks EP 73 Futures thinking, perseverance and climate change with Kristin Alford of the Museum of Discovery at the University of South Australia
EP 138 What happens to Alaska when oil is no longer economically viable for the economy of the state?
Museums in a Climate of Change: Chatter Marks EP 72 Creating sustainable exhibitions with Lizzy Bakker of NEMO Science Museum in Amsterdam
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Modern West
Just Dumb Enough Podcast
Voices of Misery Podcast
House of Whimsical Terror
Stuff You Should Know
Timcast IRL