A black-and-white photo of a person mid-air in a Superman-style body suspension pose, supported by multiple hooks in their back and legs, smiling joyfully toward the camera. They are suspended horizontally in a large indoor space with high ceilings and visible rigging. A group of onlookers—some seated, some standing—watch with expressions of admiration, amusement, and support. The atmosphere is lively and communal, capturing a moment of shared experience and transformation.

Mods Require Education

So I was thinking about the recent post about job discrimination with body modification, as well as reflecting on the inspirational interview with Alvar from last year… it’s been my observation that the higher quality the job is and the better you have to be at it, the less relevant your body modifications become. On “low end” jobs it seems employers are much more able to get away with judging a person for petty things like earrings — but in the kind of job that I believe most exceptional people aspire to, one is generally judged more on ones frontal lobe than one’s 1″ lobe..

Anyway, so I was really pleased to see Kiowa from Missouri’s graduation photos proudly showing his stretched piercings, and wanted to use it as an excuse to (a) if you want to be free to live your life publicly modified, performing well academically is a great start, and (b) the BME 2008 scholarship application is available.

kiowa-grad-photo.jpg

Comments

18 responses to “Mods Require Education”

  1. insincere Avatar

    hes well cute! i likey. i hope to look the same out oof law school this year.

    the blue is really nice!

  2. rachel. Avatar
    rachel.

    hoorah for being educated!

  3. Mari Avatar
    Mari

    He’s really good looking!

  4. Marianne Avatar
    Marianne

    That guy is HOT!

  5. Giles Avatar

    Academia roolz 🙂

  6. Pete Avatar

    Hell yeah. I’ll do the same damn thing when I graduate in a few years. And great idea for the scholarship!!

    Congrats!!

    =D

  7. skeleton_closet Avatar
    skeleton_closet

    That’s been my plan all along. Another factor is that I just can’t cope in the real world, but I can write one hell of an essay…

  8. estrojenn Avatar
    estrojenn

    excellent post shannon.

  9. Trix4theRabbits Avatar
    Trix4theRabbits

    damn right, this’ll be me in may!

  10. Ania Avatar

    I like the difference in the amount of comments on this post and the posts before and after this one.

  11. if6was9 Avatar
    if6was9

    It is telling, isn’t it? The difference in comments.

  12. Sade Avatar

    i love how focused he looks.i can’t wait to graduate college

  13. ishinenotburn Avatar
    ishinenotburn

    I love when people wear big hoops through tunnels- but Im bias because I wear them too lol

  14. Airi Zombie Avatar

    This makes me happy because it breaks a lot of stereotypes.

  15. kellys_username Avatar

    I’m only in my second semester, so i don’t know this. But are there certain gen.ed classes that cover body modification at all? (i.e. sociology, anthropology, ect)

    either way, it’s cool to see people break down the stereotype of piercings/tattoos being for uneducated trams and bikers

  16. Holly Avatar
    Holly

    When I look at this photographs, it makes me sad about how much I have actually sold out! Even to take a summer internship in the private sector it was vital that I take out all of my visable piercings (including plugs), get my hair cut all neat and look like what ‘society’ would call ‘respectable.’ Of course I have come to realise that success in this sector, and indeed the public sector of course, would be difficult without such transformation. I will be graduating in September with a degree in Politics and Law, and although there will be all smiles for the photos, at least I know that underneath that gown is my torso and back full of tattoos and my many piercings below the neck.

    I hope that Kiowa has success in finding employment worthy of his degree without having to change, but if not I expect hes proud to have that moment on stage.

  17. joe Avatar

    Hey, I saw him at a party once!!

    I strongly agree with that observation being true. It’s what led me to get whatever mods I wanted in college, knowing that my skills and knowledge will either transcend a distaste for mods or I’ll be working with people smart enough to know it’s not an issue (I’m happy that it’s the latter).

  18. ammre Avatar
    ammre

    as a bakery associate at a grocery store, I had to hide everything.
    as a graphic designer consultant working next to my company’s ceo, who makes over 700k a year, i’ve gotten a total of one comment about my piercings, and that was when i shoved a pencap in my ear becasue my plug went MIA.

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