News-Letter

It may hurt at first, but our writer says that tongue piercings are worth it. (Courtesy of http://www.piercings.org) [Click to enlarge]

So I'm leaning back in a chair in this sterile room. The smell of disinfectant lingers in the cool, dry air, and I hear the snap of rubber gloves covering freshly washed hands. The next thing I know, my mouth is wide open, and a bright light is shining down into it.

This sounds like a very familiar event that we experience on at least an annual basis, starting in early childhood. The only difference is that I'm not sitting in the chair waiting to have my teeth cleaned. In fact, if my dentist had been there, he'd have flipped.

I'm sitting in a room at Tattoo Charlie's, waiting for my tongue to be pierced.

I'm sure many of you out there can think of at least one friend or acquaintance who has experienced something similar. After all, over the past 10 years piercings among teenagers -- college students in particular -- have become as popular and commonplace as Abercrombie clothing.

I know several people with tongue piercings. And yes, the most common reason for getting one, and one of the reasons I had it done myself, was that it supposedly can improve one's "oral abilities".

While it does sort of act as weight training for the tongue, letting you do things you may have not thought possible before, it's also an awkward piece of jewelry that does little more than get in the way.

Another reason why so many young people get their tongues pierced, and get piercings in general, is to rebel against the parents.

How many Hopkins students have parents that would agree that, "having a metal rod through your tongue is a great idea"? That's what I thought. Mine weren't too thrilled about it either, which made me even more excited about it.

The best part about the piercing is that, when you get older and decide that you really don't care what your parents think anymore, you can always just take it out. Try that with a tattoo.

Thus, a piercing is the perfect body art -- as prominent or elusive as you want it to be.

The barbell is also great for an oral fixation, although it damages the enamel on your teeth. If you are planning to get one, but are afraid for your teeth, you can either A) not play with it (highly doubtful) or B) get a barbell with acrylic balls. The latter is what most people go for.

This leads me to another reason for getting a tongue piercing, a reason geared towards the accessory-obsessed. The acrylic balls come in a wide variety of shapes, designs, and colors. It's possible to change it every day to coordinate with whatever you may happen to be wearing. Definitely one of my favorite aspects of the piercing.

If you're confident you're ready to join the millions of students who express themselves through body art, and convinced you that you should jump on the body mod bandwagon, my best recommendation in the Baltimore area is to visit the Baltimore Tattoo Museum, located at 1534 Eastern Ave. in Fells Point.

While you may end up like sophomore Vincent Devlin, and be surrounded by "middle-aged men with lots of tattoos and piercings," as he put it, you'll nonetheless be in a very clean and professional environment. They also make every effort to get you in, out, and on your way in as short a time as possible.

But be forewarned if considering the tongue for your piercing of choice: as I sat in the chair, blinded by the light, awaiting my oral piercing, a middle-aged man with lots of tattoos and piercings instructs me to stick out my tongue so he could place a piece of cork under it. Then countdown begins: three ... two ... pierced! No reaching one, no pause, he just shoved the needle through my tongue as if it were nothing, threaded the metal ball on the end, and told me I was done.

It sounds quite scary, but it's definitely worth it. Sometimes looking good hurts.

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