One of the influences for starting this site was the number of running events I do in the city. You tend to see a little bit more skin than normal at races and so I've seen plenty of Chicago Flag tattoos on people that I might not have seen otherwise. Case in point, shirtless Kyle, who I saw at the Goose Island beer tent at the Chicago Triathlon (modest cough, I'd just finished my second triathlon of the day). Kyle had a really cool take on the flag, with the sky and the water around the skyline serving as the blue bars. It's a pet peeve of mine when people accidentally use standard five-pointed stars instead of our unique star, but as you'll see Kyle has a very interesting explanation for his:
CFT: How long have you had your Chicago Flag tattoo?
Kyle: I think I got it about a year ago.
CFT: Are you a life-long Chicago resident?
Kyle: Born and raised, South Side.
CFT: Is that the view of the city from where you grew up?
Kyle: Not necessarily, it's a generic view.
CFT: Fair enough. What prompted you to get the tattoo?
Kyle: Actually, I'm not really sure. I was working on a tattoo idea, of something I kinda liked, and I worked with it from there. I brought it to my tattoo artist and he finished it up.
CFT: Who's that?
Kyle: It's called the Shop over on Archer and Wood.
CFT: I just noticed--do you ever get hassled because it has five-pointed stars?
Kyle: Nope. That was more of a conscious thing.
CFT: You don't like the six-pointed stars.
Kyle: More for like the gang perspective. Where I live, the six points can be more of an issue. So it's a weird problem.
CFT: OK. Noted. Thanks a lot.
Kyle: Right on.
