Stephanie Hasz is a Chicago stand up comedian and I saw her Chicago flag stars wrist tattoo while she was co-hosting a live episode of the literary podcast Tomefoolery.
CFT: So, Steph! You have a Chicago flag that’s on your wrist.
Stephanie: I do. I have the stars on my wrist in black.
CFT: What’s your Chicago flag tattoo story?
Stephanie: I got it last summer. I’ve been living in Chicago for 6 years and I just felt like, well, it sounds cheesy when I talk about it. It just felt like the city changed who I was as a person and someday I’m going to move away for comedy purposes, and I wanted to get something to commemorate it before I left. I couldn’t figure it out for the longest time, and then I just said, “You know what, I’ll just get the stars,” because a lot of people have, you know, the stripes and the stars. I just didn’t want floating stripes on my body, so yeah, just got the stars. In black because I guess I thought it would look tougher.
CFT: Okay. Did you move here for comedy or was that part of the transformation?
Stephanie: I mean, I wanted to do comedy, but that wasn’t something I discovered while I was here. Yeah, I wouldn’t say that that was a factor. I moved here for grad school, just because I’d been living in rural Wisconsin and needed to not do that anymore.
CFT: So, 6 years. I hear a lot of 10-year stories, as a marker, but it wasn’t about the time for you, it was about the transformation.
Stephanie: Yeah, that is definitely not a huge chunk of time. It was a transformation phase, I would say. I just feel like Chicago made me the man I am, and that’s why I wanted something to remember it by.
CFT: Okay, that’s awesome. Where did you get it done?
Stephanie: I can’t think of the name of the place. It’s right next to Cole’s Bar in Logan Square on Milwaukee. I live in the neighborhood, and I had wanted it for a while and I had the day off, so I just walked down there and got it done.
CFT: Is a move on the horizon, or you just see that coming someday?
Stephanie: I think last year at this time, I was planning to move. I don’t think I was planning to still live here by now. But now I’m going to be here indefinitely. It wasn’t immediately, but I was like, “I don’t know if I’ll be here for 6 more months.”
CFT: Okay. It’s a great souvenir.
Stephanie: Yeah!
