189: I Found Connection Through a Tattoo of a Bee

Allison Langer  0:15  
I'm Allison Langer.

Andrea Askowitz  0:16  
I'm Andrea Askowitz, and this is writing class radio, you'll hear true personal stories and learn how to write your own stories together. We produce this podcast, which is equal parts heart and art. By heart, we mean the truth in a story. By art, we mean the craft of writing. No matter what's going on in our lives. Writing class is where we tell the truth. It's where we work out our shit. There's no place in the world like writing class, and we want to bring you in

Allison Langer  0:50  
today on our show, we bring you a story by Jennifer Sizeland, who is from Manchester, England. And what we want to talk about in this story is number one, how she got to the point of her essay, and basically the situation and the story and very few words. I mean, I want to say it's like under 900 words.

Andrea Askowitz  1:15  
I know we love it short, yeah,

Allison Langer  1:18  
this essay is a perfect example of situation and story. And we ask these in our class all the time, what's the situation? What's the story? And everyone's like, Oh, the situation's this? No, no, that's the story. So if you're trying to figure out what is the situation here, and what story are you trying to tell? This is the episode for you. Yeah. Thanks. Back with Jennifer's story after the break,

Andrea Askowitz  1:44  
we're back. I'm Andrea askowitz, and this is writing class radio. Up next is Jennifer Sizeland reading her story called "I Found Connection Through a Tattoo of a Bee."

Jennifer Sizeland  2:00  
when Manchester, England was attacked by a terrorist, the city was in shock. It felt like we needed to do something, anything to stand by our city, and that's how the Manchester B tattoo campaign began. Tattoos have historically been a cause of annoyance to me, as I regretted many of the eight that adorn my body. Time has rendered them obsolete or ugly. The Manchester bee is by far the most important and one I don't regret as it stretches and fades over time, it will be a lasting memory of the day my city came together to cope with a grave injustice. On the morning of the 23rd of May 2017 I drove to work through the eerily quiet streets of Manchester, this resident still reeling from a terrorist attack that killed 22 people in Ariana Grande concert the night before, it didn't feel real that it could happen in our friendly northern city. Young people and their parents just wanted to see their favorite singer. The city was in mourning, so my partner and I headed into town to find solace with others. We gathered with hundreds of people outside the Albert Square town hall for a vigil. There we listened to local governors express their sadness and disbelief, and then the Mancunian poet Tony Walsh read his poem, this is the place oppressions, recessions, depressions and dark times, he hollered across the somber yet stoic crowd. But we keep fighting back with Greater Manchester spirit as more people made the pilgrimage into the center to pay their respects, a nearby Square was filled with teddies, flowers and other tributes to those who'd been harmed or lost their lives, I felt less loss surrounded by strangers as we grieved this needless act of hate. That night, I lit a candle on it flickered in the darkness as families around the city spent each hour in pain. Few days later, Sam Barber, a local tattoo artist based in the city's outskirts, launched the Manchester bee tattoo campaign. Our local tattoo parlor jumped on board for one day sacred arts ate tattooists set to work for free with their donated materials to tattoo as many people as possible. Each person donated 50 pounds for the same size and shape Manchester bee and all proceeds went to those affected by the attack. The line started at 7am and quickly snaked around the block at 1pm my partner, Christopher and I got inside. The Manchester bee was tattooed inside my left wrist in a movable bind to the people and the place I lived.

Christopher had his bee drawn on his inner arm. A colleague got his bee on his wrist too. The artist kept on going until 1am as they didn't want to turn anyone away.

British culture is notoriously insular, so I'm happy to live in a place which is more open than most. I. 10,000 people around England Scotland were tattooed that day. When I travel, I wonder if one of the people passing me in an airport or on a train also has a Manchester bee tattoo. I imagine two bees buzzing through the crowd, tolerant, kind and eternally connected, regardless of whether we ever meet. For me, the human response of tragedy is to connect, to memorialize something this terrible should not be forgotten. So we inked ourselves to stand together with the victims and made those feelings permanent. Unlike most of my tattoos, this one is on display, so it shows the world that every day I stand against hate, seven years later, I feel that my tattoo is as symbolic of our northern spunk as it was then, and amongst those strangers, I feel the power of our community each time I look at my wrist, it is a simple black line rendering of a bee with three stripes and six legs. But the thing I love most is that it's not unique. Recently, I saw one of the women at my son's nursery with a bee tattoo. She didn't see me in the chaos of pickup, but I felt the thread running between us. I didn't know her, and yet, we share something special and heartbreaking. The tattoo has not changed the world, which at times, feels filled with hate, but my bee binds me to good people. I

Allison Langer  6:26  
oh my god, I love her accent. What are you laughing at?

Andrea Askowitz  6:30  
I just love it too. I'm just smiling and laughing about her adorable accent. And it's like, it's perfect because she's from Manchester, Manchester, England, England. You know that song? No, it's from hair. Oh, really nice and classic.

Allison Langer  6:47  
I liked hair. I like having hair anyway. Okay, let's get back. Let's get serious. Because when this essay came in, I was very, very intrigued. First of all, I don't have a tattoo, but I love tattoos, and I always wonder, what is the meaning behind a tattoo? And so knowing that there was something so important that this person wasn't even involved, it just this terrible act happened in her town, and for her, she went and did this thing. But that's the story here, right? Yep, there's a story. There's a situation, and the writing and all that. So we're going to discuss all of that right now. Do you want to start? Well, I

Andrea Askowitz  7:30  
want to respond to just what you were saying, because I didn't realize that you love tattoos, and I think that's, I don't know that's interesting. So then, why don't you have one? Well, I

Allison Langer  7:39  
mean, up until lately, I really didn't have anything that I was very, very attached to. I love hearts. And I was like, well, that's goofy to do a heart. So then I was like, but now with my elephants, and, like, the whole meaning behind all the elephants, that really is something. So maybe when I hit, like, a my five year cancer free mark, maybe I'll get a tattoo of an elephant. That'd be kind of fun. Yes,

Andrea Askowitz  8:00  
I love it, yeah? Oh, my god, yeah. The elephant symbolizes your tribe, the elephants that are supporting you. In case anyone hasn't been listening to the podcast. So what I loved about the story is that she has eight tattoos that she doesn't like.

Allison Langer  8:17  
Well, she has seven, right? Oh,

Andrea Askowitz  8:19  
she has seven she doesn't like it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, which I think might happen to my daughter, who has, like, maybe three right now she does, uh huh,

Allison Langer  8:27  
I didn't know she had a tattoo or three, three, yeah, yeah. She does. No, but they do say about people with tattoos, they don't usually just get one. There's, like, a that's true. But do they say that they

Andrea Askowitz  8:36  
usually regret them? I don't know,

Allison Langer  8:38  
but there were some ladies in the gym way back when I used to go to the gym regularly. And when we changed in the gym, these big, like, larger, older women would come out, and they were covered in tattoos. And I got to tell you, when the skin starts to get a little saggy, the tattoos don't look the same. So that's always been my like, Oh God, I don't want to touch

Andrea Askowitz  8:58  
okay, but let's talk about the Manchester B hers is on her wrist, so I feel like that's a pretty safe place too, in terms of sagging, sagging potential, yeah. So I love the story, because I think it's really simple. There's one situation, and the situation is tragedy struck my town, and 10,000 people got a symbol that binds us together, and then we get the meaning that it means for her in a few lines that I think are so beautiful, like there's this line I felt less lost, surrounded by strangers. The line that I love most is I imagine 2b buzzing through the crowd, tolerant, kind and eternally connected, regardless of whether or not we ever meet. That's so cool to me. It just it matters to her. So these tattoos matter to her because they connect her to her people, even if they don't connect in like a traditional way you. That's everything. That's what this story is about. And then there's this one other line that I loved, which I just thought was very different, a different way of thinking about tattoos. And she describes it. She's like, it's a simple black line rendering of a bee with three stripes and six legs. But the thing I love the most is that it is not unique.

Allison Langer  10:20  
I know I love that part so much. I mean to me, this is about coping, coping with the world as it is today, and her way of coping was with 10,000 other people by getting this tattoo. And every time she looks down and sees her tattoo, she feels able to take another step in the day, and I just think that's cool. And

Andrea Askowitz  10:43  
I'd say it's about connecting, because that was the meaning of the tattoo for her. But I love also, again. One other thing I loved was the last line, because it's not everyone walks out into the sunset, because she says, the tattoos have not changed the world. So that's just true. It's just real, yeah, which, at times, feels filled with hate, but my B binds me to good people, so I guess it is about coping and about connection. This is how she copes and she connects to good people. It's so it's it's so perfect.

Allison Langer  11:17  
So it reminds me of like when somebody dies and everyone kind of comes together to grieve. There's something about grieving with all those people, even people you don't know, that is so comforting, because it makes you feel like you're not alone, and then you're still going to deal with the loss, but it's easier to keep moving in the world, and so that's what it reminded me of, yeah,

Andrea Askowitz  11:42  
that's,

that's universal. That really is. I mean, seven years later, she still feels connected, and she's still mourning with other people, yeah, when she bumps into that woman at the at school, yeah, that's all I want to say about this very tight, beautiful story. Yeah, it

Allison Langer  12:03  
was great.

Andrea Askowitz  12:04  
Thank you, Jennifer sizeland, for sharing your story and thank you for listening. Jennifer sizeland is a freelance writer and assistant producer in the media industry. She's written for many publications, including the BBC, The Independent Metro, Manchester mill. How do you say that? Voters, photos, I was gonna call it photos, photos travel, Gastro obscura obscura, Reader's Digest and stylist. She's gotten a lot of pubs that one, yeah. For more Jennifer sizeland, go to her website. Jennifersizeland.com she lives in Manchester, England, England, across the Atlantic, sea. You can follow her on Instagram, at life of size, at life size, didn't I say at life of size? Oh, at, at, oh, okay, at, at life of size,

to say it? No, I

don't know, but that's so I think so now I'm gonna do it like that from now on, add at it.

Writing Class Radio is hosted by me Andrea Askowitz. 

Allison Langer  13:16  
and me Allison Langer. 

Andrea Askowitz  13:18  
Audio production is by Matt Cundill, Evan Surminski and AidAn Glassey at the Sound Off Media Company. Theme music is by Justina Shandler. There's more writing class on our website, including stories we study, editing resources, video classes, writing retreats and live online classes, if you want to write with us every week, or if you're a business owner, community activist group that needs healing, entrepreneur, anybody like that, and you want help with your team to write better. Check out all our classes on writing classradio.com Join the community that comes together for instruction and the excuse to write and the support from other writers to learn more. Go to our website for patreon.com/writing, class radio, a new episode will drop every other Wednesday.

Allison Langer  14:10  
There's no better way to understand ourselves and each other than by writing and sharing our stories. Everyone has a story. What's yours? 

Tara Sands (Voiceover)  14:24  
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