Bill Mix

Name: Bill Mix

Occupation: Social studies teacher

Tattoos: Compass and a bear claw (right arm) and a friend’s initials and piano keys (left arm)

Q: Could you give the backstory to the tattoo on your left arm?

A: This one here is my friend’s initials. He was my best friend and my best man at my wedding, and he died of cancer at age 45. We played in a band together and he was the piano player. After he died, his daughter and I both got tattoos. She got one on her back and I got one on my arm kinda as a memorial for him, and that was the first one I got.

Q: What about the right arm?

A: This second one is my family tattoo. We travel a lot as a family. I got this bear claw added to the top of it. This bear claw [necklace], my wife and kids got me when they were little from an Inuit area and it means “the protector,” so I’ve always taken that as the protector of the family.

Q: What is your position towards tattoos? Do you think each one should have a meaning?

A: I know some people that just like the art of them and I know some people who have to have meanings. I don’t think there’s a right or wrong, I just know what it is for me; for me, it’s meaning.