The

Undeniable

Ruth

®

…and the Ruth shall set you free!

  • My Tattoo Process

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    Ruth Carter

    I’m a big proponent of the idea that when you turn 18 you should do something to celebrate the fact that you’re an adult. I went skydiving. I don’t support 18 year-olds getting tattoos as their I’m-18-I-can-do-what-I-want experience. And here’s why -they’re permanent!

    Foot tattoos Ruth Carter
    My Awesome Tattoos

    If I got a tattoo every time I thought I had a good idea for a new piece, I’d be covered in ink and probably regret most of it. A tattoo should be something that you love and holds as much meaning on the day you got it as when you’re 85 years old with saggy skin.

    I’ve been tattooed five times and I love my work. But I have a process for getting a tattoo that has to occur before I climb into the tattoo chair.

    It’s so important to pick something that is meaningful and timeless so that you’ll love seeing your tattoo every day. I think a lot of people pick something that’s meaningful for a limited time and so over time their tattoo loses value. Once I’ve decided on a design that will be meaningful for the rest of my life, then I have pick a good location for it. This wasn’t a struggle with my foot tattoos, but it has been with my latest idea of getting a variation of the Ignite Phoenix bird tattooed on my body. I initially thought I wanted it between my shoulder blades but now I’m thinking I want it on my left rib cage.

    Once I decide on what I want and where I want to put it, then I have to wait for “the sign.” There isn’t one sign but more of a gut feeling that it’s time to get the work done. With my first tattoo – the double shooting star on my right foot – I talked with my artist about my plan and I asked her to give me the weekend to make sure it was time to have the work done. That Saturday I was cater-waitering and I taped up my foot because we were working on rough terrain out in a vineyard. When I took the tape off at the end of the night, a big chunk of skin off the top of my foot came off with it – right where the tattoo was supposed to go. That was a sign that it wasn’t time to get the work done.

    The Steam Crow Ignite Phoenix Bird I'm contemplating for my next tattoo
    The Steam Crow Ignite Phoenix Bird I’m contemplating for my next tattoo

    With my Libra tattoo, I knew it was time to have it done when I put my feet up on the recliner one night and I did a double-take because I didn’t see the tattoo on my foot. My brain had already put the design on my body. I had that tattoo put on my body within a month of getting that sign.

    I’m still waiting on the sign to get the Ignite Phoenix tattoo, and my brain is still trying to figure out if I want black and gray with touches of color or full color for this one.

    If you’re going to get a tattoo, do your homework on your artist in advance. You’re buying custom artwork so get someone who can execute your idea. Good tattoos are not cheap so plan to drop a buck on the endeavor and tip your artist well. When you go for your first tattoo, make sure the artist understands that it’s your first tattoo so they can walk you through everything that’s going to happen. My artist offered to do the first little line without ink just so I could experience how it feels, which I declined but I appreciated the thought.

    And yes, getting a tattoo hurts, especially when tattooing over bone like on your ribs or foot. I got light-headed during my first tattoo session and the artist asked if she should stop. I said, “No. Keep going. It’ll hurt less.” I’ve had five tattoo sessions on my feet, including painful re-coloring, and I only had one time when I had to tell the artist to stop because I needed a few minutes’ break from the pain.

    If you’re 18 years old and want to do some type of body modification as a proclamation of your status as an adult, get a piercing. I’ve had fourteen. They’re awesome. And they’re usually cheaper than a tattoo and relatively easy to reverse if you decide you don’t want it anymore.

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  • A Year Without Holidays

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    Ruth Carter

    When I was looking back at 2012, I noticed I didn’t celebrate many holidays last year. It made me realize that holidays serve as anchors and when you don’t celebrate them, it’s harder to notice the passage of time. Instead, the weeks just blend together.

    In school, our lives were filled with anchors – the start of the semester, due dates for papers, exams, mid-semester break, between semester breaks, internships, and the holidays acknowledged by the school (Martin Luther King Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, etc.). These somewhat continue to influence your life when you have kids. When you work for a traditional company where you work in an office, the days the company is closed for holidays are the anchors (Martin Luther King Day, Presidents Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Veterans’ Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s).

    I work for myself so I declare the holidays the company celebrates with a day off. In my first year of business, the main weekday I didn’t work was my birthday. That is a tradition I intend to continue. When I did a summer internship with the Army JAG, the commanding officer in the office required his people to take off their birthday if they were single or their anniversary if they were married. I thought that was a great rule.

    Captain Kirk Birth StoneI recently realized that most holidays aren’t important to me, and thus, I don’t celebrate them. I don’t drink, so the traditional drinking holidays do nothing for me (New Year’s, St. Patrick’s Day, Cinco de Mayo). I don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day because I don’t need Hallmark to tell me when to tell someone I love them. I’m not religious so celebrating Easter seems sacrilegious. I enjoy my friends and family so I’ll use Memorial Day, Independence Day, and Labor Day to hang out with them – but even then I prefer low-key celebrations. I do send Mother’s Day and Father’s Day cards to my parents and call them on these Hallmark holidays. I’ve never been into Halloween so I tend to ignore it unless I’m attending a costume-required event. My family Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations are awesome, but even then I like that they’re mellow occasions. If I’m surrounded by too much fanfare, that’s not really fun for me.

    I like my smaller dorky celebrations – like visiting an outer space themed restaurant on the Future Birthdate of Captain Kirk and getting together with people to eat pie on Pi Day. The other big events on my calendar are things like Ignite Phoenix and flash mobs with Improv AZ. These aren’t really anchors because their dates aren’t fixed, but those are probably the closest things to anchors I have.

    Sometimes I wonder if not celebrating holidays makes me a scrooge, but I think it makes me an introvert who doesn’t need Hallmark, calendars, or societal pressure to know what days are important to me. I don’t mind if you celebrate holidays; they’re just not for me.

  • Backstage at Ignite Phoenix

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    Ruth Carter

    I had the pleasure of speaking at Ignite Phoenix #5, and I fell in love with the organization. My role at Ignite Phoenix has always been backstage. I was a runner at Ignite Phoenix #6 and I’ve been the assistant stage manager since Ignite Phoenix #7. I’ve volunteered at every Ignite Phoenix event since 2010 with the exception of Ignite Phoenix After Hours #2.

    One of the few pictures of Andy and I holding still at Ignite Phoenix #12; photo by Devon Christopher Adams

    I love working at Ignite Phoenix. Andy Woodward is our stage manager and we have running the show down to a science. The show starts at 6:30pm which means the core team has to be at the venue usually by 3pm to start setting up. Andy and I spend most of that time in the theatre. We draw a box on the stage in tape so our performers know where they have to be seen by the video camera. We set up the confidence monitor – a screen that shows the performers what’s on the screen behind them. We work with the venue’s crew to set the lighting and sound levels and to determine which performer will use which microphone. We also set up the area backstage so our performers are comfortable when they’re not on the stage.

    I’m a big fan of the mantra “Be prepared,” so my bag backstage is full of all kinds of stuff I or a presenter might need like my clipboard, pens, highlighters, Sharpies, mini flashlight, safety pins, caffeine, ibuprofen,  Kleenex, my lucky handkerchief, and my Swiss Army knife.

    A little over an hour before the show our performers arrive and we take them through their orientation. We want them to be comfortable with the stage, backstage, their green room, and we tell them for the first time what order they will be in during the show.

    During the show, Andy is at the edge of the stage making sure that each performance goes well and he does the final prep with each performer right before they go on stage. I’m in charge of most of everything else backstage. It’s my job to put the microphones on and take them off of each presenter and to keep track of everyone when they’re backstage.  I’m constantly counting heads, making sure I know where everyone is.

    It’s my job to be there when presenters need me and to stay out of their way when they don’t. I respect each person’s need to do their own thing when they’re nervous. It’s fun to watch who paces, who reads through their notes, who brings their laptop to go through their slides, and who hangs out in the presenters’ green room downstairs. I want each presenter to feel excited and secure when they step out onto the Ignite stage. I try to instill a sense of calm confidence when I’m putting on their microphone and congratulate them when they finish.

    I’m really looking forward to Ignite Phoenix #13. We have an incredible cast, an awesome team of volunteers, and amazing people at the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts who help make it all possible.