I took out my nipple ring for the first time in 4664 days today. I had to get a chest x-ray and the technician asked it be removed. I didn't even know that I could get it out. I feel positively unbalanced. I have been wearing that piece of jewelery since I was 19 years old. It's been through my undergrad, my MA, trips to europe and latin america, various girlfriends and my now wife and many incredulous conversations.

You have to remember the cultural context of 1992 to understand the gesture somewhat. In Maple Ridge when I walked out with a steel ring in my chest to teach the first waterfit class of the new year with 50+ women there were some interesting reactions. This just wasn't done. Multiple earrings were still strange and body piercing was a long way from the main stream.

I got it done upstairs in Mac Leathers when it used to be on Granville by a somewhat sadistic burly piercier. My middle class illusions were shattered when he asked if I wanted the sharp needle or the dull one. The sharp one consisting of 8 gauge wire sharpened on a grindstone. I was also somewhat disturbed to discover that the freezing went on the end of the wire - something about horses and barns came to mind. After viewing, the clamp, pierce, and jewlery insertion my friend Jon suddenly lost his appetite for body piercing. Each to their own. Apparently my face matched my white shirt.

The silver has worn off and somehow it represents the lessons I"ve learned over the years. Shaped and molded by experience. Symbols are a powerful trigger to memory.