Our Mission
By Students, For You
Established in 1963
Here at Tattoo, our name says it all. The word "tattoo" is derived from a Scottish word to describe celebration and clan lore, which holds true to our school's history while embodying our mission to embrace community and celebrating storytelling through art. It's that simple! Anyone can join our club or submit pieces to us, as long as they're a part of the current Shorecrest community. We encourage thinking outside of the box and embrace diverse differences in the artistic styles of our student body. Since 1963, we have been sharing our school's creativity with the world, and we hope to continue doing so for decades to come!
Meet Our Team
Advisors
Mrs. Kelli Haines
Ms. Andy Denney
Editors
Elizabeth Howlett
Claire Beaumont
Vance Cunningham
Rebecca Swinney
Rowan Wasserman
Maggie Feinbberg
Club Members & Voters
Annabelle Austin
Rita Carswell
Delaney Davis
Lily Fredericks
Erica Hammond
Oskar Hurd
Avery Kellogg
Fletcher Lohrentz
Laurel Madhavan
Grace Moore
Justin Pangukir
Jonas Ruttenberg
Our Process
The Third Virtual Edition
Having been virtual for three editions now, we wanted to be just as thorough as we have always been, ensuring that we eliminated typos, credited the right people, and formatted our submissions correctly.
In order to do so this year, we had to make some adjustments to meet our deadline. Submissions open in the fall, and students from Shorecrest submit their pieces via a Google form attached to our SC webpage site. Contributors are invited to submit up to four writing pieces and four visual art pieces per edition. As we are publishing on line, we were able to open up submissions for multimedia art as well. From there Tattoo Editors lead voting during club meetings with the author/artist’s name removed from each piece to ensure anonymity. We start by reading or looking at the piece, then conduct an Initial Vote based on our first thoughts. Editors then facilitate a discussion about each piece, which is followed by a Final Vote determining whether or not the piece is admitted into the magazine. We encourage everyone to participate in voting parties, including the authors and artists who have submitted, although they remain anonymous.
Once we have our “In” pieces, our Editors pair, place, and format pieces. Publishing virtually has made this mostly a process of organizing alphabetically, for ease of access in our new format. Editors also typically vote on a cover piece of art when we publish print magazines, however, since our editions have been online this has not been a possibility. Finally, Editors create several proofs, edit pieces for typos and grammar mistakes, and submit the magazine to our printers, who then create proofs for us to approve.
We would not have been able to create this page without the help of our club members, who we refer to fondly as our “Tattooligans.”
Thank you!
Contributor Bios
Contributor Bios are a fun tradition we have to honor everyone who played a part in the creation of this magazine. Whether you submitted pieces for voting, participated as a club member, or even both - thank you for everything you've brought to our club! These bios are entirely fictional and written by our editing staff.
First Name A - J
Ada Franey lives in the clouds. She cannot understand why people insist on living on the ground, it’s so boring. She comes down occasionally to take a swim in a lake or to walk amongst the trees, and to do her homework, of course. Ada has seen the whole world from up in the clouds, and if you look closely into her eyes, you might see its reflection.
Anna Varney is a gatherer. She forages her life in the quiet valleys and forests. Nature surrounds her as she makes her quiet life, animals are her companions, the plants her sustenance. You can find her making her way through the endless outdoors, stargazing, hiking, or just existing. Her presence is inescapable once you spot her, hidden among the many wonders of the world.
Annabelle Austin is a shapeshifter. She can be as tall as she wants, or as small. If she wanted to turn her skin pink, she could. Annabelle loves to play tricks on her friends, pretending to be one another and causing mischief as she pleases. She can be whatever she wants, so we are lucky indeed that she chooses to be human.
August Keddy is the last of the Marshmallow Crusaders. Once a fearsome band of warriors who hurled giant Jet-Puffed marshmallows at their opponents with no mercy, their numbers were first reduced to hundreds, then a few dozen, and finally to August only. On Sunday afternoons, you can find him reclining in an oak rocking chair next to a roaring flame, regaling his glories to awestruck children in the hopes of inspiring a future generation of warriors to take hold. With August’s leadership, the power of the ‘mallow shall once again conquer all.
Avery Kellogg is secretly a frog. They lived a happy life in a pond until a witch came along and cursed a prince to turn into a frog. When a princess came along crying and mistook them for her lost prince, well, what was Avery supposed to do but go along with it? They settled in well to their new life as a human, despite the occasional hunger for flies.
Callie Sauter knows exactly who she is. When so many wonder where their place in the world is, she need not. From a young age, she has been The Creator, it was not a path that she chose, rather, it chose her. She paints every sunset and sunrise, she wields the world in the palm of her hand and with it she does wondrous things. Her vast knowledge of the inner workings of the world knows no bounds, but what she chooses to do with it each day, is entirely up to her.
Carmen Borton collects clocks. All sorts of clocks, each unique in their color, shape, and size. They have a hundred clocks which ring to wake them up each morning, each one with its own way to hit “snooze”. It’s a good way to wake up, though it causes quite a headache.
Cat Ho has always been a tree, but don’t tell anyone. She has lived as a human for hundreds of years. Of course, she could turn back into a tree at any point, but she prefers being able to walk around. At night, she stands outside and plants herself back into the ground, and in the morning, the sunrise shines through her leaves.
Did you know that Claire Beaumont is a professional snow globe maker? Indeed, she sneaks out of her house at night to make them. She gathers wood and other materials and brings them back to a secret cave where she uses tiny tools and her delicately precise hands to make the world’s most intricate snow globes. She has anonymously won many snow globe making contests around the globe and is only second to Santa's elves themselves.
Cody Sauter offers so much to the world, he is a Night Sailer. Each night, as we go to sleep, eyes drifting to a close, they are just awaking. With so much territory to cover, he moves quickly, and undetectably. They will wisk through your dreams in an instant, collecting everything unwanted and sending it to the heavens above, where it becomes someone else’s problem. Every peaceful night you have is thanks to them, he is a Night Sailer, a Dream Catcher, and though they go by many names, he is all the same in the end.
Delaney Davis is The Darer, she is where all your courage comes from, when you complete a great feat, you can rest assured it was thanks to Delaney gifting you a bit of hers. She will jump from great heights and soar above the skies, fear is not a word in her vocabulary. Her title comes from her passion, where do you think the game ‘Truth or Dare’ came from? She created it, if only to derive a bit more fun out of her ceaseless tasks.
Diego Reed is made of memories, he collects the lost ones and stores them within himself. Each instant in time, his shelves of forgotten moments grow. He could travel a thousand rows of memories and still have years of lives to catch up on. He bides his time quietly, taking deep interest in what people choose not to hold onto, the insignificant moments that mean nothing, yet contain everything.
Elizabeth Howlett has your lost socks. And safety pins. And hair ties. When you misplace one of those menial objects which nonetheless ravages your mind as you overturn every other possession in pursuit of finding them, she simply taps on the inside of her coat pocket and they reappear there, never to be seen by you again. However, she isn’t a thief–far from it. These objects become lost of their own accord, dissatisfied with staying in one place for too long, and Elizabeth provides them with sanctuary before they choose to mysteriously turn up in someone else’s home. The next time you find a paperclip in your backpack which you don’t remember putting there, you’ll know why.
Emma Baker can manipulate time. At school, she has no problem making the most boring of classes flicker by with the blink of an eye, while the other students sit and yawn for 90 minutes. This power also comes in handy for tests as well. She doesn’t need to stress about time management because she can slow the seconds down. She gets the perfect amount of sleep every night and never needs to download a sleep app. This comes at a cost, however, she is unable to speak for an equal amount of time she speeds or slows down.
Erica Hammond goes by many names. Depending on who she speaks to, her name is different. Each name is unique in spelling and pronunciation, some she has even written into existence herself. How she keeps track of all her names, we can’t say, but it’s certainly impressive.
Fletcher Lohrentz doesn’t sleep. He doesn’t know why, he’s just never needed to. When everyone else is stressing about getting their homework done on time, he just sits back and relaxes; he has eight extra hours a night to finish it (or less depending on with whom he is compared). With his extra time, he likes to take up odd hobbies. Lately, he’s become obsessed with carving soap.
Grace Moore went to chocolatier school in the mythical land of Thrycia, a luscious, magical realm filled with incredible chocolate-makers. Grace uses the pollen of a rare Thrycian flower in her chocolate, which makes it shimmer. Next time you see Grace, ask her if she’d be willing to spare a nibble of one of her unmatched chocolate creations!
Grace Prichard trains fairies. One of her extracurricular activities is going deep within Hamlin park and casting a concealer spell to conceal her and the fairies as they practice spells. Grace was born with this innate skill and is the only human in history to train her own flock of fairies.
Hallie Dickinson has an affinity for hair. She can grow anyone’s hair long or short just by waving her hand. If you ask her to braid your hair, she’ll sit you down and run her hands through it, and just a moment later it’ll be in an elaborate pattern prettier than anything you’ve seen before. Her own hair changes color and style from day to day, so you can never be sure what it’ll be today.
Isabella Encinosa used to be a dragon. She isn’t quite sure how she got stuck in the body of a human, but she’s making the best of it. Humans have access to many opportunities that dragons don’t, after all. She does find herself with the urge to breathe fire or stretch her wings once in a while, though, and if you look under her bed, you’ll see a small hoard of coins, buttons, and whatever else she’s managed to collect.
Jonas Ruttenberg is a dinosaur. He’s 18 feet tall and covered in scales with several sets of claws and sharp teeth. His scales are iridescent and look a different color to anyone who sees him in his true form. How he’s kept this a secret this long, we still aren’t sure.
Justin Pangukir is a bread-baker extraordinaire. At the crack of dawn, you can find him rolling out dough which he has allowed to ferment and proof overnight, molding the soon-to-be loaves in all sorts of whimsical shapes. Once they’ve come out of the oven, he opens the windows of his home, and the earthy, comforting scent of freshly baked bread wafts into the street. It summons the residents of his neighborhood–or anyone who happens to be passing by–to his door, where he sends them off with a loaf and a warm smile.
First Name K - V
Kailyn Jordan is obsessed with calendars, especially the ones with pictures of mountains for each month. She has a copy of the original Gregorian calendar from 1582, and a Myan calendar she wears on her head as a hat. However, she never knows the time, as she has always been opposed to carrying a pocket watch.
A little-known fact is that Laurel Madhavan has been plotting her rise to power for some time now. She’s been amassing an army and designing perfect policies all this time and no one has noticed! We can’t wait for her to take over, and we can only wonder when this will transpire.
Liam Crouch exists for one purpose, and that is simply to be. He is the comfort you didn’t know was an assigned job. He is the quiet presence in a silence that keeps it from becoming awkward, he is the soothing you feel when you receive a really good hug. He may be seemingly inconsequential, but he is infinitely everywhere. All the world has been touched by his presence in one way or another.
Lily Fredericks loves beans. She has beans in her burritos and beans in her soup. She has beans for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and when she wakes up hungry in the middle of the night, her midnight snack is beans. She even has a pair of socks covered in a bean pattern. If you ever need a good bean recipe, Lily is the person to go to!
Lindsay Huizinga wields the most powerful katana in the land. When she unsheaths it from her specially-designed katana belt, it triggers tidal waves of coolness which can be felt hundreds of miles away. Inlaid into the silvery blade is original, never seen before Hokusai engravings. It reflects light across a complete spectrum and blinds those of impure hearts. It would be easy to abuse the power of this extraordinary weapon, but Lindsay chooses to use it as a tool for peace. She travels around the lands, displaying the katana to all who wish to see it, and they are united in their appreciation for this work of art.
Oskar Hurd speaks to plants. He loves to converse with cacti and talk to trees. Flowers are his favorites because they have the best stories to tell. Oskar is up to date on all of the recent butterfly gossip, thanks to his floral friends.
Polina Shuklina is an aficionado for the arts, while others create, she consumes. She enjoys looking at what everyone else makes, the paint on paper, the music in the air. It makes her feel fulfilled, the world is full of such great talents, and what is the point if not to enjoy them> And while she can certainly create equally beautiful works of art, to her, it is more satisfying to sit back and enjoy, rather than partake.
Maggie Feinberg is a professional card dealer. With their wicked fast skills, Maggie wows everyone watching with special tricks they have made up themselves. Maggie made up a trick called “the rainbow of doom” because no one has been able to figure out how they do this trick, and some have even devoted their entire lives trying.
Mariah Gatto will not stop playing the pan flute. She carries it around her neck at all times and plays it whenever she gets the chance. It is rumored that she got it from Pan himself, who also taught her how to play. She can never go to movie theaters, restaurants, or swimming pools because not even Mariah can play underwater.
Meni Moretz is uniquely themself. They possess that originality you seek when you see someone, and that is their job in this world, to help others become themselves. Sure, it can be a bit hard for him sometimes, but he will persist. Each person deserves their own unique identity, and when they have so much to give, Meni is willing to put in the effort to help those lost souls on their journey.
Mykena Jeffery is the true author of the dictionary. She started writing it when she was very little, and just finished it a few years ago. Every day, Mykena would add a new word and make up its definition based on what the word sounded like. Sadly, her manuscript was stolen by two idiots named Merriam and Webster, and they got all the credit.
Natalie Scott is a student by day, DJ by night. After dutifully completing her homework, she steals away into the night and boards a train that takes her… anywhere. To a warehouse in Berlin pulsating with youth and regret, to a nightclub in Sydney where whispered conversations evaporate in the heat, and on Sundays, to Marsha’s poker night in Winter Park, Florida. The moment she enters the space, Natalie gauges the mood and cues up the perfect playlist to suit the occasion. It’s hard to say whether she controls the party or the party controls her, but the moment she slides the needle across the record, such silly questions are forgotten.
Rebecca Swinney is a sweater aficionado. They have more sweaters than they know what to do with, and they don’t even know where all of them came from. Some of them she bought, of course, and some were gifted to her, but others just appeared in her closet one day out of the blue. He isn’t complaining--he does love sweaters--but he has a feeling that pretty soon, he’ll have more sweaters than there are days in the year, and that feels like a bit of a problem. When xe tried bringing it up with whatever semi-sentient force of nature is responsible, or even just donating a few of xyr least favorite to Goodwill, all xe are left with is more in xyr closet the next day.
Rita Carswell speaks every language. She speaks fluent French and Japanese and Spanish and every other language you could throw at her. She has perfect pronunciation, grammar, and accents. She’s been an expert linguist for so long, she's started to make up her own languages. Only a select few have learned to properly communicate with Rita in her chosen tongue.
Rohan Wassink is an interdimensional traveller. Armed with only his wits, a spiral-bound notebook, and a ballpoint pen, he criss-crosses amongst the spider’s webs of space and time and records his findings of distant realities. Whether hitchhiking on an I-5 that ends at the International Space Station or racing to halt the worrying phenomenon of global cooling, there is no adventure that will make Rohan look the other way. If you ask politely, he may allow you to flip through the notebooks' yellowed pages, but don’t expect him to be waiting there when you look up…
Rowan Wasserman is an expert tree-climber. They’ve been climbing since they were very young; since before they could walk, actually. When other people look at a tree and see a long expanse of bare trunk, they see a challenge. Rowan is one of the fastest in the world at scrambling up trees. And those skills are useful: not just for getting cats and Frisbees out of trees, but also, of course, for epic stunts like scaling that pole from “I’ll Make a Man Out of You.”
Ruba Hussein owns a magical herd of pink cows that produce strawberry milk. She also owns a herd of brown cows that produce chocolate milk. Her cows’ milk is the freshest, sweetest milk in all the land, and she dominates the milk industry.
Sofia Vila Vignali has just been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Having been deemed of outstanding value to the history, culture, and future of humanity, she counts Stonehenge and the Great Barrier Reef among her peers. In the hallways of Shorecrest, you may soon find her flanked by Secret Service agents–but don’t worry, she’ll still be more than willing to stop for a moment to chat!
Soren Oquist is a master survivalist. Regardless of weather conditions, they have a consistent supply of bottled water, granola, canned beans, and freeze-dried chili that they vacuum-sealed by hand. (Side note: no one makes freeze-dried chili as well as Soren. If you encounter them, be sure to ask for the recipe). When they aren’t meticulously researching the best ways to prepare for various catastrophes, you can find Soren scrambling up steep mountain slopes, climbing trees, and rappelling down cliffs in order to practice for undefined future events which may involve being stranded in the wilderness.
Once a year, Stephen Lai-fook goes into the sky for some cleaning. He dusts off the moon, polishes the sun, stirs Jupiter, and rotates the rings on Saturn. He tightens up the asteroid belt, torches Venus, and shakes up Mercury. Last, of all, he arrives at Earth. He changes the water, paints back the deserts and the forests, and finally comes home to rest.
Vance Cunningham can surf on clouds. He can jump up into the sky and a cloud will swoop him up and take him wherever he needs to go in record time. Whenever Vance is late to something, he always blames it on normal things like traffic, but really, he relies too much on how quick the clouds will move.
Veronica Tsaiding is actually a famous pianist from the 17th century. Her talent knows no bounds and she lives to impress others with her inherent abilities. There is nothing she enjoys more than the shocked looks on others faces when she busts out her favorite sonatas. We aren’t sure how her time travelling works yet, but once we do we’ll let you know.
Congratulations
Thank you for being bold and creative. Your piece(s) was/were handpicked by our community anonymously to be featured here today. We sincerely congratulate you on your accomplishment! You should be very proud.