tammy

welcome Mush!!

this is what i made last night:

Garlic Roasted Dungeness Crab & Truffle Noodles

if it isn't too big, we are open to host...

the only problem is, i cook "regular" food...not so good at gluten-free, vegan BUT we can always get sol food to deliver...they have alot of vegan options...

Hi David,

Thanks for posting this. It is so important for the tattoo community to support each other during bad times.

ps. i edited the title for you.

Did anyone catch the premiere of the second half of season two last sunday? Season two started slow, but the last couple episodes has had me on the edge of my seat.

yes, and i was so pissed that i missed the trailer for next week because they buried it in the show afterwards and we did not have it recorded...

i CANNOT wait until Sunday!! i think they are going to introduce a lot more shady characters!!!

welcome back, jake!

here's my pinterest page

it looks AMAZING!!! gotta love the BGE!

nyd is the big holiday at our house...

the eats...

first batch of chicken...still another batch on the BGE :)

plus more food and drink :)

happy belated new years!

@spencerkmyta, thanks for joining LST and explaining the situation. It took big cajones and I can appreciate your honesty and humbleness.

Forgot to tag... (hope this works)

Dear @Valerie Vargas

In my relatively short tattoo career, like most artists, I have made good and bad decisions, and everything in between. I am an artist far capable of my own design work, and have no intention of excuses if I have in any way offended you.

Carly has been a huge fan of your artwork for as long as I've known her, long before I had ever stumbled upon your portfolio. The two pieces that reflected your original work were meant to be "loosely based fan art", of course that term comes with a grey area, and after reading some of the comments throughout this thread I can see that many or most people think I overstepped a line. In retrospect, the comment I noted most true, and that drove a point home for me was "I think the biggest shame is for the owner of the original tattoo".

We had made some changes here or there to both designs, and I have and never would claim the tattoos to be custom pieces in any way. They were without denial Valerie Vargas designs, and any one who has ever complimented the piece in my studio has been told about your work. The watermark went on the photo only because each of my portfolio pieces at that time had it, and it was added in reference to the photo, not the design. The internet makes the world a little smaller, and although I had once thought I would like to speak with you one day, I certainly had never hoped this would be the context of our conversation.

I apologize to those offended, or who felt I was intentionally plagiarizing. At the end of the day, this did, undoubtably teach me a lesson and clear up that "grey area". We are fans of your work, and at the end of the day the responsibility for the integrity of my work falls on my shoulders, not Carly's. She is my wife but also a client. Perhaps some lessons come just in time for the new year.

Thankyou.

or this...

thanks kev....a very sad story. he has such a beautiful family.

The Jon Gerhard Fund

He is also trying to sell his shop.

Jon and his wife Jacqueline have been married for 15 years. They have two beautiful children: Dean, who's 12, and Olivia, who's 7. Jon is an amazing father, husband and friend. He is one of the most caring people we know.

On March 4th 2011, Jon was diagnosed with a Glioblastoma Stage 4 cancerous brain tumor. He suffered a grande mal seizure while at work and was transported to Marin General. He underwent a successful brain surgery, and seemed to be recovering from the cancer.

Unfortunately, on December 4th, the family received news that they found multiple tumors throughout his brain. They are inoperable due to size and location.

The doctors aren't giving Jon much time to live due to the severity of his disease.* Jon's wife will be his full time care-giver, but will be unable to work and provide income for the family. They will need our help financially to get through this devastating time.

@tammy

I something similar to those pork belly buns at an asian fusion restaurant in Chicago last year. ... Awesome dish!

Made a Jamie Oliver recipe last night for pork belly tacos.

Fried them in paprika along with haricot beans, served on corn tacos (store-bought) with greek yoghurt and a salsa of ripe tomato and avocado diced.

i love pork belly...this is one of my favorite things to make with it...momofuko pork belly buns.

got my big green egg smoker and made this with some baked beans, cornbread, collard greens

back to LST in mexico, we should do a LST meet up in MEXICO! we have already been down there with @Scott Sylvia, @Lochlan, @Barbie Doll and @dari

let me see if i can find a pic

sounds fun! LST meetup NY!

i LOVE this show...can't wait to watch it tonight. It is getting JUICY!

Congrats! You guys look awesome...beautiful bride!

congratulations for your 1 year anniversary!

we can look into certain member groups changing usernames...i think it will be fun

On a forum I was on many years ago we were rewarded points based on posting, with the points you could buy things on the forum or from a shop in the forum.... One option was either changing your title or changing the title of someone else.

and when will the buffet start and what will be served?

thanks guys ;)

here is a picture of the progression:

I just thought this was an interesting read.

the full article is here: Reformed skinhead endures agony to remove tattoos

here is part of the article...it is pretty long...

Reformed skinhead endures agony to remove tattoos

By HELEN O'NEILL, AP Special Correspondent

Sunday, October 30, 2011(page 1 of 4) SINGLE PAGE

Print E-mail Share Comments (6) Font | Size:

2

MORE NEWS

Skeptic finds he now agrees global warming is real 10.30.11

Ore. police arrest about 30 Wall Street protesters 10.30.11

Occupy Oakland's return spells trouble to top cop 10.30.11

(10-30) 09:21 PDT , (AP) --

Julie Widner was terrified — afraid her husband would do something reckless, even disfigure himself.

"We had come so far," she says. "We had left the movement, had created a good family life. We had so much to live for. I just thought there has to be someone out there who will help us."

After getting married in 2006, the couple, former pillars of the white power movement (she as a member of the National Alliance, he a founder of the Vinlanders gang of skinheads) had worked hard to put their racist past behind them. They had settled down and had a baby; her younger children had embraced him as a father.

___

EDITOR'S NOTE — A reformed skinhead, Bryon Widner was desperate to rid himself of the racist tattoos that covered his face — so desperate that he turned to former enemies for help, and was willing to endure months of pain. Second of two parts.

___

And yet, the past was ever-present — tattooed in brutish symbols all over his body and face: a blood-soaked razor, swastikas, the letters "HATE" stamped across his knuckles.

Wherever he turned Widner was shunned — on job sites, in stores and restaurants. People saw a menacing thug, not a loving father. He felt like an utter failure.

The couple had scoured the Internet trying to learn how to safely remove the facial tattoos. But extensive facial tattoos are extremely rare, and few doctors have performed such complicated surgery. Besides, they couldn't afford it. They had little money and no health insurance.

So Widner began investigating homemade recipes, looking at dermal acids and other solutions. He reached the point, he said, where "I was totally prepared to douse my face in acid."

In desperation, Julie did something that once would have been unimaginable. She reached out to a black man whom white supremacists consider their sworn enemy.

Daryle Lamont Jenkins runs an anti-hate group called One People's Project based in Philadelphia. The 43-year-old activist is a huge thorn in the side of white supremacists, posting their names and addresses on his website, alerting people to their rallies and organizing counter protests.

In Julie he heard the voice of a woman in trouble.

"It didn't matter who she had once been or what she had once believed," he said. "Here was a wife and mother prepared to do anything for her family."

Jenkins suggested that Widner contact T.J. Leyden, a former neo-Nazi skinhead Marine who had famously left the movement in 1996, and has promoted tolerance ever since. More than anyone else, Leyden understood the revulsion and self-condemnation that Widner was going through. And the danger.

"Hide in plain sight," he advised. "Lean on those you trust."

Most importantly, Leyden told him to call the Southern Poverty Law Center.

"If anyone can help," he said, "it's those guys."

___

When Widner called, says Joseph Roy, "it was like the Osama Bin Laden of the movement calling in."

Roy is chief investigator of hate and extreme groups for the SPLC. The nonprofit civil rights organization, based in Montgomery, Ala., tracks hate groups, militias and extreme organizations. Aggressive at bringing lawsuits, it has successfully shut down leading white power groups, bankrupted their leaders and won multimillion dollar awards for victims.

The SPLC hears regularly from people who say they are trying to leave hate and extreme groups. Some are fakes. Some are trying to spread false intelligence. Many are in crisis, and return to the group when the crisis passes.

"Very rarely have we met a reformed racist skinhead," says Roy.

Over the years, Roy had dubbed Widner the "pit bull" of skinheads. "No one was more aggressive, more confrontational, more notorious," Roy said.

And yet, over several weeks of conversations with Bryon and Julie, he became convinced. There was something different about this couple — a sincerity, a raw determination to put the past behind them and to seek some sort of redemption.

Read more: Reformed skinhead endures agony to remove tattoos