Fresh Ink: An Anthology

A central motif throughout Fresh Ink is different forms of art and their importance to various characters. Art often helps marginalized young people survive and thrive despite the prejudices they face. Whether it’s cosplay, music, graffiti, or drawing, art plays a central role for the characters in these stories because through art, they can find joy in life and, more importantly, can be themselves.

In “Meet Cute,” Nic and Tamia meet at a convention for fantasy and science fiction fans. The two bond over the characters they play and their efforts to change those characters to better relate to and fit with minorities like themselves. They express displeasure over the fact that famous franchises like Star Trek and The X-Files vastly underrepresent queer characters, Asian characters and other people of color, and minorities in general. Nic makes it clear that she wants to do something about it: She “want[s] to help make sure that someday movies do include people like gender-flipped Sulu and race-bent Scully” (29). In other words, art is important to her, but she wishes she could see herself and her struggles reflected more frequently than in these characters; she wants to ensure that future generations can experience this by creating art herself.

Just as Nic and Tamia find joy in science fiction films and use the convention to express themselves and meet others like them, Shirin in “Be Cool for Once” finds herself through the music of her favorite band, Thousand Day Queens. A self-described introvert, she struggles with venturing outside her own mind to enjoy life and “adventure” except at Thousand Day Queens concerts, where she forgets about her insecurities and enjoys the music, losing herself in the sound and dancing. Music gives Shirin the freedom and the courage to emerge from her shell and defeat her view of herself as an introvert.

In “A Boy’s Duty,” Zakary’s form of expression is drawing, particularly depicting the universe. Although he’s an unhoused runaway and a former thief, he strives to make an impact on the world through his art. After his friends rob Mr. Jackson’s café, he paints a mural of stars on the outside wall of the café, which Mrs. Jackson notes “are good advertisement. You see them from the bridge, three blocks over” (115). In addition to being a painter, Zakary has a strong desire to continually learn about the universe and plans to use his knowledge to become a quartermaster in the Navy and eventually help astronauts reach the moon. The “stars” he spends so much time learning about metaphorically represent his dreams and aspirations. By the story’s end, he realizes that the “duty” he struggles to understand is ultimately a duty to himself: to follow his dreams. His artistic ability is just one tool with which he strives to make that happen.

The supernatural play “Tags” explores both the real-world and supernatural power of art through the graffiti tagging of four deceased boys of color. The story portrays the perspective of each boy through their conversations after death, as they try to keep their memory alive and stay in the thoughts of the living, which will sustain the boys in the afterlife. As Willie explains it, “[W]e got our tags on the wall and people can see we were real, and they’re thinking about us” (76). Often, after young boys of color die, especially because of violence and drugs (as these boys did), their humanity is erased, and they become political talking points. However, their titular tags allow them to leave a physical mark on the world while also giving them the power to remain on Earth in the supernatural sense.