During the Minneapolis occupation by the Federal wannabe-gestapo a symbol arose that came to define the moment. In early January a Reddit user, Feral_User_ posted a simple design that mashed up the symbol of the rebel alliance in Star Wars with the state bird of Minnesota, the common loon. Within days this symbol had spread, been riffed on, and quickly became a unifying logo for those that stood up against the oppressive regime trying to punish our city.

The original artists that created these works knew that going up against Lucasfilm would be a bad idea, and so all of these designs were shared with the world royalty-free to do with what we wanted. The design has made its way on to t-shirts and flags and signs all over town, and of course there’s a fair number of people simply trying to make a buck on merchandising something popular. Yet, the power of the symbol has persisted and will most likely be something that unites people for decades to come.

As someone who opposes fascism and authoritarianism, is proud of Minnesota, and loves a beautiful symbol, the Rebel Loon has had a lot of meaning for me. So much so that I decided to get a tattoo of this symbol on my left arm, where I have imagery of things that are meaningful to me.

Since my regular tattoo artist has moved away I had to find a new person to trust my body with. My regular artist was able to give me a great recommendation to an artist that he had worked with in the past and could blend his style into the design to ensure that everything looked cohesive on my arm. Tyler Jewett at London Rose Tattoo did an excellent job blending the symbol with the style I was looking for, and now I’ve got an absolutely beautiful image on my arm right under my large tattoo of the state of Minnesota.

I know tattoos aren’t for everyone, but once I was older I’ve come to enjoy the slow deliberate process of picking images and designs to emblazon on my skin. I didn’t get my first tattoo until my 30s and didn’t really go wild with them until my 40s, which I think is a good age to be able to make good choices of permanent images on my skin. I’m happy to make this little guy a new part of my collection.

Oh, and I think I’ve named him Harold….