I saw a hip-looking young man walking down the street with a couple of friends and realized there was something different about him. He was wearing a sleeveless T-shirt and shorts and his friends were also dressed in summer clothing. But unlike his friends, he had no visible tattoos. Next to them, he looked like a blank canvas.

Recently there was a story in the paper about a grandmother who is heavily tattooed and who draws gasps from her fellow seniors. It reminded me of what others have said — that if tattoos have crept onto the bodies of the middle-class mainstream and of the elderly, the tattoo party is over. I mean, how edgy are tattoos if your minister has one? “Oooh, the company comptroller has a tattoo on her neck? Wow, ain’t she a corporate rebel???”

Looking at the young man sans tats made me wonder: will an unmarked body be the new sign of rebellion and are the ink-stained masses hopelessly passé? What do you think?