I-Xploration

History is particular. Not everything can be remembered. Sometimes what’s forgotten isn't really important. More often, what you remember is always skewed. This theory applies to recalling people and places prominent in our lives. Here in Cleveland, we have a structure that has a vast history and a lost past for anyone under the age of 50. What do you know about the International Exposition Center, better known as the I-X Center? Do you immediately think of the ferris wheel and teens fighting to the death in felt hats, or do you think about home improvement or garden shows happening across the nearly one million square feet of floor space? The real history buff Ohioans are aware of the role the I-X Center played in the Second World War. The giant convention center is where they built the wings of the exact model of plane that dropped the first nuclear weapons. What started as a General Motors plant became a piece of our economy during war times. There have been efforts made to save the history of this place. We have museums to preserve some of the story and a couple photos. Still, it never feels like we have the big picture. The best way to get knowledge of the past is to get a firsthand account. Enter Mary Jane Grospitch Semen. In 1951, Mary began her career in the Cadillac Plant fresh out of high school. The plant was a bustling city within a city. There were dickhead bosses and work parties – a normal job. For Mary, this was just a good job for a Northeast Ohio girl to fall into. She went from $35 a week at the bank to $500 a month working for the government in wartime. She understood the importance of what they were doing. Mary, at 19, was working a grown woman’s job. From 1951 to 1959, the massive building was in a third evolution. Mary worked as a secretary for the gun mounting department. She was the main point of contact for all correspondence in her department. During Mary’s time there, they built the M41 “Walker” Bulldog, a massive, manual transmission, reconnaissance killing machine. Little did she know she was helping build a machine that her future husband fought beside in Korea. Mary came to know this building inside and out – she even knew about what time would turn into the secrets of the plant, such as rumors of tunnels under the I-X Center. “There are no tunnels in the I-X Center,” Mary screams. “They were underground roads! Three roads the length, three roads the width.” Tanks don’t fit in a tunnel. As Mary describes it, the tank plant was a sprawling classic assembly line on the surface. In the basement was all the paperwork and staff needed to operate a weapons factory during war. Mary recalls the vibrations that would rattle the plate glass windows as the tanks would roll along those roads outside her underground offices. Mary was more than an office girl. She would hang with the guys, cash checks, and anything else that was needed. She had an interest in knowing exactly what was going on above her head. “I really wanted to drive one of those tanks,” she admits. Mary is what you’d get if Rosie The Riveter ended up in the steno pool. If she just could have stolen the keys to one of those beasts, A trip back in time when the I-X Center was in the tank business. James Earl Brassfield

I-XPLORATION continues on page 27

SKIN THE FRAME continued from page 23

That request was denied. The Sherwoods also turned down an inquiry from a man with a full body suit who wanted to sell his tattoos to interested patrons before he died. They said no to that request because they wanted to create eternal memorials, not pieces of skin for sale or as sideshow art.

Both Mike and Kyle are very aware that there are people who hear “skin removal” and think about Ed Gein’s lampshades, which is why they’re sure to turn down any requests that may make people question the integrity of their craft. Instead, they focus on creating a new way to preserve the work an artist has done and allow body art to be shared in the same way as a painting or some other work.

“It goes back to the art that these tattoos are,” Kyle says about the work of professionals they encounter at tattoo shows and through work. “These guys are the Rembrandts and Picassos of tattooing. Just because it’s ink and skin, why are we to knock it or degrade it because it’s not on a canvas or parchment?”

In addition to the artistic value of their preservations, the Sherwoods also note the importance of the emotional attachment people have for the ink they save. One daughter saved her mother’s matching frog tattoo – the mother got hers after she became sober because “frogs don’t drink.” Another mother wanted to save her son’s chest piece to hold on to a piece of him while the rest of his body was cremated. Each tattoo and individual has a story, and the Sherwoods have developed several relationships in the process.

“Honestly, we’ve met some friends,” Mike says. “They feel a special bond to you and I feel a special bond with them because we’re working with their loved one at the most difficult time in their life and it’s a bond that you wouldn’t think about, but it’s happened.”

From free tummy tucks to ongoing friendships, a simple idea over drinks has developed into a new way for people across the country to memorialize those who have passed – and it’s all thanks to a couple of guys from Northeast Ohio. If you ever need someone to preserve part of you or a loved one’s story, Save My Ink Forever has plenty of skin in the game.

Need to know more? Head to savemyink.tattoo for more information about Save My Ink Forever.