Topper Tats scours St. Edward’s University to bring you the stories behind the most creative, the most meaningful and the most what-was-I-thinking tattoos inked on our students.

Most of us remember the children’s book “Where the Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak, and many of us went to see the movie adaptation that came out in 2009. For freshman Brandy Shigemoto, however, the message left by Sendak made an immense impression on her.

This impression was so impactful that she decided to get a “Where the Wild Things Are” inspired tattoo on her arm.

Shigemoto’s tattoo, which reads, “Inside all of us is…hope,” was in response to the deeper meaning behind the kid’s story. The phrase is a tagline from the movie. The dominant word is “hope” with the words “inside all of us is…” inside the O of “hope.”

“It means a lot to me,” Shigemoto said, “It’s pretty simple but of course all tattoos have a deeper meaning.”

More specifically, it was a quote from Sendak that truly spoke to Shigemoto.

“Fear and anxiety are an intrinsic part of [children’s] everyday lives,” Sendak once said. “They continually cope with frustrations as best they can. And it is through fantasy that children achieve catharsis. It is the best means they have for taming Wild Things.”

For Shigemoto, the combination of this quote, the children’s story and her own personal “Wild Things,” was inspiration enough to get the message inked on her skin.

Shigemoto knew she wanted to get a hope-themed tattoo, but it wasn’t until she saw the trailer for the “Where the Wild Things Are” movie that she knew exactly which route to take.

“[The movie] came at a perfect time in my life,” Shigemoto said.

Her father passed away around the time that the movie was released. Her tattoo reminds her daily of the ability to bounce back from hard times.

“You can pretty much go through anything,” Shigemoto said. “You don’t know how well you can deal with it until you go through it.”

She explained that when her dad passed away, everyone just expected her to fall to pieces.

“When stuff like that happens…you kind of just keep yourself together because you have to for yourself,” she said.