‘Don’t judge a person by their ink’

Don’t judge a person by their ink. This modernized take on the familiar adage, never judge a book by its cover, is the message “Tattooed Mormon” blogger Al Fox Carraway shares with anyone who will listen.

On Friday, Al Fox Carraway spoke to students at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Institute of Religion. Carraway, a convert to the church, shared her conversion story with audience members and expressed her gratitude for the religion’s impact on her life. Also known as the “Tattooed Mormon,” Carraway has earned a lot of attention for her tattoos covering both arms.

Prior to her conversion, Carraway was living on her own in her home state of New York. As a single 20-year-old, Carraway earned a degree in graphic design and marketing and was working as a parking enforcer at a nearby hospital.

Two LDS missionaries approached her as she was helping a neighbor move. She jokingly offered to listen as long as they brought her a steak dinner. Later that same day, she was surprised to see two missionaries with a steak dinner and a Book of Mormon in hand.

“All I wanted to do was prove my elders wrong,” Carraway said.

After several discussions and many simple and “awkward” prayers, Carraway said she felt differently. After being baptized into the LDS church, the awkward feelings and the embarrassment that she once felt were replaced with happiness.

She said despite this happiness, many of her friends and coworkers rejected her and Carraway’s father even refused to speak with her.

“Not one friend stayed,” she said. “They all left. It hurt to see how easy it was for them to do that.”

Shortly after becoming a member of the church, Carraway decided to move to Utah. After only living in Utah for one day, Carraway received negative attention from complete strangers.

“I felt like I was being punished by doing what I thought was the right thing,” Carraway said.

At that point, Carraway said she had a decision to make. She said she had to choose how she would react to the judgmental stares and reactions she experienced from other people.

Since that experience, Carraway went on to create YouTube videos and a blog about her experiences, sharing her conversion story with many people. She was also recently featured on the cover of LDS Living magazine. The response Carraway has received is much larger than anything she ever expected.

“If you just try, you will end up doing things you never thought of in places you could never dream of,” Carraway said.

Many students in attendance were uplifted by Carraway’s message. For Tyrell Crane, a junior studying public relations, Carraway’s situation is similar to that of some of his loved ones. He said Carraway’s label of the “Tattooed Mormon” does not represent her character.

“I have family and friends who have ink, so that’s not that big of a distinguishing factor,” Crane said. “I think that’s kind of her trademark that people associate her with, but the ink doesn’t define the person, so she’s just Al Fox to me.”

Senior Jessica Rutledge, who is majoring in English, said she was inspired by the message because Carraway has experienced so much diversity outside of Utah. She admired that although Al has been on both sides of the fence, she has found happiness and wants to share it with other people.

Rutledge explained some of the expectations and difficulties Mormons face, saying that being LDS in Utah is different from being LDS outside of Utah.

“Everybody looks at you and they expect you to represent your faith, where unfortunately here there’s other stigmas because you have LDS people who live all types of lifestyles, regardless of what they profess to believe,” Rutledge said.

After listening to Carraway’s message, Crane said he wants to give more compliments to people and to be more genuine to others.

“She reminded me how important it is to not judge a book by its cover,” Crane said.

As for Carraway, who recently moved to Arizona, dealing with judgment has become much easier to bear, and she said she is a stronger person as a result. She said that although her situation never changed, she was able to find the strength to overcome her trials.

Carraway closed by encouraging students to keep pushing forward, despite the negativity and challenges they may face.

“Go forth,” she said. “Forget not why we are here. Forget not what it is we are part of. Forget not whose hands we are in.”

— alyssa.hawkins@aggiemail.usu.edu

Twitter: @_alyssahawkins