Inappropriate Uses of Pens 4

While we love to see people using pens, there are just some ways in which pens probably should not be used. With that in mind, we thought you might enjoy this collection of bits about people with pens behaving badly.

Artists who display their work in Malaysia have to be careful how much of a woman’s body they leave showing, or government officials might whip out their ink pens.

Inappropriate Use of Pens

 

Ross Capili, a photographer who was part of the Philippine delegation to the 24th Asian International Art Exhibition, told Business World his Coexistence #35 ran afoul of Malaysian censors because it included a woman’s exposed breasts. He said he was told the submit another work, digitally cover the breasts, or be removed from the exhibition in Malaysia.

Speaking to Business World, the artist let drop this little nugget of interest:

“I expected it; I mean censors Malaysians have been known to black out an artwork’s cleavage area with a Pentel pen,” he said. “I didn’t want them to destroy my art so I retouched it myself. Mas okay na gawan ng paraan kaysa ’di mapakita. [Better to compromise than not be seen].”

Seriously? That’s what they use good Pentel pens to do, deface art? Sheesh, someone should introduce those censors to a nice Rhodia notebook, so they can put their pens to better purpose.

By the way, Capili said he sent in a retouched image via email for approval, but when he learned his art would not be opened by customs prior to going on display, he just packed the original, instead. It stayed up through the entire show without incident.

• Pens really aren’t mightier than swords. But, law enforcement officials in Louisiana say that was the weapon of choice for a father angry at a man who had attacked his son.

Shawn Wise, 43, was sitting in court to face charges of hitting his girlfriend and her two children when the father of one of the kids decided to strike with his pen, according to the Baton Rouge Advocate.

From the paper:

At that point, the man pulled an ink pen, grabbed Wise by the head and began to stab him, the assistant prosecutor said.

Some of the stab wounds were to the face, including one around an eye, Guidry said.

No word on what kind of pen was used. We just hope it wasn’t damaged.

Speaking of Louisiana, the St. Tammany News brings a report of another ink pen-wielding attacker. This time, it was one 13-year-old boy going after a second 13-year-old. A police spokesman told the paper:

…one of the students used an ink pen to stab another boy twice in his upper right arm and once in his left arm. He said the fight appears to have resulted at the culmination of several verbal encounters between the two boys over a period of several days. The victim’s injuries appeared to be minor.

Not good. But hey, at least kids are still using pens, right?

Now this one is not exactly an inappropriate use. We just hate to see pens getting abused this way. (Unless it’s fictional, in which case we love to see fight scenes involving pens.)

WTOV Channel 9 reported that a West Virgina college student who’d been falsely charged with bank robbery was released after DNA led investigators to the real culprit. Among the evidence police found was this:

a sweatshirt and hat found on the riverbank later that day were positively identified by witnesses as being the robber’s, and the sweatshirt had ink marks on the sleeve where a second teller had jabbed the robber with an ink pen while he was reaching into the money drawer.

Good for her to standing up to a robber (and surviving). Maybe next time, she’ll have a pair of scissors handy and can save the pen for writing.

• In case you were wondering, apparently prison inmates in California do use ink pens for drawing. They just don’t do it the traditional way.

According to CorrectionsOne.com, this is from a series of photos by James Simes of items confiscated by the California Department of Corrections.

It’s a Paper Mate stick pen that has been turned into a tattoo device for making those nifty blue ink tats that are all the rage among hardcore ex-cons in the U.S.

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Tony Bridges

As a seasoned journalist and freelance writer, I've spent over three decades telling stories and exploring the world through the written word. With a passion for writing instruments, I found my niche at The Pen Vibe, a blog that shares our collective fascination with pens, pencils, and other tools that have shaped the art of writing.

1 thought on “Inappropriate Uses of Pens 4”

  1. Wow, they do tattoos in jail with something as dangerous as that? That would hurt a lot, just wait until you get out haha…

    Reply

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