Transcension

by Jessica Del Curto

The Daily Lobo

Vickie Temer said dangling from a rope by the skin of her knees and shoulder blades isn't as painful as it looks.

"It's mind over matter," she said. "It's really just how you look at it."

The 20-year-old has been performing acts of suspension since she was 18. She is part of the Albuquerque group Ascension Suspension.

Suspension is a practice where eight-gauge hooks are pierced through various areas of the body. The hooks are attached to a pulley system that lifts the person off the ground, and he or she is suspended in the air by a few inches of skin.

"It's an adrenaline rush," Temer said. "It's a high all in itself, and a healthier way to do it. Some people use cocaine, but this is more of a natural high."

At a show on Thursday at the Downtown nightclub OPM, Temer had two hooks placed into the skin of her kneecaps, two hooks in the skin in her calves and two put into the skin above her shoulder blades. Then she hung in what is called a Lotus position, while Jessica Rimmer, a fellow Ascension Suspension member and UNM student, hung next to her in a similar fashion. In front of a packed audience, the MC of the event brought out another participant, Kasja McCarthy. McCarthy, also 20 years old, had four hooks placed into her upper back, in what is called the Suicide position. As she hung vertical in the air she began swinging back and forth, gaining momentum. Then she was lowered to the floor, where another girl wrapped her arms and legs around McCarthy in an embrace. The pulley lifted the two into the air, and McCarthy supported the weight of both girls with just a few inches of skin on her back.

Earlier in the night, Jeremy Adams wowed the audience by being suspended from the skin on one of his kneecaps. Another member, Ben Kennedy, had four ropes hooked into his chest. While he was suspended in the air, he asked someone to cut two of the ropes.

Most group members have had body modification of some sort. Full-body tattoos, split tongues, gauged ears and beads or horns implanted under their skin are not uncommon among members of Ascension Suspension.

At the group's shows, there is blood, flashing neon lights, and half-naked women dancing onstage to blaring Nine Inch Nails. The group's Web site refers to some events as freak shows.

But members of Ascension Suspension insist that Thursday was just a performance, and the vibe at private suspensions are completely different.

Steve Truitt is the co-owner of Stay Gold Tattoo & Body Modification. He founded Ascension Suspension six years ago. He said people suspend for numerous reasons, and it's usually not to get a reaction out of a crowd of people.

"It's different for everybody," he said. "We do a lot of shows and stuff, but we also suspend in a more private setting for spiritual reasons, a rite of passage, or stress relief."

Kennedy said when he participates in private suspensions, he only has his close friends with him. He said the first time he did it, it changed a lot of things for him.

"We as a culture lack any type of rite of passage," he said. "I was on a cusp and I was waiting for coldness. I'm not saying this made me a man or an adult, but it opened up a lot of doors that I didn't even know existed before."

He said as he prepares to suspend, in his mind he is toasting death.

"Not in the negative, 'I-want-to-die' sense," he said. "It's just a threshold I am trying to cross. Just to step outside of my body and outside my mind and try to overcome."

One might think members of Ascension Suspension hold a high tolerance for pain.

"I hate pain, believe it or not, considering I have scars and tattoos," Temer said.

She said suspension is about being able to put the pain elsewhere.

UNM student Rachel Berardinelli agreed with Temer. She said the first time she suspended was in January. She contacted Truitt, who charges $50 for suspensions and $100 for private suspensions. She had four hooks put into the skin above her shoulder blades.

"The first two hooks that went in didn't hurt," she said. "Once I had all the hooks in I became really happy and euphoric, and I didn't feel any pain at all."

When she felt comfortable, the rope was pulled, and she became suspended in the air. She stayed suspended for 30 minutes.

"As soon as I was up there I said, 'I'm never coming down.' I was laughing and smiling and giggly. I got to pick up one of my friends off the ground," she said.

Truitt said holding the weight of several people is not unusual. Each hook holds about 100 pounds.

"It's mostly a mental thing, once you can get past the pain," he said. "The hooks usually break before the skin does," he said.

The first time he tried suspension, it was done by inexperienced people, and he passed out.

"They put all the hooks really close in my back and the way it was pulling, it was tightening my chest so much I was having a hard time breathing," he said.

As the leader of the group he organizes shows, helps first-time suspenders relax, and makes sure his piercing needles and hooks are sterile.

UNM medical student Mark Fischer understands the importance of sterilization. He works in the operating rooms of the UNM Hospital as an anesthesia technician. He is also a member of Ascension Suspension. He said he was impressed with Truitt's professionalism and sterile tools.

"They are very sterile, very clean," he said. "We use all kinds of proper techniques."

Piercers wear gloves, and in instances of stacked suspension - where two people suspend on top of each other - members volunteer to be tested for clinical diseases.

"We are very comfortable with each other, but we are taking every precaution," Fischer said.

The first time he was suspended, he said it was like a straight shot of euphoria.

"I was very surprised," he said. "I thought it would be more of an exercise of endurance, but it ended up being quite the opposite. I was able to do something that 99 percent of the world wouldn't think of doing," he said.

Berardinelli said she can't wait to suspend for a second time. For her, it was about overcoming weaknesses.

"2005 was the worst year of my life," she said. "I was so looking forward to being suspended so that I could put myself through trauma and shock. I knew that if I could handle this, then that's really empowering and refreshing."