Contemplation: T-Shirts, Quilts, Life Stories, Etc.
Nothing quite like a good contemplation, one of my favorite life activities.
For today’s contemplation I will first direct you to take a look at Matt Selman’s blog post on the creation of the ultimate nerdy t-shirt quilt. Quite a terrific piece in my opinion (both the post and the actual quilt). I feel that “MEGA-ANAL” may need to be added to my lexicon and receive a degree of regular use. I must say that this is not the first time I have heard of the “t-shirt quilt,” but the spin, as a chronicle of one persons nerdy past, is rather enjoyable.
And why shouldn’t it be?
We are talking about t-shirts here people! I mean God damn! Can you think of another item of clothing that has over the past 60 some-odd years had more awesomeness. I’m not talking about fucking fashion here folks. Admittedly you probably won’t find the t-shirt as a major item in any of the major fashion weeks around the world (though I doubt they are completely absent from said weeks either). But in truth I doubt there is another type of clothing item that has played such a significant role in the concept of individual creation. You see the wondrous versatility of t-shirts is in that they offer so many degrees of self expression, and yet they offer the ability to be pretty much demographically neutral in that anybody can pull off wearing a t-shirt.
I own a shit ton of t-shirts of varying degrees.Hhonestly probably a lot more than I need. I am a t-shirt and jeans kind of dude and would be pretty happy if those clothing items, along with some form or underwear, maybe socks, and a hoodie if the temperature required it, were all I had to wear for the rest of my life (yeah, I’d even relinquish my kick-ass snap shirts if I could just rock jeans and t-shirts for the rest of my days). As far as t-shirts go I have broken mine down into three main categories.
- Undershirt t-shirts: White, black, and tan. To be worn with an appropriate over-shirt, and after work after removing said appropriate over-shirt. Avoided in most other cases. Maintained mostly as a cultural norm and also to keep sweat at bay. Kind of a work-shirt deal which gives it a bit of the “ugh work” feel.
- Solid color t-shirts: Colors for every occasion and/or mood. To be worn whenever I am not trying to say anything terribly significant about myself. Sometimes accompanied with an over-shirt of some sort, with the awareness that said over-shirt is meant more decoratively and may be discarded at a later time, leaving me with just the solid color t-shirt.
- T-Shirts with something on them: I have all sorts of t-shirts with stuff printed on them (both text and images). These ones are worn to be seen as they obviously say something about myself. They deserve classification of their own.
- Bands: Murder by Death; Grace Potter and the Nocturnals; The Rolling Stones; The Ghost
- College: Plymouth State University (a whole bunch of different ones); Clemson University (I did not attend school at Clemson but I go to football games there); University of Tennessee (also did not go to school here, was given as a gift, not allowed to wear around my Clemson friends – they say it is a hideous orange color)
- Beer: Currently only two Magic Hat shirts (#9 and Circus Boy) must add to this category
- The ETC: “I’m Gumby Damnit!”; “I am a Moon Monster” (possibly my favorite t-shirt, which I only wear on very special occasions now); “Hooked on Fonix dun good for me!”; Hooters Shirt (from Fort Lauderdale, FL where I have never been); “Where the Wild Things Are” (in conjunction with a snap over-shirt created perhaps one of the greatest drunk pick-up lines in my entire life); Sloboda Family S (a shirt of family significance in many levels – this ones got stories!)
When I wore this shirt at Bonnaroo in 2006 I got some of the best drunken stoned hippie comments I could ever ask for. I look extremely young in this picture, it is from about five years ago (sophmore year of college?)
My point is (assuming I was working on making a point) that I can understand Mr. Selman’s desire to preserve something of the t-shirts that played a part in his life (albeit not the solid color or undershirt t-shirts which would be MEGA-ANAL and kind of icky). So why not preserve them in a quilt right?
Damn Right! Because quilts are flippin’ sweet! I feel great sadness for any poor sods who have never had quilts of their own, as they have obviously been living deprived lives. How is quilt lacking a life deprivation you ask? Well let me point this out to you. The Amish, who are all about depriving themselves of pretty awesome stuff (TVs, computers, cars, coffee-makers, electric nose-hair trimmers, etc.), make sure that they have fucking awesome quilts. Look, they even allow the Internets (another thing they generally deprive themselves of) advertise and display their amazingly fucking awesome quilting!
In all seriousness though, if you have never had a quilt do yourself a fucking favor and get one, they are great! My mom used to (and might still) do quilting and as a child I had an awesome homemade quilt on my bed. It was the best. I have never encountered a comforter that can remotely compare with that quilt (which sadly has fallen apart due to many years of use). You want to know why quilts are the best piece of bedding/blankets; because they are made with love and bad-ass skill, that’s why. Don’t believe me? Fine, then go make a fucking quilt! And while you are sucking at doing it (unless you aren’t because you are a quilter) remember that every stitch requires love and if even one stitch has just a mote of apathy or, God forbid, hate, then you have failed in utter entirety.
And here is the the greatest thing that I can think of about a t-shirt quilt. You see both t-shirts and quilts have the wondrous ability at providing a sense of story for those who encounter them and use them. By combining the various t-shirts of significant meaning into an awesome love-stitched quilt one has expanded a narrative of meaning beyond just the shirt or just a quilt. It is an awesome “Let our powers combine!” moment (albeit with significantly less/no environmentalism and/or Captain Planet).
That last part about Captain Planet totally threw my entire train-of-thought and now my thought-caboose is all in a tizzy (also, fucking server maintenance in the middle of posting is annoying).
Anyway, in conclusion of this lengthy post, I think we can all argee that t-shirts, quilts, the Amish, and Captain Planet are about some of the most fucking awesome things that exist in the world. Go ahead and try and argue that, because you will be fucking wrong.
