The Tears of Things: 20th Century Tee

April 22, 2006

20th Century Tee

by Jerome du Bois

Catherine refers to this piece as her "20th Century Tee." She made it in late 2000. (She says she would not have made it after 9/11 --you can read the detailed explanation here-- because these days she considers herself an American first, and a citizen of the World second.)

I present it here now to honor Earth Day, but more to mark the fifth anniversary of my marriage to this remarkable woman, a few days ago. (When we change the banner, you can find the image here.)

You see, the shirt is almost six years old, and it's been through everything. Catherine calls it her work shirt, and in it she has performed most of those jobs that too many people nowadays say "Americans won't do." Bullshit. I won't go into details, but Catherine has done the skankiest jobs in that shirt, and more than once. But like a Timex watch, it takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'.

Everything about the piece is recycled. She bought the plain camouflage tee at a secondhand store, long before the camouflage craze. She cut the letters out from another secondhand tee-shirt. She not only glued the rubberized letters to the cotton, she sewed them down as well. She even learned how to do the chain stitching from buying a secondhand book from a secondhand bookstore.

Even though it's delicately covered with hand embroidery, it's miraculously resilient, like the American Spirit.

Posted by Jerome at April 22, 2006 03:30 PM | TrackBack