Time Warp

While at the Kimironko market awaiting a seamstress to finish the buttons on a new dress for Zoe (really cute, brilliant aqua and black African fabric), I see a Rwandan guy walking out of the covered market stall wearing an Eagan High School t-shirt. Seriously. The suburb I grew up in -and where my siblings graduated from- in Minnesota.

So I stopped him (with my mouth agape) and told him I'm from the place on his shirt. He was surprised to hear it was in the United States, and had never thought about the meaning of the word. Just a shirt. More strangely, while I'm speaking with him, Kenny Rogers' The Gambler is blaring loudly from a nearby stall.

I have seen many t-shirts that seem very strange given the context, and it seems that people think as little about the graphics on them as someone with Abercrombie et al probably does. My favorites are usually Minnesota connections: Randy Moss Vikings jersey, Twins T-shirts, a Gophers sweatshirt. But my favorite (until today) of all has been the guy in his 20s, wearing a pink "ringer" type shirt with pink trim and a colorful 70s-style glittery "Material Girl".