It is no secret among those who know me that I am fond of wearing graphic t-shirts, and have quite a collection of SF-themed ones, often very subversive. One of my recent favorites is the Legends of Science Fiction t shirt (shown at right), which came out earlier this year after a rather distasteful group of people tried to game the 2016 Hugo Awards (one of the major SF literary awards) by using slates to nominate their own hand-picked people. One of these nominees was the inimitable Dr. Chuck Tingle, whose fourth-wall-smashing satirical M/M erotica is admired around the globe. These melancholy mutts got Dr. Tingle’s short work “Space Raptor Butt Invasion” onto the Short Story nominee list for the Hugos, assuming that it would infuriate the “Social Justice Warrior” types that they claimed had taken over the Hugos and ruined them for their proper audience — straight white men (see here for a more cogent explanation of the whole michigas).

Unfortunately, these weepy woofies had their joke blow up in their face when Dr. Tingle found out about this and starting trolling them on line. Hard. One might even say poundingly so. Dr. Tingle didn’t win the Hugo, but his dedication to doing the right thing was hailed as sheer brilliance, and this t-shirt is in celebration of his being a true buckaroo to the SF community.

Cut to today, when I grab a clean t-shirt from the pile still waiting to be folded and put away, not really registering anything about the graphic design other than, “Yeah, this is my t-shirt, not Ramón’s.” I then headed out to go pick up the J Crew some canned cat food, with a stop at the local Walmart Neighborhood Market on the way back to get pop and other comestibles for the evening.

While on my way into the WNM, I was waylaid by a veritable cherub in a Cub Scout uniform asking if I would buy some hideously overpriced popcorn to support his troop. Being a former slinger of Girl Scout cookies, band candy, and other fundraising food items, I felt a pang of sympathy and headed over to this little pavilion to make the purchase and get my tin of caramel corn. This involved chatting with two lovely den moms, a Boy Scout and the scoutmaster while they processed my credit card, after which I headed into the store to get what else I needed. It wasn’t until the clerk asked to see my t-shirt more clearly that I realized what exactly I was wearing.

Um…oops? At least the kids didn’t seem scarred for life, although the clerk was certainly taken aback when I explained about Dr. Tingle’s oeuvre. Just another day in the life, folks…