Mutinous Fashion: T-shirts for the political season

Posted on by

A few weeks back I offered a challenge to SM readers: Design t-shirts for me to wear at the Democratic National Convention next week and I’d buy them from you and publicize them:

design a t-shirt that features a political or social (but non-partisan) message and I can order it using Café Press, Threadless, or one of many other internet t-shirt companies. Send me the design at abhi [at] sepiamutiny dot com. I will narrow it down to the best entries and have SM readers vote on the finalists. I will be at the convention for three full days so I will purchase up to three winning t-shirts to wear on the floor. The more clever/funny/relevant/socially conscious your t-shirt, the more likely it is to grab attention and communicate your message to all the varied citizens expected to be in Denver

Well, a handful of you did take up the challenge (and I thank you)…but none to my satisfaction. What can I say, I am very hard to please and my standards are quite high (as the interns at our North Dakota headquarters know all too well). The response was also much less enthusiastic than I had hoped for. Thus, the always creative Manish and I joined forces once again (he did co-found SM in case you forget) to come up with our own original designs to sell to you all. Below are two that I will be sporting at the convention next week. These two are ready for sale now, but a few others will go on sale as early as next Monday, exclusively through SM and Ultrabrown.

<

p>

Hopefully everyone understands the references but if not remind yourself here and here. Tell your friends.

76 thoughts on “Mutinous Fashion: T-shirts for the political season”

  1. 50 · bess said

    the lard is cheap too.
    deserves a “Too damn pricey for a simple shirt” shirt

    see comment 31

  3. It would be nice if that map of India was replaced with a map of South Asia and made more inclusive. I always thought sepiamutiny represented a meeting place for people of South Asian origin – regardless of the ‘home country’ they had links to. The shirt as it stands right now suggests that only Indians are to be represented by SM at the Democratic National Convention.

    This doesn’t make sense and actually detracts from efforts for more diversity in South Asian spaces as a result–something I pay a lot of attention to. The D-Punjab joke was a reference to Hillary Clinton getting money from India-based companies and has to do with U.S.-India trade and race relations more than anything else. You’d have to find a U.S.-electoral politics/race related Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, or other South Asian country theme for this argument to work. For example, a picture of Obama and McCain dropping bombs together on Pakistan or something along those lines.

  4. Dr. Anonymous, don’t bother. If they don’t understand the shirt then they probably shouldn’t be wearing it. Its like sporting a shirt from a college you’d never be smart enough to get in to.

  5. 54 · Wild Elephant said

    Its like sporting a shirt from a college you’d never be smart enough to get in to.

    i got a shirt that says “barnard or bust”

  6. 55 · Manju said

    i got a shirt that says “barnard or bust”

    I’m a Radcliffe man, myself. Oh wait, you’re punnier than me–I just got it. Busted…

  7. see comment 31

    well, ficus, looks like there’s not enough room for the two of us. So one of us is going to have to leaf.

  8. 53 · Dr AmNonymous said

    It would be nice if that map of India was replaced with a map of South Asia and made more inclusive. I always thought sepiamutiny represented a meeting place for people of South Asian origin – regardless of the ‘home country’ they had links to. The shirt as it stands right now suggests that only Indians are to be represented by SM at the Democratic National Convention.
    This doesn’t make sense and actually detracts from efforts for more diversity in South Asian spaces as a result–something I pay a lot of attention to. The D-Punjab joke was a reference to Hillary Clinton getting money from India-based companies and has to do with U.S.-India trade and race relations more than anything else. You’d have to find a U.S.-electoral politics/race related Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, or other South Asian country theme for this argument to work. For example, a picture of Obama and McCain dropping bombs together on Pakistan or something along those lines.

    Nope, this Indian“South Asian” is still unperturbed

  9. 57 · bess said

    well, ficus, looks like there’s not enough room for the two of us. So one of us is going to have to leaf.

    bess, I fig-ured you would have a better sense of humor than pricey! and the others

  11. WTF is so weird about Jindal and exorcism? My grandmother used to take salt and chilis around my head if I was sick–exorcism is part of Hinduism too–so, the issue has nothing to do with Jindal’s conversion to Catholicism.

    During the Mahabharata, a character exorcises the disembodied spirit of Kali to a vibhitaka tree,[7] the nuts of which were used to create the dice for the vedic dice game.[8] Therefore, not only Kali’s name, but his penchant for gambling and reputation as being evil comes from this dice game.

  12. 61 · rob said

    WTF is so weird about Jindal and exorcism? My grandmother used to take salt and chilis around my head if I was sick–exorcism is part of Hinduism too–so, the issue has nothing to do with Jindal’s conversion to Catholicism. During the Mahabharata, a character exorcises the disembodied spirit of Kali to a vibhitaka tree,[7] the nuts of which were used to create the dice for the vedic dice game.[8] Therefore, not only Kali’s name, but his penchant for gambling and reputation as being evil comes from this dice game.

    Does your grandmother hold office? The president of India is in to this kind of superstition and she is ridiculed, rightly so, for it by the press and her colleagues. She’s a bumpkin, what’s his excuse? And there is something slightly more dangerous in seeing end time prophesy the hand of Satan everywhere than a Hindu concerned with mischevious neighborhood ghosts

  15. Does your grandmother hold office? The president of India is in to this kind of superstition and she is ridiculed, rightly so, for it by the press and her colleagues. She’s a bumpkin, what’s his excuse?

    How are you dividing up Hinduism into “superstition” and, well–its opposite? In for a penny in for a pound, I’m afraid. Myself, I make an artificial barrier between my ‘normal’ life, and what my Mommy tells me to do (my grandmother is dead and cremated, rather than in office).

  16. didnt know pratibha patil’s family commented on sepia…

    I’m not sure why you’re so uncomfortable with the conjunction of Western wealth and Hindu practice–works fine in my family–good luck to you. . . .

  17. 62 · louiecypher said

    And there is something slightly more dangerous in seeing end time prophesy the hand of Satan everywhere than a Hindu concerned with mischevious neighborhood ghosts

    let’s not make excuses for the pernicious superstitions of hinduism such as impureness due to cross-caste associations, an often problematic fatalism, as well as assorted folk/rural medical customs and reliance on shamans as opposed to systematic treatment. they are all problematic.

    the key difference between pratibha patil becoming president and jindal being prez is that in the indian system, the prez is powerless. not that the indian political system is the gold standard of comparison in anycase with goons, criminals and murderers often ruling the roost. and where they don’t, film actors do. not to mention the voting along caste lines.

  18. 66 · rob said

    I’m not sure why you’re so uncomfortable with the conjunction of Western wealth and Hindu practice–works fine in my family–good luck to you. . . .

    where did you infer i was uncomfortable? i am just mighty amused at your comment that your grandma’s belief in spirits excuses jindal’s faith in exorcism.

  19. i am just mighty amused at your comment that your grandma’s belief in spirits excuses jindal’s faith in exorcism.

    Fair enough, and no hard feelings–I just think that my grandma’s belief’s suggest that ridiculing Jindal is not so cost-free to us South-Asians.

  20. bess, I fig-ured you would have a better sense of humor than pricey! and the others

    We are all macacao

  25. This is a superb posting, I identified your weblog web page executing study google for any related topic and came to this. I couldnt uncover to substantially supplemental info and details on this write-up,Hi webmaster, commenters and everybody else !!! The blog was absolutely fantastic! Lots of great information and inspiration, both of which we all need!b Keep ’em coming… you all do such a great job at such Concepts… can’t tell you how much I, for one appreciate all you do! yhm20110408 yhm20110408

    Nike SB Shoes

  26. This is a superb posting, I identified your weblog web page executing study google for any related topic and came to this. I couldnt uncover to substantially supplemental info and details on this write-up, so it was pleasant to find this 1. I’ll in all probability finish up currently being again once more to appear at another content articles that you’ve got yet another time. Total I believe this really is one thing to think about nevertheless it may very well just be just a little little bit of base. In my nation we need to honer excellent writers and I’m adoring your submit as I do assume it is actually fairly wonderful yhm20110408 yhm20110408

    Nike SB Shoes