Letter from Massachusetts Department of Education (2005)

This letter was sent to me right before school started 6 years ago. I don’t remember if I read it or just skimmed it, but I didn’t pay much attention to it. I figured if any of my supervisors had a problem with what I was wearing, they would let me know.

I worked in a residential setting with students who had severe emotional and behavioral issues. Anytime you could make them smile for just 10 seconds was worth the effort. These students, along with my co-workers, really enjoyed the t-shirts I wore. Of course, I wore t-shirts that I thought would make everyone laugh. I would wear this one, this one, this one, and this one. I wouldn’t wear t-shirts like this one, this one, this one, or this one.

In the middle of the school year, one of my supervisors told me that I couldn’t wear t-shirts to work anymore. He told me that the letter sent to every teacher specifically said we couldn’t wear t-shirts. I asked for a copy of it, and this is what I got. I still can’t see where it says “no t-shirts”, but maybe my interpretation is just different. I kept wearing t-shirts, but made sure I had a buttoned shirt to cover up if I needed to. No one at work seemed to care, and students kept laughing when I wore them.

I hope all the hard-working teachers are off to a great school year, and aren’t letting their supervisors cramp their style too much!

Dave's Daily T-shirts Card (2010)

Some people don’t know this, but Skating for Hope wouldn’t have been possible without my t-shirts. In 2010, I wore a different t-shirt each day and blogged about them at www.davestshirts.blogspot.com. I took donations for them at http://bit.ly/davestshirtsforhope, and by the end of February this year, I had raised enough money to rent the rink for the 24-hours of Skating for Hope. Thanks to Jess for making me these cards last year! Should have the 30-minute SFH video done by tomorrow…

Jack Johnson Ticket (7/10/10)

A year ago tonight, I was wearing this “I want to be inside you.” t-shirt and was enjoying the tunes of Jack Johnson. Check him out if you haven’t…he’s good.

Science Cheerleader T-Shirt

Never heard of a science cheerleader? Neither had I, then I saw them on TV last year.

So I checked out their website, sciencecheerleader.com, and saw what they were all about. I also saw that they had t-shirts.

After a quick email to the group’s founder, she told me she would send me a t-shirt for the blog.

Even though I didn’t get my Science Cheerleader T-shirt in time for my 365 T-shirts Blog, I thought I’d include it for this year’s blog.

Here are some other cool things I found on their site:

Think you’re science literate? Take the SC Quiz here.

Does your kid need to pick a topic for a science project? Check out their project finder.

Thanks again for the t-shirt donation!

Worcester Magazine Best of Worcester Award

I think the last time I won something like this was an academic award…when I was in 8^th grade. So, I was really psyched to win it.

But, I really could not have finished my 2010 T-shirt Blog, Dave’s Daily T-Shirts, without the help of many people:

First, my friend Glen who kindly gave me his MacBook when he upgraded. Thanks dude, I couldn’t have started this project without your huge donation.

Second, my family, girlfriend, and friends who helped make sure that I never ran out of t-shirts last year - especially my girlfriend who made sure all the t-shirts were washed and organized before I started selling them to benefit Hope Lodge.

Also, there were Facebook friends, Hope Lodge guests, websites, and local businesses who all donated t-shirts for this blog.

Thank you to everyone who made my 365 t-shirt year a possibility and to everyone who voted!

Also, thank you to Worcester Magazine for giving me the opportunity for this award and for everyone involved at the great party at the Sprinkler Factory. Congrats to all the other Best of Worcester winners, too!

Worcester Magazine Best of Worcester Issue, Cover and Page 37 (4/28/11)

Wow. When I started my T-shirt Blog, I didn’t even know Worcester Magazine had a local blog category for their annual Best of Worcester issue. I just wanted to make it through the year wearing and writing about a different t-shirt each day, and somehow use the t-shirts to help Hope Lodge. In the middle of the summer when I counted and could see I was going to run out of shirts before December 31^st, family, friends, Facebook friends, and about 20 websites and local businesses donated t-shirts and helped me make it through the year.

In the beginning of this year, people from all over started making donations for the t-shirts to fund my Skating for Hope event, and before March was over I had raised enough money to rent a hockey rink for 24 hours.

As people were buying t-shirts, I heard about the Best of Worcester local blog category and asked people to vote for my t-shirt site. They did, and I won. I know it may be an overused word, but it really feels awesome.

I couldn’t have done any of this without everyone doing their part to help me. Thank you to my family and friends for always being there for me no matter what, to everyone who made Dave’s Daily T-shirts possible, and to everyone who voted for the blog in Worcester Mag’s Best of Worcester.

Oh yeah, GO BRUINS!