One primary indicator of how long you have been teaching is the number of t-shirts you have in the closet. Every time you go to anything competitive there is a t-shirt. Every big event at a school – every senior graduating class – every year – in every season there is a t-shirt. And of course you have to take it. It would be rude to refuse – much as if you refusing the food at a friend’s dinner party. You gotta take one. Of course knowing you will never wear it – – it will hang in your closet in perpetuity. There will come a time to thin out a closet and you will pull all of these t-shirts out of the closet only to realize that there are names and faces attached to all of these shirts – and they really are in perfect shape – and you really may need something to wear when, in a most unlikely event, you decide to paint the house. So, back on hangers and back into the closet. Read more