Math is Sexy.

The weekend before last, I went going to the Hayward/Russel City Blues Festival for a barbeque and wine tasting. Or pairing or ranking or something. I dunno. Regardless, I was walking around the stands that they had up. There were the standards like local newspapers and various foods on sticks. There were a couple music stores that had brought inventory to sell and some with blues oriented art.

As I was headed back to meet up with Anne, I walked past the ACLU tent. I was mildly curious to see what they had in there so I poked my head in. It was pretty much what I expected. A couple ex-hippies and some idealistic looking young folks with a table full of pamphlets. I smile and nod in a way that I hope indicates that I support their cause, but absolutely have no interest in looking at any of the reading material that they have. I get some smiles/nods in response and this one guy kind of lounging in a folding chair says, "I like your shirt." This is kind of an odd comment because I am not, typically, the kind of person who gets complimented on his clothing and I'm just wearing a t-shirt with a short sleeve button down over it. But then I realize what's going on.

Let's hop in the way-back machine to two or three years ago, when my friend Will and I were playing a board game and I noticed that he was wearing this cap. My question to him: "What's with the math cap?" His response: "What are you talking about?" Long story short, the equals sign is the logo of the Human Rights Campaign, a lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender rights organization. Will, who's at least one of those, supports them and so wears their math-oriented accessories. Anyway, later that year, Will got me my very own math shirt for Christmas. It looks like this (small logo on front, big logo on back).

Fast forward to the weekend before last where I am wearing the HRC math shirt and am being picked up on by some skinny gay ACLU hippy guy because it was windy and my top shirt was no longer covering the equals sign on the tee. Now, I wasn't upset or anything, but I just didn't want to have a conversation with the guy based on the false premise that I was gay. On the other hand, I didn't want to say "I'm not gay!" because that can only lead to awkwardness. So I just thanked him for the compliment and went to go check out the fried okra.