Photo by Matt Jennings

People sure have done a lot of disgusting and ridiculous things throughout history to get themselves noticed. Too often have they strived for fame in the most tasteless and obscene way possible, only to end up with a trashed reputation and several third-degree burns all over their faces.

In many cases, I think, the average loser/psycho/total jerk who tries to make it big tends to overestimate how interesting he or she really is. This is clearly problematic, and it results in more frustration and embarrassment for everyone involved (that includes general welfare) than expected.

Let’s be honest, nobody — I MEAN NOBODY (except maybe the true freaks of the earth like Big D, a.k.a. senior Seth Matthews) — wants to watch you dress up in a skin-tight cat outfit and roll around on your couch while reciting your original love poems (like top seller, “The hairball of my heart” from the appropriately titled “Meow Forever Chronicles”) for twelve straight minutes.

Keep the cat suit in the closet, things will be better off that way for so many more reasons than you’ll ever know. Please, nobody wants to be like Big D.

More times than not, these petty attempts at getting public attention are downright disappointing. Having said that, Senior Matt “I’M A TOTAL BABE-MAGNET” Jennings is in the makings of a project that I find quite remarkable.

I was sitting in lunch comfortably (the three-legged rust chairs really made lunch a different experience though) about a month ago when I had heard of Jennings’ newest endeavour. At first, due to my lack of focus for my surroundings, I didn’t quite hear the full story.

I managed to catch something about Jennings wearing t-shirts everyday. “Good for him,” I thought to myself, “Matt has been able to get dressed and put a shirt on every single day. I am so proud of him.”

Photo by Matt Jennings

Although Jennings deserves to be commended for this achievement alone, I later found out that there was more to Jennings’s decision to dress himself than meets the eye. Beneath his shirt (other than his chest) lies a story so unique and creative that it deserves recognition from everyone.

“Actually,” said Jennings, “I got the idea to do it from my mom after I went on a trip cross-country and bought lots of shirts.” Well…maybe not as creative as one would like, but it’s all “relative,” isn’t it?

Relative…relative…get it? Ha ha! Knee slapper!

I sat down with Jennings to get the real scoop on what he’s been working on with his shirts. What I had learned is that Jennings is in fact wearing t-shirts, a brand new one for every day of the school week for a year!

Jennings went into further detail by stating that for each day of the week, Monday through Friday, from the first to last day of his senior year, he intends to wear a brand new shirt. Each shirt, by the way, is only worn once. In addition, he is recording the days and shirts worn on said days for the whole year!

When I asked what his motives are for carrying out this elaborate and somewhat expensive project, Jennings explained that doing this would give him the sense of accomplishment needed to end his final high school year feeling fulfilled. Another motive for doing this is the recognition.

“I want to be noticed as the kid who wears a different shirt everyday,” says Jennings, “When people see me in the hallway, I want people to say, ‘Hey, what shirt are you wearing today?’”

On top of this all, Jennings will conclude all that he’s done during the course of the year with one ultimate project. After the final day of high school is complete, he will take all of the pictures of the shirts he has worn over the year (which he kept a record of) and print them all onto a t-shirt that he likes to call “A Shirt To End All Shirts!”

All I have to say to Jennings is this: Whoa dude, you are like, so going to carve some real Gnarly Pounders! Aloha bro!

What I mean to say is that some people make their mark in the world and their mark is undeniably cool. Matt Jennings is undoubtedly such a person. I can say with complete honesty that Matt Jennings is one admirable guy and has a good thing going with his t-shirt project.

So when you see Jennings, make sure you say to him, “Hey Mr. Handsome, what neat shirt do you have on today?” As you pass him by, cry out loudly enough for him to hear, “God! If only I could be that guy for just one day! He’s absolutely perfect from head to toe!” I’m sure that he’ll appreciate it.

Radical has a new name around here and it’s spelled M-A-T-T.