White, White Cotton+Seersucker

Dad got so skinny after his operation. He always wore white boxer shorts and Fruit of the Loom tee shirts under his clothes and smelled sweet and clean. There is something so magnificent about cotton on ones skin. I was thinking of putting the t-shirt and boxer shorts outfit in a frame or suspending it in lucite so that I could look at the wrinkly cotton that reminded me of my dad. I am also thinking about the connection between the south and its history with cotton.

white boxer shorts+fruit of the loom tee shirts
cotton
searsucker
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Seersucker is an all cotton fabric. In the New World cotton was one of the first staple crops considered acceptable for export by Virginia settlers. "King Cotton" established sociological patterns of both rural South and industrial North that existed for generations and eventually led to the terrible, bloody Civil War. Cotton was the principal crop fueling the expansion of the South's plantation economy. The cotton fabric we have come to identify with our summer suiting was first woven in India, the name seersucker being a Hindi corruption of a Persian phrase, "shir shakkar," which translates as "milk and sugar" and this is the way Seersucker got its name.

Treasure Island

 

My father, Philip Garfinkel, passed away into the next realm on June 18th 2005 at 2:45 EST. I know he is gone but I think he will come back. I am not accepting this yet. I am almost 44 and in shock. Its been a tough month for our family - not just because of this but because of a whole host of challenging news. It will get better - optimist that I am. This blog will consist of memories I have of my father. My father was a legend to many in the time and town he grew up in. A piece of work some say...! The first idea-memory is to tell you about is my fathers favorite book during his childhood "Treasure Island". I am 44 years old now and have never read "Treasure Island". I wish that my father was alive now so that I could share it with him. So of course thinking about this and the fact that I never shared that with him upsets me. I want to make him smile and tell him I am reading a favorite book from his childhood.