Every morning Nathan Keay wakes up at 6 AM in his Albany Park apartment and by 7 he has the day’s mantra ironed onto a plain white T-shirt, which he’ll wear for the next 24 hours. When he wakes up the next day, he’ll shoot a photo and post it–complete with sleepy eyes and bedhead–on his Web site, www.iwanttofitin.com.
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He’d been collecting phrases for years when he started the project in November 2001–song lyrics, literary quotes, thought bytes. He likes his more recent, more implicitly political ones like “We don’t stand a chance” and “I’ve got my own policies” better than his early models, with their too obvious statements and less-than-perfect spacing–not to mention factory defects. “A couple of times I’ve gotten away with wearing a fuckup,” he says. “I’m a bad speller. I spelled paid ‘p-a-y-e-d.’ I’m never gonna forget that–it’s burned in my skull that I screwed up that badly.”
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photo/Saverio Truglia.
