Purple dryer lint and other reasons I need to expand my wardrobe

A pile of clean clothes is overflowing from a chair in my living room. The pile of mostly t-shirts has one thing in common — most everything is the same shade of K-State purple.

Being a proud graduate of Kansas State University, my casual wardrobe tends to be overpowered by t-shirts that proclaim, "Willie is my homeboy!" or, simply, "K-State." The white printing on the royal purple shirts have been a mainstay since I enrolled at the university in 1998. Even my dressier clothes tend to come in various shades of purple, plum and anything else you get when mixing red and blue hues.

Today, before heading out for a quick lunch, I grabbed one of the many t-shirts from the pile. This one, I have come to realize, leads to dozens of complete strangers adding their thoughts. It's as if the shirt says, "Well, what do you have to say?"

In reality, it simply says, "I MISS MANHATTAN." I saw the t-shirt on a fellow K-Stater when I was back in Manhattan last fall. She told me she had gotten it from this Web site, and I immediately placed my order. It's one of my favorites.

But wearing this shirt today prompted at least one person on every single block — and I'm not exaggerating one bit — to comment. I stopped at the bank where one of the employees asked, "Are you from New York?" No, "Kansas," I said.

"I didn't know there was another Manhattan," another teller said. I wanted to launch into my usual explanation of how Manhattan, Kansas, aka The Little Apple, is home to Kansas State University. I wanted to tell her it was where I met some really amazing people and made some even more amazing memories. Thus, "I MISS MANHATTAN."

Instead, I said, "It's where I went to college." And I left it at that.

Within the next block, a homeless man told me he wishes he never would have left New York. At the crosswalk a few steps away, another guy, a recent college graduate, tried to strike up a conversation about his native Staten Island. I couldn't contribute.

By the time I had finished my lunch and made the half-mile walk back to my apartment, no fewer than five others proclaimed, "Me, too," and one man turned his head, pointed East and said, "It's that way."

I got the feeling he wanted me to keep walking, all the way to the East coast. Little did he — or anyone else today — know, that walk only would have been about half as far as he'd expected. Because "I MISS MANHATTAN," as in Kansas. Not New York. Though that Manhattan is lovely, too.

A shirt this simple shouldn't cause such conversation. It's not like I am making a political statement or proclaiming my hatred for any other place on the planet. I am quite happy with living in Seattle, really.

Proclaiming, via a t-shirt, that "I MISS MANHATTAN" is the equivalent to missing your first car, that clunker that had an 8-track player, or the dog you had when you were a child. It's not like saying, "I AGREE WITH (FILL IN THE BLANK)" or "(FILL IN THE BLANK) IS STUPID."

But, just like people in Seattle tend to let outsiders believe it rains here all the time, I will continue to let people think I miss Manhattan, N.Y. Because, when someone looks at me when I'm wearing this t-shirt and asks, "K-State grad?" it makes all the misdirected comments worthwhile. I know, in those cases, Willie likely is their homeboy, too.