Pathologically Genuine X: The Green Thing

I am also thankful that my faculty career accepted my autistic need to wear only comfortable clothes, no matter how they looked.

This a story about my connection with students and my autistic need for comfortable clothing.

Here I am wearing one of my most valuable pieces of clothing affectionately termed “The Green Thing.”

The Green Thing (TGT) was given to me by students in my laboratory 32 years ago as holiday/b-day gift. It is still in pretty good shape other than the sleeves have lost their elasticity.

I wore TGT al of the time. It was always covered with dog hair because Bodega, my dog at the time, was a mix between a collie and a golden retriever and shed more hair in a day than all of the textile threads in China.

As TGT got older, my mother and my wife would try to replace it every year. They bought many different fleece pullovers. Some were quite expensive. But, they never succeeded in getting me to adopt a new pullover and retire TGT.

I don’t generally bond to things- an aspect of being nomadic. But I bonded to this fleece pullover. The students in my lab at the time meant the world to me so it always makes me think fondly of them.

It is also an unusually comfortable and baggy piece of clothing. I am autistic so comfort in clothes means way more to me than how I look. None of the other gifted fleece pullovers could match either aspect of TGT.

My wife never quite understood my attachment to the TGT until we attended a retirement party in Syracuse, NY for my mentor Sam McNaughton. As a quick side note, the party occurred during Adele’s 50th birthday in December-- I will never live down taking her to Syracuse, in December, for her birthday.

There was a very informal reception the night before the celebration. I was wearing TGT. Adele and I were walking down the hall to the reception room in the Syracuse Sheraton. As we were walking down the hall, two of the students, came out of the room. After saying “Hi”, they immediately said something like “It The Green Thing! And its still covered in dog hair!”

That was the moment that my spouse understood my emotional bond with a fleece pullover. Never again was I given a new pullover for a holiday or my birthday. And, I still wear the 32 year old TGT today. It is still as meaningful and as comfortable as it was the first day I received it.

I feel very grateful that students I have taught/mentored mean so much to me.

I am also thankful that my faculty career accepted my autistic need to wear only comfortable clothes, no matter how they looked.

In fact, there were several difficult challenges being a dean, vp for research and provost. The one that feels the most difficult now was having to wear shirts with buttons, ties, suits and dress shoes.

My aversion to “dress” clothes (anything beyond t-shirts, sweatshirts, denim jeans and sneakers) goes back in memory to when I was 4 years old. I still remember throwing a tantrum when my mom wanted me to wear a shirt with buttons for family photos.

I have discovered that many autistic students I work with share the need for comfort over style.