The following is a full transcript of the interview given by Mr. Malmstrom to Kali Locacio of The Warrior Messenger about his self-imposed Funky Shirt Friday
KALI LOCACIO: Why do you wear Funky shirts?
MR MALMSTROM: Funky Shirt Friday started when the pandemic started and we only had some of the students in the school and everyone was wearing a mask and it was a very stressful situation for a lot of people so every single Friday I decided that I’m going to wear a weird shirt to make people smile and it is also for myself
KL: What is your favorite Funky Shirt?
MM: My favorite Funky Shirt will either be this one that I am wearing with the guitar pedals on it because I am obsessed with guitar pedals. I actually have a little bit of a guitar pedal problem. I love to buy them…and then my other favorite Funky Shirt has got to be the one that has fireworks on it and it looks like it has fireworks on it, but it is dandelions from the movie Caddyshack where Bill Murry hits the flowers with a golf club.
KL: If school is closed on Fridays would you still wear funky shirts? Why do you still wear them?
MM: That is a really good question. I have a lot of fun and Funky Shirts that I like to wear in general, like over the summer. I can often be found with a Funky Shirt on, but it isn’t something that I really do outside of school. I like to do it in school and I get excited and at any time when I see a student [who] is like “Yo Mr Malmstrom I got a Funky Shirt on today!” It makes me happy; it is about creating a positive vibe.
KL: How many Funky Shirts do you have?
MM: I have a lot now. I used to only have like 3 or 4 [that I wore to school] then the place where I get my shirts had a sale so I bought, like, 10 of them so I have a drawer of just 10 weird shirts, yeah.
KL: Why do you only wear them on Fridays?
MM: Because Friday is my favorite day of the week. The anticipation of the weekend is great; I like to celebrate that we made it through another week and I like to congratulate everybody on that and also it is alliteration. Funky Shirt Thursdays just doesn’t sound as good.
KL: If you could wear them for the whole week would you? Why do you like to wear them for a whole week?
MM: I probably wouldn’t then because it would remove the luster of it being Funky Shirt Friday you know, because you can’t have too much of a good thing, but if we had some kind of event or school spirit type thing then heck yeah I would.
KL: Have you ever lost one of your funky shirts? What one did you lose?
MM: I have never lost a Funky Shirt they are safe in my drawer, very safe
KL: Would you start encouraging kids to wear them on Fridays? Why would you?
MM: I always encourage my students to wear Funky Shirts on Friday! because I won’t be the only one doing it and then also it will create a better vibe in the school and it will make more people happy. Funky Friday; it just makes it more enjoyable, so yes I always tell my students, ‘If you want to join me, let’s be Funky together.’ Except one time a student thought that I meant funky smelling I was like, no my shirts are not Funky smelling.
KL: Is there anything else you would like to add.”
MM: I would like to say join me on Funky Shirt Friday!
