It’s 9:00 am and Chris Jelinek, owner and operator of NEOpolitan clothing has not yet had his morning coffee, he usually arrives earlier with a fresh cup in hand but is running a little behind schedule today. Chris, better known to his friends and family as “Jel” sits at the desk in his print shop in Medina Ohio yawning as he finalizes the t-shirt design for the local fire department, his latest client.
A stack of twenty or so ink-covered squeegies sit on a table with the rest of the extra ink and supplies from his shop. These particular tools are made specially for pushing ink through screens and are what Jel uses when he hand-prints his shirts.
Frustrated, Jel attempts to remain calm while talking on the phone to his mother about the order of black t-shirts that was supposed to be delivered to his shop over an hour ago. His mother is also in the printing business and owns her own shop called Embroider Me, it was her who got him interested in the art and helped him open his own shop.
Buckets of ink sit on a giant shelf in the NEOplitan studio, waiting to be used in a future project. Just one large bucket of white printing ink can cost upwards of seventy dollars, Jel has over forty buckets of ink like these, all different in color, brand, or function.
While waiting for his screens to dry, Jel works on other designs for clients while experimenting with logo designs for a new clothing line he is trying to start called “Level.” He hopes to turn Level into a successful clothing line and eventually open up a shop in downtown Cleveland.
Jel examines a screen closely making sure there are no spots for ink to go through that are not part of the design. “This is the really tedious part of the process, if one thing is wrong with the screen the whole design can be ruined and and I have to burn a new screen” he says before proclaiming that other than the waiting for the screen to dry this is his least favorite part.
After testing the screens on a few tester shirts he prepares to start production on the shirts he’s making for the local firemen. “During this part of the process it’s really important to balance percission and speed, you want to get done as quickly as possible but you really need to watch the placement of everything or the shirts won’t be uniform which is the whole point of projects like this one.”
A finished product slowly comes out of the drying belt ready to drop into a cardboard box waiting to be delivered to the client. Jel is satisfied with the way the shirts came out but he worries that the client will have wanted the words to be less centered and not be as happy.
Collegefest, an annual block party in Kent, his former home while attending KSU as a VCD major, is one of the biggest days of the year for Jel selling-wise, he usually prints 50-60 shirts in preperation and sells most of them to drunken college kids by the end of the day. This year he started a little late and only printed around 30 but is confident he will sell most if not all of them.
Although Jel would like to focus all energy on working in his shop, the printing business is not cheap and the money he makes from it doesnt cover the rent for his shop and his personal expenses, so he also works as a cook at Melt Bar & Grill in Independence, Ohio. He sits outside the back of the restaurant for a few minutes having a cigarette and planning his next move before going back to cooking up cheesey snacks for hungry patrons.
After a long day at work Jel will typically head home to sleep or make the trip to Kent to unwind in the company of his friends, free time isn’t something he gets a whole lot of so when he does he prefers to spend it with his Girlfrend Olivia and his friends and family. Because he works almost every day of the week, either printing in his shop, designing at home, or cooking at work, the times when he just gets to hang out are his favorite.
Wednesday is T-day!
Alexander Huffman studies his face carefully in the mirror for a few seconds making sure he didn’t miss any spots before applying the last few strokes to his chin. Since begingin weekly shots of testosterone Alexander Elliot Huffman (formally known as Angela Elizabeth Huffman) has had to get used to several new changes to his nightly and morning bathroom routine, shaving his newly grown face fuzz being one of them.
In addition to changes to his hygenic routine, Alex makes one of the biggest changes of his life so far, his name. After the paperwork is processed he will be officially and legally known as Alexander Elliot Huffman, although he made this announcement several months before making it legal and prefers to be called only forms of Alexander, he remains patient and understanding with his friends and family who occasionally slip up.
Alex carefully sticks a hypodermic needle into a bottle of testosterone making sure to get the measurment right the first time to avoid sticking the needle in again and dulling its tip. Alex measures out one half of a cc of testosterone to inject into his stomach at around 6:00 pm every Wednesday.
Alexanders first empty bottle of testosterone sits on the edge of the desk in his bedroom next to the q-tip he used to sterilize his skin. This bottle marks his eighteenth week of injections and is an important milestone for him, Alex debates wheather or not to save the empty bottle as a keepsake.
On the way home from a trip to the grocery store Alex complains about the puffiness and rednss of his cheeks. As Alex continues his weekly injections of testosterone he continues to encounter new side-effects, lately he has been experiencing several skin problems.
Alex or as he is more often called by his room mates and friends Xan, sits in his room below a poster of his favorite super hero with Jeff, one of his seven room mates and his friend Cody. They joke about what his hero name would be if he became one today, they decided on Xanman the Tranman.
Living in a house with seven other guys, sometimes it’s necessary to keep your food, bow-ties and shoe collection in your closet. Alex describes living with seven other boys as “interesting and loud and dirty” he spends a lot of time in his room with his roommates and neighbors frequently visiting.
Alexander sits and enjoys a cigarette and a polar pop with Logan Shielshouse, his close friend and roommate. Alex and Logan joke and scheme about ways to convince Kent State to change the name on his diploma to Alexander before graduation without charging him.
During a trip to Wal-Mart Alex enlists the help of his friend and room mate Chris to decide which body wash to buy, Old Spice or Axe. Usually Alex prefers to grocery shop alone but in this case he was happy to have another guys opinion.
Alex sits in his truck at the end of his driveway smoking a cigarette before leaving his house on College avenue, the 2002 royal blue GMC sanoma is his pride and joy and if all goes according to plan will soon become his home. After graduation Alex plans adopt a nomad lifestyle and travel the country for a year in his truck, camping and crashing wherever he can, he hopes this will help him continue on his path to self-discovery.
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Visual Storytelling
Artist statement: pushing ink.
This is a story of Chris Jelinek, a 24 year old student and small business owner, with a goal of turning his small business into something much bigger. Chris is currently the owner and operator of a clothing company called NEOpolitan, he runs his business out of a small shop that he rents in his home town of Medina, Ohio. In addition to NEOpolitan, he also does screen printing work for various clients in the Northeast Ohio area.
Artist Statement: Wednesday is T-day!
This is the story of Alexander Elliot Huffman, formally known as Angela Elizabeth Huffman, and the transformation he is making from a girl to a man. Several months ago he took the first step to making it right by officially starting the transformation from woman to man. He changed his name to Alexander and started taking testosterone weekly. Now, Alexander is on his way to true happiness and transforming to what feels most right for him, a man.