Gu-Gu's Tee

Last week I received some horrible news; my friend Gilbert "Gu-Gu" Cruz suffered a stroke caused by a brain aneurysm. From the information that I have received, he is now in a coma and we are waiting for him to wake up. That is basically all I know and honesty, that is all that I can handle.

If you follow my work at all, you know that I am really passionate about typography and hand-lettering. Well Gu is the person that really got me into lettering.

Back in the 9th grade I met Gu in algebra class, he was older and repeating the class, so immediately we both had something in common: a hatred for anything that made us think too hard about shit we didn't care about.

I was already drawing names and tagging every now and then. I really didn't know what I was doing. Then I met Gu. He knew about all these graffiti artists and had a crazy amount of pens and sharpies. He was way better than me, and he would laugh at how bad my letters were. Then he would re-write the word that I was trying to do in his style. Then he would write it again and some letters would look completely different. That right there is what got me hooked on letters. I was trying to do everything the exact same way, every time, and he was just letting it happen and experimenting. I didn't think much of it at the time, but looking back at it now, that was really eye opening, like I said, I was hooked after that.

We rarely paid attention in class, we sat in the back and drew every one's names on their book covers and back packs. By the end of the year I was way better but still not even close to Gu.

I don't know if Gu is still writing at all, but he always "likes" all my stuff on social media and sometimes when I post something I wonder what he thinks of it.

So to help his family, and really just to show him I care, I designed this tee in hopes to raise a few dollars. I tried to design something that he would appreciate and wear himself. This was considered in the colors and the lettering. I worked with his cousin Lee Parra to find a saying that we felt was appropriate and really reminds us of Gu. We chose the quote by the author Santosh Kalwar, "Nothing Shakes a Smiling Heart." I hope that everyone that knows him will appreciated the quote we chose. Gu is always laughing and smiling. That sounds like a cliché thing to say, and I hate that, but he really is always smiling and laughing.

Get well soon Gu-Gu, we are all praying for you!

If you would like to donate money to the Cruz-Guerra family please click on this link: Gilbert Cruz Give Forward

Email Lee Parra to get a tee at leestees78644@gmail.com or on Facebook at Lee Parra
Tees are $15 plus optional donation.