Yesterday morning was perfect. Crisp, 60-degree weather, sunshine, slight breeze. In other words: absolutely ideal shorts-and-sweatshirt weather.
Now, here at Racket, we're not necessarily known for our good pants opinionsâlast year my cofounder Jay Boller publicly confessed to wearing jeans every day he'd worked from home, and readers took him to task for it.
But that take had nothing on local Twitter user Ian Ringgenberg's latest viral-the-wrong-way pants stance. Last week Ringgenberg, co-chair of Twin Cities DSA and "Night Mayor of Minneapolis," went after the shorts and sweatshirt look and was promptly ratioed to hell for his wildly out of pocket take.
I can't stand the "shorts and sweatshirt" look. There's an order of operations to getting warm and long pants always comes before long sleeves.
— Ian đš (@mr_ian) September 8, 2021
There's nothing I can say here that hasn't already been said, loudly and correctly, in the mess that is @mr_ian's mentions. This tweet is Midwest cultural erasure. It's blatant support of the fashion police.
Highly scientific points were made: Arms are smaller than legs and therefore get cold faster. Also: Heat rises, and "if the heat tries to escape my cooling legs, it hits my fully insulated upper body and gets pushed back down, like a balloon hitting a ceiling." Hard to argue with!
There are practicalities to consider. For example, what kind of monster, out for an evening stroll or at a movie in a park, would bring pants in case they got cold instead of a sweatshirt?
And what if you have cute legs but want to be cozy? Hmmmm?
Racket reached out to the take's author and asked if he'd care to clarify his position. Here's what he had to say for himself:
"My position is that pants should be worn until it is too hot to wear pants any longer, in which case shorts may be adopted. This is counter to the logic some have suggested that shorts are to be worn until it is too cold to do so. If it's cold enough for a sweatshirt, you can clearly adopt pants. This doesn't apply to skirts or leggings or whateverâyou folks look tremendous and just keep doing what you're doing. I would also like to deny the hurtful rumors that I'm saying this because I have bad calves. I think they are actually one of my best features, but are reserved for intimate settings or very hot days."
Ian Ringgenberg
He tells us shorts "may become necessary" if the day is over 85 degrees, and points to a handy chart he made about his attire preferences.
Now, in a move we think T.C. DSA would appreciate, we leave it to you... the people. Shorts and sweatshirt: a good look? Please vote in our very important poll here.
Given the opportunity to redeem himself, Ringgenberg says he'd like to encourage people to vote yes on Ballot Initiative Two ("if we all save our 'All of Minneapolis' flyers we can have a big bonfire after we win in November"), and look for local DSA members door-knocking for Sheila Nezhad, Aisha Chughtai, Jason Chavez, and Robin Wonsley-Worlobah "as well as the two good ballot initiatives (not the bad one) every Saturday from here until election."
You're welcome to join 'em. Wear your best hoodie and shorts.
