Photo by Jarosław Kwoczała on Unsplash
Saturday I biked over to Dusty Groove, a local record store. Why? Because Dusty Groove was having its once-in-an-occasional record sale, with dozens of boxes of records ($1 each!) on its third floor.[fn1] I decided to bike rather than drive because it’s only like a mile and a half from my home and there’s limited street parking around the store. (It turned out to be a smart choice: there were dozens and dozens of people digging through cardboard boxes filled with records, all of whom had gotten there somehow.
Beyond the thousands of $1 records for sale, the store was giving out water to patrons. Why? Because Chicago, like much of the US, was in the middle of a massive heatwave.
How much of a heatwave? 92 degrees (felt like 105!) with 61% humidity. While we likely weren’t the hottest place in the country Saturday, 92 with 61% humidity isn’t nothing. Like, stepping outside quite literally felt like stepping into a sauna.
And it looks like we’ve passed our heat (though not our humidity) on to Utah. Today, Salt Lake is apparently looking at a high of 103 (albeit with a low, low 18% humidity).
So what does the current heatwave passing through the US have to do with Mormonism? Garments, of course.
See, ideally in hot humid weather, one should wear loose-fitting clothing that wicks moisture away from the body. (Why? Because it turns out that, when the humidity is high, sweat doesn’t just evaporate—it sits there, on your skin. And how do I know this? Because I took my son and his friend to the playground Saturday at about noon.)
In dry climates (like, say, Utah), this may not be as big a deal. Even in dry climates, though, the second layer of clothing helps hold in the heat and reduces your body’s ability to regulate its temperature.
So what’s the solution? I don’t know. But there is a problem, and, given our current temperature trajectory, it’s likely to get worse going forward. I’m bringing this up mostly to flag a problem for people who don’t understand that there is a problem.
And who might not understand the problem? Maybe folks who have never lived where it’s humid. But even if the problem is comparable in dry climates, it’s not going to hit you as much if you go from your air conditioned house to your air conditioned car to your air conditioned destination.
But for those of us who walk, bike, take public transit, and generally hang out outside, it’s worth considering a solution.
A couple preemptive responses to potential objections:
- I’m not suggesting that this is the only issue—or even the most important—that exists with garments. It just turns out to be a salient time to bring it up.
- I’m not suggesting that we eliminate garments. Sacred and covenantal clothing have a real, tangible way of reminding us of our relationship to the divine, and simply jettisoning our tangible symbols strikes me as a disservice to our religious practice.
- Yes, I know you served your mission in [unbearably hot and humid place] and you survived. So did I. Back when I was 19. And the longer I live in Chicago and see college students in the winter walking around without a coat, the more I’m convinced that you don’t start feeling temperatures until you hit some age, likely in your mid-20s.
Any good heatwave deserves a soundtrack, and this song should begin and end it:
Note: be respectful in the comments. I hope not to have to moderate, but I will if I need to.
[fn1] In case you’re interested, I ended up buying five records. Three I got mostly for family members (Monkees, “Peter and the Wolf” with the London Symphony Orchestra, and Harry Belafonte) and two mostly for me (Ray Charles and Cannonball Adderley with Nancy Wilson).