Public Undress: Part 1

     This past Sunday, roughly 150 Chicagoans got onto the Red Line and promptly took off their pants. But rest assured, there was some method to their madness. Sunday was the 14th annual No Pants Subway Ride. Part of a global movement put on by the New York based group Improv Everywhere, the ride is meant to "raise awareness of nothing other than having fun not wearing pants on the train", according to Justin Hardesty, who is in his sixth year of organizing the Chicago event(and his eighth year participating). Here's how it works: those who are doing it meet up in Rogers Park, coordinate when exactly they'll be dropping their pants, and then board the Red Line at Loyola. Somewhere on the ride south, the pants come off, and it starts looking like this:

     Now one key thing is that those without pants are supposed to play it cool and act like going around the train in your skivvies is the most normal thing ever.  When the train finally gets to Roosevelt, everyone gets off for a No-Pants Dance Party. After that,they ride back to their point of origin. Last year Hardesty estimates that the ride got just over 100 pantsless participants. Surprisingly, the colder the weather, the more people that show up. As Hardesty puts it, "There's not much bragging rights when the weather is better". As far as what the CTA thinks of all this tomfoolery, spokeswoman Catherine Hosinski doesn't immediately recall whether there have been any complaints, but Hardesty is sure to always notify the CTA whenever the ride is supposed to happen.  This year's ride seems to have gone well and without any major hitches, which bodes well for the future.