The Academic Naturist

Busy Busy

2011-12-02T18:58:00.001-06:00

This year has flown by. For the first 3/4 of the year, I was on a project that relentlessly kicked my butt. It's the first time in my career that I've clocked 90 hour weeks. I'm sure you've noticed that blogging frequency took a nose-dive through the summer. Our social life has done the same: NO trips to the beach, NO visits to nudist venues (except for Turtle Lake, which was a working vacation), NO public lands freehiking or nude geocaching, NO trip to preview "Act Naturally" and meet some of the cast and crew, and NO nude parties.

Although the project ended and I'm on a much better one now, the work shifted to all those things I was neglecting. We contracted a neighbor to re-roof our house, which happened in August. While that was still going on, we broke ground to build a much-needed pole building ourselves. My family has been very generous in helping with that -- the only real progress happened on the weekends, most of which they were here for. Both the roof and the new pole building look very nice!

When the snow flies (any day now), I'm declaring ourselves as "settled in". There are no more critical projects that need to be done. (The roof was leaking -- I knew it would need attention the first year. And the attached garage is just big enough for two cars. We need way more than that in the garage.) Since the "needed" projects are out of the way, I can turn my attention to the projects I "want" to work on.

My biggest "want" was to get the hot tub working. We managed to squeeze in time during the summer to pour a cement pad for it, and lay patio blocks around it. I bought all the "guts" for it and have them assembled in the basement. However, there is no electricity run for it. So there is no reason to install the guts. I'm holding off on buying a good cover (~$300) until I know it works. We wrapped it up good with tarps and a wooden "roof" so it'll survive the winter.

I've been slowly working some other projects as well. I've been writing up a "Future Resort Redux", which spins in a completely different direction than the previous series. It's good stuff! I've also collected another year of Burning Man photos, which hopefully show a trend. (Three years now, so I should be able to derive some metrics from it.) Most recently, I initiated building my own PC-based arcade machine -- a project I've been wanting to do for years but didn't have the room for. Hopefully by Spring we'll have a classic-looking arcade cabinet to finish off a nice rec room. Maybe we'll host a party or two when the weather gets warm!

Forest Hills

2011-06-21T18:12:00.001-06:00

Since my previous last-minute adventure was so much fun, I decided to try it again. Same type of trip, working two weekends with the week available to do whatever I wanted. I had a couple more days to plan for it. This time, however, I'd be doing the trip alone.

I decided to try Forest Hills Nudist Club and Campground. They are a smaller 45-acre co-op. Honestly, I prefer co-ops because I know they are not profit-driven. Any money that I spend there I know is going back into the campground somehow. They even have scheduled fundraisers where they specify what they intend to improve with the money. I like this.

The place looks nice on the website. They have a large pool, hot tub, cafe, lunch stand, pavilion, clubhouse, several games, and rental cottages. All I need for my stay is a place to sleep, water, food, and internet. What about internet?

Their 2010 brochure on the main page lists free wireless internet. But, I didn't see that at first, so I sent an email asking if wifi was available since I'd need to be able to work all week. The reply was "No sorry at this time WI-Fi is only available to members." This change in policy was to protect the privacy of the members.

I spent a moment thinking about that... I was prepared to stay in the cottage for five weekdays, which is a good chunk of income for them when it otherwise wouldn't be rented, but only if wifi was available. And it was available to members. Were they really going to turn me away? I asked them to reconsider. They did, and they decided to allow me to use it since I was staying an extended time and needed it. There were conditions though: All the obvious stuff, and I could only use it in the cottage since many laptops have cameras and they were concerned about privacy. No problem, I'd prefer working from the cabin anyway.

When I called to book the reservation, a different member informed me that the wifi does not work from the cabins. I had to use it from the clubhouse. I suppose I could do this -- the clubhouse looks cozy and there wouldn't be many people around to distract me.

Afterwords, I took a closer look at the facilities to see how challenging the week would be. Going through my list...

A place to sleep is easy, the cottage advertises a nice bed, nightstand, table and chairs, heater, and small refrigerator. The table and chairs appear to be a cheap set made for the patio. No big deal, since I'll be using the table and chairs in the clubhouse where wifi is available anyway.

Next on my list is water, which is also mentioned on the ad: "Our cabins are not equipped with bathrooms or running water, but these facilities are available in the clubhouse nearby." So I need to get dressed (if it's cold out) and walk to the bathroom? This is exactly what I do while tenting, so I guess I'm used to it.

Last is food. Both the cafe and the lunch stand are closed during the week, so I would need to bring my own food. What do I have available to store, prepare, and eat my food? A small fridge. There is no microwave or cooktop, and no dishes. This limits my food selection to sandwiches and snack bars unless I brought stuff. I packed my dishes for camping. Upon arrival, if there really was no microwave available, I was thinking of buying a cheap one for the cottage and telling them it's a donation.

As the days got closer, I checked the weather forecast. It would be in the 60's and rainy for a large portion of the week. Their pool and hot tub are both outdoors. If I used them, I would freeze as soon as I left the water. Everyone else at the campground would probably be dressed due to the cool weather.

Faced with an expensive trip to a rural location, being the only naked guy who hangs out in the clubhouse on a laptop most of the day, starving and fending for food, and having a challenging stay in a cottage, I decided to cancel my reservation. In all fairness, if there was warm weather and an event going on with food available, staying would be far easier and more enjoyable.

So why did I decide to write about a place I never went to? I wanted to illustrate a point. A lot of nudist venues are completely geared towards people with RVs. Most people under 30 cannot afford a RV. Without my own kitchen, bathroom, and basic house, I need to rely on what is available from the venue. Is a bed, water, food, and internet too much to ask for? Most cheap motels even provide these things. Staying at a smaller nudist venue is often more challenging than staying at a cheap motel, which is discouraging for the younger non-RV generation.

Turtle Lake

2011-06-05T11:39:00.001-06:00

I'm starting to specialize in last-minute adventures. An opportunity came along that was too good to pass up. As part of my current job, I need to be in Michigan on some weekends. The most efficient way is to work two weekends in a row and find my own place to stay during the week. On a Thursday evening, I learned that I would need to work the next two weekends. Percilla's work was slow so she was able to take the next week off. The weather forecast looked surprisingly perfect. The next morning, we headed East and made reservations at Turtle Lake Resort on the way.

Keep in mind that this was probably the first week that was nice enough to be nude outdoors. I was fully expecting the resort to be in "recovery mode" from winter, and to be a ghost town. It was. The resort owns 163 acres, all of which seem to get used somehow. There were at most 20 people at the resort during our stay.

Monday afternoon we checked in to our Mirror Lake suite. We got the obligatory newbie tour around the resort in a minivan, since the golf cart had a flat tire from sitting all winter. She did a great job with the tour and told us everything we needed to know for our stay. Some of the bathhouses and the conversation pool were still closed. Most striking to me was that she pointed out the tire spikes at the exit, and noted that we shouldn't worry because the go down as we exit the premises. I'm in a company vehicle and will be driving over tire spikes with no repair shops nearby. That thought concerned me.

We drove to the cottage and checked out the room. All of the Mirror Lake cottages are nice rooms with a full kitchen, dishes and cookware, full-size fridge, microwave, and propane cook-top. We had three complaints though. First was that the propane room heater roared while it ran. It's the loudest room heater I've ever heard even though I kept it on the lowest setting. We ended up shutting it off at night so we could sleep. (With that off, all we heard was frogs and other critters outside.) Second was that the bathroom sink was plugged and mostly full of water. It's likely that the problem was from last fall and communication broke down between housekeeping and maintenance to get it fixed. No big deal, they let us switch rooms. The third issue was water. The water had a horrible smell, and it concerned us so much that we didn't use it all week. (This was our first of three challenges today.) Per recommendations from the staff, we should've turned the tub full-on and left for a couple of hours to purge the old water. We'll leave it to housekeeping to do that. We filled up some bottles at the clubhouse for our use.

The room switch was certainly an upgrade! Two suites face Turtle Lake, which is somewhat distant and the view you get is mostly grass and trees. The other two suites face Mirror Lake, which gave us a week-long view of the small lake with ducks, geese, and a swan. My recommendation is to get the suite by the parking lot that faces Mirror Lake if it's available.

The next challenge for us was internet. Since this was a work-vacation, it was critical that I could log on. I got a username and password from the office, but it didn't work. The office was closed by the time I knew it was having problems, and nobody looked young enough to be tech-savvy. We called the only person we knew who has used the internet here -- Bob -- who stayed here three years ago and had to plug directly into the ethernet at the office. Since then, they upgraded to wifi. Their system is outsourced similar to most hotels, but it seems more flaky than the hotel wifi that I've used. If your user/pass doesn't work, bad things happen. Tuesday morning, after a couple hours in the office, we finally got it working. I was able to work from the suite. Signal is strong in all of the common areas.

The final challenge for Monday was food. We were hoping that the Sunnier Buns Cafe would have some weekday hours, but they didn't. The kitchen was closed and there doesn't appear to be a community kitchen. If we were tent camping, like we usually do, this would present a big problem. The suite was fully capable of storing and preparing food, but we needed to put on clothes and brave the spikes to get some.

Union City, with a population of less than 2,000, isn't actually a city. It certainly has the small town flavor. Everyone knew each-other by name. We stopped at a family restaurant on the way which had ginormous and delicious sandwiches, then went in to town to the small grocery store. We stocked up enough to survive for the rest of the week.

After we got settled in we really did start to enjoy the resort. I worked in the mornings and evenings when it was a bit chilly to be naked outside. The whole time, I was enjoying the view of the lake and the abundant wildlife making use of it. Percilla would usually do a morning swim and walk around the resort. When the moment was right for me, we would both venture out for a swim. We played mini-putt, pool, ping-pong, shuffleboard, and air hockey. There weren't enough for volleyball, and we skipped tennis, badminton, horseshoes, and bocce ball. The resort has several frisbee golf holes, but they don't have a map yet. If I had the time, I would've drawn up a map for them while finding and playing each of the holes.

Two of the days we spent a lot of time in the paddle-boats. We cruised all around the clothing-optional area in the regular paddle-boats, and bravely covered up and ventured out on to the main lake for a while. The second day, we tried out the more challenging boats. They are a big tricycle with floating wheels. They were twice the work so we didn't get too far. We enjoyed it all.

Most nights, we went for a "late night swim" as I jokingly called it. (The intent was late night, but it ended up being around 9:00 since the clubhouse closes at 10.) The clubhouse is quite nice. It has a big recreation area for games and dances, a kids room, locker rooms (mens, womens, and two co-ed), a decent sized pool that is geared for water volleyball, and a decent sized hot tub. The air jets on the hot tub were another thing that didn't work yet, but we still enjoyed soaking and watching the sun set through the big windows late in the evening.

We met a few other guests, but not enough for me to report any conclusive demographics. There were a few of each gender. There were also kids present from two different families, but all wore clothes while their parents went naked. Everyone we met in the office also wore clothes -- we never saw them naked either in the office or elsewhere around the resort. Regulars wore clothes a lot too, even on days that were warm enough to be naked. Since this was a big AANR resort, and most were wearing clothes, we wondered if AANR people just enjoy clothing more. Percilla was a little uncomfortable walking around the resort alone when most others were dressed despite good weather.

All-in-all, we had a wonderful quiet stay at this huge resort. I'd love to attend a summer event, since I'm sure the place would be rockin'. All the problems and challenges we had this week would disappear. We won't need the heater, food and water would be available, and there would be plenty of naked guests to chat with and play games against. I would highly recommend this resort for both first-timers and seasoned naturists.

Health Movement

2011-03-25T21:00:00.002-06:00

The naturism movement, according to many naturist historians, started in the early 1900's in Germany. (See this writeup for a good concise history.) It quickly became attached to the health movement, to the point where doctors were prescribing "air baths, sun bathing, and clothing-free aspects of living" to treat certain diseases. By 1920, there were over 200 parks in Europe that were officially designated and promoted for naturism. The widespread belief that there were health benefits associated with naturism helped it to survive through a short ban during WWII.

As Germans immigrated to America, the idea of naturism came with them. By 1930, America had it's first naturist organization, the American League for Physical Culture. Soon after, Ilsley Boone took over the organization and called it the American Sunbathing Association. (Much later, it became the American Association for Nude Recreation that we recognize today.) Boone "advocated a need for a society that nudism enabled to be more healthy than a textile way of life." Boone produced the first nudist magazine, which the US Mail Service disallowed in 1941. Before the Supreme Court, Boone won the case in part by stating that "nudists were pacifists who abstained from drinking and drugs and alcohol."

In 1963, the British Sunbathing Association and the Federation of British Sun Clubs officially recognized the following definition for naturism: "A health movement which advocates the judicious outdoor practice of nude sun, air and fresh or salt water bathing, either individually, or socially in private grounds (sun clubs, naturist clubs) or secluded places, in furtherance of physical, moral and mental well-being."

The 60's and 70's didn't help with that image. Drugs and free love entered into the picture, adding confusion to what it meant to be a naturist.

What is American naturism now? Princeton's definition simply says that we go "without clothes as a social practice." AANR states that they "advocate nudity and nude recreation in appropriate settings, and educate and inform society of the value and enjoyment of such through on-going member growth." TNS's mission is to "promote body acceptance through clothing-optional recreation using the tools of education and community outreach."

The health movement has been ongoing. It has been strong when naturism was starting in Germany. It has been strong throughout the 20th century. It's still going strong, with the current push towards Green living and organics. In the last decade, organic foods have increased in popularity enough to have sections in grocery stores, and sometimes even their own grocery stores. Yoga has become huge, along with many other exercise regimes and diet programs. The Green movement is taking off with reducing harmful chemicals, reducing pollution, reducing our use of fossil fuels, and making things more sustainable so we can live healthier.

Naturism, who was once riding on the back of the health movement, has been bucked off and left in the dust. At best, naturists sometimes advocate healthy living. The health movement no longer advocates naturism.

It seems the majority of naturists no longer strive for healthy living. At all the places we've gone to, we found a lot of people smoking and drinking. People have told me that they prefer campgrounds over beaches because they can drive to their campsite -- as-if walking is too much work. People at Mazo are getting lazy too. Instead of walking, they bring a big vehicle to haul their bikes to the parking lot, which in turn haul themselves and their cooler full of beer to the beach. A day at the beach or resort is often filled with sitting, laying, talking, eating, or doing other activities which require a minimal amount of work. Travel around the resort is often by golf cart. The really ambitious ones play a round or two of volleyball, between beers.

Of course, there are exceptions to the rule, and a minority of naturists do adhere to a healthy, low-impact style of living. I applaud them! I wish more would start doing this, both for their own health and for the benefit to naturism as a whole.

If the health movement no longer advocates naturism, then who does? Who recommends naturism to textiles? Perhaps protesters, who advocate nudity to draw attention. Perhaps groups who need a fundraiser, who advocate a nude calendar. Perhaps artists and businesses, who advocate nudity for profit. All those people do it for their own gain, and it isn't really naturism -- just naked bodies. The only group who really advocates naturism anymore is naturists.

Naturism needs to piggy-back something else in order to grow, like it did in Germany and other areas. Throughout history, it has never grown all by itself -- it has always had some sort of fuel to help it.

What options do we have that might help fuel naturism? (Feel free to add to this list by commenting!)

Body acceptance. People with self-image issues are sometimes recommended to "bare all" either alone or in a naturist setting. This has proven to be helpful with the majority of people who try it. (Have you ever met a naturist with serious self-image issues?) Even skeptical reporters often write positively about the experience. Many start their articles with self-image issues and body phobias, but later downplay these things when they realize that nobody else cares about how they look, and everyone looks "normal". Can naturism be the solution for body acceptance? Maybe. Body phobias seem to be getting more prevalent in our society, so playing up naturism as a cure could be of benefit.

Recreation. According to the BLS: "Rising incomes, leisure time, and awareness of the health benefits of physical fitness will increase the demand for arts, entertainment, and recreation services." With the health part not as big as it should be, the recreation taking place at resorts is mostly in response to a large quantity of leisure time. Resorts have tough competition because they often lack good quality facilities for recreation and health, and often lack good entertainment. Recreation guides rarely recommend (or have much information on) naturist venues, so naturists must self-promote.

Green Energy. Going naked saves a lot of energy during hot weather. It saves big on air conditioning costs, and saves on laundry. But naturists don't want to recommend bundling up to save energy during the winter. People in the green movement have a seemingly infinite number of ideas for staying cool in hot weather, but going naked never seems to be mentioned. Why not?

Fair Trade. Clothing producers often export to other countries and force some nasty working conditions. Nakedness reduces clothing consumption. This also goes with Green Energy because it means less production of cotton, less transport of goods, and less washing and drying. There is increasing support for Fair Trade. But, it might be too much of a stretch to promote nakedness as a method for reducing bad working conditions in other countries.

Arts. People get naked for art, and naturists embrace art, but it's not naturism. It's not a lifestyle change, it's a job. If it's not a paid job, then it's a task. When it's over, the clothes go back on. The art movement is in strong support of nudity. They are also strongly against censorship. This is good for naturist media, but doesn't help naturist practice.

Religion. Christianity supports simple nudity, and many classic Christian art pieces include nudity. (A good example is the Sistine Chapel.) Hunduism promotes nudity as purity, and holy men sometimes live nude or nearly nude. Pagans are tolerant of nudity (among adults), with many participating "skyclad" in rituals. All of these are only subtle connections. The world seems to lack a religion which strongly encourages nudity. If one caught on, naturism would certainly benefit.

Getting Back to Nature. As part of the Green movement, many people are practicing small-scale farming and gardening. They also have a desire to re-connect with nature. City architecture is even starting to include green roofs and big luscious green parks. However, none promote nudity as part of gardening or re-connecting with nature.

Security. With the new super-invasive security measures, airports may soon require everyone to be naked. Sadly, this is a promising group to advocate nudism in the future. (Not really naturism.)

The Free Body Culture. Back in 2008, George Davis tried to piggyback the success of the German FKK by bringing it to California. On the original website, it sounded great. On the TV, it didn't go the same direction. I don't ever recall the German FKK being sexed up. If Americans can bring the FKK home and actually do it right, it might get some footing.

Sexual Liberation Movement. The relationship between naturism and the sexual liberation movement is far too complicated for a single paragraph...

For a while during the 60's and 70's, nudism seemed to benefit from sexual liberation. Nudist magazines grew in popularity, and nudist 'sexploitation' films seemed to promote the nudist philosophies. Cruising through the 60's archives, I found an instance where the NYC League for Sexual Freedom was pushing for the creation of nude beaches. (Note that it was reprinted in the Nudist Newsletter from the American Health Alliance, who were apparently piggybacking the health movement.) The nudity at Woodstock certainly played a part in nudism. I know two different prominent nudists who trace their roots to Woodstock.

Even back in 1962, there were naturists pushing for more liberal attitudes about sexuality to be integrated into naturism. See this writeup from The Bulletin which opposed these new ideas. The author was warning what would happen if nudism became sexualized: "...for the first time in many years we shall be in much greater danger from forces outside the movement than from forces within it..."

AANR and TNS have always shunned the sexualization of naturism, but it hasn't stopped it from creeping in anyway. Numerous resorts have welcomed sex parties because they are profitable. Numerous small beaches have been overrun by people with sexual intents. Depending on the clubs and parties, some are a bit more edgy than others. Most have more swingers in attendance than you'd expect. The flood of pornography on the internet has made it difficult to find credible naturist information.

Decades before the sexual liberation movement really took hold, a war on sexual abuse was slowly evolving into a war on all nudity. Although "sex crimes" have been brought to the public attention for a very long time, it wasn't until 1939 (per Google's newspaper database) that the first use of the term "sex crimes" was used with "nudism". "Blame Nudism for Sex Crimes" wrote Reverend Robert Irons in his UK parish magazine. By 1949, laws for sex crimes were in the works, and since then they have been expanding and becoming increasingly strict. In 1966, the FBI Director was targeting sex crimes, and soon after was blaming pornography and partly the whole entertainment industry. In 1983, nude joggers and exhibitionists were labeled as wackos but police said that it was not a sex crime. Somewhere in the 80's or 90's, simple nudity became a crime. In 1998, Liz Book was arrested for being top-free and at some point was on the sex offender registry. In 2005, sex offenders became listed on the internet, thus ruining their lives forever. Naturism is under threat from the ever increasing umbrella of "sex crimes".

Since naturism is distancing itself from the sexual liberation movement, and is no longer part of the health movement, it has become an orphan. It's a poor orphan who nobody else wants around, and who nobody is willing to adopt. An orphan who must beg for money to stay alive. An orphan who is forced to live in secluded places, out of public view.

Health Movement. Don't forget we're still in a list for options to fuel naturism, and this may be the most important one.

It is unclear why the partnership between the health movement and naturism broke down. Perhaps it's because the health movement turned to science, medicine, and surgery instead of lifestyle changes. Perhaps it's because the main two naturist groups in the US promote body acceptance and recreation. The individuals who promote healthy living through naturism are certainly a minority.

The only resort that I know of who promotes healthy living is Sunsport. They have limited smoking, limited alcohol consumption, and provide vegetarian options in their cafe. I've heard they often have sessions like yoga and fitness classes, but I don't see it on their schedule. Not only does Sunsport advocate healthy living, but they are also part of the green movement by advocating the preservation of nature and utilizing green technologies within the resort. (And they are part of the sexual liberation movement, based on some of the sessions they host at the mid-winter gathering.)

Looking back through time, the American Health Alliance wasn't even serious about advocating health. It was primarily a legal fund supported by a group of resorts.

What we need is a new version of the American Health Alliance, with the word "Health" prominently in the title and the words "Nude" or "Naturist" prominently out of the title. This group must actually advocate healthy living through naturism. They can charter with resorts who actively support and advocate healthy living. Then, research needs to be commissioned and be published which shows a real benefit to healthy naturistic living. (Assuming one exists...) The intent is to get naturism back on the health movement bandwagon. The health movement needs to at least mention naturism as a beneficial activity. After all that, naturism wouldn't be an orphan anymore. It would grow with the health movement fueling it, and the health movement protecting it, just like it was a century ago.

Even if a new organization doesn't bring forth a new naturist health movement, participating in a healthy lifestyle seems like the right thing to do. I've personally been committing to a healthier lifestyle. A few years ago, I decided to heavily limit drinking soda and eating sweets. I've also limited salt since then. I've been eating less meat and more veggies. A few weeks ago, I switched to packing a healthy lunch for work to replace the easy microwave meals I was used to. (Even "Healthy Choice" meals didn't seem that healthy.) The new house has been giving me plenty of exercise. Eventually, it'll give us plenty of naked time as well. When I reach an impressive age and people ask what the secret to a long life is, I'll say "being a naturist!"

For the benefit and possibly survival of naturism, another group needs to embrace it. The most promising group, based on our history, is the health movement. To get the health movement to take us seriously, we need to limit our consumption of alcohol and cigarettes, and get ourselves in shape. We need to return the the naturist philosophy from 100 years ago. We should all be taking steps to improve our own health anyway, so why not start now?

Novelty of Naturism

2011-02-27T17:20:00.007-06:00

Last year I was questioning why we even go to the VVRC Mid-Winter party, but this year it was refreshingly different. Everyone was well-behaved, it wasn't as packed as the year before, we had great roommates, and everyone had a fun time.

I'm not sure if the VVRC staff had a chat with a few of the usual groups, but they didn't seem as "flirty" as before. Sure there were a few dance moves that made us cringe, but alcohol likely played a part in that. Lingerie was rare this year. It seemed that everyone just wanted to be naked.

We couldn't ask for better roommates. Alice and Bob came through on their suggestion from last year. We all brought the usual board games and card games, and got others involved in the games. Only minor injuries were reported. The seemingly pierced ear drums quickly recovered, the crushed toes didn't break or dislocate anything, and the spilled wine didn't stain any clothing. We're a rowdy bunch.

Dave and Eve liked the one man band last year, but it seems nobody else did. This time, VVRC brought in their own rockin' DJ who spun (from a hard drive) a variety of tunes all evening. He provided quiet background music during the catered meal and cranked it to a comfortable volume during the dance. This year, dancing was much more popular.

The event this year really didn't give me much to write about. I did, however, draw a conclusion to one of my curiosities while I was there.

Over the last several events we've been too, I've had a question running through my head: Why do we do it? What drives naturists to do things like the following:

Snowbirds travel to the south to get naked, even though they could be naked in their own northern home. Having two places of residence can be expensive, as can moving a motor-home over great distances twice a year .
People travel for hours to get to Mazo beach, when textile beaches are available nearby. Don't forget the 1.2 mile walk with hordes of hungry mosquitoes. Other beaches you could drive to.
A night at a similar hotel is $70 for a double, but we paid $105 for the privilege of being clothing optional.
People fly to far away places with the goal of getting naked at a single venue. They stay there despite the variety of things to do in the surrounding area. (That would mean they'd need to get dressed!)
People pay a lot more to go to resorts and campgrounds that allow nudity, even though textile places are often cheaper.
Many risk arrest to be naked in public places. This includes freehikers everywhere and the brave souls keeping the "unofficial" beaches alive.
Many keep naturism a secret for a variety of reasons. They put a lot of effort (and sometimes money too) into keeping friends and family in the dark.

We go through a lot of extra trouble, and money, to do the same thing textiles do but dressed a little differently. Is it worth it? Why is naturism such a novelty?

There seems to be a sort of "naturist bliss". Anyone who has experienced this would say "yes, it's worth it!" At Cedar Trails last year, Chet said he was at bliss while floating in the pool under the sun. I found bliss hiking the trails there. At the Mid-Winter Party, Sunday morning, I noticed Bob had a different look on his face and was being suspiciously quiet. I asked if he was bored or just tired. "Neither," he said, "I'm just happy and I'm reveling in it." I also noticed a long smile on Percilla's face Saturday evening, and asked her about it. "I'm just happy. Thank you for bringing me here."

During the drive home I asked her about it again. I asked her if the feeling she felt that night was similar to when she's hanging out with textile friends. She said that the happiness she feels during the nude events is much better than anything with her textile friends. It's not just about the nudity. The freedom from clothing helps, but also the environment, people, and our own naturist-influenced attitudes all combine to help the experience.

I'd like to turn it over to the readers of this blog. Do any of you have this same feeling of "naturist bliss"? Where or when do you feel it most? Is it better than comparable experiences in a textile setting? Does it make the added expenses worthwhile?

Change of Attitude

2010-12-12T08:20:00.004-06:00

The scenery isn't the only thing that has changed in the last couple of months. Home ownership, and the increased responsibility, time demands, and cost that go along with it, has predictably taken it's toll on my attitude.

I no longer get on the computer every night. A few days each week it doesn't even get powered on to check email. I'm finding it impossible to keep up with the latest nudist news and legal battles. Many of my RSS feeds have been slowly getting dumped off my reading list.
After being away from Mazo Beach all year by choice, I've lost a strong desire to return. We'll probably make a trip or two next summer, but not the number of trips we've done in the past. We also skipped the fall road cleanup and Halloween party due to some of the people involved.
After taking a step back and reevaluating things, an anonymous ranter was right. (I forget who it was ranting about this.) The small talk that social nudists do gets a little annoying after a while. This is one of the reasons I'm not looking forward to our next trip to the beach -- it's several repetitions of this: What are your names? I'm bad at remembering names... [They proceed to forget mine and remember hers.] Where are you from? How long of a drive is that? [Insert their long answer here, whether or not we ask.] What do you do job-wise? [Glaze over my impressive career and education, focus on her more standard career.] How often do you come here? [Insert more of their answers.] How did you two get to be nudists? Are you married? How did you two meet? [Proceed to some long stories end to end while we stay mostly quiet.] You should visit [their favorite place on the opposite side of the state.] See you next time! [Chances are never.]
I really hesitated to renew my TNS membership. I'd like to continue working with NAC and that requires a TNS membership. I haven't read the latest 1.5 issues of N. TNS members have been giving me hell all year. If only I could be a member of NAC/NEF and not TNS for a while.
I haven't participated in any of the NAC action alerts in the last 6 months. Although, I'd like to send a late letter to California.
Remember the library book? Since then, I've done about 90% of the work to oppose their rejection of the Nude Beaches book. That last 10% requires detailed direction from NAC, which I've requested several times prior to moving. It's been so long that the opposition may no longer have value. Is it time to give up on it?
Lack of time and motivation prevents me from implementing my "rapid response" idea that was presented at the Eastern Naturist Gathering in 2008. The idea was to cache short, well written, user generated responses to common misconceptions. That way, it's quick and easy for anyone to post a very good response to news reporters.
Lack of time and motivation prevents me from implementing my "land share" idea, which allows the sharing of private land for a variety of purposes. This is much broader than just allowing naturists to share land. (The closest thing I've found is sharing land only for gardens. There are lots of other reasons that could apply, so why limit to only one thing?) If someone else wants to make either of these ideas happen, let me know.
The WWNCW is basically dead. I'm considering letting the site expire, or at least switching to some other domain name to try another idea.
I've lacked a desire to create new friendships at social events. Despite that, I have very much enjoyed the current friendships and have an interest in re-sparking some older ones.
It'll take more to get us to a venue. Why spend money at a resort or campground when we have a hot tub (which will be set up eventually), a private backyard (which isn't completely private yet), and 10 acres of private hiking (where trails are still in progress), and a big house to enjoy. I'd be happy to spend the money here and work on those things.
It'll take more to get us to the public beach. We can tan in our backyard, and skinny dip in our hot tub or stream.
It'll take more for us to brave public lands, especially after we put Vernon County on edge by freehiking. With a good career and a squeaky clean criminal record, I'd prefer not to chance it. (But those trails are way better than mine!) If I announce a freehike here, I'd probably have an officer waiting for me at the destination. There's nothing illegal about it, especially with the methods we use, but I simply want to avoid the trouble for now.
It'll take more for us to travel. Driving several states away just to get naked, like we've done the last two years, may not happen in 2011. We can drive 2 hours to get naked at the beach or VVRC, or better yet, stay naked at home.
It should be obvious that my blog post frequency went way down in the last year. I still have a queue of posts to write, but just haven't had the time and haven't had the desire. I'm working on that right now.

I've watched as bloggers come and go. One of my favorite examples is "The Nude Life". It was a very active blog in the 2007/2008 timeframe. It had a lot of good content written by a well-networked couple in Texas. A good part of it was about their travels and parties. They took pride in bragging about the things they could do nude. Towards the end, they even operated a small forum on the site. It was on my list of favorite blogs. (See the archives here.)

Then, in July of 2008, they moved from Texas to Cyprus Cove Nudist Resort full-time as their retirement plan. They did three more posts about the experience, then dropped out of cyberspace at the end of September. Presumably, they had limited internet access and a lack of desire to maintain an online presence. I do not want to follow in their footsteps!

My move has had a similar feeling to it. Living in an urban house, or an apartment, forces naturists to seek out more public ways to participate. They are the beach-dwellers, the resort regulars, the public lands freehikers, the naked protesters, and the people pushing for society to be more tolerant of their chosen lifestyle. Living in a place that is clothing-optional inside and out, either full-time at a resort or in a reasonable sized private lot, seems to allow naturists to simply sit back, relax, and do nothing. This is what we all seek, and I believe it is self-destructive for naturism.

The goal for me is to not allow myself to go idle on the issues facing naturism. I need to keep up with the times, keep promoting naturism, keep helping naturist organizations, keep travelling, and keep blogging. It's a tough goal to work towards! If I get too far out-of-line, please give me a kick in the right direction. Thanks!

Change of Scenery

2010-11-10T18:35:00.000-06:00

The view from our old apartment, of an ugly city parking lot and neighbors through the trees.

Over the last two months, I've been extra busy! Not only am I doing 60+ hour weeks at work, but I also bought a house during all that. It's been a long search, but I think we finally found a place we'll enjoy long-term.

The view from our house, overlooking a quiet valley with no neighbors in sight.

It's been troublesome, but in our favor. (Patience is a virtue!) The listing had been around for about a year. We made an offer, but the owner decided to remove it from the market due to their daughter's health. During the two months it was off the market, they were nearly foreclosed on. They put it back on the market, we made an offer that same day that was less than the asking price, and they accepted pending bank approval. The bank approval took over two months! Then, the owners took almost an additional month to begin moving out.

Moving weekend was fun. We closed on the house on a Thursday. That morning we did a walk-through and found the owners and realtor were busily packing. We helped out until lunchtime, and the meeting for the closing. We helped more that evening. They had a large U-Haul, a large storage unit, a car, two trucks, and a trailer absolutely packed with stuff. The rest they left for us, mostly because they had no room for it. Friday and Saturday were spent cleaning, painting, and fixing. Sunday, we moved a bulk of the items. Our move out of the apartment wasn't rushed at all, which made for a not-so-stressful weekend.

Living room and propane 3-sided fireplace.

Luck was on my side. The price of the property was cheap compared to others, and the appraised value ended up being $40k higher than what I paid. Mortgage rates had been falling ever since I started looking at houses, and I've locked in at a very nice rate. Thanks to the previous owners, we have a lot of random stuff that homeowners need and usually acquire over several years. We made a deal, and got a cheap price on a very nice (very new) front-load washer and dryer. Thanks to my family's free time and desire to crawl Craigslist, we've found some great deals on the basics. We got a nice ZTR (50" cut) for only slightly more than a typical lawn mower. We got a practically new Cadillac-of-snowblowers (30") for the price of a regular new one. We got a huge couch (with coffee table, end table) and dining room table/set for probably a third of the actual value of the items. Thanks to some other family, we have a beautiful German schrank in the dining room and two similar German wardrobes in the bedroom. And if anyone prefers a German-style bed, we have one of those too in the guest bedroom. Lastly, thanks to Freecycle, we found a free 8 person (but only 300 gallon) hot tub which will be my winter project. The frame is in great shape, but is missing all pumps and electronics.

Dining room with the German schrank, before the housewarming party.

The house sits on over 10 acres, with 8 of those being wooded and mostly hillside. We're by the road, but it's a township road that gets almost no traffic. The nearest neighbors are almost a mile away down the road. We plan to privatize the back yard from road traffic with a shed, small fence, and lots of bushes. The house has a very open floor plan and is over 2800 sq. ft. It's a ranch with a finished walkout basement, 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, and 2 fireplaces where 1 is propane and 1 is wood (which is made to heat the whole house). Despite the size, the utility bills have been very low so far. We'll see what winter brings.

The area is beautiful, and the wildlife is plentiful. The first week, I rolled my naked butt out of bed and looked out the window to see this...

...and I've seen plenty more since then!

The last two months have been exciting. We're breaking in a wonderful 10-year-old home. Not only that, but it'll soon be a nude-friendly 10 acres that will be ideal for clothing-optional parties. Look for more posts in the future on the various projects I'll have going.

Car Show 2010

2010-09-26T10:00:00.000-06:00

After a year break, we finally made it back to the car show. Things haven't changed! We arrived Saturday morning and set up in our favorite "overflow area". Already, the pool area was packed. Towels sprawled over every available chair and pool full of human soup. The weather was perfect. Cars were on display. The food tent smelled great. The DJ was spinning tunes. The car show was going strong!

Our originl plan was to travel to VVRC after work on Friday, but that ended up being far too late. A storm was on the way, and it's a good thing we missed it Friday night. Campers reported having a "lake-side property this morning!" Some even had a private island. It was gone by mid-morning.

We started the day out by saying "hi" to the usual group in the tenting area. They really like us, and they've been with us to most of the big events that VVRC provides since we first went there. They're fun to talk to for a while. But, we don't want to spend the entire weekend with them. There's an age gap, and we tend to sit around quietly while they chat.

Another expected couple were the ones that previously threatened us. We avoided them for the most part, but the guy did exchange a "hi" with us as we passed by. We'll probably be seeing them a lot at future events, so we may as well get used to it.

An unexpected couple called out Percilla's name. (It's funny how they can never remember mine...) It was NC and his wife. (NC is an abbreviated nickname.) NC was the person who talked my ear off at the bowling event we attended on the opposite side of the state. This time around, he tried to do the same. He encouraged Percilla and I to join a few groups on a social networking website. I at least added him as a friend and joined his main group.

That evening, we had a delicious chicken dinner! The cost for the usual car show dinner is fairly expensive, but you get what you pay for. A freshly grilled boneless chicken breast or a pork chop, baked potato, whole green beans and other vegetables, a fully loaded salad, American-sized buns, and cake for desert. Being starving tenters, we ate as much as we possibly could and enjoyed every bite.

Breakfast on Sunday was the same, except it was free. The main course was doughnuts, but cereal, yogurt, juice, and other items were available. It's a great way to start the day, and we were lucky to show up only 30 minutes before they closed it down.

Lunch was also a last minute deal. Percilla had lunch at the food tent after a massage. I found her there as she was finishing up. By the time I put in my order, the food tent was handing out scraps. My brat bun was one of those leftover American-sized dinner rolls. My brat, as it turned out, was short enough to fit in the dinner roll. It worked nicely and was a good enough meal for me.

During this meal, we talked to a retired female who is a full-time naturist with her husband. When they retired, they sold their house and most possessions and bought a very nice American-sized RV. They have a P.O. box in North Dakota (and are technically residents), live at a resort in Texas during the winter, and live at VVRC during the summer. Percilla and I can easily see ourselves doing the same thing when we retire.

For the annual parade, Percilla sat on the back of a nice car as usual. She rode with the same driver as before, despite my recommendation that she could probably ride in ANY car that she chooses. Who would turn down a cute young naked rider like her? It's her only chance to ride in fancy cars that I could never afford.

I didn't like the way they did the parade this year. Normally, they do a big loop around the RV grounds. This time, it was more like a corral. The cars formed an oval stretching from where the DJ is to the gravel road nearest to the camping area. The cars were all almost bumper to bumper driving the small oval. I enjoyed admiring the beauty of the cars as proud owners drove them around, but also felt sorry for them since they were moving like caged animals.

After the parade, things really cleared out. We were faced with a problem that had been quietly nagging us the whole time: boredom. Three years ago, the group of regulars were new and we spent most of our time with them. Two years ago, we convinced some nearby friends to attend and we spent time with them. We also had the motorcycle in the show. This year, we didn't have anyone or any involvement. Quite frankly, it got boring.

We were on the edge of bringing a friend with. She's a single mom our age. Her son was elsewhere for the weekend and she had no other commitments. She doesn't mind seeing nudity. She was faced with a boring weekend by herself. Despite being the perfect weekend to hang out with us, she is too stuck in the "nobody wants to see this" attitude. She also thinks it'll be too awkward seeing friends naked. Percilla and I have both done our best to correct the misconceptions. We just need to break the ice somehow. If she would've gone with, we all would've had a blast!

But, as it turns out, Percilla and I both had a "what do we do now?" type of look. Most of the usual group were gone, along with NC and others that we would normally talk to. The only remaining group our age seemed to want to keep to themselves. We didn't want to strike up any new friendships. (Neither of us currently have time to strike up friendships, or reignite old ones. Our social lives are on hold this year.) Despite being paid up until after dark, we left by mid-afternoon. It allowed us a nice meal at the Curve and time to unpack once we returned home.

The event itself is great! VVRC does a really good job with all of the food and entertainment, same as every year. But therein lies a problem -- we had the feeling that we've seen it all before, and some of the excitement was lost. New friends would keep things fresh, but it just couldn't happen this year. We'll have to try again next year!

Quick Jaunt to Cedar Trails

2010-08-29T17:45:00.002-06:00

A trip to Ohio has been on my agenda all summer, but every single weekend that we both had available was already filled. We proposed several dates, and all fell through. Lucky for us, some of the other plans fell through at the last possible minute on the first Friday of August. We both managed to take off work Monday for driving back -- we were set for a trip! Assuming everything goes right, that is.

Friday, after a full day of work (6:45pm), I scurried around collecting everything we might need for the trip and called up Chet and Lydia once I was on the road. I had no time to fire up the computer and plan the route, post my intentions on Twitter, or contact others to meet up with in Ohio. I had no time to double-check that I packed everything we needed. The plan was to pick up Percilla at 8pm and drive her clunker (which is better than my clunker) all night across several states to meet up with people we've never met before. What could possibly go wrong?

After being awake all night, I was lucky. I've pulled plenty of all-nighter's before. Sometimes I drag through the second day. Sometimes I feel sick. This time, as with only a few others, I actually felt awake the second day. I didn't even feel tired through the night until the sun was rising. After the sun was up more, I felt awake again. It's strange how that works.

We almost-blindly followed the GPS's recommendation for the fastest route, which resulted in a path that I would never want to drive in the daytime. Straight through Chicago, take a normally busy exit, follow a straight road with tons of stoplights through most of Indiana, then take alleys and county roads through small towns and rural areas until somehow ending up on the interstate we need.

We made it to mid-Ohio by 6:30am, jumped in Chet's car, and rode to Cedar Trails in southern Ohio. A stop had to be made at a small town store for some sandals and other forgotten supplies. We went from interstate, to nice roads, to skinny roads, to a really skinny gravel road. Cedar Trails is really tucked away. I like that.

The weather was perfect, but Cedar Trails still had a minimal crowd of around 25 when we arrived. Although crowds of naked people can be fun, having 60 acres to explore and most facilities nearly to yourself is an enjoyable experience as well. The exception to this was Saturday afternoon and evening, when the crowds doubled for the dart tournament and pool party. There was a good mix of people too, including 4 other couples our age and some teenagers who were having a blast in and around the pool area.

After arriving, the tent provided less entertainment than Chet was anticipating. Percilla and I work like a machine to get the tent raised, the air mattress full, the bed made, and everything moved into the tent. Perhaps the most entertainment he had was watching me pound in the tent stakes with my boot. Little did he know, I've done that ever since we've had a tent and it has always worked great -- so much so that I don't even bother packing a mallet. He at least helped in tying the side flaps down (something I never do), and in lending us a much better air mattress, pump, and lantern. We only spent nights in the tent. During the daytime, we all went to their air conditioned camper.

Saturday and Sunday had nearly the same routine. Breakfast, laze by the pool, lunch, some physical activity, supper, and an evening round of pool at the club or relaxing among tiki torches at the pool party. The food, generously provided by Chet and Lydia, was excellent! (It was better than what we normally eat.) Lazing around by the pool wasn't my favorite activity, but everyone else seemed to enjoy it. Percilla and I hid our pale Wisconsin skin under a large beach umbrella and some SPF 85. Lydia relaxed in the lounge chair under the sun, and Chet was blissfully gathering rays by floating in the pool. They're both well on their way to a chocolate bar tan. We at least got a little color during our stay, and it wasn't red.

The afternoons consisted of taking the paddle boat out for a spin around the lake, playing darts, playing bocce ball, playing pool, trying to get wifi from the camper, and hiking the trails. The paddle boat was fun, but the lake was a bit small for it and we were warned that it might bottom out in places. (The lake will have water added soon.) The bocce and horseshoe pits are excellent, with all needed items available. The pool table has everything too and is in great condition. We didn't try the badminton or volleyball, but I'm confident they're in similar shape.

The couple miles of trails were especially enjoyable for me. It's not often that I get to freehike with others and not have to worry about prudish textilers. The trails were well maintained, but that may change now that the person who created them has left. They were all nicely mowed during our visit. Trees were marked with orange tape, and fallen tree branches were placed on the sides to help identify the trail. At the top, there's a lovely prairie with wild flowers, horses (sometimes), and a lookout across a meteor crater.

It was apparent that I was at home on the trails. I could glide through them all with little effort. To be fair, everyone could keep up with a good pace, but I was the least tired and could've gone multiple times in a row. I was also the one spotting the wildlife, with one exception being a spider on a web that Lydia nearly ran into. When the four of us were hiking on Sunday, I was calling things out. "Look -- there's a tree frog!" "Look -- there's a baby snake! Don't step on it!" Saturday, when Chet and I first went on the trails, I spotted the only wildlife. "Look -- there's a skunk only 15 feet away with it's tail in the air!"

We stopped dead in our tracks. There was absolutely no scent, so it didn't feel too threatened yet. It was also facing us, which is a good side to be on. We slowly crept down the trail to get by it and it also made a slow retreat into a trench. Whew! We didn't even want to consider the consequences if we would've been sprayed. Chet and I would've been confined to the tent and shower stalls, and everyone would be avoiding us. The car ride home would've been unpleasant too. We might've even used up all the water getting that scent off.

Water is an issue at Cedar Trails. Due to some obscure regulations, water needs to be trucked in from the city for public use. The owner does this himself -- a few times each day he'll take a truck with a big tank in the bed to the city, fill it up, and unload it into large tanks around the resort. I'm unsure if the water can be considered drinkable, but none of us chance it. The locals know about the water situation and really try to minimize their use of it. Day-trippers might not know. My suggestion is that a sign should be posted informing everyone that water gets trucked in and to ask that they minimize use of it. I took navy showers while I was there.

The bathhouse at Cedar Trails is absolutely brilliant for the purpose it serves. It's the best designed bathhouse I've ever seen. The picture on the website shows the front. It has an entry door on each side, with large custom windows to let light in. The inside has two open showers between the doors which allow easy access between sides if the showers aren't in use. There is no male/female designation. There is no ceiling, just the roof, so the window light goes everywhere. There is a private toilet stall on each side, along with a regular sink, mirror, shelf for putting things on, and a large sink for washing dishes or clothes. The lights by the sink and mirror are on a 15 minute timer. Additionally, you'll notice on the picture that there is something between the doors. This is a whole-building 75 minute timer, which controls power to the lights, hot water heater, small heater (when needed), small air conditioner (when needed), and ceiling fans. Lastly, cleaning supplies are readily available with a sign saying "Please clean up after yourself. You're mother doesn't live here." Based on how clean it was, I'd have to say that people adhere to this guideline.

Another wonderful idea they tried was a Snorkel hot tub. (Snorkel is famous for having a wood-fired aluminum stove that sits right in the water.) The first problem they had was keeping the temperature comfortable, which they eventually mastered. The second problem couldn't be fixed. As people get in and out of the tub, the water level would constantly get low. Low water is a problem for the Snorkel stoves because if there is not enough water around them, they can overheat and melt. Their conclusion is that the Snorkels are great for home use, but not as a resort centerpiece. I plan to buy one for our personal off-grid hot tub.

Cedar Trails has a certain kind of charm that is rare to find. The couple that purchased and developed the land have put their hearts and souls into creating a high quality nudist retreat. As far as I can tell, they've succeeded. Percilla and I had a great time, with great company, and are looking forward to a return visit in the future. Maybe next time I can plan things a little better!

Stories from VVRC (Part 2)

2010-08-19T19:36:00.000-06:00

This story is from a new guest blogger. See part 1 for details.

-----

Greetings! Call me "Bob" (of "Alice and Bob" fame, the ballroom dancing couple mentioned a few times in this blog). The Academic Naturist asked me if I would like to contribute anything as a guest blogger, so I thought I would relate an experience from last summer at VVRC, and the ruminations resulting therein.

Alice and I are not members of VVRC but we visit every chance we get during the warmer months. Valley View was our first nudist experience, and it was the people we met there, more than anything else, that made it a pleasant, easy going experience for us. We have been to several other places since then (Sunny Haven in IN, Cypress Cove in FL, Turtle Lake in MI, etc.) but for coziness, relaxation and economy of travel time, we always keep coming back to Valley View... and primarily because of the people there.

And speaking of people, I want to relate a story involving a small child I'll call "Donna" ("Carol" is already taken by a friend of ours - see A.N.'s entry regarding last February’s winter party). Donna is about six years old and typically plays with any other children who happen to be around. When she's void of playmates her own age, she'll hang out with Alice, whom Donna thinks is "really really cool." Donna's mother sometimes worries Alice feels put-upon, but my wife is a trooper and Donna is not terribly high-maintenance.

On with the tale: last summer, when Donna was five, Alice and I stuck around for the monthly "Munchie Mixer," a production at the clubhouse put on by the VVRC members wherein they feed the guests in an effort to get to know them better. Alice and I really enjoy these because it gives us an opportunity to meet any new visitors we may have missed during the day with our typically busy schedule of reading by the pool, tanning by the pool, swimming in the pool, chatting with friends by the pool... you get the idea.

This time in particular we had pizza at the Mixer. Alice got our plates, found seats to settle into next to some newbies, and to no one's surprise Donna appeared with her plate stacked high with slices and announced: "Hi, Alice! I’m gonna sit by YOU!"

So we ate and conversed and little Donna occasionally offered up observations involving the pool, Barbies, and some of the VVRC members' pets that are nice to play with. After a while, I felt the call of nature and excused myself to head off to the men's room.

Sidebar, now, as I explain something about the layout of VVRC. The acreage is primarily populated by campers, some permanent, the majority summer-only. There is a small but respectable camping area on the property, over by the clubhouse, which is at the opposite end of the land from the entrance, where the office is located. While the clubhouse has refrigerators, stoves and running water, it does not have restrooms. For that sort of facility one has a choice of

A) The pool house
B) The showers - located more or less in the center of the property
C) The outhouses located right outside the clubhouse

Being a civilized and relatively normal socialized North American male of the 21st century, I decided on option "B" when I left the clubhouse to tend to my needs; it was closer than the pool house and had the much preferred feature of soap and running water for afterwards.

So I started on my way down the gravel path to the showers when I suddenly heard a familiar little voice cry out: "Hey! Hey! Bob!"

I turned around and saw little Donna, a smear of pizza sauce on her little face, running towards me with some urgency.

"What’s up?" I asked.

"You know, you can go there." She declared, pointing to the outhouses.

"Yes, but I would much rather go there," I replied, pointing to the showers and wondering if I would have to explain the importance of personal hygiene, especially when about to handle food.

From our vantage point, Donna could only see the entrance to the men’s room.

"But that one's for guys. Anyone can use those!" She retorted, pointing again to the outhouses with a little more emphasis.

"And that's okay, Donna, because I am a guy."

She looked at me blankly, for a moment, and then lowered her gaze and stared at me for a second.

"Yeah! You are!" she said, looking me in the face, again. "Okay! Bye!"

And she turned around and went back into the clubhouse to hang with the wife.

I continued on my way and for the briefest moment I was a little disturbed to have been scoped by a five year old... and then realized her attitude was the same as a kid picking up a hamster to see if its a boy or a girl: she was just checking to verify my statement.

The implications are rather interesting. Donna has been involved in nudism all her life. She is fully aware of the physical differences between men and women. So much so she does not really think about gender differences when communicating with people. It seems to me that without cultural gender markers (of which clothing, in American society, is a major set), to a growing nudist child primary and secondary sexual characteristics are about as common and mundane as fingers, noses, and eyebrows. To them, it's all just "people parts" and don't matter unless they are taught they should... such as which restroom one should use.

And in a time and place where we as a nation are, at least nominally, striving for gender equality, doesn’t it seem nudism is the best thing possible to teach our children so they can respect themselves and others?

Stories from VVRC (Part 1)

2010-08-18T19:00:00.000-06:00

A quick story from me, and a quick story from a new guest blogger in part 2.

We spent 4th of July weekend at VVRC and had a great time, as usual. We met up with Alice and Bob again and had perfect weather this time around. (Last time, it was opening weekend and very cold.)

A few days prior to our trip, I had a frightening message come in from Bob: "Are you the Academic Naturist?" My first thought, as usual, is "what did I write and will he be angry about it?" Most people, when they stumble upon my blog, always seem to find something that I've done wrong and get upset about it. I was afraid that I had lost some good friends, again.

To my surprise, Bob thought it was neat (and sufficiently anonymous). He also admitted to being a writer. Hmmm... I have an idea forming.

Quite frankly, I've been too busy. The project at my day job has kept me working anywhere from 50 hours to 75 hours per week over the last six months, with a deadline that resembles a carrot on a stick that I can never quite catch. Spare time is at a premium, and my priorities often leave blogging in the dust. With that in mind, I asked Bob to write up a story and he eagerly accepted.

The intent was that he'd write the story of our visit. But, the story of our visit brings forth some very touchy subjects that he didn't dare write about. I don't blame him a bit. Instead, he wrote a story from the past with a unique observation and conclusion that easily fits into my "academic" category. His story is part 2, posted tomorrow. I hope he sends more my way, whenever inspiration hits.

Back to those touchy subjects... I've been very indecisive about telling that story, too. However, I'm one of the few naturist bloggers who take pride in keeping a journal of my naturist adventures on a public blog. The journal would have a large hole in it if I didn't write this story, so here it goes!

We met a couple who shared a cabin with Alice and Bob. We didn't recognize them, but they recognized us and didn't say anything that night. (Don't you hate when that happens!) Leaving many details aside, they broke the resort rules by getting frisky in the shared cabin fully knowing that they were not alone and not hidden from view. It's not as bad as you may be thinking, but bad enough to reasonably warrant a complaint. They had a strict talking-to from the resort staff. (Thank you VVRC staff -- keep up the good work of cracking down on people like this!) However, they were not kicked out. The female left for work, and the male awkwardly remained in the cabin.

The male told Bob all about knowing us. Bob relayed this information to me. The female works near Percilla, and the male works near me. We didn't care, but apparently this frightened both of them.

The male approached Percilla and I while we were sitting on the steps in the pool. I knew it was the start of a delightful conversation when he started with: "I've always believed that the best defense is a strong offense." I knew the outcome of this conversation, and I knew it wouldn't be pretty for him. He continued by telling us that he has a very high-ranking position, that nobody knows they are naturists due to their bosses/coworkers being extremely against that sort of thing, that the female knows everyone Percilla works with, that he knows everyone I work with, and that he'd like to keep the naturism thing a secret. I promised that I wouldn't tell anybody, simply because I'm a nice guy and respect his wishes. He was being as polite as possible while obviously threatening me.

He then asked, far too late in the conversation, if we've told anyone that we're naturists. Percilla spoke up and said "everyone -- friends, family, coworkers, even my boss who knows I'm here today." He responded in udder disbelief, "Really!!!?" I chimed in with a similar line. At that moment, he knew he had absolutely nothing on us. Indeed, the best defense is a strong offense. He'd s--t a brick if he knew I was a blogger and was telling the story to a global audience.

Later on, he approached Percilla when she was alone and asked for our contact information. She only pointed him in my direction. A while later, with PDA in hand, he sat next to me and asked for our contact info and he'd give us his. I simply said, "We'll see you here." He froze for a moment, said "OK -- fair enough", and left.

There's a great lesson in this story, and it's about information management. If he had never said that he knew us, we would've never known. Instead, he told me enough about himself (while making threats) that I could hop online and find his full name, address, phone number, workplace, position, and just about anything else that is public information. What does he have on us? Our first names and where we work -- pulling more information would be difficult, but not impossible. Our workplaces don't publish a directory publicly.

There's also something to be said about respect for "closet naturists". Most naturists will not repeat names or talk about others while in the textile public. Even if we knew our neighbors or coworkers were naturists, we wouldn't repeat it to others unless we knew it was OK. It's a sort of naturist ethical guideline. If someone is worried about it, a confirmation of respecting privacy is all that is needed -- not idle threats.

Despite that one couple, we still had a great time at VVRC! Great weather, great company, and an entertaining campground. We'll be back soon!

What's In a Name?

2010-08-06T07:00:00.001-06:00

In textile areas, people identify each-other with names. In naturist areas, people also identify each-other with names. But, for a variety of reasons, naturists don't want their names in front of a textiled crowd. Names can be used to link people to their work, hobbies, or interests. Some of those may conflict with naturism.

One of the biggest challenges I've faced while blogging is the use of names. Some naturists have their full names (and sometimes pictures too) on all kinds of naturist websites. A search engine query makes it readily apparent that they are naturists and proud of it. Others only go by first names, which therefore obfuscates search results. Some may use fake names, and still others choose to never use a name at all. With all that said -- what name can I use if I'm writing about them?

I've tried all sorts of things. I started with generic phrases such as "my girlfriend", "nice couple", "ballroom couple", and "slightly-crazy 40 y/o motorcycler". I've heard complaints about NOT using names, as-if I don't really know the person. I've also heard complaints about continuing to use the phrase "my girlfriend" because people think it's somehow derogatory. Sorry, but she doesn't want to use her real first name on this blog. Her newly chosen name is Percilla.

When I started writing the Mazo Manor series, I opted to copy the Meerkat Manor TV show by giving people nicknames that somehow matched a unique trait. In all honesty, this worked great! Maybe even too great! I found it easier to remember the nicknames than the actual names. Which, of course, presents a problem when you want to call out their name at the beach. Also, I heard complaints about some of the names. They were never meant to be derogatory but some figured out a way to become offended.

More recently, I've been using "standard names" on a temporary per-post basis. Alice, Bob, Carol, Dave, Eve, and so on are commonly used in research papers instead of "Person A", "Person B" and so on down the alphabet. This worked fine for a few academic-style posts, but it recently broke when I tried to apply it to real people. The couple we met who were first named Alice and Bob became good friends, and the names have therefore become permanent.

So what should I do in the future?

The standard at most venues is to go first-name-only. The problem with first names is that other naturists know them, and therefore I shouldn't use real first names if I want to keep people as anonymous as possible.

Even if I switch up the names by assigning random ones, there may be some sort of false identity that arises. I describe a person with the name Alice, and it sounds like an Alice that you may know. That could end up bad.

People don't like real names, generic phrases, or nicknames. Standard names won't last long. I'm running out of options here...

Should I switch to assigning unique numbers, like the government? Hello, 123-456! Should I develop a cryptographic hash? Here's my friend, A4B3C2D1. Other blogs chop down names to only the first letter, so Alice would be called "A". I don't like any of these options either.

So what is your preference? I'm accepting any and all suggestions!

Do you Freehike?

2010-06-27T18:08:00.002-06:00

The Vernon County Broadcaster wants to know!

See their homepage and vote.

Also feel free to post a comment on the story. (That requires registration though.)

I'm still trying to wrap my head around why they threaten police involvement for something they say is legal. Also, why they threaten disorderly conduct for confrontation that we clearly intend to avoid. This whole episode is surreal.

Local News

2010-06-20T17:26:00.003-06:00

I don't normally report on the news, but there are two stories from Saturday worth noting:

Naked cyclists protest oil, promote positive body images.
The World Naked Bike Ride came to Madison, Wisconsin after several false starts in previous years. Although the police report that things went smoothly (in the included video), 10 citations were issued for "disorderly conduct" due to complaints. There were 107 total riders -- which is impressive! The ride ended with everyone properly covered up. There are a few pictures and videos out there (including an interesting first-hand account and watching riders pass by). I hadn't realized that Nicholas, whom I've met twice before at events, was an organizer for the event. The first-hand account from the link above describes the "leader got taken away". I can only assume that he was one of the people who were cited. I wish them the best of luck in avoiding a conviction, and I hope they're at it again next year!

I didn't go for two simple reasons: No bikes, and putting in a 74 hour work-week. I wish I could've been there and I wish I could've reported a first-hand account of the event.

In the buff, in the bluffs: Vernon County hikers getting back to nature.
(La Crosse Tribune reprint, originally from the Vernon County Broadcaster.)
I certainly didn't intend on that publicity, especially on the top of the website and with my luck probably on the front page of the paper too. They never contacted me as part of the article, and I wish they had. At the moment, I'm not really sure what to think of it. I'm happy that they didn't write the article in a condemning way. It has a very neutral sound to it. I like that they wrote about our efforts to minimize a confrontation through the use of signs and a way of contact. But, they seem to threaten a "disorderly conduct" citation. I can't see how that charge would stick though since we're making every effort to NOT be disorderly. People have the choice to avoid what they may consider disorderly and still be able to use the park.

Several of the 12 comments on the Tribune article seem supporting. Others, as expected, just seem confused. I'm inclined to add a comment myself.

The only problem with the article is that it raises awareness. Some people might think "Cool! How can I participate?" Others, who typically have much louder voices, will say "There's no law against it? Let's make one!" I will need to start watching the Vernon County politics much closer.

May Fools

2010-05-31T14:56:00.001-06:00

April showers are supposed to bring May flowers -- not May fools! I was over it. I didn't want to talk about it. But TNS wants to talk about it, so lets talk about it! In N 29.4, there is a writeup titled "April Fools joke gone wrong." They really shouldn't have written it. Readers of this blog know who they're talking about in the article. Now, since it's in the spotlight, I feel obligated to straighten a few things out.

I openly admit that it was a bad decision on my part with how I wrote the original post and associated fake story. I should've been more clear, limited myself to a single day, and wrote things less convincingly with fake names. Or, I shouldn't have written anything at all. I've already stated that I will never again do an April Fools joke. I didn't get it right last year either, and one of the local people involved this year should've remembered that. I learned my lesson by the second week in April. What TNS has done since then has surpassed my single bad decision with several of their own. I foolishly put out the bait an hour before April 1st, and they bit hard and foolishly ran too far with it.

First of all, I was confused about who wrote the N writeup. Tracy lives in Massachusetts, and therefore had nothing to do with the whole ordeal. How she got assigned to write the story, I have no idea. All I know is that she, or any other TNS person, never contacted me as part of her reporting. I'm also not clear about what the writeup intends to achieve. Everyone already knows that stuff on the internet can't be trusted. Especially so on April Fools. It's written like they are trying to help their credibility, at least for the last two paragraphs. The rest seems to damage it and take NAC down in the process.

Bob has been the only mature, logical person that was directly involved. With everything he said, he was clear and to the point without being condemning. He was willing to look past my single bad decision and focus on the future. Live, learn. With this attitude, NAC is most certainly in good hands! Others can learn a lot from him. Although Bob supposedly "confirmed" the fake story, in talking with me he made it clear that he was very skeptical in calling it plausible. How Tracy put that as "confirmed" in the N article, I have no idea. It makes NAC look bad when really they aren't.

Everyone else has been acting like children so far. Anyone who saw the comments on the Sunday-after post can attest to that -- it's like TNS sent an office-wide memo to attack. If they wanted to rip me a new one, they should've done it privately via phone or email like mature adults. I'd accept it and we'd both move on. Attacking anyone, ever, in a public space is really bad for a public image -- and TNS should've been thankful that I deleted it all instead of leaving it in the public light. I understand that they were upset, and I let them vent about it without responding. It's time to move on, right? Apparently not.

Most adults who fall for a prank, or do something stupid, usually just laugh it off and never talk about it again. They're embarrassed about it. They might remain mad for a while -- but does that really accomplish anything? More to the point, they choose to not talk about it. They don't go around telling new friends "hey, here's a story of how I stupidly fell for a prank." What would their friends think? They might laugh at the story initially, but then slowly back away and look for better friends.

AANR, who has triple the membership, had to know about the fake story also. They did the right thing by presumably flagging it as a hoax, not saying a word about it, and letting it drop off the radar. TNS, on the other hand, has now stood up and told the whole world that they were fooled by a simple joke for a dreadfully long time. What will readers think of this?

The article makes it sound like TNS got a lot of calls, and that a lot of people were spreading the news. It is unlikely for this to be the case. I had no calls from anybody (per the caller ID), no emails, no comments on the post, nothing in usenet, nothing in the nudist social networks I participate in, nothing in the forums I participate in, no mentions on other blogs, no links to the blog post or fake news article (found by google), and searching for "Prairie du Chien nude beach" had no new results. I genuinely thought that nobody had given it a second thought, until Bob called late Sunday to tell me otherwise. Per my site statistics, there were 96 hits from around the world on the fake news story link that month. I'm fairly certain that a majority of those were from everyone involved at TNS during the investigation, several were bots, several were after the story was removed, and several were probably me. All-in-all, it's unlikely that very many people in the Midwest even saw it or knew about it. Well, until now.

I knew the location would be a crappy location for a beach. The water level was too high at that point in time for there to even be a beach. I expect they found a tiny patch of grass that dumped straight into the water. I also checked the weather prior to the post, and knew that Thursday April 1st was the only day warm enough to be naked. (Friday and the weekend ended up around 60 and was rainy.) I played up going on the 1st by saying I was headed that way and that the area skinny-dippers were planning to have a party. (TNS apparently doesn't know of any Prairie-area skinny-dippers, otherwise they should've called them.) Nobody in their right mind would go on a rainy and cold day, and by the end of the weekend I'd have the post flagged as an April Fools joke. (I was out of town that weekend.) Even in the unlikely event that someone made the mad dash to the beach on April 1st, common sense would prevail in that the location sucks and there are absolutely no signs or naked people around. And, most importantly, the fact that it was April 1st should've been a red flag. Tracy's worst-case scenario was extremely unlikely despite how she made it sound.

I still can't believe that anyone fell for it enough to make the trip. I really can't. (Other commenters on the Sunday-after post said they identified it as fake within about "15 minutes".) Nicky admitted that she couldn't find the news story on the Courier Press website. Well, duh! It's an extremely simple site with all the news for that day in a block. The "slight variation" of the URL was "http://www.prairieduchienarea.com/courier/" vs. "http://courierpress.wwncw.org/". It's not that slight, and there were a lot of changes in the look of the website between my stripped-down copy from mid-March and the real site on April 1st. If the story was real, it would've been on the main page with the other stories for that day, and people would be making a big deal about it.

Even if the webpage design and URL were overlooked, there were other indications that it can't be real. In the research Tracy lists, with TNS and NAC crawling the web, they should've found holes in the story itself:

Nude beaches just don't appear like that. Ever. Key West businesses overwhelmingly support a nude beach, but the council has been dragging their feet for over a year now. There has been a ton of publicity around it. Do you really think one could just pop up with very little publicity and no outcry? I even mention the Key West beach in the story as a sort of reminder. In the history of the US, there has been only one city which has legally declared a nude beach. The chances of it happening are very slim.
How many political officials do you know who are openly nudist? The chances that the mayor and a council member both go to Mazo Beach and are willing to talk openly about it is extremely rare. Even more rare is that they manage to convince an entire city to go along with the idea, especially since nobody liked one of them.
The 9-3 vote for the beach can't be correct. Practically all of the council members are members of churches, schools, police/fire departments, organizations, and have respectable families. There is no way that 9 council members would vote in support of a nude beach and only 3 would be opposed.
Nobody in the story opposed the beach. In a fair and balanced story, reporters always seek a comment from someone who is against it. Typically this is very easy to get.
There was nothing about the children. Wasn't anyone worried about the children?
The time between the vote and having the signs in place was very tight. Putting in the order, processing the order, delivering the order, and getting crews to erect the signs within a maximum of 7 business days seems a bit unrealistic.
The long-term resident quoted in the story doesn't exist. If they were a long-term resident, there would be search results about something they've done or whitepage listings.
The fake story talked about the "buckskinners" at Rendezvous, and that a nude beach isn't much beyond that. (Ignore the fact that there has been less and less skin over the years at Rendezvous, and no pictures or comments exist online about how much flesh is shown.) It's like saying that going from a swimsuit to fully nude isn't a big step. Naturists agree, but the rest of society most certainly doesn't.
Prairie du Chien doesn't even have a designated public textile beach. How could naturists, a vast minority, get a beach of their own?

Fool me once... OK, so they made the trip to the beach and noticed a complete lack of signs, beach, and naked people. Why did the investigation continue? OK, so the police knew nothing of it. If anyone knew the latest news, it would be them! Did they really need to call Pintz at that point? Did they really need to spend time writing comments on my blog? Did they really need to spend time writing an article? The only person whose "valuable time" was wasted, instead of being used to "further the cause of naturism and its positive effects", was Bob. I'm sure Bob would've been researching and working on naturist projects at that time. TNS and the NAC area rep involved, on the other hand, I doubt would've been hard at work promoting naturism on that cold Easter weekend. Once they suspected the story as a fake (like when it wasn't on the news site), they should've stopped all activity since anything more would be a waste. Or, they should've called my girlfriend or I for a final confirmation that it was a hoax. (They have the number -- home phone is with our membership and cell phone was printed in N 28.4) Instead, they kept going and going. The amount of time "wasted" is mostly their own fault.

Like anything, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. This year: In Spain, naked spectators watched a golf tournament per the Huffington Post. The Border Mail in Australia reported on a new nude beach. MIT reported (with video) on a naked physics lecture series with the next one being at 12am April 1st. The Times in London reported on a clothing-optional borough. The Improv Everywhere group even convinced the New York Times that over a thousand people had gone completely bottomless on NY subways and that nobody complained. TNS didn't report on any of these, and they are all much larger media sources.

The fact that TNS and NAC spent so much time trying to prove that a new beach was plausible, and ignoring the obvious signs that it wasn't, is a now-public disgrace thanks entirely to TNS. TNS seems hell-bent in teaching me a lesson with all of this, but it's really them who need the lesson this time around. Tracy's advice is that "common sense and a mature responsibility should indeed be part of the equation to prevent possible unintended consequences." Common sense would've flagged the article as a fake. Mature responsibility wasn't exercised when they attacked me through blog comments, and when they decided to broadcast the event to the world. TNS's recent publication will fuel unintended consequences against them. Readers will question the efficiency and reliability of TNS operations. AANR will point and laugh, and maybe even publish it. This blog post is another unintended consequence -- and will be the only one from me. I'm done talking about it. I'm tired of it. Hopefully everyone else will get over it and move on too. I learned my lesson a month ago -- will TNS learn theirs?

On the bright side, I volunteered to help investigate future April 1st time-frame news stories and claims. It's clear that they need help in that department.

Side-note 1: If the city is working hard to increase tourism, maybe creating a nude beach would be a good idea. It'll cause a lot of publicity, and because of Mazo they know a lot of people would go to it. (This is all assuming they can find a place to make a beach.) The main reason why my fake story was so convincing is because it really is a good idea for any city to consider.

Side-note 2: The entire island is reservable. You know, just in case a "Midwest Naturist Gathering" were to happen. Make sure to bring up tourism dollars and the hundreds that would probably go!

Quiet Trip to VVRC

2010-05-21T17:19:00.002-06:00

After more than a month of hard work and busy weekends, we needed a break. My girlfriend planned a trip. A small trip. But it was the closest thing to a vacation that we could get. (Remember that I canceled our vacation to Florida due to work, and with the impending oil the Florida coast may never be the same.) We invited Alice and Bob (standard names, but same as from the last party) to join us at a weekend VVRC trip. They readily accepted.

As the day approached, we were all second-guessing ourselves. The high on Saturday was to be 70, and somewhat cloudy. It wasn't the ideal weekend for going naked, but at least it wasn't supposed to rain. We all went anyway.

We were newbies. First-timers, apparently. We weren't in their computer system at all. Long-time readers know this isn't the case. We first checked out the 2007 car show, went back for 2008 and won 1st place in the motorcycle category, tried the mid-winter party in early 2009, and went to it again in early 2010. We weren't in their computer system because they don't log all the guests at those specific events.

The grounds have changed since our last visit in 2008. They did some major work to the pool, added a sound system around the pool area, added WiFi, re-did the showers, were working on the mens bathroom that weekend, and acquired a frisbee-golf hole that hadn't been permanently mounted yet.

It was cold that Saturday morning. Somehow, people still crawl out of their RVs naked and remain that way. They were a minority though. I started out with a longsleeve and no pants. My girlfriend started out in jeans and no shirt. After a walk around the property, I decided to give cool-weather naturism a try again by getting naked and staying that way as long as I could.

Alice and Bob had a small scare when they didn't see any tents in the tenting area. They expected us to stay Friday night, but we decided at the last cold minute to arrive in the morning instead. Other than them, and the regulars in the RVs, the place was very quiet. The pool was always open. The chairs were available. It was most certainly NOT the car show -- and we loved it anyway!

We made our own entertainment with Alice and Bob. We played card games and bocce. We lounged by the pool to stay just warm enough to be naked. We talked endlessly, and snacked endlessly. We watched the three birds nests in the poolside pavilion, all active with baby birds. (The owl they tied up there is doing a great job!) Bob also asked my opinion of places in his book. I mistakenly thought it was the old TNS Nude Beaches and Resorts book, and recommended that he get the newer version. He said it was the newest version! I looked again, and it was the AANR Guide to Nude Recreation. The covers are far too similar... Suspiciously similar... Does the AANR book even list a public swimming hole with a waterfall?

A quick side-note: I noticed that the book had no frontal shots of breasts or genitals, and had less pictures on average than the TNS book. I can only assume that AANR was trying to make it easier to add the book to libraries and bookstores, and other places that may be skeptical of displaying nudity. It doesn't really show what to expect at the places they list, though.

Towards the evening, we built a bonfire in the camping area. There was a mountain of branches on the fire pit that we half-cleared for safety. (We didn't want to start the nearby tree on fire!) We tried to light it, and tried to light it some more. The wood was very wet and was refusing to take off from burning leaves and small sticks. One of the members, who apparently felt sorry for us by that point since it had been at least a half-hour, brought us exactly what we needed -- old AANR Bulletins! Sure, we'll burn those! My girlfriend and I were almost tripping over ourselves in anticipation.

Sure enough, the enormous amounts of hot air pouring from the Bulletins was enough to catch the wet wood on fire. There was a constant hiss, and we could see boiling sap at the ends of the logs. The fact that we could even get it started surprised all of us. We had S'mores and heat -- it was a good evening.

The scheduled entertainment for the weekend was karaoke. Alice, Bob, and my girlfriend all sang songs. Bob's was by far the most memorable -- apparently someone signed him up to perform "I'm Too Sexy", which he did very well. Everyone was laughing at his performance, in a good way.

My girlfriend doesn't normally like karaoke, but she noticed that being among naturists is different. Everyone was very cheery and supportive, no matter how bad the song. People danced to slow songs (and a few faster ones), and some even jumped in and helped out the singers. She said it was the best karaoke event that she had ever been to.

I retired a bit early from the entertainment. It was cold out, but I was still naked when I crawled into the tent. However, I gave in and finally got dressed because I wasn't warming up between the air mattress and sleeping bag. After karaoke was finished, plus an hour, it was dead quiet. It stayed that way until the birds started chirping in the morning.

In the morning, it was a quick goodbye to Bob. Alice had a bit too much to drink, and it was Bob's mission to get things situated and get her home. Finally -- some friends that have some embarrassing mishaps like we do! We're looking forward to many more weekend trips to VVRC with them! We had fun, and I think they had fun too.

On the way out of town, we tried a new place to eat. Chris' Curve Cafe is an excellent place for breakfast! I had a meaty omelet that was too big for me to finish, and my girlfriend had a perfect steak and eggs, all for a great price. Stopping there is our new tradition.

Naked Girls, Reading?

2010-05-09T17:32:00.007-06:00

What's the most boring thing that you could watch someone do? Read. (Or play a videogame, which could be a close second.)

What's the most boring thing they could read to you? Song lyrics and autobiographies, perhaps. Or childrens books.

What makes the above successful? Cute naked girls. (Any reference to nudity in the title makes it an instant hit!)

At the start of this month, the Naked Girls Reading group had a huge show in Chicago where they read stuff about rock musicians and played guitar hero with a few of the audience members. They are planning a similar show in Madison later this month. I'm not going.

Let's be honest... Naturists would find this event to be one of the most boring things we could possibly sit through. It would be more entertaining watching a mix of naturists play volleyball, tennis, frisbee, bocce, or swim around the pool. I could even join them. It would be more fulfilling to get to know them personally. The only problem with this scenario is that everyone is naked, and society doesn't want to see that, do they? A recent poll points out that "a lot of people were more reluctant to see other people in the nude than go au naturel themselves." Strange... Tell that to the naked girls.

Michelle L'Amour, a Chicago based burlesque star, originally started the event as a joke. "Nobody is going to be interested in people sitting around reading," a friend recalled. To everyone's surprise, it was an instant success. Michelle bought a website for the group, keeps touring, and keeps changing it up as she goes. Check out their press coverage so far.

I fully expect this concept to spread with plenty of copycats. Any group of cute girls could book a venue, advertise, and find the same success. Just like the naked calendars, there will be lots of spin-offs. Naked Girls Painting? Naked Girls Videogaming? Naked Girls Knitting? Naked Girls Playing Chess? Naked Girls Doing Yoga? Naked Girls Doing Taxes And Other Complex Paperwork? Naked Girls Being Naked? (That last one would prove popular, since it references nudity twice!)

With all that aside, does this help naturism? Some may argue that exposure to naked bodies helps to overcome the shock of nudity, and therefore nudity will become more acceptable as people get used to it. With all the naked calendars that exist, all the burlesque shows, all the artwork, all the nearly naked advertisements, all the pornography, all the consumers of such things, and the fact that everyone has one, how does the naked body still shock?

Society has erected a wall. A huge wall. A wall so big that some mistake it for the end of the universe. On one side is a happy healthy nudist campground, full of realistic bodies of all shapes, sizes, colors, and ages. On the other side is a society that is deathly afraid of seeing over the wall. Even knowing what's on the other side irritates them. They believe that the only naked person should be an attractive person who gets paid. Being exposed to real bodies should be a crime of the highest magnitude.

So how do we push down this wall? We read! Why can't naturists jump on the bandwagon? I believe that groups of naturists should start up a show, and read naturist propaganda and other stuff that may be of interest. (Academic papers on Vitamin D deficiency may want to be skipped.) Since cute naked girls are like cracks in the big wall, advertising should include a cute naked girl to get people hooked, but the show should add a fair mix of readers. Not only can the naturist groups convince the masses that body freedom is good, but it also allows the masses to meet real naturists.

Get to it, grassroots naturists! Start "Naked Nudists Reading Nudist Propaganda". I know it would be the new rage because it references nudity THREE times, and would include at least one cute naked girl!

April Showers...

2010-05-03T18:03:00.005-06:00

April was a bad month, and I'm glad it's over.

It started with a joke. And just like last year, I wrote it too convincingly and people took it very seriously. This time around it had larger repercussions, so I'm throwing in the towel. No more April Fool's jokes from this blogger. Ever.

The only benefit is that by poking and prodding, it's easy to find out who my true friends/co-bloggers/work-partners/comrades are. Those who forgive the quickest are usually the best partners and the ones who I can trust and depend on. (I'll spare the game theory details of why that is!) I am quickly forgiving also. It's better that way.

The first day of the month happened to be a warm sunny day, so my girlfriend and I went for a freehike. We made it most of the way down the trail when there was a suspicious beep from the 2-way radio. Playing it safe, we dressed and hiked back to find that nobody had touched the sign or radio. It was a good hike anyway, but a bummer that we hiked in textiles for half of it.

Early in the month, my job started encouraging 60 hour work-weeks to finish up a project. That'll last until at least the end of this month. After that, I got the bad news (in April) that I'll be on the project that involves traveling to Michigan almost all the time. My summer doesn't look too good at the moment.

During the middle of the month, we almost got hit by a meteor. This was VERY close to where we live. I could drive for 10 minutes and look for fragments. (I didn't though, see paragraph above.) A friend of mine actually saw it. We all heard the sonic boom, which sounded like very close lightning (sort-of) and rumbled for literally over a minute. Scary stuff, but very cool at the same time. Check the news story link above for the video. A police car happened to be pointing in the right direction at that time.

Almost the last week of the month, we had to cancel some long-standing plans due to my work. My girlfriend has never been very far south, and has always wanted to go. We had a 10-day Florida vacation planned. We'd jump into the first Tallahassee Naturally Full Moon Skinny Dip of the season, read a lot at the ANRL at Cyprus Cove, chat with Morley at Sunsport, ask Key West why they don't have a nude beach yet, and poke at a few alligators while camping in Flamingo. But those plans are on hold until at least next winter. Maybe by then Key West will actually have their beach. It's amazing how long it takes and how much publicity surrounds the simple act of declaring a nude beach. They don't just happen overnight.... (How long has Key West been talking about it now?)

The bright side of calling off the vacation was that I could attend the Badger Naturist Road Cleanup. It didn't deserve a special post this time around. It was almost rainy, not many attended, and it seemed very mechanical this time. The usual people showed up, picked up trash, then went to Culvers. The only thing new was a snappy attitude towards me, and it was apparent even before I had anything in my trash bag. I don't care though -- I'll continue to attend the cleanups simply because it's the right thing to do.

Looking to the future, our summer will be hectic but we'll make the most of it anyway. Our preference this year is to spend some weekends camping at VVRC (now with free WiFi!) and the Homestead Nych. Mazo Beach is always good for a day-trip, but our freehikes and our naked geocaching are a bit more challenging and fun. By the end of summer, we may even have our own private acres to enjoy.

Nude Bowlin'!

2010-03-13T20:54:00.004-06:00

Thanks to an invite from Northern Exposure Naturists (NEN), and the fact that my girlfriend's birthday was a few days ago, I decided to surprise her with a bowling trip so she could celebrate in her birthday suit! Besides, we've never tried any naked bowlin' yet. It sounds like fun!

We had a dreadfully long and rainy 3.5 hour trip to a tiny bowling alley in a tiny town outside of greater Milwaukee area. After ignoring the "Sorry We're Closed" sign and getting through the papered-over door, we found ourselves in a bar full (20 or so) of naked people. Nobody was bowling, and the event was supposed to start an hour ago. Instead, they were drinking and a few were smoking. Not quite the evening I had in mind.

Thanks to our pseudo-celebrity status, we were instantly recognized by those who read N magazine. We're now called "the geocachers" instead of "the freehikers" from the article last year. Besides that, simply being young and new to the place brought forth attention from everyone.

Some of the regulars decided to start up a game and invited us to join them. Of course we agreed. Seconds later, the one in charge was giving us a small tour. Here's the bar, there's a small locker room that nobody uses, shoes are behind that counter, there's the couple who own the place, have a good time! We peeled away our clothes and we were getting ready to join the group. While we were apart and I was still busy getting ready, the one in charge returned to my girlfriend and asked more questions. She signaled me over to help answer. Within a few minutes he was talking our ears off with stories. The group was waving us over throughout the stories, and we eventually managed to break away.

This sort of thing happens a lot, and it does get on my nerves after a while. People approach my girlfriend to start up a conversation (or vice-versa), she waves me over to help answer something, I start talking to the person, she excuses herself, and the process repeats. I'm always getting pulled around. She's the social butterfly who meets everyone (and who everyone wants to meet), and I'm the encyclopedia who can hold a good informative conversation.

During our three games of bowling with the group, and a few games with others (which I was too busy in discussion to actually bowl), I realized a few things: First is that my girlfriend bowls way better without clothing. Second, despite being better, the four men bowled much better games than the three women. Third, the women made up for it by being cute and entertaining. Lastly, I don't bowl as good when one of the women keeps saying I have a cute butt.

Surprisingly, an hour after we were there someone younger than us showed up! (She was one of the women who later bowled with us, when I was too busy.) Other than us three, the rest of the crowd had to be at least a decade older. This fact had one of the guys worried, and he just had to talk to us...

After trying communication with the social butterfly, he was forwarded to me. His concern was that the crowd was aging too much, and that there should be a lot of interest in naturist activities from people in Milwaukee. But, as he stated, there are no known naturist organizations in Milwaukee and therefore no communication medium to bring in new people to the bowling events. We talked shop for quite a while, and he told stories for quite a while. I didn't mind talking shop, but the endless stories were killing my fun.

In retrospect, I should've asked more questions to this guy and to the one in charge. It was my understanding that NEN had set up this bowling event in the Fall and this was the third one of the season. But, it seems I was wrong. The one in charge wasn't related to NEN, and the other guy said it was a monthly event over the winter and that he's been attending for 14 years. They're not associated with any organizations. Many of the regulars visit Dragonfly Beach, Sun Ray Hills, VVRC, and sometimes Mazo Beach.

To add to my confusion, there's no entry fee. Shoe rental is free. And, we don't pay for any games that we play. I don't know for sure, but I highly doubt that the bowling group pays a lump sum for renting the place. I guess the money is made in selling food and drinks. We asked what we need to pay for, and the one in charge said to tip generously. A cheapskate could easily attend and bowl naked without paying a cent.

We were no cheapskates. My girlfriend put some money in the jukebox and I generously tipped when I ordered my highly recommended bacon cheeseburger. Best bacon cheeseburger I've had! I had to hurry up to eat it though, as time flew and we needed to get dressed and get home. How could 5 hours go so fast? Oh right...the conversations!

I wanted to bowl at least one more game, and wanted to take some pictures of us bowling. (I at least got one good picture taken of both of us before the lanes filled up.) I also wanted to play pool. But, I never got a chance.

We both enjoyed the event. We'd probably enjoy it more next time, since our presence would be less of a novelty. They're a great group, but like most nudists they just love to socialize. Maybe even a little too much.

The Wild VVRC Mid-Winter Party

2010-02-28T12:18:00.008-06:00

I'm sick. (Great way to start a post!) It doesn't happen often, but by chance my body decided to be sick this week with some sort of chest cold. If we didn't already agree to share a room with some friends, we probably would've skipped it. I can't talk well, have a scratchy sensitive throat, and would much prefer to stay at home. But I'm a man of my word and have a pesky girlfriend who wanted a mini-vacation, so here we go!

On the drive to VVRC's Mid-Winter Party, my girlfriend informed me of something I didn't know: Apparently there was an issue between one of the members of Friends of Mazo Beach and one of the members of VVRC, and the result was a ban on Friends of Mazo Beach people from attending their events. (Shhh! We're members! But I can't see how they would deny us since we have a lot of VVRC friends and are peaceful in general.) Over the years, I have noticed a lack of Friends of Mazo Beach people at the VVRC events. It's starting to make sense, but I think the whole ban thing is silly. VVRC is still affiliated with TNS, and I wore my TNS shirt!

[UPDATE: Had a comment to correct this hear-say: "Being a member of VVRC and a past board member, I can assure you that not all FOMB are banned from VVRC or it's events. I do know the incident and it was a specific 4 people that have been banned from VVRC and it's events. It was not personal, but unacceptable behavior on the grounds of vvrc that caused the situation."]

Looking at my list from last year and comparing it to this year:

The pool was warmer initially, but the heater must've quit at some point.
The hot-tub was cooler, so it was often full.
They served the same great meal, and there were plenty of munchies too.
No DJ this time -- instead, a guitar player who managed to play non-stop for over 3 hours.
There was no YMCA.
There were no edible gel wielding swinger gals.
The ballroom-style dancers were back, and this time they brought a friend. Using standard names, they can be Alice and Bob, with Carol being the friend.
The arcade has been removed, and there is a dedicated "smoking room" which is the boiler room for the building. The building is all non-smoking otherwise.
Dave and Eve (more standard names), the ones who invited us to share a room, respectively declined to honor the above policy. I say "respectively declined" because they limited themselves and kept things ventilated. The rooms must've been smoking rooms previously, based on their omnipresent smell. Either way, I'm sure the hotel isn't happy about it. They're great people to hang out with, and I can't hold it against them. I wouldn't want to stand in a crummy boiler room to smoke either.
The turnout for the event was around 160, and it's been growing every year. I told them that they might need a bigger venue next year, which they shot down with budgeting reasons. There was no room for a dance floor, and they were out of seating space. It was getting cramped.

After making our way through the check-in process, my girlfriend had to make a run to the car for that one item we always seem to forget. In the couple of minutes she was gone, I witnessed a couple walk in and greet a guy they apparently haven't seen in a while. Then, the wife and guy kissed...on the lips. The only thought in my mind was: "Why am I here again?!"

In all fairness to them, it seems that only adults attend this party each year. (The listing never says it's an adult party though.) The entire evening did remain a "nudist" setting, but it was apparent that a majority of the people were something beyond nudist... This is why I like the Badger Naturist parties better -- more regular nudists.

We made our way to the room, dropped our backpack, dropped our clothes, and dropped ourselves back into the pool room. I spent a lot of time sitting by Dave and Eve (and friends) pretending that I wasn't sick and was having a good time, despite talking as little as possible. My girlfriend made her rounds to greet friends, check out the pool, and have a quick dip in the hot-tub.

Alice and Bob were at the next table, and I noticed that they were chatting a lot with a cute new friend (Carol). When my girlfriend returned, I asked her if Alice and Bob brought a friend this year. "Yep, and Alice says I have to chat with her later tonight. She's a dominatrix!"

After that bombshell, we grabbed an open side of the hot-tub and privately discussed how the evening was progressing and how interesting it may get later on. Soon after, she went to nap for an hour (she worked the night before and didn't get enough sleep). I resumed my position at Dave and Eve's table, pretending I wasn't sick and was having a good time.

As dinner was starting, Dave made a trip to the room. My girlfriend followed him back down, and seemed well rested at the moment. She returned to find an extra couple wedged on to the end of the table, who had been there for a couple of minutes. (Did I mention it got cramped?) She broke the ice with them and started chatting away. I didn't want to, because talking hurt my throat even more. A simple "hi" always leads into an hour or so of conversation. Maybe I was a bit rude, in retrospect.

Dinner was great, as always. The pasta was throat-friendly, but the breadsticks not so much. Other harder snacks like RR1 popcorn (our contribution), puppy chow, crackers, veggies, chips, and most everything else was off limits for me too. Bummer! After dinner was a raffle drawing, and most people at our table won prizes. We won a fancy insulated water bottle. Other prizes included shot glasses, scratch-off lottery tickets (no winners), and a jar of candy.

After most people were finished eating, the hotel clerk on duty was taking care of garbage. She's around our age, and wasn't sure if she wanted to work a nudist party because she didn't know what to expect. The nudists, as usual, were holding doors for her and giving her friendly greetings. My girlfriend talked to her a bit, and she said: "I'm glad I worked this party because everyone is so nice and kind and sweet." I think it's great that she had this opinion! Maybe she'll join in next time?

The clothed guitarist starting strumming mostly country tunes. One cute swinger gal danced on the tiny dance floor for several songs to the enjoyment of a lot of guys. Eventually, the guitarist played a slow song, and many crammed in for a slow dance and an occasional butt grab on their partners. I was too busy to watch much of the dancing.

My girlfriend started up a small game at the table. Dave and Eve played, with Alice joining in after a while. The game was similar to the game we played last year with Alice and Bob. It's simple and entertaining, but easier to play without a loud guitarist. We eventually moved to the food area, which wasn't being used much after the dinner items were all cleaned up. It was quiet. Dave and Eve didn't join us, but we managed to recruit in a total of eight players. With two cute girls in front of me (Alice and Carol), a cute girl next to me, and an entertainingly drunk Bob at the end of the table, I suddenly felt a little better and really was having a good time! I won the first game, and Carol tied me in the second game. Wait...maybe I shouldn't phrase it like that...

Some left, including Alice and Bob, but we were still a chatty bunch. A few minutes later, Bob came back and whispered in my ear: "Carol really wants to talk shop, and isn't really fond of the guys hanging around her." (Being an attractive single girl, she was a magnet for guys.) I conveyed this to my girlfriend, and we three managed to remove ourselves from the conversation. Soon enough, we were in Carol's room listening to the interesting documentary of her life and having a chat.

She had a strict upbringing that she wanted to break away from, and finally did after college. (She's quite smart, a little philosophical but down-to-earth, and is great at telling a story. I think she should write a book!) She found a place where she was able to work as a professional dominatrix, and did so for several years, but decided to give it up a few years ago. She noted that this is not prostitution -- intercourse wasn't expected and didn't happen. Apparently there is a surprising number of people who have a foot fetish, and it's like a day at the spa for her. Her summary of the psychological aspects of the whole scene was very interesting to me at least. I may have a separate post, with a new naturist-related hypothesis, stemming from that in the future...

My girlfriend asked a few questions, but none were nearly as important as mine: "How the heck did you end up here?" The common perception is that a lot of people gravitate towards sex clubs because they offer more "freedom" than nudist clubs. With that in mind, how is it that someone who worked in a domain beyond sex clubs ended up at a plain ol' nudist hotel party? And was she even enjoying the evening or bored out of her mind? The answer was simple -- it all depends on what you're looking for. She wanted to hang out with her friends, and her friends were here. She was enjoying the evening.

My girlfriend and I went back down to the food area. The place was clearing out since it was close to midnight. My girlfriend visited the bathroom while I found some throat-friendly snacks. Eating grapes and watching the latest news on the TV, a couple entered the room and started making out right behind me. Resisting the strong urge to bounce a few grapes (or other foods) off their heads, I chose to avoid a confrontation and simply walked out of the room.

Together again, we noticed that an overly friendly group had taken over the hot-tub. They were doing nothing overt or lewd, but we knew better than to even attempt to fill the few empty spots. It would've been awkward. The longer we waited for them to clear out, the fuller it got with similar people, so we eventually gave up and went to bed. What happened in the hot-tub as the night went on is anybody's guess.

The next morning wasn't too exciting, but there's a strange behavior that I always notice. The night before, everyone is fully naked with exception to a few things the women may wear. In the mornings at every party I've been to, people seem to acquire a random state of dress. Some are fully clothed, some are wearing just pants or just tops, and some are wearing nothing at all. Why is that?

Anyway, we said our goodbyes to all of our friends. We got invites to Blue Lake Resort, a place I'd love to check out sometime. Alice and Bob invited us to camp a weekend or two with them at VVRC, which is another thing I'd love to do this summer. Lastly, Alice and Bob suggested that we all share a room next year. Rooming with people who are much closer to our age would be a welcome change!

Psychology and the Shock of Nudity

2010-02-25T19:23:00.004-06:00

"What do you say to a naked lady?" It's an entertaining old video, but it's also a very good question for naturists to analyze. More specifically, how the answers are different between naturists and textiles. The first step to effectively educating textiles about naturism is to understand how they think about it.

With that in mind, a unique chain of events unfolded a few weeks ago.

My girlfriend came home in the morning and went to bed (naked).
Very rarely does it happen that she forgets to lock the door.
The weather turned bad during the day.
Carol (not her real name - I'm using standard names again), who is a typical sweet motherly type in her 40's, left work and decided to stay at our place to avoid the slippery drive to her rural home and back the next morning.
My girlfriend rolls out of bed and visits the restroom.
Carol does a quick knock at the door and then walks in.
My girlfriend says "hi honey!" thinking it's me, opens the door to walk out, and gives Carol a full frontal. She then says "oh hi!" and smiles on her way to the bedroom to put some clothes on.

The part that confuses me is that Carol felt really bad for catching my girlfriend in the nude. My girlfriend repeatedly said she didn't care at all about it, and we told Carol that we're naturists anyway so it's no big deal to us.

Carol is completely fine with us being naturists and all, and asked a whole bunch of questions about naturism. We told stories, and she thought it was neat and was happy for us but would never consider it herself. (The usual story...) Despite all this, she still felt extremely bad about catching my girlfriend naked! She kept saying she was sorry about it, even when she left the next morning.

This is how I believe the chain goes, when a textile (Alice) catches another textile (Bob) in the nude:

Alice sees a naked body, and is a bit surprised but realizes that naked bodies do exist and are generally harmless.
Bob is completely embarrassed: Body shame, bad luck of being naked at that moment, feeling vulnerable, whatever. Bob's life is changed forever, or so it seems.
Alice feels guilty for embarrassing Bob, conveys that she's very sorry. Both pretend that it never happened, and both feel bad about it in separate ways.

Naturists have a different attitude in the second step: You've seen me naked? Good! That means I don't have to get dressed next time you come over...if that's OK?

Since the middle step is different, the final step should never happen. Why should Alice feel bad about seeing Bob naked, if Bob didn't care at all about it? Alice is not guilty of embarrassing Bob.

Next time Carol is over (assuming we get bad weather again), I'd like to investigate this further. Why, to this day, does she still feel bad about it? What other forces are at work? Does she feel bad simply because she's supposed to based on other experiences with textiles? I thought I addressed that in our evening of chatting, but apparently not.

A similar thing can be said about meeting a hunter while freehiking, and the GoTopless protest. The hunter avoided looking in our direction and seemed shy, as-if our nudity is some sort of blinding light. Carol did too after the initial sight. A majority of people at Chicago avoided looking at us as well, but we weren't naked and most probably ignore all protest groups. (Others, in all fairness, seemed to think this was the only time in their lives that they would see a breast and cherished it for all it was worth.)

Getting textiles to not feel guilty about seeing nudity would be a good step for general acceptance. If we can better understand the problem, or what leads up to the problem, then we have a better chance of correcting it early.

Maybe we're wrong about how we notify others? The signs at Haulover warn "ATTENTION - BEYOND THIS POINT YOU MAY ENCOUNTER NUDE BATHERS" Perhaps the right approach is something like "There's friendly naked people beyond this sign, and we won't mind if you stop over and chat with us!"

Spring Cleaning

2010-02-07T19:12:00.002-06:00

Although most other bloggers retain their entire history, my opinion is that it creates a lot of clutter. Links break, comments get dated, posts that are of no interest beyond a few days still manage to look important, important posts look dated, and it's hard to find the good stuff among the clutter. Thus, I intend to clean my blog!

I've always had two main goals with this blog. First is a publication space for articles and essays. Ideally, this should read like a book. Second is a storyline of my forays into naturism. This should be a timeline.

I plan to create an index post with the above mentioned "table of contents", "storyline", and add a few links with my profile and recommendations sort-of like a resume. Posts that apply to either of the two main topics will be kept. Other rants and links (such as most of the Missed News series) will be removed since it's unlikely that anyone cares at this point in time. If any good bits remain, I'll concatenate them into a single post.

One thing that I'd like to fix is dates. All events that I wrote about were posted at least a week after the actual event. I'd like to fix the dates to represent when things actually happened -- including the Australia story that happened over a year before I started the blog. The problem with this is that Blogger uses the date in the link, and therefore it will break all of my links. So, it's probably not a good idea to fix dates! I'll at least have the correct ones in the timeline.

For multi-part stories and posts, I can add "Previous" and "Next" links to the bottom for easy browsing.

Lastly, with the important posts, it would be good to refresh them a bit. Little updates here and there will show that the ideas still apply and are actively maintained.

If anyone would like a snapshot of the blog prior to my cleaning, download an archive from here (~6.5 megs).

Will Ratings Help?

2010-01-31T19:51:00.003-06:00

UPDATE: Removed the "X" category, reworded as needed.

Bravo to Nudiarist for a wonderful recent essay on the crossroads of nudism.

I can't help but agree with most of what he says... Yes, SOME "human beings are very sexual creatures." Yes, there is a WEAK "connection between naturism/nudism and sexuality." Yes, "the key component to the success of all social gatherings is BEHAVIOR." I especially agree with that last one, and have noted that behavior is a product of "majority rules". With that in mind, lets fast-forward to the part which concerns me.

I am hard-pressed to find a reason why AANR cannot assign ratings to its affiliated clubs, rather than force those with more adult activities out of the network.

Well, I have your reason. I admit that the rating idea is brilliant and would work, to a point. It needs work, and I hope that my concerns are addressed prior to it being implemented.

A rating system may look something like this, for example:

G - General audience, family friendly, anyone welcome.
PG - Parental Guidance suggested, conversation topics may be unsuitable for children sometimes. (Maybe more at night.)
R - Conversation topics are often unsuitable for children, possible lewd behavior, but no sex (in public).
NR - Not Rated, as-in a venue that hasn't been certified to any of the other ratings.

Clubs would work toward their favorite rating, and an external authority (AANR most likely) would certify the resort. Ratings would be published. Couples would prefer the R resorts. Families would prefer the G and PG resorts. Perverts would go straight for the R resorts, and probably leave the others alone. Sexuality would have its place, and family values would have its place as well. Even I have suggested this idea before, although quite indirectly...

Where this entire model falls apart is on the topic of public lands. Nudist venue owners control the rules on the property, but it's the "guests" who control the rules on public lands (within the bounds of the law). Majority rules.

How would the local nude beach be rated? If families are around, and the atmosphere is family-friendly, it would be a G. If swingers are around, it would be an R. The only valid rating would be NR. This is the same with any public event involving nudity.

Consider the following:

Scenario 1: A concerned family wants to try nude recreation. Mazo beach is close, but has an NR rating. Blue Lake Resort has a G rating. Would you take your child to a new NR film? They can only assume that NR could be an R, so they decide to go to Blue Lake instead and enjoy it. They never even try Mazo Beach, even though a family on the beach would almost guarantee a PG atmosphere. Since no families frequent Mazo to keep a family friendly atmosphere, the beach slowly goes to a R (or worse) rating and risks being closed.

Scenario 2: A frisky couple decide to try an R resort and like it. After many trips, they find out that Mazo beach is closer and decide to give it a try. Due to their experience, and the fact that it's only adults around at that moment, they assume that R (or worse) activity is OK. Mazo risks getting closed due to the prevailing activities.

The moral of the stories is that public beaches would likely see a decline of families and a family-friendly atmosphere, and frisky couples might assume that public places have R ratings since they have visited other "nudist" venues with that atmosphere. Beaches get closed when the family-friendly atmosphere goes sour.

Law-makers may jump on the ratings system too. It's easier for them to pass a law that forbids public nudity except at a venue with a PG rating or higher. AANR has already tried to slip in something similar to an anti-nudity law, where nudity would've been prohibited at any place that is not an AANR club. Public lands, with their NR rating, would be left in the dust. By default, people would assume that any NR venue would be rated R (or worse). You never know what you might see at the beach.

Clubs would benefit from this rating system, but public lands would not. This is exactly why I'd expect AANR to try this, and strike another blow to TNS.

Public beaches are on the front-lines of many naturist legal battles. Sure, resorts get some attention from the authorities, but as private venues they are less volatile than public beaches. If a couple behave inappropriately in a resort, they get thrown out quickly and that's it. If a couple behave inappropriately on a public beach, law enforcement notes it and uses it against the whole beach and against any sort of public nudity. A rating system will not help beach-goers at all, and may even hurt in the long-run for the reasons I mentioned above. It'll make NAC's job much more difficult explaining why a NR beach should be treated as a G or PG instead of an R, despite the couple of noted complaints.

Public lands, and public events with nudity, need to be considered before a rating system goes into effect. A poorly designed rating system opens the door for more constricting laws regarding nudity, and may end up contributing to eroding freedoms.

My Most Expensive Suit

2009-12-29T03:06:00.000-06:00

I'm happy when dressed in my birthday suit. In fact, I want to wear it all the time. (Unless it's cold.) Despite it being initially free, it has by far been the most expensive suit to wear.

Where can I wear my birthday suit? Vacations to nudist resorts ($), nudist campgrounds ($), nude beaches (often $ to get to), or private land ($ to own). For full-time naturism, the choices are either living at a nudist campground or private land. Since no campgrounds exist nearby, and real estate is on sale at the moment, the best investment is land.

I could live just about anywhere, since I don't mind small living spaces. Living in town means I'm close to work. Cheap commute, cheap to get utilities, and cheap plots to buy. However, I'd like to be able to get the mail and do yardwork in my birthday suit. In some locations this would be OK (Spain?), but in the US a neighbor would call the police. Personally, I don't see what the big deal is with my favorite attire.

Culture's irrational opinion of what I like to wear forces an extra requirement onto our real estate purchase: Privacy. And let me tell you -- privacy is expensive! Everyone, deep down, wants a place that doesn't have close neighbors.

Furthermore, privacy isn't something that is measured. Realty sites list the plot size, anything it contains, and usually have pictures of the land/house itself. Never do they show the views from the land. Can we see the road from it? Can we see neighbors? How many of the neighbors will call the cops when they see our naked butts roaming around? None of this can be found on the listing.

It's been a frustrating search so far. Almost everything that looks to have privacy is way beyond what I can afford. I've looked at several plots of land over the last year. Only two had actual privacy. The first was 10 acres, where maybe 2 were actually usable. Our house would be private, but the driveway getting there would be impossible to climb in a vehicle during the winter. Also, the wooded areas were far too steep to do anything with. The second was perfect (per my ideal plot), a hilltop all to ourselves. But, it was slightly beyond my price range and had two very questionable easements to get there. (Neighbors shouldn't take each-other to court like that, and I don't want to get in the middle of it.) It's no longer listed anyway.

A recent viewing was of a 40 acre plot in my price range. It was right off the interstate, on the other side of a small hill. There was a picture of the very top of a semi on the interstate, showing it can't be viewed from the road. Other pictures show rolling green hills and valley with no houses, fences along the property, and a stream. Was this the perfect place? The 40 acres were stretched out in the bottom of a valley with the stream down the middle, and a house on the hillside on both sides. It was a cow pasture, and the cows looked much happier than we would be.

The search continues... Recently, we checked out a 20 acre parcel. It's close to town, full of trees, and includes everything but a house. One side is a fence, and one side is a road. The fence line runs along the the top of a hill -- sure the farmer could peek over, but it's unlikely. Trees block the view to the road, and to the houses on the other side. The only problem is that a single house on the other side of the road has a mostly-clear view down a considerable length of the property. If we add a house in the right place we could block that view, but it means the front lawn is off-limits for nude use. I'm not even sure if creative shrubbery could save the front yard.

It's difficult to decide what to do. Do we make an offer on this one, or gamble that a better one will appear? I admit that this property isn't perfect, but I think we could be happy there. I'd have to give up my idea of opening a small campground (or future resort) since this land wouldn't support it.

Have any of you been through this before? Did you find the perfect place, where you can wear your best suit anywhere you want? Do you have any tips on what to look for, or what to do to find that perfect place? Any tips on dealing with neighbors? Any tips on bargaining with realters? Please leave a comment.

Sexuality and Naturism

2009-11-28T09:51:00.001-06:00

...And why those words don't link together.

This seems to be an important topic of discussion for almost every naturist, so I figure I should finally put in my 2 cents worth. For the purpose of this post, here are my definitions:

Naturism - Being naked in a family-friendly setting with mixed company. Either you do this or you don't.
Sexuality - Using the first three definitions from the Wiktionary, anything that has to do with sexual activity, or an interest in sexual activity. I include thoughts and emotions which are of a sexual nature. The measure can be in degrees. People whose minds are often in the gutter have a high degree of sexuality.

Advanced sexual freedoms - Those who practice sex in a variety of ways. This is different from sexuality (in a high degree) in that it excludes people who only have desire.

Sexual undertones - Nobody is having sex, or being sexual in any physical way. But some make comments of a sexual nature, laugh at sexual jokes, and do other things to indicate their minds are in the gutter.

Sexuality is a part of naturism, right?

Wrong. Although I must admit that the world would be a much better place if it was. Just think, if only naturists were sexual, all the children would grow up to be naturists as well. We'd have a true clothing optional society in a couple of generations.

The truth is that sexuality exists in high degrees with a large number of people, therefore it is not a subset of naturism. Since textiles are having more babies than naturists, it's fair to conclude that a majority of sexuality exists outside of naturism.

Naturism must be a part of sexuality then, right?

Wrong. Children love to run around naked, far before they develop sexual desires. Many other naturists aren't there for the sexuality, either.

I admit that there may be a high correlation between people who have advanced sexual freedoms, and people who are willing to participate in naturism. One is a catalyst for the other. They are already comfortable being naked, and having sex, sometimes in mixed company, so slipping into naturism is an easy thing to do.

I should also note, from experience, that many who have advanced sexual freedoms DON'T easily slip into naturism. Unless they are having sex, they strongly desire clothing.

All adults have an element of sexuality, right?

Wrong. I had a friend who was truly asexual. He had no desire for anything beyond friendship, either guys or girls. Make a sexual joke, and he wouldn't get it right away. He taught me that not everyone is a sexual being. Admittedly, he wasn't a naturist either. Someday I hope to find an asexual adult naturist! There have to be some out there...

A lot of people seem to think that there are sexual undertones in naturism. I believe it is these very people who are bringing sexual undertones into naturism. It is likely that they bring these sexual undertones to other elements of their lives as well. On a related topic, I talked to a cruiser at Mazo Beach. He truly thought the beach was full of sex and cruising. I've been there enough times to know that it really isn't, since I've never seen a sex act or have been bothered by a cruiser. It's people like him who bring it to the beach. Although a minority, they inflate the numbers in their own minds. Those with sexual undertones are doing the same. (And maybe I am too?)

There are three reasons why people might think sexuality and naturism have a stronger connection than they really do:

Out of sight, out of mind. Seeing parts that are normally hidden make people think about them more.
Relaxation. People go to nude venues to relax. When people relax, their minds are free to wander. Also, they tend to look at other people more.
Majority rules. If a majority, or even a vocal minority, of the people bring sexual undertones with them, it will be evident to those who don't.

The first two are "curable". Going to nude venues more often will lessen the first one. The second one disappears as soon as people get busy with something. As for the last... I often feel that naturism and medical practice have a strong connection, because we meet so many doctors, nurses, and CNAs. We also meet a lot of geeks, therefore linking computing and naturism. If a lot of people laugh at a sexual joke, then yes, it's understandable to draw a link. However, it doesn't mean there is a true link. They'd all laugh if they were wearing clothes too.

The only logical way to combine sexuality and naturism is to say: A part of sexuality exists in a part of naturism. The same can be said for other random topics too: hiking and naturism, holistics and naturism, environmentalism and naturism, ornithology and naturism, geology and naturism, anthropology and naturism, antinomianism and naturism, apiology and naturism, entryism and naturism, socialism and naturism, nephology and naturism, gnosticism and naturism, naturalism and naturism. (Really, I could go on from a couple of lists.) Why don't we make a big deal about any of those? Why do we gravitate to "sexuality", when all these other combinations exist too?

So, my point to all of this is that there is none. There is no point in combining "sexuality" and "naturism" because they really are completely separate topics. Combining them, and drawing links between them, only adds confusion. Please stop.

San Onofre: Stakes and Strategy

2009-11-04T18:29:00.005-06:00

Leave it to me to chime in a few months late on an issue... I've been seeing a myth perpetuate, so I feel as if I need to speak up about it. It's already been quickly addressed by Nudiarist, but perhaps I can make it more clear. Also, I'll discuss the strategies of both NAC and AANR.

What is the myth? That NAC and the lawsuit lost the legal status of state-owned beaches.

What is the truth? The DPR threw out the Cahill Policy, therefore making nudity illegal on ALL DPR managed public lands prior to the lawsuit.

The DPR chose to ignore the Cahill Policy with regard to San Onofre. At that point, the Cahill Policy was essentially abolished (and nudity illegal) since the DPR could choose to ignore it at any time with any beach. Thus, it no longer existed.

In this context, what exactly was NAC putting at stake in their lawsuit? NOTHING. If they lost, nudity would be illegal. If they didn't file the lawsuit, nudity would be illegal. If AANR kept talking with the DPR, nudity would still be illegal.

It sounds like AANR started this rumor:

According to these sources, other venues where nudity has been traditionally enjoyed may be under threat now that California’s Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has issued its ruling regarding the Cahill Policy. This situation is, of course, what the American Association for Nude Recreation feared could happen when the Naturist Action Committee filed suit against the California Parks System.

So the DPR closing random beaches and ignoring the Cahill Policy isn't the threat? What, exactly, was AANR fearing? That nudity would continue to be illegal?

It was then perpetuated by Tom:

They put at risk nude sunbathing at ALL beaches in California.

Wasn't it at risk already? More correctly, wasn't it dead?

And also perpetuated by the SCNA, who take it a step further:

Allen says he may consider getting a ticket at San Onofre in the Spring and taking the case up the court system on the nudity issue itself. The trouble with that is if he loses, then ALL the beaches are gone.

Wait -- if it's illegal already, then how exactly is Allen going to make it illegal?

It's court cases like that which made Mazo Beach legal. A person got cited for indecent exposure, and the courts said it's not indecent if it's in a traditional nude sunbathing area. They stated that they will throw out any indecent exposure citation from the traditional beach area. If they can do this in California, that would be great!

Nobody blames the EMT for trying to resuscitate a dead patient, and failing. Why are people blaming NAC for trying to resuscitate the Cahill Policy? Allen simply offers up another try in the future. I hope they keep trying.

I understand AANR's strategy as well. It's not quite as bad as Nudiarist seems to convey. Their strategy can be summarized as follows: Stay out of the spotlight.

The DPR had only one beach in the spotlight. AANR said "OK, but continue to ignore the rest." This could've worked to keep all of the other beaches semi-protected under the Cahill Policy, but that assumes that the DPR would actually do it. Sure, it's a strategy that could've worked for years, until the DPR decides to rock the boat again. Either way, it's the DPR that ultimately chooses the legality of a beach.

From the DPR's perspective, they are responding to reported problems at the beach. It doesn't matter how factual those reports are (as shown by the San Onofre case), they will still respond by doing the easiest thing they can. If it's naked people causing a problem, it's easy to just ignore an informal policy and chase them away. If problems are reported at another beach, it's easy to do the same thing again. There is little reason for the DPR to appease AANR by leaving the other beaches alone when problems are reported.

Society is increasingly against simple nudity. We're in a population explosion, and there is more traffic than ever even in remote areas. We're connected by cell phones, allowing anyone to snap a picture and call the police before even thinking about the situation. Society is becoming more sexualized too, and it's an increasing problem that this sexualization is invading naturist beaches and pressuring them to be an adult-only playground. I expect that reports of lewd conduct are increasing at beaches which lack a method to deal with it. I also expect that they are reported more frequently, since it's so easy with a cell phone and there are more people around that may do it. Lastly, I expect that there are more false alarms, where people complain about activities which really aren't lewd. I doubt that these false alarms are removed from the complaint lists.

The DPR took action from the complaints they have received. They put naturists in a defensive situation by closing San Onofre. This requires a defensive strategy. My favorite analogy is the situation where a bear approaches you in the woods. What do you do?

First is to back away slowly. Both NAC and AANR did this by talking with the DPR. But, the DPR decided to take a chomp at San Onofre.

Then, the strategies diverge. AANR decided to offer up their arm to the bear, in hopes that it satisfies the bear. They assumed that the bear would eat the arm, then spare the rest and maybe make a few promises to avoid humans in the future. Hey, it could work. It's a valid strategy.

More specifically, it's a valid strategy for an offensive situation. For example, if AANR demanded 5 new beaches to be created, and the DPR compromised to only create 3. This compromise would be wonderful! Business in general is offensive (always want to expand, advertise, and gain new markets), which is why businessmen tend to say that compromises must be made to get what you want. The keyword is 'want', indicating it's an offensive strategy. When applying it to the bear scenario, it sounds dumb. Applying an offensive strategy to a defensive situation generally doesn't work.

More realistically, the bear would eat the arm and everything else attached. Then they might consider humans an easy target.

If the bear took a chomp at me, I'd climb the nearest tree and kick it in the face if it tries to follow. I might get eaten, same as the other strategy, but I'm not going to offer up myself, or any part of myself, on a silver platter. This is the strategy that NAC went with -- defend all our limbs at all cost, and show them we're a tough contender.

Yes, they lost. And everyone is saying "I told you so!" What did they lose? NOTHING. Legal nudity at the beach was lost before the lawsuit. Nobody, except AANR, talked about what they might've gained with the actions:

From the day the suit was filed, it was unlikely to accomplish anything more than to delay the Department. Even if successful, the suit would have only required the Department to go through a public hearing process, after which it would not be bound in any fashion to follow any recommendations made through the hearing process, and could have then proceeded to do as it pleased at San Onofre.

A public hearing process? NAC is great at winning those! Especially in California! The NEF/Roper Poll (2006) found that nude beaches have an 84% approval on the west coast. Naturists would've won the public hearing process, and therefore revived the Cahill Policy into an official policy stronger than before. San Onofre would be legal, and other beaches wouldn't be under attack in the near future. Remember that NAC initially won the first court case, so they started off good.

So would you risk nothing for a slim chance to officially legalize the nude beaches? NAC said yes, and AANR said no.

AANR thinks that the lawsuit will make the DPR act quicker to enforce textilism at other beaches. AANR thinks that their strategy would've allowed nude beach use for longer. I don't think the DPR is going to act any faster or slower, since they have the same legal standing from either strategy. If anything, the NAC has shown that naturists will make it as difficult as possible for the DPR bear to eat us.

I should also note that it's a good time for naturists to be kicking at the DPR. California is very poor, and the DPR and law enforcement are strained from budget cuts. Even though the DPR has the legal standing to issue citations for nudity, I don't think they can afford to yet. NAC at least has some time to take further action. They could take further legal action, call on naturists to overwhelm the DPR with letters, sweet talk the DPR into profiting from beach parking, or any number of things. All-in-all, now is the time for change. If we gave up one beach and went stalemate for a couple of years, the DPR would be a stronger force to deal with later. Tom, at least, thinks we should've waited: "NAC sued prematurely and lost the Cahill policy. " (He said this multiple times.) Ummm, wasn't it dead already? Let's start CPR after lunch.

Another strategy deviation to consider is what would've happened if NAC and AANR joined forces. I don't think more money, or more naturists from AANR, would've changed the courts decision that Cahill isn't an official policy. Adding AANR's name to the supreme court request would've given it slightly better chances of being heard, but probably not enough. I don't think AANR could've done much to help, but by joining up in the beginning they would've done less things to hurt. The SCNA explains (and NAC also mentioned):

I know AANR's reps (Debra Sue Stevens, etc.) met with the chief deputy of the Parks Dept when the ban was first proposed and they gave Parks the impression it was ok to close San Onofre. Debra refuses to believe she threw gas on the fire but she did. Well-meaning people who don't know all the facts (Park's statistics about crime and lewd behavior was very incorrect but AANR did not challenge it) need to stay out of this!

How the whole San Onofre thing spun into a call for donations for both AANR and TNS/NAC is beyond me... What exactly has AANR done again? NAC is doing the work, so send all your donations to them.

Fearful Freaky Fright Night 2009

2009-10-31T19:23:00.001-06:00

The Badger Naturist Halloween Party was at the same venue as last year's Bare Bones Bash. And just like last year, we had a ton of fun!

Unlike last year, the crowd was huge! Not only did the rooms sell out this time, but people doubled up upon request (we had roommates) and several overflow rooms were booked at a nearby hotel. At least twice as many people wore costumes for the judging. And all evening, we feasted like royalty at the huge selection of thoughtfully prepared pot-luck food and a couple of catered dishes. Last year, we ran out and my emergency pizza's saved the night. (This time, they weren't needed at all.) The hot tub was perfectly hot, and the pool was comfortably warm (even for me).

A lot of Mazo Beach people were there, and a lot of regulars to VVRC, Sun Ray Hills, The Homestead Nych, and Northern Exposure Naturists were all represented as well. A group came from Indiana, a couple came from Florida, and one even came from Canada. We even had celebrity among us -- the head honcho of TNS! I think it's wonderful that all these people attended.

My vivacious lady friend and I were, however, disappointed that some people couldn't make it. Steve & Angie were in our thoughts. They announced the event on their blog, but were unable to attend. I wore the exact sarong that Steve gave to me last year, and promise to do the same next year. Admittedly, I didn't wear it much. I mostly carried it around. I like it a lot more than a towel.

The other couple that didn't attend are the ones who normally coordinate the games. Thus, there weren't as many games this year. I personally don't think this mattered -- the few games and events still provided a full evening of entertainment. People didn't mind socializing to fill in the gaps, or breaking into card games, swimming, hot tubbing, or relaxing poolside. The kids entertained themselves in the pool. The meal took a while. Bowling down the hallway went on for hours. Costumes and judging took over an hour. Music went on all night in both the conference room and the pool area. Puzzles were plentiful. Prizes were won by lots of people.

There were a lot of new people too. Or at least new to me, since many skipped last year but attended many times before. We met a couple our age -- or close to our age at least. The younger of them was the age of the older of us. He's a tech guy like me, and they were both fun to talk to. They are regulars at a TNS affiliated resort that isn't too far away, so we might just have to visit them next summer.

One of their close friends, and ex-roommate, was also at the party. I've never really met her, but I certainly know about her! She's the busty star of one of my Mazo Manor episodes -- Bambi! (Of course, that isn't her real name, and I don't intend to disclose any names here.)

As a funny side-note, remember that I called Bambi "college-age". Kingpin wrote me a letter, part of which was ranting about how far off I was about her age. Come to find out, she's just now finishing up an associates degree. Technically speaking, that makes me half-right about my first impression. She may not be the typical age, but she certainly seemed like a student.

She managed to win a special place in my heart -- she's the first true naturist that I have actually disliked. With clothing and status gone, I strike up conversations with people I would normally never talk to. I have never before, after probably hundreds of people I've met, actually disliked any true naturist. The root cause of my opinion stems from her being completely rude to my girlfriend one sentence after introductions. I won't go into details. We were being nice, and everyone in the group knew that. Everyone else was friendly and cheery except for her. Too much alcohol maybe?

Later that evening, she pestered the musician to put on her CD, loudly, and to play the drums to it. However, he got rewarded... She belly-danced for him (and for the couple of people in the conference room) for almost an hour. She's quite good, but not good enough to be forgiven. Maybe next year?

She at least started out on my good/neutral side. In costume, she laughed and commented on my "cute hairless butt" and how it went so well with the costume. I wasn't really sure is she was laughing at it, or giving me a compliment. Either way, I laughed it off. I still don't understand why she said it.

So what was my costume? I'll get to that... We had it all planned out, and order mattered. That's how we won the "most in-character couple" award. We love the simple costumes that, when seen together, add a whole new level of humor. This time it worked best if we played the part.

My girlfriend got dressed in our room. I was there too, but only to wait for a while. She put on homemade pig ears (headband with pink foam ears cut from cheap sun visor hats, zip-tied together), a homemade snout (paper towel tube, with an end glued on, painted with nail polish), and some pink undies with a tail (bunch of pink pipe cleaners bent into shape). The costume was a hack-job for sure, but she looked great! Her plan was to stop by the BN room, go mingle through the conference room, and mingle into the pool area. She had 15 minutes. Being cute, she drew attention from everyone on the way.

I put on a store-bought butcher's hat and apron, with a big plastic knife in hand. Blood was painted on the clothing, and we used nail polish on the knife. I followed in her footsteps. I hastily walked into the BN room, stopped, and sternly said "Has anyone seen a pig around here?!" Instant laughter! They pointed and said "That way!"

I did the same thing in the conference room, and by groups along the hallway. One guy said "that's just sick!" Many of the women went with the "don't lay a finger on her!" routine. Some pointed in the opposite direction, or simply said "no pigs around here." No matter what the reaction, they figured it out quickly and were laughing as they responded.

In the pool room, she hid behind chairs and I pretended not to see her as people were pointing me away. She would "eep!" and run, and people cheered her on. I eventually caught her before the parade (as planned), where we both paraded together as I held on to her wrist. She whimpered a few oinks and save me's during the parade.

There were a lot of clever costumes including:

Juggling ninja (who could actually juggle).
A couple who were a tortoise and hare.
Three people who were bride, groom, and preacher.
Dominatrix holding a knife with a bloody slave. (A little edgy, but oh well.)
Sexy nurse and surgeon couple, very detailed and well done.
Caveman and cave woman, the original skinny-dippers.
Guy with a tie: birthday suit. We contemplated what he was wearing when he took it off.
A couple who simply glued a beach-ball valve to their backs: blow-up dolls. (She was in character by wobbling around with her mouth open.)
A belly dancer in full jingles (wonder who that could be...)
A guy with laundry stuck to him: static cling. (Led to many "he's wearing my underwear" jokes from his girlfriend.)

After a dozen winners were announced, the party went on until around 3am. After a few games in the arcade, we finally made it to bed at 3:30, only to discover that our roommates snore in a not very subtle way. The alarm was set for 8am. We didn't get much sleep. We didn't plan on a full night anyway, so it's no big deal.

In the morning, my girlfriend and I got to chat with the couple our age some more. Breakfast was a feast. I have no idea where all that food came from, but I loved it.

Same as last year, we had a giant table full of goods (and money) donated from naturists to the food shelter. The best part about this fundraiser is that there is a link between us naturists, the food shelter, a church, and the DNR who manage the Mazo Beach area. We like to stay on their good side and help out the community. Based on how much gets donated, it's apparent that us naturists are good generous people.

The event this year was a huge improvement over last year, not to say that last year wasn't fantastic already. We're hooked. This is by far the best hotel party we've attended. We plan to go every year.

Burning Man 2009

2009-10-15T17:51:00.000-06:00

As is usually the case, I missed out on yet another Burning Man. Long-term readers know this is my yearly ritual. I end up pouring through the pictures and wishing I had gone, while making empty promises for next year.

Perhaps it's an obsession, but deep down I believe that Burning Man represents an experiment for a clothing optional society (among many other things). Nudity is completely legal, and accepted by other attendees. The city is very hot and sunny during the day, and dirty all the time. Going nude seems like the logical thing to do if you want to stay cool and not have filthy clothes. When a clothing-compulsive society lands themselves in Black Rock City, do they take the logical path?

This year I wrote a script. Quite a clever script, actually. It downloads all the pictures without duplicates in 5 photo streams (tags: burningman, burningman09, burningman2009, BM09, BM2009) over a variable amount of time (depending on how busy the feeds are, 10 minutes to 75 minutes). It saves all the pictures along with the original links so I can view it on the flickr page if needed. Note that it will miss pictures when there are more than 20 uploaded between updates, which happens often enough to bug me. Google Reader is worse since it has much slower updates. I use Plumeria (windows program) to delete or save photos one at a time. This results in a large representative set of pictures chosen basically at random, which is better for seeing how the event really is. I let the bash script run on my 15 watt Zonbu (linux) since the event started, and just shut it off this week.

I suffered through a total of 21,142 pictures from 660 different flickr accounts. What did I learn?

Don't do this again next year, though I probably will since I have a baseline now.
Most people take really bad pictures and have a strong urge to upload every one of them.
Professional photographers offer small resolutions with watermarks, and their pictures usually aren't as good as amateurs who share in full resolution.
Men often wore shorts and no top.
Women often wore bikini tops (or bras) and shorts.
Despite the freedom of top-equality, women almost always wore tops and the men didn't.
For a vast majority of group/crowd photos, there wasn't a single instance of nudity.
Roughly 600 of the photos included nudity of some sort within the frame. (That's almost 3%) Beware that there are groups of several photos that depict the same scene, so I tried to limit it down to unique people when tallying numbers.

Of the ones including nudity....

There were a lot naked men, mostly photographed by chance. Sadly, I don't have an accurate number. Saving naked men caught by chance was an afterthought a few weeks into it. I consider the women to be the canaries anyway.
Excluding the Critical Tits parade (but possibly including after-party):
About 35 women were brave enough to go naked or only in body paint among the general public. (In other words, bottoms were exposed.) 4 of these were obviously modeling.
About 120 women went top-free without cover. Some were for erotic situations (12).
About 43 were top-free but with bodypaints.
About 27 were exposed by wearing see-through clothing, all except one wore bottoms.
For for no good reason whatsoever, about 41 decided to wear pasties. Why would you even bring pasties to an event with legal nudity?
Out of 43,435 total participants, about 225 women and a guess/estimated 35 men (based on this old stat, but likely more) exercised their right to bare breasts or be naked and happened to be caught by a camera, flickr, and my script. That's almost 0.6% of the population. Remember that it excludes the Critical Tits parade and party, which typically sees hundreds topless.

The old stats (from 1999) estimate about 5% go nude or top-free. My estimate is 0.6%, but that includes a set amount of error. Much of the nudity probably isn't captured, and many photographers probably choose not to upload photos with nudity. If I do the same experiment next year, it'll be possible to compare my estimates. Otherwise, I need to stand on top of an RV at the event and count with my own eyes to get a number comparable to 5%.

All-in-all, I get the feeling that nudity at Burning Man is on the decline. I know the American society is at war against nudity more than ever, and it seems like a lot of college students have been more prudish than usual in recent years. Seeing less nudity at Burning Man, in my opinion, confirms that American culture is getting more prudish. In all the pictures I've seen, there was only one topless firedancer, and no topless stiltwalkers. In years past, I saw many of them each year. It worries me that so many women are opting for pasties (ouch!) instead of simple body paint. It also worries me that so many are putting on skimpy tops, and sometimes even layering up with a bra under it all. (Why wear a bra at this event?) It seems that more have done this in recent years.

This year gives me a reasonable baseline for tallying up nudity via flickr pictures. Next year, I plan to travel to Burning Man and perform the same experiment that got the old 1999 stats. Ha! More realistically, I'll probably end up cruising pictures again. At least next year I can draw some conclusions statistically.

I'd love it if any of my readers can contribute. If you attended BM this year and in previous years, in your opinion has the amount of nudity changed? If you go next year, please stand on top of your RV for a while and do some counting.

Free Book? Rejected!

2009-10-10T07:31:00.003-06:00

While visiting TNS HQ earlier this year, I decided to buy 6 copies of their latest book: "The World's Best Nude Beaches and Resorts" The plan was to keep a copy for myself, and give the rest away. Two were given away at the Nude Olympics. The rest are still in my apartment.

I liked TNS's suggestion to donate them to libraries, so I did just that with our small local library. My girlfriend dropped it off a few months ago, and has checked back periodically. She was told that they would put it in the "adult section".

They never had an "adult section". Even if they did, this book belongs in the travel section since it talks about beaches all around the world. It's clearly a travel book.

We got a call recently that they decided not to accept the book. As we picked it up, we were told that "it's a really good informative book, but we don't have a place for it." In other words, they don't want to put it in the travel section and don't want to make an adult section.

Why was it rejected? Nudity! Lots and lots of nudity!

Follow along with my analogy... Alice is a firm believer in the National Rifle Association (NRA). She believes that she should be able to carry a gun with her anytime she wants, and does so as much as she can. She also wants to attend the annual NRA meeting that is many states away. By going, she can contribute a lot to advancing the rights of gun lovers everywhere. She doesn't have the vacation time to drive, so therefore she must either not go at all or fly there. By not going, she can't do anything to promote the right to carry guns. By going, she must leave her gun at home in order to be allowed on an airplane. What should she do? The obvious answer is bite the bullet and leave the gun at home, despite her belief that she should be able to take the gun with. She'll have a much bigger impact on the future rights to carry a gun if she goes without it.

Bob is a firm believer in naturism. He believes that he should be able to go naked anytime he wants, and does so as much as he can. He also wants to promote naturism. Can you see where I'm going with this?

Where the stories differ is that naturists put naked (and exposed) people on EVERYTHING. This is akin to Alice wearing her gun to the airport anyway, and then promptly getting stopped (arrested?) by TSA. Naturist stuff gets promptly classified as "adult" by most of society and then ushered off to places where nobody will see it. Naturists will all agree that this shouldn't be the case -- but it is and we must deal with it anyway. Sorry, I don't make the rules.

How can I promote naturism if no libraries will accept my books? I can't just remove the nudity like Alice can remove her gun and leave it at home.

I have the same problem with TNS's latest tri-fold information pamphlet. I'd love to slip these into tourist information centers guerrilla naturism style, but the cover shows a naked woman with a naked child. If certain things were covered, everything would be OK. Since they aren't, it could lead to a police investigation and a sting operation to catch me for "distributing child pornography" or something stupid like that.

TNS's DVD, Chasing the Sun, is absolutely great for introducing naturism to political leaders and anyone else. However it's scene after scene of naked people with all bits exposed. Those who are seriously offended by nudity, perhaps the very people that SHOULD watch the video, won't because of all the nudity. The nudity prevents it from being shown in a lot of places. I believe they should put a censored version on YouTube for everyone to see.

The answer is that we need to bite the bullet and censor ourselves to get past the firewall of society. It's fine to have uncensored books and DVD's for naturist consumers, but it's also a good idea to have censored versions as well just in case they are required by non-naturist consumers. When the choice is to have a censored video or no video at all, I believe the answer is clear. People can use their imagination to fill in the blank spots, like they do with expletives. We should be educating people before we offend them, because if they are educated they probably won't be offended by the nudity. (My hiking signs are a good example of this.) Currently, we offend them with nudity first and then expect them to hear what we have to say. It doesn't work.

I seem to be the only person advocating for naturists to cover up sometimes. I suggested that naturists should wear clothing to save money during the winter. I suggested to put clothes on and do road cleanups, as we have done several times. We put clothes on and covered nipples to protest. I suggested to do clothed fundraisers at places other than resorts. I suggested a lot of things that require clothes! I also don't post nude photos on this blog, which is why it doesn't have Blogger-induced warning messages. By self-censoring, my words can reach a bigger audience. By getting dressed on occasion, we can have a bigger positive impact on the future of naturism.

I intend to ask the local library if they will accept the book for the travel section if I go through and marker out all of the normally censored bits. I know this action might tick off a lot of naturist purists, but it's the ONLY way that the book will end up available for public browsing at that library.

UPDATE: Wow! It's not the coarse I planned to take, but under NAC's direction we're going to pressure the library to accept it! Apparently NAC won a case a while back that deals with this issue. My fear is that they will accept it, then keep it behind the desk instead of on the shelves. We'll see where this goes... I have a letter to draft!

UPDATE 3-2010: Still working on this one...

Slippery Slope to Winter

2009-10-06T20:00:00.003-06:00

Right after my last big post, I noticed that my blog queue was empty. Mind you, I have a LOT that I could write about, but nothing that I was actively perusing at a high priority. So, I put up a twitter post requesting ideas, and got a reply.

The response I got was from @EDUNARAS. She (?) is from Wisconsin (somewhere, depending on which profile you look at) and seems like she (?) is fairly new to naturism. The reply asked What can you do in a Wisconsin winter?

With the trees already turning colors and dropping leaves, we're on a slippery slope to another dreaded Wisconsin winter! Normally I don't acknowledge this fact until it's snowing, but since it was forced upon me I'll write up my list. Note that this is mostly from memory, so I could be missing some stuff or have things incorrect.

I'll start with what you should be doing in the summer. When it's warm, lots of naturists congregate at Mazo Beach (every nice weekend) and VVRC (at least for the car show). Even visiting a campground such as VVRC, Sun Ray Hills, Aurora Gardens (though I haven't heard the best about this one), The Homestead Nych (See N magazine, 28.4), or Dragonfly Beach. When you're there, you'll meet people and make connections. These connections are vital to survive the winter as a naturist. The months are cold and lonely without them.

A common thing during the winter months are "hotel takeover" parties. This is where a group sweet-talk a hotel owner into closing the doors to the public and reserving the whole place for the group. This is almost always done in smaller hotels that have a pool and hot-tub. A list of the parties I know about are as follows:

Badger Naturists always have a Halloween party West of Madison. (I like to go to this one!)
Badger Naturists sometimes have a party in the early spring, and sometimes it's a collaboration with Northern Exposure Naturists.
Northern Exposure Naturists usually have their own party. Haven't been to one yet, but I'll be a member soon.
VVRC has a mid-winter party, which I've been to.
Cold Tanners are a little further north. I don't know for sure if they have a hotel party, but a house party is likely.
[UPDATE - bowling! There's a group who does monthly nude bowling in the Oshkosh area.]

All of these parties and clubs are actually in the bottom half of the state. If you live in far northern Wisconsin, you'd better find some friends.

A majority of the things going on during the winter months are between friends. We have some friends that live nearby who own two sauna's (outdoor and basement). We like to stop over every couple of weeks, have supper in the nude, and jump in the sauna. They visit us sometimes too, where we offer food and theater seating. We have a projector, a white wall, and a bunch of classic nudist "sexploitation" films which provide hours of entertainment. We also have a Wii which is great on the big screen.

There are a lot of naturists who have nice homes with hot-tubs, and are willing to have friends over for the evening. As long as you have friends, you'll be able to find something to do.

Then there are some naturists who are driven mad by the winter months. Steve (from AllNudist), my girlfriend, and I have all made naked snow angels. (The people in Minnesota are a bit more creative.) In the past, I've heard of a person who went nude cross-country skiing in February at Mazo Beach. If you can do it, go for it!

Of course, most nudists stay naked at home during the winter months. I don't recommend it because cranking up the thermostat all winter is bad for the wallet. However, it's nice to dedicate a few days each month as "naked days", especially if you're expecting friends over. It's a good time to bake stuff for them as well.

If all else fails and you have money and vacation time, go south. I know several naturists who migrate south each winter. I'm even considering a trip to the TNS Mid-Winter Festival in Florida this time. How else am I going to keep my tan?

If you have a full-time job, like I do, you'll often find yourself daydreaming of the warm naked summer months. As Wisconsin naturists, we need to make the most of those months! All through the winter I spend a lot of time researching where I want to go and planning out summer-time trips. Not just vacation trips, but weekend trips as well.

See, just because winter hits doesn't mean that naturists go into textile hibernation. If you've got connections, then you'll be invited to parties at hotels and small gatherings of friends. Feel free to invite friends over if nothing else is going on. Go naked at home on occasion, and maybe travel south for a bit. Summer will come eventually, so make sure you're prepared.

Mazo Manor - S2E06 - Found

2009-10-06T18:32:00.001-06:00

It's been a really long time since my last trip to Mazo (1.5 months). I wouldn't have gone since my girlfriend couldn't go (and I don't like to go alone), but the road cleanup makes the lonely trip worthwhile. I'll talk about that later...

Kingpin doesn't have a computer. Since my last visit, someone printed out this season (S2, E1-5) of Mazo Manor and gave it to him. Note that I write this blog in such a way that I know everyone can see it, so I try to be fair in protecting privacy and choosing what details to share. I knew Kingpin would see it eventually, along with everyone else I talk about. Soon after Labor Day weekend, I got a letter in the mail from Kingpin and he was angry. (Actually, he's still angry from last winter.)

Why was he angry? It wasn't because I had insulted him in any way. Nowhere in his letter did he indicate that he was offended by anything I've said about him. In fact, he even liked that I called his camera use "trustworthy and responsible". He seemed to like his nickname as well.

His reason for writing was to "correct" some of my "facts" that I say in my dramatized posts. He did correct a few of the things I said, simply because he knows more than me on some subjects, but all were fairly unimportant. My interpretation of Bambi and friend was quite wrong. Will I correct it? No. Will I correct the other stuff? Probably not, since it's not important. I'm sure the story writers for Meerkat Manor get the stories incorrect on occasion too. A majority of the letter was about things I really don't care about, or of things where I know he has no clue what he's talking about, or just plain slander. He loves including meaningless slander, and has admitted that he says a lot to just get people riled up. This completely matches his writing style from last winter. I didn't bring it up before, but since he's at it again I think it's fair. I'll be honest in saying that my response most likely upset him. Tit-for-two-tats is my typical strategy, let's see if it works. (Kingpin's is typically Grim Trigger, so it probably won't.)

Speaking of trash talk, let's get back to the road cleanup! We didn't have the biggest crew this time (9), but we were very efficient. After the doughnut breakfast from the back of Captain Planet's truck, we paired off and stated landmarks that we would work between. The day was shaping up to be beautiful, and the walk down the sides of the road wasn't bad at all.

We found a lot of strange stuff, but the best was an item that my partner found. He picked up a CD and read the label. "Sex Pistols". I pointed out that it's a band. Once I saw it, I realized that it certainly wasn't the band! It was an "interactive DVD" with a lot of adult imagery on the front! There were a couple of CD-R's that were found as well, but it's unknown what they contain. One I looked at had about 100 MB of something burned to it, based on the width of the ring.

We were done picking up trash in a couple of hours. We piled the trash in one spot, took a picture, and were off to Culvers for our free scoops of ice cream. We shared some of the odd things that were found. The DVD took the prize. We also found a medical bracelet from someone's hospital stay, with all the info on it. There were a few unopened bottles of beer, and an unopened bottle of salad dressing. Captain Planet found a YMCA club card with the name and photo of a person who used to frequent the beach many years ago. He plans to return it to him in person and catch up on old times.

Since it ended up a beautiful day, we headed for the beach. The first thing that I noticed was only one of the Elders was there -- EagleEye. (Note to those who are easily offended: "Elders" isn't meant to be derogatory. I chose the name since the group has more "beach-days" than any other group, therefore making them wise and all-knowing in regard to the day-to-day activities. The members aren't all that old.)

Since the forecast had been shaky, there weren't many people at the beach and they were all guys until our group showed up. I sat in a group with Captain Planet, Holler and Screech, and the couple that helped us the most previously. (I understand that Holler and Screech could be considered offensive. But seriously, can you think of a more fitting nickname for each of them?) After hearing the report that the water was clean and not too cold, I wanted to head down and enjoy it for a bit. Stories were being told, however, and I didn't want to miss those. Ask Captain Planet sometime about how a group went bar-hopping naked in a hot tub in the middle of winter.

I eventually made it to the water with two of the guys.While we were standing there, Holler felt something strange under his foot and dug through the sand under the water to pull it out. A wallet! Complete with credit cards and a license, but no cash. (Others in the group are working to get it back to the owner. I'll check up on that during the Halloween party.) When a muskrat swam directly toward us from the island and dove under the water about 15 feet away, we decided to not be in its way. The water was a little cold and we needed to warm up for a while anyway.

As the sun got low and the clouds rolled in, we decided that it was time to go. Back in the parking lot, yet another thing was found -- a ring of keys. (It was on the DNR board, so someone else found it.) Two keys (with clickers) looked like they went to nice cars, and a lot of the other keys looked important. They didn't unlock any of the cars in the parking lot. The only thing we could really do is put them back and hope that the owner turns up.

Do I anticipate another trip to the beach this year? It's hard to say... We're at the mercy of Mother Nature. Usually she provides a few Indian Summers before Christmas, and one might get up to the 70's. If it happens, we'll be there to make the most of it! If not, then this post is the conclusion of the season, and possibly the series.

News Bits (9/25/09)

2009-09-25T18:52:00.004-06:00

There hasn't been a whole lot going on around here... My queue is nearly empty now that fall is approaching and my adventures have been slowing. I have a Winter-related post that was suggested via twitter, which will be up soon. At some point, I need to conclude the season of Mazo Manor. This weekend is the Badger Naturist Road Cleanup, which I'll be helping out at yet again. And speaking of cleanups, my winter project is to clean up this blog. I'll talk more about that later.

I've started a new hobby, which may or may not develop into a fundraiser. I don't drink alcohol, but I've started homebrewing anyway. I have textile friends who do it and enjoy it, and I've been enjoying it as well. What could I possibly be brewing? If you add lots of sugar, seal up the container, and cut the process short, yeast adds carbonation (and not alcohol) to make soda. This is much healthier than store-bought sodas. If I get good at homebrewing soda, I can sell batches at work as a fundraiser for whatever charity I choose. (NAC/NEF!) We'll see how it goes... (Note: It's possible to carbonate using compressed CO2, but that's the cheaters way and is much more expensive. The yeast method is almost free.)

One interesting thing that happened recently is that the director for the Maslin Beach movie stopped by my movie review page and added some insight to one of the strange characters. I still stand behind my misleading interpretation. I'm sure many others would be just as confused as I was. If anyone else has seen the movie, feel free to post your opinion!

Random items and commentary:

I've had lots of feedback regarding my Guerrilla Naturism post. To start, Nudiarist highly recommended it. Lots of people commented on the original post, and one commented on a different blog. I'd like to revamp the post and submit it to N magazine, since the original one I quote is from N also, so keep the feedback coming!
I like a sign that shows a topless woman with "You have more freedom than you're using." There are a few states where that's very true.
If you plan to go topless in the park as a test, you should at least be comfortable with it. Her actions make it seem like it's wrong. I would've told the park employee that it's LEGAL, instead of blushing and saying "thank you" while putting a top on.
There was one more GoTopless writeup with pictures. We're in a few! Still nothing on flickr...
A naturist resort on a boat was my idea. Here's a real one that launched on the Danube River, but it's not a naturist oasis yet. How much are old barges again? We have the Mississippi and some Great Lakes to cruise around on! If I'm too cash-strapped, I can downgrade to one of these instead.
There's a book titled "Sleeping Naked is Green". I assume that sleeping naked is one of the changes she made?
It's all in the title: 15 Shocking Tales of How Sex Laws are Screwing the American People
I at least thought it was funny that a full-scale search was initiated for an embarrassed nude sunbather. (Although I admit it's not funny seeing piles of clothes with nobody around.)
I had to add a comment to this Treehugger post. 10 overlooked ways of keeping cool, and going naked isn't one of them? (I forgot to when it was new, so I just added it now and it's not approved yet.)
Nudist Day posted an interesting collection of stories from the 1930's.
A man strips naked at the airport, and I have no idea how people couldn't just laugh it off.
A bit of art in Key West. I think they're ready for a nude beach.
No speedo's? Covered is covered -- are bikini's and swim trunks next?
Here's a funny "skinsuit" ad on flickr (must be signed in).
Wired's Mr. Know-It-All says that naked babies are OK, and points out that Facebook (who bans breastfeeding pics) agrees. Apparently Wal-Mart is more prudish than Facebook?
A nude dude "shocks" a woman along a trail. This is EXACTLY why I put signs on the trail -- to prevent this sort of thing from happening. The end advice is good though: "people should consider hiking in groups". Yeah, so we outnumber the textiles next time! (Or isn't that what they meant?)
I'm am SOOO jealous that the Germans have an 11 mile naturist hiking trail!
Finally -- Google has an opt-out option!

Guerrilla Naturism

2009-09-13T10:06:00.008-06:00

"What happened?"

I recently got my hands on a copy of N 12.1, from fall 1992. It contains a brilliant opinion article by a relatively unknown author, Gene Caywood, about "Changing Culture". The intro to the article shows a quote from Fred Foldvary in N 9.1:

"It's more important to change the culture than to change the law. Judges and legislators will find ways to bend law to their culture, but once the culture is changed, the law will follow or become mute."

Caywood notes that if this statement is true, then naturists may not have their priorities straight. The highest priority should be to change culture's attitude towards the body. This doesn't mean that we should abandon the legal battles. NAC, and AANR when they poke their noses in, should continue to fight the legal battles. Changing attitudes is a much bigger goal that TNS, NEF, and grassroots naturists (like us) should focus on.

It's interesting how Caywood's article has played out over the years. There were a lot of predictions made, and whether he inspired them or not some have come true.

Prediction 1: Periods of culture change happens, like a pendulum, where gains are partially lost until the next swing. In the last century we had the following swings with repression and body freedom: Victorian era, roaring 20's, World War II, hippy 60's, 80's repression in the arts. (Remember this was written in 1992, so that's it.)

It's fair to say that we may have had a body freedom era in the 90's and early 2000's, and we're swinging back to repression as we speak. Caywood's point to drive home is this: "...when the next wave of repression strikes...how will culture have 'permanently' changed? The answer, I believe, lies in how well prepared we are, in how much we influence culture in the meantime." It's too early to tell what permanent changes from the 90's and early 00's will stick through the next wave of repression.

Prediction 2: Caywood very openly talks about the future: "I don't know what it will be, but some event may happen soon which will cause large numbers of people to consider going nude." Let's see -- the World Naked Bike Ride, Freemont Solstice Parade, Bay to Breakers, Burning Man, Spencer Tunick, and varies nude runs seem to satisfy his prediction on a small scale.

What was his point with this prediction? He continues: "Whatever it is, I believe Naturists ought to be prepared for an onslaught of interest. When it comes, the tendency will be to relax and say: 'Look at all these nude people. We've succeeded!' But we won't have succeeded unless and until they are not just participants, but educated participants. Otherwise, it will just be a passing fad..." In my opinion, TNS and AANR have failed to grab the naked people mentioned in the events above. Although a lot of naturists participate, a vast majority of the participants are not naturists. TNS and AANR have not been targeting these people as well as they could be.

Caywood predicts an "onslaught of interest", which I believe may never happen in the way he hopes. An onslaught is initiated whenever something bad happens in relation (no matter how weak) to a naturist resort, for example the recent FBI investigation of Jasmine Trail. There's also an onslaught of interest from people cruising porn. Both of these work against us. When people strip at the events listed above (2 paragraphs above), they get a taste of the naturist lifestyle but do not make any sort of connection with the naturist communication channels. They are just part of a passing fad.

Prediction 3: Caywood liked the idea of naturists speaking at classes, and recommended: "The Naturist Action Committee should coordinate the establishment of such classes in at least the top 200 metropolitan areas of the country. They should publish materials to train prospective class leaders as well as for distribution to class attendees. Obviously the national NAC cannot go around teaching all these classes...they must organize local NAC's..."

The NAC has branched out in to NACAR's (Area Reps.), the NEF (Naturist Education), and NEFAR's. They haven't quite achieved their 200 metropolitan areas. The NEF provides educational materials, including the often-cited Roper poll. They have a few other projects, publications, and videos. What's usually handed out at classes (the few that representatives speak at) is N magazine. From Caywood's prediction, the NEF still has a long way to go!

Prediction 4: Caywood's next suggestion is to "establish a marketing campaign. This should be done with the ASA [now AANR]. Nudists badly need a nationwide media campaign aimed at changing their public image."

This had been happening for 18 years already by the time the article was published. TNS established "Nude Recreation Week" (NRW) initially on their own, and AANR eventually joined in (not sure when exactly). The idea was to promote nude recreation with a new theme every year, and offer this to the press. In recent years, AANR started claiming this event as their own, to the extent of modifying the TNS-designed logo (against their wishes) to proudly show AANR instead. AANR broke away from NRW this year [2009], and did their own thing with a Skinny-Dip world record. They did not invite TNS to help out, despite it clearly being TNS's domain. It's often been said that TNS and AANR should work together with their advertising campaigns, and I completely agree. TNS is always open to collaboration -- it's AANR that thinks they are better on their own. They could be right, and they've gotten a lot of success on their own thus far, but I've proven before that if they achieve a monopoly it will be bad for naturism as a whole.

Was NRW the type of nationwide media campaign that Caywood wanted to see? Maybe not. He should've been more specific in his article.

It is my opinion that a simple nationwide media campaign can't solve the problems of naturism. It's well beyond what the organizations can afford. There is a more targeted media campaign that I mention later which should be utilized.

Prediction 5: This is a big one from Caywood: "Hit and run guerrilla tactics. Naturists should realize that we are in a war against our culture. [These tactics] can and should be adopted by Naturists. Under the coordination of NAC, local naturist groups should organize hit and run nude teams." He then details that teams of at least 2 men and 1 woman should do guerrilla warfare weekly. They would engage in brief nudity, looking normal except for their dress. This would desensitize people to nudity, in a way that is too quick (30 seconds to 2 minutes) to call the cops about. The goal is to not be arrested as this would cast negative publicity. Instead the events should desensitize and plant the seed in peoples minds to try it sometime.

The NAC has never gone in this direction. Instead, a man named Mark Storey has attempted to fill the gap. (OK, so he's one of several.) In 1996 he was running through Martin Luther King Jr.'s and John Rawls's checklist on civil disobedience and if it was appropriate for naturism. In 2001, him and others (Daniel Johnson (activist), Shirley Gauthier (from AANR)) formed the Body Freedom Collaborative, which promised things similar to what Caywood was hoping for. They got front page exposure in 2003. He wrote a few essays on the topic, the latest of which is 2004.

In 2004, Mark stated that "The future of naturism is on public lands. To gain naturist freedoms on public lands will require getting naked in public." The BFC site was last updated on August 03, 2007. In Spring of 2008, N (27.3) featured an article from Michael Cooney stating that "The future of naturism may be in the backyard." Mark seemed to second this in his N 28.4 editorial, "Getting Back to the Naturist Future." He describes a future where people safely hide in their backyard, or secure privacy in public venues, or stay far off the beaten path in parks out West (like he does) all the while public beaches are eventually inevitably closed. [UPDATE: I have a published response to this in N 29.2.]

The latest several issues of N lack any serious naturist activism outside of traditional or privatized places. In the latest (29.1), Mark Story is relaxing at a hot spring with just his wife, and Daniel Johnson is seen making compost tea and gardening. They are both also seen at a private skate party, secluded from the public. What happened? When did their primary goal go from changing culture to avoiding it in favor of personal happiness? It seems that the promising activists of the previous decade have turned into softies within the last couple of years.

Correction: Daniel Johnson helps to organize the WNBR in Seattle and other places each year, and is a main contributor to the whole WNBR event. Good for him! He's exempt from being a softie, as long as the event keeps growing and he keeps his page and wiki up-to-date. The event still seems fairly disconnected with naturism, but that might be a good thing.

Modern times have made the activism of yesteryear more risky. Everyone carries a cell phone, with a good camera and always-on connectivity built in. Being naked for 10 second in public is enough time for a picture to be snapped and sent to police. And if you succeed a couple times, the police and news agencies become willing to launch a full-on sting operation to catch you. Caywood's suggestion was under the assumption that activists would not get arrested. Now, it's likely to happen, so the hit-and-run nude teams are increasingly out of the question. We need new tactics!

We're still at war with culture. The big-names had a great thing going initially, but things have fizzled. That leaves us, the grassroots naturists, to do what we can. This is my list of ideas and ideals for cultural warfare.

--Psychological Warfare--

What people think about us is important. It doesn't matter how many laws we can fight, or how many beaches we can designate as clothing-optional, or how many resorts we have. If the general public doesn't like us, we have a tough road ahead. (Currently, they don't like us.) I believe that the primary reason that people don't like us is because they don't understand us, followed by the opinion that we are a rare group. The solution is to educate. We need to show that there are a lot of us, that nudity itself isn't bad, and that we are good people just like them.

Make it an everyday thing. One of the big problems we have is that we try to keep our naturism secret. In general, any secret means you've done something wrong. The mere act of keeping naturism a secret implies that it's wrong. The best thing to do is treat it like an everyday thing. If you treat it like no big deal, others will eventually think that it's no big deal.

Be a tourist. If you're at an information booth, ask if there are any naturist opportunities in the area such as beaches or resorts. You'll probably get an "I don't know", which is a good time to explain the correct answer. (Or you'll get an answer about parks, in which case you describe the difference between naturist and naturalist.)

Make it seem like we are everywhere. The problem right now is that people think nudists stay in little colonies. They think there's maybe a couple hundred of us in the country. If people see one thing related to naturism every day, they'll think it's a common thing. We may be a minority, but if we each hold up a couple dummies we may give the impression that we're not. Be vocal and be everywhere.

Establish new sites. If a piece of public land is great for clothing-optional use, and it's technically legal to use it, make it known. Make it sound like it's been used forever by lots of people for such a purpose. (See Geocache below for an example.)

Be more generous, friendly, and a better person than others. Get people to really like you. They will make a positive connection that naturists are good people.

Make it known that you are a naturist. The easiest way is to wear a naturist-related shirt. There are hundreds to choose from at zazzle (do some searches), and most resorts sell some too. (I like my brown nude beaches style tshirt, and my girlfriend likes her Adam and Eve and Rags shirts.)

Go naked by wearing clothes. What am I talking about? Clearly you've never seen david shorts (please don't get the XXL version). They look fairly real at first glance. For shirts they have a fake chest, hairy chest, and bra top. A better guys one is here. I haven't seen any good tops or bottoms for ladies, so post in the comments if you know of any. There's also the classic naked suit. Either way, you get the idea.

Challenge social norms by wearing less. (This is suggested as part of Caywood's strategy.) It really doesn't take much fabric for men and women to be legally covered. During summer, wear a little bit less than everyone else does. This will slowly adjust what people consider normal. Or, you can just wear the bare minimum. Morley Schloss is great at that -- the most I've ever seen him wear is a pair of shorts. During our week at Eastover, he was nude the entire time. After we left, we saw him at one of the service stations in New York. He was waiting in the parking lot and was only wearing some gold colored underwear. I'm a naturist, and he was even challenging my social norms!

Secure the area. When we freehike, we post very informative signs at the trailheads. This allows us to hike naked safely on trails that may see a few other visitors. After thinking about this, I've considered securing an area but not actually going naked on it. (Call it an experiment.) How would people react if it were a busier trail? Or a secluded park? Would people try the radios to make us get dressed? If not, we may be clear to freehike some much busier trails using this method. No matter if naked people are seen or not, the sign still plants the seed of naturism and makes them consider if they would actually be offended by simple locker-room style nudity.

Geocache -- it's a fun sport! Geocaches are hidden containers all around the world. The website gives the coordinates, and you go find them. Some are in the middle of little-used public lands, so finding them naked is possible if you're safe. We've done this naked, and logged it. If you find a cache naked, make use of it by educating and promoting naturism.

--Propaganda--

Follow the church. Want to know how sailboat racers win the race? They play monkey see monkey do. The wind is always the same between boats, so copying the sail position will ensure that both travel at the same speed. The person in first place almost always copies the person in second place to ensure that the person in second can't get ahead. While naturism isn't quite like sailboat racing, and the church is in first place for influencing culture, copying what the church does will at least ensure that we are not left behind. Their methods have been thriving for centuries, so they must be doing something right.

Advertise everywhere. The church is quite good at this. There are a lot of places where businesses and people can advertise. Although most billboards and TV channels are fairly expensive, there are other options. Be creative. Advertising in the middle of the night on lesser known stations is cheap. Billboards in the country are cheap. Radio advertising, depending on the station, can be cheap. Participating in conventions and expos often includes advertising. Sell stuff at flea markets. If your resort has a community garden, sell stuff at farmers markets. Classified ads are cheap and can say just about anything, as long as you blend in with the section your targeting. "Nude resort seeking game coordinator" might raise a few eyebrows, too bad the position was filled already. Advertise events and fundraisers in public places. If you find an opportunity to advertise, do it! By staying quiet, people will think we don't exist. If you see a church advertisement, consider it a challenge to put yours there too.

Follow up on issues. This one is Caywood's suggestion. An example is if top-freedom is legally granted in a state, run an advertisement in that state's paper to make people aware and to let people connect to exercise their right. If the arts challenge some body freedom issue, run a promotion in an arts magazine. Caywood also suggests to target any possible special interest magazine that can be related to naturism. We could do some great advertising during bikini-buying season, and we could promote cheap (or free) nude recreation during the recession.

Leaflets are often used by the church. They hand them out to everyone, and leave them everywhere in public. Driving back from Eastover, several of the service stations had religious leaflets left in every stall. I would do the same thing with TNS leaflets, but they always seem to contain nudity (this year including kids). We need to print leaflets that won't get us in trouble so we can leave them in places where we find religious ones. We can preach naturism without showing naked people.

More custom leaflets, specially crafted to be slightly shorter than normal ones and blend in with the surroundings. Why? So we can slip them randomly into the big tourist information racks. Tourists should learn about all of the area attractions, including naturist ones! The slightly shorter design will make it difficult to remove by workers.

Litter. Most people ignore it, but not all. Dropping a leaflet in a random place will probably be found by someone. Targeting an adopt-a-highway section of road is a better idea since the sign shows who cleans up that section of road. If you think they need to see a leaflet, drop one. It's typical that people in the cleanup crew will show it to the group. Note that littering is illegal in most places, so I'm not advocating it. See the next entry.

Earth-friendly litter. Dropping a leaf can't be illegal, because trees drop them all the time. So stamp a message on them and have fun. If it's winter, you can stamp or write messages in the snow.

Make videos. YouTube and similar sites are in need of videos that promote naturism! If you have a cheap camera and some software for editing, you have all you need to make a good video. Content is the only tricky part, but remember that you can promote naturism without showing actual nudity.

Make the news. It's a free form of advertising, so it's worth trying. However, make SURE that it will be a positive article on naturism otherwise it could be very destructive instead. We put in a plug for naturism recently.

Make a donation. Donating to local projects allow you to "buy a brick" or "buy a step" with a name or message on it. Donating to an event gives you advertising space. Donating to the local nursing home, animal shelter, or other community establishment usually buys permanent recognition of some sort. And what should that recognition say? Make it generic like "area naturists" or a local nudist club name.

--Money--

The church has an advantage. They pressure all members to donate a small amount every week, and it adds up to be quite a bit of money! This is how they can afford all the advertising. There are ways that naturists can raise money. One way is to just ask for it by using a sign explaining where the money is going and a bucket for donations. (I'm amazed at how few places do this.) Another way is to ask to round up payments, with the extra going to the bucket. Internal fundraisers can work, but funding from the outside will be much more rewarding.

Put your clothes on. There aren't many ways to make money naked, unless you are a model. This helps with other forms of public relations as well, and leads me to my next point.

Fundraisers, which I've written about before. Having a fundraiser in a community building or public area is a great way for non-naturists to meet you and learn more about what goes on in those secluded acres. Around here, it's common to see small groups with a brat stand. It's also common for fire departments and churches to have spaghetti suppers, chicken-Q's, and pancake breakfasts. Why can't naturists put these on too? (They don't have to be at the resort either.) Once a year, have people donate extra stuff to a garage sale fundraiser. This garage sale can be advertised in the local paper.

--The Mighty Pen--

Help NAC. If they call for naturists to write letters, do it! You can always do this on your own as well, if there is an issue that you are concerned about.

Restrictive covenants. They may not be useful often, but over time they could have an impact. If every naturist puts a restrictive covenant on their property that states that the owner must be OK with neighborhood nudity, we'd eventually weave together legal clothing-optional neighborhoods. At one parcel of land that I looked at, the covenant said I couldn't build a pig farm or have a junkyard. I believe neighbors are able to place restrictive covenants on land if they all agree on the issue, which I think happened in this case.

Snail mail things to key people. Freelance writers, comic authors, and other people in the media are always looking for ideas. Why not spark a few by mailing a naturist magazine or brochure to them? If government officials or reporters don't understand naturism, mail some information to them. If you can think of someone who should really read a piece of naturist material, why not make sure that it happens? I've seen several comics in the paper that deal with nudity, an episode of Monk where he's at a nude beach, a Nude Beach beer, commercials, and a lot of other random nudist-related blurbs in the media. Spark more if you can!

Graffiti. Another illegal item, but less so if you use washable markers or chalk so it doesn't cause damage. Write your favorite quotes along the sidewalk in chalk. Or, write them in washable marker in the bathroom. Both will last until they get washed. The goal for any graffiti is to put out a short message that challenges the common misconceptions. People might be bothered by graffiti, but they'll still ponder the message that it says.

Reverse-graffiti. Also known as cleaning. This works very well in dirty places, and I can't see how it would be illegal.

Steganograffiti. A term that only I seem to be using (since around 2002). It means to do graffiti in a steganographic way, where the message is hidden in plain sight. One classic MIT prank was done this way, and the police didn't spot it. My hometown has a pedestrian road sign where the person is walking a snail -- it's been there for years, and people I asked who drive by regularly have never noticed it. Related to naturism, a brilliant idea that was implemented during election time was the Nude Beaches Yes! campaign. They put out political-poster-lookalikes that blended in well but still managed to catch attention. The goal for this method is to not be noticed for the most part, because then it'll last for a long time. Some people will eventually find it and admire the cleverness of it.

--Armchair Warfare--

For those nudists who avoid clothing at all costs, or that want to stay anonymous. These things can be done from the comfort of your armchair.

Contribute to wikis. Do you know something that wikipedia doesn't? Add it. There are some sites for how-to's, add how to do things as a naturist. (For example, "How to cook bacon as a naturist" would be a good one.) Some sites are question and answer, go in and answer things as a naturist (body issue questions, bathing suit questions, etc.) Some travel wiki's are popular too, so add your favorite naturist destinations. Here's a big list of wikis, many of which are severely lacking in the naturist department.

Make naturism known on the social webs. Add events to facebook and myspace, join groups related to naturism, post your wonderful travel to clothing-optional destinations. OK, so this one isn't for the people who want to stay anonymous, unless they create a new anonymous account to do this with. (I'm an active member in a few different community forums.)

Leave comments. Post feedback to articles that are bad for naturism, and praise good ones. Reporters don't often get it right. If you correct them, there is a chance that they will get it right next time.

Leave unexpected comments. If you can wedge in a reference to naturism, do it! I'm guilty of doing this on occasion. Recently, the Worldchanging blog asked for lurkers to introduce themselves. I did, and included that the naturist lifestyle is very green and that we're talking about it at the gatherings. (I also recently posted here, and put in a suggestion for Cap d'Agde.) News stories about bathing suits, swimming, body issues, hot weather, public lands, and anything else we can relate to are fair game.

Link warfare. Search engines are all different, and it's everyone's goal to be at the top of the rankings. Google uses a PangeRank technology. A page's rank is calculated by how many other sites link to it, and the rank of the other sites. To get a good rank, you should link to yourself from popular site (like wikipedia) and have all of your friends linking to you as well. It's best to put all of your favorite links on every page of your site. Bing, Microsoft's answer to Google, uses a RankNet technology. People enter a search term, and click on what they are looking for. These two actions train a neural net that bumps those results to the top. (details) To get a good ranking, keep searching for yourself and clicking on your site.

Add naturist places to maps. There are plenty of map mashups out there, including adding things to google's own maps. People should know where they can go for clothing-optional recreation, right?

Any site with user-submitted content can advertise naturism for us. The more we add, the better.

--The Goal--

If we can bend culture, then culture will bend the laws in our favor. We can't change culture by staying quiet. We need to be vocal, visible, and maybe even a little pushy. But, we need to be careful -- we can't get arrested or cast naturism in a negative light. The activists of yesteryear are slowing, and it seems to be our turn to lead the fight. We're all in this together. What will you do to help out?

Summer Freehiking Recap

2009-09-08T19:56:00.001-06:00

September is the start of hunting season, and it lasts all the way until we're buried in snow. In naturist speak, that means it's the end of freehiking season. (And the start of naked snow angel season.) I've been wanting to go freehiking ever since I got hooked on naturism, and this summer we were FINALLY able to go -- twice!

I did writeups on both trips for N. They are different from what I plan to post here, and include a few pictures with the articles. (If you want to see more, you'll have to meet us in person and ask for the "brag book".) I talked about the first one already, and the second one will (hopefully) appear in a future N. Since TNS basically owns the articles, I can't republish them verbatim here. I'm not sure if there's a legal binding for that, but I'm a nice guy and don't want to upset them. My two big reasons for sending them to TNS is: 1. to compete with Mark's freehiking articles. We hike in a much more populated area, more safely, and have just as good a time. We also encourage others to do the same. 2. It gets my foot in the door for more articles later, and ups my credibility since I'm published.

Anyway, lets talk about freehiking!

Our first trip was on an unseasonably warm day in March -- St. Patrick's Day to be exact. Temps that push 70 in March only happen every couple of years. After that is turkey hunting season, but I later found out that they have 4 days on and 3 days off each week. So it's possible to freehike, but it's also likely that we'll find people tweaking their hunting stands.

I had previously scouted out the trail at the Kickapoo River Wildlife Area - Wauzeka Unit. It has only one (reasonable) access point and a roughly 3 mile trail to the Kickapoo River, then another couple of miles along an old railroad through the river valley. If one is desperate, it's possible to loop back on some roads that I'm sure were last used 100 years ago. I hiked that part clothed, and decided to never hike it again.

My scouting was done after that one clothed hike (early March) and a few passes to see if any cars were in the lot. I never saw anyone else, so figured we'd be safe. That unseasonably warm day was coming up, so we made plans to spend it freehiking.

We dropped a sign and whistle on the ground (pictured below) and shucked our clothes after we were out of sight from the road.

We only hiked to the river, had a picnic in the "grass" (which was dead since the snow just melted), and hiked back. It was a very uneventful hike, but we loved it anyway. My girlfriend carried a sarong so she could cover up just in case. I was brave, I figured I could cover up with my hat if needed. Nobody ever saw the sign. Only the birds saw us. We were hooked.

Sadly, this trail is unmaintained. By the end of turkey hunting the weeds are high enough to make you say "What trail?" It's also warm enough for bugs. With standing water everywhere along the trail, I can imagine that the bugs are awful. This is a springtime-only trail. What was I supposed to do during the rest of summer?

I kept searching, and found a few maybes. There is one nearby at a county park, but it's short, also unmaintained, and only exciting if you love to look at trees. The Kickapoo Valley Reserve sounded nice. They are a co-op of sorts, in that it's a public park but not government owned. The website says "its...administration, and recreational diversity make it unique". It's possible that I could convince them to designate a clothing optional day where naturists can clean up the trail. It's a nice idea, but I'd need a group to help.

I scouted both of their hiker-only trails. The one that went to a lookout was OK, but in the sight of traffic half way to the top. It was also fairly short. The other trail that is longer is basically just a path that is unmaintained but used on occasion. I wasn't impressed.

The Duck Egg County Forest (and dam) was on my radar, and I checked it out after the KVR. The nice mowed trail and bridges over the stream seemed like a gift, and I knew instantly that this place would be perfect for freehiking. I didn't hike all the trails, only the main one. It was a Saturday afternoon and nobody was around. However, a car appeared in the parking lot during my hike. They must've been fishing, because I never saw them along the trail. Oh well, it was a Saturday. We aim to freehike on weekdays.

That's exactly what we did about two weeks later. On Monday, August 17th we planned a day of freehiking at Duck Egg. Through the weekend, rain was being predicted for Monday and there was a storm Sunday night. After that, it was beautiful. Because of the forecast, and it being a Monday, I didn't expect anyone to be there.

I made signs for three entrances, and bought four 2-way radios. I opted for the 2-way radios because they are less annoying than blowing whistles and allow actual chat. I left one by each sign. Our signs were much more informative this time too. They read:

[Front, in marker]
Beyond this point you may encounter Freehikers.
We're Nude but NOT Lewd.
- If locker-room style nudity serious offends you, turn on the radio and contact us (take with if needed) and we'll put some clothes on.
- Otherwise, we'll see you on the trail!
(Details on back)

[Back, in pen]
There is no law against simple nudity on public lands. Not long ago, skinny-dipping was common and widely accepted. The laws are against being "lewd" and "indecent exposure".
- We're not being lewd at all.
- This sign acts to avoid indecent exposure.
If you have any questions for us, try the radio or call us at our home number later: (number)
Thanks!
[signed]

If a case went to court, this sign would prove vital. It says that we're not being lewd, and invites people to meet us on the trail without warning us. Also, if they consider nudity indecent, they can easily radio us. By passing the sign (which is very obvious at the trailhead) they are agreeing that they are OK with simple nudity. Also, the sign gives them enough information and incentive to be OK with our activities.

Duck Egg has 3 trailheads. That morning we drove by each of them to ensure there were no cars. The service entrance had "No Trespassing" and "Keep Out" signs all over it, so we didn't put a sign there. There was no reason the DNR would need to visit the site today, so we accepted the risk. We put up signs at the other trailheads. The one on the ridge wasn't the one we planned to hike, and I wasn't sure where the trails went up there. (I ignored my advice in the first N article, of knowing the area well before going naked.) The coast was all clear, and the trailheads were marked. This was now a clothing-optional valley!

The first bridge along the trail, which is around the first corner, makes a great spot to change to/from our birthday suit. We spotted several colorful birds, colorful butterflies, and a few bald eagles while walking the trail. A big difference from our last hike was that everything was green and grown in. It felt better this way -- more natural. I expected the bugs to be worse, but they weren't bad at all due to the heat. We didn't even wear any bug spray. Or sunblock. There were enough shade trees along the trail to keep the sun off us.

After lunch at the only amenity at the park (the picnic table), we explored around the dam. It's quite simple, but very neat as well. The high-schoolers have gotten to it though -- there is light graffiti on most of the walls. While we were running around and taking pictures, we noticed something odd on the bluff. A wooden structure of some sort. I zoomed in, took a picture, then zoomed in on the picture and concluded that it was either a deck or a lookout. Huh...maybe I should've walked those ridge-top trails too! If someone has a house there, I'm sure they are enjoying the view!

On the way out, I saw something on the trail that I knew wasn't there before. My girlfriend was in the middle of a story, but we stopped instantly. The trail takes a turn right there, and there was a bush right in the way. We knew a person was on the other side, but couldn't tell if it was one person, multiple people, man, woman, or kid. What is the safe thing to do?

"Did you see the sign?"
"Yep."
"Are you OK with it?"
"Yeah, I'm OK -- you guys are probably more comfortable than I am."
He was drenched with sweat, and averted his eyes as we walked by.
"Well we're not sweating at all at the moment. Deer stand -- I was wondering what that was! -- Good luck!"
"Thanks."

Then my girlfriend started in again on her story, "Anyway...", it's like nothing happened at all. The rest of the walk back was uneventful.

When picking up the signs and radios at the two trailheads, I decided to try and find that lookout/deck/house thing. I kept my clothes on, which was absolutely horrible after we spent all day hiking in the nude. I found it and confirmed that it was a lookout along the trail. I knew that nobody was on the trail, so I whipped off my clothes and took a self pic with the scenery in the background. I at least put my shorts on while walking back to the car.

Literally two days later a new geocache was added in the valley. Of course, we had to go back and log it! (FTFN = First To Find Naked!) We did this on Labor Day evening. There was one car empty and one truck and horse trailer with a group getting ready to start down the trail. We weren't prepared to freehike, and it looked too busy anyway, but we had a plan! We hiked it dressed, grabbed the cache on the way, and took it to the least used trail for a quick nude photo. We had to hop around a lot of horse poop on the way so the trail was fairly busy over the weekend. I wonder what other geocaches we can find naked?

So what does next year bring? For sure another hike at each of these places. I also want to scout out a few new trails, just to see if there are other options. I'd also love to make it a group activity as long as there is a reasonable gender balance. (Girlfriend doesn't want to feel too outnumbered.) If you'd like to hike with us, let me know. admin -at- wwncw.org

GoTopless Recap and Comments

2009-08-28T18:54:00.005-06:00

I thought I would do a quick recap of the GoTopless news:

My girlfriend was interviewed for this news article.
Nudiarist posted some photos and a video interview (part 1, part 2) with Karla.
I posted about the event (with a few pictures I didn't take), and included that they shouldn't attach their religion to the event.
Nudiarist agreed in his post.
Paul agreed on the TERA report, which includes a great picture of us. (Cool!)
A blogger by the name of Bob King disagrees, and decided to censor my comments.

I think the Raelians are great people. They are just like everyone else, and have the same freedoms as everyone else. I rode with a family to the protest, and had pizza with the whole group afterwords. I also saw, first hand, what people thought of the event. (Bob wasn't there.) Those who asked if we were Raelian never signed the petition and basically laughed at the event. Those who liked the idea of top-freedom as they passed by were the ones signing, and I don't think any knew that it was for a "UFO cult" at that point.

Bob's main points are:

Raelians are the ones out there doing the protesting.
They have every right to preach their religion.
The "UFO cult" publicity helps to get eyes on the issue.

The first one is a valid point. However, a look through the history of top-freedom in North America has a lot of naturist roots. Naturists are also involved with the World Naked Bike Ride, Freemont Solstice Parade, Bay to Breakers, Burning Man, and many other events which allow nudity among the general public. I believe they should get more involved in these topless protests as well.

I agree that they have the right to preach their religion. I didn't stop them at the event, and didn't say anything against it even though I don't agree with it. When asked, my reply was "No, we're not Raelians. We're naturists and we're supporting them in this cause." Even if their literature still talks about UFO's next year, I'll still try to help them out.

The last point is where Bob and I diverge. It's true that the headlines might get more eyes on them, but those eyes quickly dismiss them as crazy. "UFO cult" = "crazy", and therefore crazy people are supporting top-freedom. (Americans already think topless women are crazy, so it's an easy conclusion.) I'm sure that helps to sway the public.

I would never walk into a grade-school and say "Hi, I would like to be a teacher...and by the way, I'm a nudist." That last bit would guarantee that I won't get the job. However, it is akin to saying "We believe in top-freedom and equal rights...and aliens!" Chop off that last bit and you'd have a good convincing statement.

If they want to succeed in the top-freedom issue, they should to stick to it with no strings attached. It is their choice, and they have a year to decide. No matter what they decide to do, I'll still support them.

I still haven't found any pictures on Flickr of the Chicago protest. We had PLENTY of photos taken -- where did they all go??

UPDATE: He did eventually add my comment after about 5 days.

GoTopless Chicago!

2009-08-24T18:39:00.003-06:00

We attended the GoTopless protest in Chicago! My girlfriend was interviewed for one of the bigger articles on the event, which includes photos and a video interview of the organizer.

This year's protest was organized by a different person than the one last year. The new coordinator (lady in news video linked above) had:

Women, including three from Canada.
Contact with a lawyer.
Pasties available for the women, since nipples are illegal. (Due to radioactivity, perhaps.)
Body painting, which alone makes breasts legal too. (My girlfriend sported black strapless paint bra.)

This was a safe protest, since there's nothing we could've been arrested for. Why not go? In my opinion, all naturists should be encouraged to go to these protests since they're about body freedom. It's important to note that the organizers of the GoTopless protests aren't naturists, but that they want basically the same end goals as naturists do.

We didn't set up at the beach house, as advertised. Instead, the organizers chose to set up along a busy walking path that connects with a pedestrian bridge. (map) The majority of the posters were directed to people using the bridge and walking northbound along the path. I was often holding my favorite poster ("Legal or not?") pointed at the southbound users. Other protesters loved both of my signs.

All of the men wore tops of some sort, often of a ripped white sheet to resemble a bikini top. The women wore the nipple pasties and/or body paint. (These both left horrible tan-lines!) There were 6 women who went topless, plus one who was nursing and couldn't wear pasties or paint. The rest were men, and maybe 5 of them joined in the protest after walking by. We didn't get nearly the numbers as LA or NYC, but we still did good.

The police did roll in about an hour after we started. It seems that someone called them to complain. A police squad truck showed up first, then a car, then several on bikes. Some men who stuck around left when they showed up. Many of the women put on tops, including my girlfriend. After a little while, the bikes and car left, but the big vehicle stayed. They almost completely blocked the pedestrian path while they sat there for probably 2 hours just keeping an eye on us. The women eventually slipped off their tops again despite them (and applied another layer of paint just in case) and continued on.

We were asked several times if we were Raelians. "No, us two are naturists, but we're supporting the same cause." Everyone else in the protest group was Realian. During the main speech, the organizer made sure to include a section on the Raelian beliefs. I couldn't help but roll my eyes. Here's my suggestion to them: People will take the GoTopless protests more seriously if you ONLY stick to the issue of top-equality! Once you mention aliens, people just consider you crazy and walk away. Take a look at the news stories -- they always mention the UFO cult, often as the headline. That's bad for getting people to take you seriously.

We didn't get the publicity that we were hoping for. Don't get me wrong -- I think the Examiner article is great -- but the mainstream media seemed to ignore us. (The Examiner guy was fun to talk to, although he only interviewed my girlfriend. We might see him again sometime since he occasionally visits Mazo Beach. Hope he doesn't mind me saying that! *grin*) There was one guy with a professional video camera who took a lot of video. I have no idea who he represented, but the rumor was that he was for a Chicago news station. I can't find his footage anywhere.

My girlfriend and I had a lot of success on the front-lines opposite of the bulk of the crew. She's bubbly and attractive, so men would stop and sign anything she asked them to. She had people signing almost constantly! But, she only did this for maybe 45 minutes.

One big issue that I noticed was that anytime bodies needed to be painted, or a kid needed to be watched, or anything needed to be done in back, the women always wanted to do it. There were only 6 women, and many weren't in front for extended times. Especially when bodypainting -- at one point ALL of the women were attending to that and it was all men leading the protest for at least 15 minutes. Often, it was the men holding the petitions too. The women should've been the ones with the petitions, and the men should've been doing the rest. That's a tip for next time.

So what's the best part about going to a protest? Reactions, of course!

Many seemed to support us, but few signed the petition.
Many of the guys just wanted pictures. (It's odd that I can't find any on flickr though... Please post to the comments if you find any.) There were around 7 guys that wanted their picture taken with my girlfriend. Whatever.
One guy stopped his bike in the middle. We asked if he'd like to sign our petition. "Nope," he said, "I just want an eyeful." Hey, at least he's honest!
Of course, a majority of people just walked by and ignored us.
There were several near-accidents with the bikes and people. I think they were distracted.
A few were absolutely disgusted. There's no reasoning with them.
One Swedish woman was all for our cause for obvious reasons. But, she said her breasts were "treats" that only boyfriends can see so she'd never go topless.
Many women said they'd never go topless, but agreed that women should have the right to.
Some guys thought that only hot women should be allowed to go topless. They just don't get it.
One of the protesters struck up a conversation with a he/she who was in the middle of a sex change operation. The protester was surprised to learn that he/she was AGAINST the top-freedom issue.
A lot of people brought up the "what about the kids" argument. For one man, we replied with "What about the kids in Europe? Being topless is normal there." His response: "Well the Europeans are all screwed up!"
One man hung around the event and supported our cause but didn't participate. He kept snapping pictures of my girlfriend and other women. After probably 5 minutes of the camera pointed directly at her, she lashed back: "Stop taking pictures of me, you're pissing me off!" I think he stopped with all pictures at that point. Yes, naturists have a sensitivity to camera use!
One woman thought it was cool that body paint and pasties were legal as long as it covered the areola. She glued on the pasties, added some bodypaint, then wandered down the beach topless. We saw her again at the end of the protest (2 hours after she was painted) and she was still walking around that way. You go, girl!
One lady flashed her boob as she biked by, twice. Others did a quick flash as well. Everyone cheered except us -- flashing doesn't help and they run the risk of being arrested and causing negative publicity. This isn't Mardi Gras.

One last observation that we made was that us naturists were more mature about the nudity than the Raelians. The men spent a lot of time praising the women, and looking at the women, instead of treating everyone equally like we did. (OK, so the men were largely ignored by everyone.) I made good eye contact with both the men and the women, and they knew it because I wasn't wearing sunglasses. Many of them were, so it's hard to tell what exactly they were looking at. I asked my girlfriend if they looked down a lot, and she couldn't answer because of that.

One of the Raelian guys asked my girlfriend why she was so comfortable being topless. She replied that she was a naturist and that she would like to push for naturist rights someday. They were immediately uncomfortable, and shyly said that they don't really agree with that. That ended the conversation.

The event coordinator, before painting my girlfriend's breasts, learned that this was our first protest. She then went on a speech on how liberating it's going to be for her, and how empowering it's going to feel. I asked my girlfriend later if it was liberating and empowering: "Not really, it felt normal. Well, except for the annoying paint all over my breasts."

In conclusion, the Raelians have a thing or two to learn from naturists. If they focus on the issue, and if we naturists would help out more, we'd have a bigger impact. Maybe next year the press will drop the whole Realian part of it. I'd say that the Chicago protest went very well, and I look forward to helping them out in the future. I suggest that you help them out as well in their quest for top-equality. Remember that it's one step closer to being naked, and one step away from cultural prudishness.

Oh, did you want photos? Here's a couple.

The Underwear-Free Lifestyle

2009-08-14T13:20:00.003-06:00

Back in January, my girlfriend wrote about "The Bra-Free Lifestyle". She has identified the bra as being more trouble than it's worth, and has chosen to not wear one unless required. She made this choice long ago, before I even knew her. In that post's header, I mentioned that I was thinking about ditching underwear. To me, it seems like a completely optional article of clothing.

Not everyone seems to think so. A news story recently reported that Florida city workers are required to wear underwear, and required to not show it. How would they even know? Wouldn't it be easier to just not wear any? It saves on laundry too. I don't understand how this is a hygiene issue, since things are still wrapped in cotton.

I made the switch to boxers about 9 years ago. It gave things the freedom to move around more, which is a good feeling, but also comes with issues of it's own. Sometimes things snake their way out. Sometimes the legs of the boxers bunch up. Sometimes they are just too hot during the summer, and things end up being sweaty all day. Oh well, I still wore them every day. My primary concern was that jeans would be too rough on certain spots if I went without underwear of some sort. I tried it for very short periods of time, and it did seem a bit too rough.

Earlier this summer, I was talking with a good friend of ours. He's a nudist, and never wears underwear when he's dressed. The idea stuck in my brain that it was possible to truly live without underwear. It was an idea that I wanted to explore further.

Come to think of it, all of the males I know who go without underwear are nudists. It's entirely possible that my viewpoint is slanted, since I know a lot of nudists and have seen what they wear under their pants. But, the ones who go as naked as much as possible tend to not wear any. Is it a natural step for naturist men to forfeit their underwear?

At Eastover, I started almost every rainy morning wearing my jeans and my TNS long-sleeve to stay warm. I realized that wearing just the jeans did start off a bit scratchy, but I quickly got used to it. I enjoyed the fact that the boxers never bunched up. I enjoyed the little bit of extra freedom. It was better than I was expecting.

At the end of the week, I decided to keep with it. I went underwear-free on the trip back to Wisconsin. I wore underwear back to work, but gave that up too after a couple days. I've gone without it almost every day since.

The difference between going underwear-free (males) and bra-free (females) is that it's much easier to tell with the females. Even if a male bends over, it's possible that the underwear is too low to see so it's difficult to reach any conclusions. With females, bra-straps, nipples, and bounce can be visible through even thicker fabrics.

At the moment, only nudist friends know that I haven't been wearing my undies. How would the rest of society act if they find out? Will they have a "look of disgust and surprise at the same time" like with my girlfriend's bra-free experiences? Will I be considered a horrible person for my decision? Do censored parts really need two independent layers of protection? I think not, and society had better accept that as my answer.

It may not be permanent though. As winter rolls in, I'll welcome that extra layer of warmth. At least now I know that I'm comfortable both ways.

[UPDATE 2010: The cold didn't work. I still don't wear them...]

Body Acceptance

2009-08-12T17:37:00.001-06:00

I had an interesting thing happen recently. Even though I'd like to jump ahead, a bigger story is needed to put it in context. You don't mind a personal story on body acceptance, do you?

I've mentioned it very briefly before. My major body issue is my chest. Anyone who has seen me knows that I have a unique feature with my chest. The medical term is "pectus excavatum", and mine isn't quite bad enough to need medical attention. It has its positive moments. My heart is shifted over about an inch, which I think is neat. Doctors seem to like it since they often invite in their staff to see it. That's about all for the list of positives.

As a kid, I was always very embarrassed by it. So much so that I wouldn't go swimming or take off my shirt on a hot day. I even warned my new girlfriends about it. I slept in a t-shirt during my college years, until I had my own room. It's safe to say that I had body issues, and it had an impact on my life.

I'm also not a shorts type of person. I almost never wear shorts. Partly this is because I don't like my hairy legs, so I don't want to display something ugly. The other part is because they don't go well with combat boots. Even on a hot walk to Mazo Beach, I'll still wear jeans. The legs look a lot more normal when naked, in my opinion, so it's either all or nothing for me.

I first gave home naturism a try about 5 years ago (with my current girlfriend), outdoor naturism a try about 3 years ago in Australia and loved it, and social naturism a try over 2 years ago at Mazo Beach. I've mingled with the regulars at Mazo, gone to several parties, visited a few resorts and campgrounds for events, attended a huge gathering, hung out with some good local friends, been naked around textiles, been naked on the net, been naked in nature and got published, and am on my way up in the naturist world.

Last winter, I told my parents that my girlfriend and I are both naturists. It took a bit of explaining (maybe 20 minutes?) to convey that we weren't swingers, and after that they were fine with it. We're both very open about it to friends and family.

This summer, my Aunt and cousin were visiting for a couple of weeks. One of the things I suggested was a canoe trip down the Wisconsin River since I knew the area well. Come to find out, there are no day trips that go past our favorite beach. Despite that, I still joked around during the car ride that I was disappointed about not seeing my beach friends. I made it known that we should paddle up-river a half-mile so we could visit the beach. My Aunt didn't ask any questions.

I was initially paired up with my Aunt in the canoe, I explained the reasoning behind my jokes and how I knew the area so well. She couldn't believe that we went to a nude beach! She had to confirm with my Mom that I wasn't pulling her leg. She thought it was funny, and mentioned that she'd never go to one, and didn't ask many questions about it which was a little surprising. She's normally full of questions.

With some pressure from the family, I was wearing swim trunks and sandals that day. At the first stop I had my shirt off. Years ago, I'd be wearing boots, jeans, and a shirt for the whole trip. This time, I got as close to naked as I could reasonably get.

When my Aunt was paired up with my Dad, she had to confirm it with him too. My Dad made a remark that surprised me: "I think it helped him get over his body issues." (My girlfriend overheard it and told me about it -- I was further away.) My Dad stuck up for my choice to be a naturist, and recognized that it's been a benefit to me even though I hadn't recognized it yet.

With that, I've realized just how much naturism has helped with my body issues! I never thought twice about taking my shirt off during the canoe trip. And the shorts? I was wishing they were off too. I still don't like wearing shorts -- but for opposite reasons as before. I've gone from being afraid of showing my body, to accepting my body and it's flaws and assuming that others don't care about seeing it.

It's a different mindset. Society has the impression that if you've got it, flaunt it. (And that if you don't, then nobody wants to see that.) Naturists don't care if they've got it, and they don't flaunt it -- they're just comfortable. They don't go places to check out other people -- they go to be comfortable themselves. It was hot, and I was getting comfortable. I wasn't worried about showing (flaunting) my skin like I would've been in the past.

This simple change of attitude could make a world of difference if more people would experience it.

There's another positive to my chest issue in the list. Uniqueness. It's been reminder that being different isn't always a bad thing. I've always been proud to break away from the norm, and to make my own decisions. Everyone is unique in their own way. Instead of hiding it, people should find strength in it. Naturism helps with this.

Side-story 1: At one point, we went to a large fitness club. After the locker room, my girlfriend and I compared notes. I saw many naked men, who didn't really cover up to and from the shower. My girlfriend walked naked to the scale, weighed herself, and walked back. She said that women were giving her looks of disgust because she was naked. The other women were very diligent in covering up.

Side-story 2: After the canoe trip, we ate at a place right by the landing. My girlfriend and I watched an attractive girl in a bikini getting dressed outside. (Yes, a bikini is technically dressed, but apparently not enough.) She had a towel around her shoulders, and tried very hard to balance the towel on her back as she put on shorts. After almost losing the towel a couple times, and quickly fixing it before continuing, she managed to get her shorts on. Her shorts ended up covering about an extra 2 inches of leg, but she was content. Before she lost the towel, she slipped on a muscle shirt too. My girlfriend and I were laughing through most of this. It seems that modesty sets in only after leaving the sand.

Mazo Manor - S2E05 - Big Summer Festival (p2)

2009-08-03T08:32:00.002-06:00

Previously, on Mazo Manor:
"A battle between the nudes and the textiles was on! .... The tug was dead even for what seemed like several minutes. Muscles were flexing on the rope, and feet were digging into the sand, but both teams held their own without an end in sight. Everyone at the beach was cheering loudly and were at the edge of their towels in anticipation!"

It was a low-balled tactic that finally ended the match. One naturist decided to sneak in at the end of the rope, which added just enough power to slowly overcome the textiles. The cheering got twice as loud as the naturists pulled to victory. The bikini girls didn't notice the below-the-belt ploy and never demanded a rematch. I gave the winners two tickets each this time. The bikini girls decided to stay on the beach (in the water) and mingle with the naturists for the next hour or so. As far as I could tell, they loved it just as much as we did. They have a good story to tell their friends when they get home...

The Elders were surprisingly quiet this year. Normally they cash in on the free food and remain active spectators. This year they kept to themselves entirely. We challenged Kingpin to some lawn games, and he declined as expected. Smokey was there to relax. He had his headphones on and tuned out everything. He at least talked with us for a few minutes when we challenged him to a game.

Another person I spotted at the beach was Boots. I didn't notice Tank around but the beach was busy so she might've been. I didn't get a chance to ask him how the trip went. He also didn't play any games.

There were several people that got games in during the last two hours. One notable group was two guys and two girls, all about our age and attractive. I've met them before at the beach and at the car show, so I knew they were swingers. It was obvious anyway since they often made flirty vulgar comments during the games. The photographer took pictures of them playing the games.

Note: I know I mention vulgar comments a lot recently. It's important to know that I always talk about the few instances that I witness. Almost all of the conversations and interactions at the beach are not at all vulgar or flirty. If kids are around, the conversations are always clean. This is a good reason to bring kids to the public beaches -- it helps to enforce a family friendly environment.

As I mentioned previously, there was a TNS photographer at the beach. That means the next N will probably carry a few of the pictures from the event. [UPDATE: It didn't, haven't seen them yet (early 2010).] If you see a group of four, with only the women's backsides, it's the group I mentioned above. He also took photos of all tugs, including the one with the bikini girls. (I really hope that one gets included in N!) The last photo I know about is of my girlfriend and I at the game table. I can't wait to see which ones are included, and I'm curious about who is going to do a write-up about it.

After the games, we had the drawing for prizes. About half of the people who won were there, so they were easy to deliver. I sent out all of the rest except one. That one hasn't returned our calls and so we don't have an address. Oh well, I'll recycle it into a prize for something else.

The same couple that brought our stuff in helped bring it out. They helped to pack everything up with both us and Gaia and helped move it to the vehicles. Not only did they drive our stuff to the parking lot (as we walked), they also unloaded most of it into our car by the time we got there. We got their information and have full intent of sending them a "thank you" gift, once we figure out something good to send. I'm sure they have the item mentioned above already.

Late that day, and on Sunday when they served food again, Gaia and Captain Planet picked up some trash around the beach. As expected there really wasn't very much trash left behind by the naturists.

A fun time was had by all, even the ones that didn't really participate. The event went smoothly, and the number of people playing games is about the same as other years. All-in-all, I'd call it a success!

NEXT EPISODE

Mazo Manor - S2E04 - Big Summer Festival

2009-08-01T05:59:00.004-06:00

It was shaping up to be a perfect Saturday. We had a car full of stuff, and were cruising to Mazo early in the morning to meet up with Gaia. Today was the big summer festival!

We brought two tables, a box full of prizes, a shoe rack that doubled as a ticket bucket, two markerboards, and a roll of paper to cover things with so we could write anywhere. Since there were NO volunteers at the event coordination page, we purchased and brought Bocce Ball, Lawn Darts, and LadderBall. This was among a lot of other stuff that we brought. Our car full of stuff was parked, waiting, in the Mazo parking lot.

It was a lousy start to the day when we watched a big white truck roll in, go around the parking lot, then floor it on the way out to spray gravel all over. (No cars were hit.) I also checked the porta-potty while we waited, and discovered that all of my posters were gone again. We called Gaia at the time she was supposed to be there, and she hadn't left the house yet. She was waiting on someone else (who had a big truck) to give them a ride, and they were about a half hour away. We waited some more, and watched people trickle into the parking lot. Some people, especially the Elders, are impressive with how much they can fit on a bike. During our wait, Gaia called a couple who were on their way and told them we need help in transporting stuff. When they arrived we quickly loaded up their car. They used their gate key to drive to the beach while we walked. (This is the legal way to do it.)

At the beach, we unloaded their car and I snuck into the porta-potties. Both had the posters still there, which cast a big shadow of doubt on my idea of who was taking them. Where all the other posters went still remains a mystery.

Setting up the tables, it quickly became apparent that the Mazokats had no idea that it was Nude Recreation Weekend. We had advertised on all the common websites and Yahoo groups, emailed the thousands in the FOMB distribution list, taken lots of phone calls from Nude Rec Week advertisements, and often (or sometimes?) had posters at the beach porta-potties. Despite this, a majority of the 500 people who were there had no idea. Many hadn't even heard of TNS either. Also, nobody was there for the AANR skinny dip as far as I could tell, which is a good thing because we did NOT participate in that.

Instead, we were graced with the presence of Gaia, Captain Planet, CatHerder, and a TNS photographer. For those who don't know my character name mapping, they are all TNS or TNS affiliated. If my two tables were a shack, then their setup would be a mansion. They brought 2 grills, about 4 large tables, and about 4 more smaller ones, 2 gazebos for shade, an official tug-of-war rope, a huge stack of boxes and coolers for food, and a large wheelbarrow with a fat sand tire to shuttle it all from the overloaded truck. Combine that with the potluck they encouraged, and they had a free all-you-can-eat buffet with a better selection that most restaurants! It went so well that they did it again Sunday just to use up the leftovers!

My side of the event was the games, and they were going poorly thus far. The Contenders fulfilled their promise of bringing two volleyball nets -- one for the "pros" and one for the "special olympics". Captain Planet had the tug-of-war rope. We had the 3 lawn games we purchased. Nobody else brought games. And other than the Contender's usual games, nobody else was looking to play. I even sent my trusty girlfriend around the beach to let people know what was going on and to recruit people for games. Many went for the free lunch, but chickened out of the games.

I asked Gaia what was normal for game play. She said that after people have lunch, they are in a better mood for playing games. This was partly true. We had many different people play the lawn games. Almost nobody played the normal-person volleyball though, even though the Contenders and I both hear people complain that they'd play if it weren't for the pro's. They had their chance to play today, on their own net and with people of similar non-pro skills, but only a couple did. We tried and tried to get games started.

A good chunk of the tickets for prizes went to several people who brought food, and many who played lawn games. The rest were given out to the winners of the most popular game...

Mid-afternoon, Captain Planet declared a war... a tug-of-war! The rope was laid out along the edge of the water, and about 16 people piled on for the first tug. Soon after, the count was over 20 for the second tug and people were getting tired. It was break-time for a while.

Mazo beach wasn't the only popular one that Saturday. People were camped out on all the beaches we could see across the river. Many were on the island in the middle too, including three hovercrafts. (Cool! We want a ride!) The island that many naturists walk to (but shouldn't) also had a number of textiles, including a group of 8 cute college-age girls in bikinis and one guy with them.

My girlfriend gets super bonus points for setting up the most memorable event the beach has ever seen! On her own, she decided to wander over and talk to that group of young girls. Before I knew it, they were front and center on our beach and picking a fight. They were picking up one end of the rope, and several naturists (both guys and girls) were picking up the other end. A battle between the nudes and the textiles was on!

Of course, the naturists outnumbered the girls, so a few joined on their side to balance things out. Soon enough, the pull was on! Would the bikini girls kick the bronzed naturist butts? Or would the team everyone cheered for prove to be the true Olympians? The tug was dead even for what seemed like several minutes. Muscles were flexing on the rope, and feet were digging into the sand, but both teams held their own without an end in sight. Everyone at the beach was cheering loudly and were at the edge of their towels in anticipation!

To Be Continued....

NEXT EPISODE

Mazo Manor - S2E03 - Everyone Loves Big Melons!

2009-07-30T18:54:00.005-06:00

Monday afternoon, the first day of Nude Recreation Week, we took a trip to the beach to check on the signs. Before Eastover, Gaia had put up large posters and lots of mini ones that people could take in each of the three porta-potties. After Eastover, she had to spend some time in a hospital far away from Mazo. If all went well, she'd make it back just in time for the festival. She was scheduled to return to the state Friday night.

I was on poster-duty for this week. When we got there, I was quick to check the first porta-potty. I was disappointed to find the posters missing, but deep down I was expecting that. I decided to not put any new ones up until after the potential culprit(s) left.

While we were in the parking lot, an older couple struck up a conversation with us. We had previously met them at the Halloween party. We must not've talked with them much at the Halloween party, because neither of us remembered them. Oops! We were walking through the gate as they drove through and past us.

They were still unpacking things from their car when we finished the brisk walk though the gauntlet. We chatted more, and they were nice enough to give us the end from their watermelon with a plastic spoon. See -- people at Mazo are far more friendly than at textile beaches!

We all decided to sit together, since the beach was very quiet. (It's always quiet on weekdays.) They were having a good time chatting with us, and we would've been lonely by ourselves. We didn't mind the company.

Our entertainment for the evening were the Elders. (Kingpin and another regular who's often there but newly named: EagleEye.) Sitting next to them was a skinny college-age male who was fairly quiet and a busty college-age female who gets a temporary name: Bambi. In retrospect, I don't think they were a couple since they left the beach about 10 minutes apart. Both seemed to be newbies. She was also wearing makeup, which isn't the norm for females at the beach.

Both Kingpin and EagleEye have cameras. Kingpin has an old film camera, and EagleEye has a digital SLR. Usually they are kept packed away. They are both very trustworthy and responsible for their camera use. They always ask for permission, avoid having people in the background of the photos, and keep camera use to a minimum. EagleEye often is more interested in photographing the wildlife than people.

Before we got to the beach, Kingpin must've talked up Bambi and convinced her to give them permission to photograph her. In the first hour we were there, Bambi had pictures both on the beach and in the water taken from both of the guys from every angle. She was laughing at the occasional vulgar comments from Kingpin (and sometimes returning a few), and seemed to be having a good time as the celebrity of the beach. Although the situation was a little annoying (and distracting) for us, I must admit that she was really cute in the water when the fish were nipping at her toes. She giggled from the tickling, then left the water when the fish started going after other things.

After Bambi and the young guy left, Kingpin set his sights on the other group with nice melons. He talked to the couple we were sitting by because he knew them. He knew us too, but for some reason he didn't want to talk to us...

Soon after, the Elders left the beach, and we knew it was safe to put up some posters. The two porta-potties in the little parking lot had no posters either. I put up what I had in all three porta-potties. I didn't put them in an easy-to-take-down spots either, I had little ones on all sides and one under the TP dispenser that could only be seen when sitting down. (I even covered up the traces of vulgar graffiti that were in two of them -- I wish the DNR could catch the people who do that stuff.) Hopefully the posters would last all week...

NEXT EPISODE

Eastern Naturist Gathering - The Last Hurrah

2009-07-24T06:15:00.002-06:00

This is a long one, so feel free to bookmark it and read it in chunks!

Only a few days after our last adventure, we left Wisconsin on a 1,000+ mile journey to Eastover Resort in Lenox, Massachusetts. We had reservations for The Naturist Society's week-long Eastern Naturist Gathering. Lucky for us, we also had reservations at Niagara Falls on the way and spent two nights 38 floors up right next to the falls (Canadian side). That made the long trip a lot better! (Here's a link to a gallery, click on the "Falls" category, most are night shots taken from our room and my favorites are the last two.)

When we started through New York, it was rainy. Claude had told me that "it's either going to be sunny and beautiful all week, or rainy all week." She was wrong. It was sunny and beautiful for most of one day during the week, and on the Sunday that we had to leave. (OK, so she was mostly right...) We at least got breaks during the other days, and it was usually warm enough mid-day to be naked.

When we checked in, the staff was great, but they told us to go away for a while. We were a bit early to get there and had a few hours before our cottage was ready. It wasn't naked time yet either. With time to spare, I'll lead you on a tour of the grounds. Open up a map and follow along if you'd like. (There aren't many Eastover pictures out there, but heres a few from some scrapbooking event.)

The centerpiece is the mansion, and it certainly has the classic look and feel of a 1910 mansion. The top two floors are all apartment or dorm style rooms. The main floor has the main lobby, a library, some offices, a large dining area, and a general purpose room. It also has WiFi throughout most of the space. The basement is the "catacombs" as they call it. It's a creepy, dark (black and red painted with minimal light), sprawling space of mini bars and rooms with Civil War Memorabilia (CWM for short).

From the catacombs there's a walkway to the indoor pool. The walkway is filled with CWM (pictures and artwork) as well. On the way, you can see a basketball court on the right and the main pool on the left. The indoor pool is very nice but a bit cool. The outdoor pool is even colder. I have yet to find a pool that isn't cold, so maybe I'm just a wimp.

Taking the stairs down from the indoor pool, you're greeted with two windows that are underwater. Hmmm... Also down there is the weight room, bathrooms, showers, and sauna. The sauna can seat probably 15 people and is set to 186 degrees, dry heat. Perfect, in my opinion! Outside there are several outdoor showers. They didn't have hot water this year, so a sign was posted that said "polar bear club".

A few steps away is the American Heritage room, which is the primary CWM room. At this point, I'll mention that Eastover has one of the largest private collections of Civil War Memorabilia in the US. This room has cannons and all kinds of other stuff around. The back-room looked more interesting, where the good stuff is all in display cases, but we weren't allowed back there. They are starting to sell off the collection for reasons I'll get to later. On top of the American Heritage room are tables, and that is where many of the meals were served during the week.

Further away from the "mansion complex" are lots more goodies. To the south is the plantation, which are long buildings full of rooms that resemble the shape of a moose head when you look at the satellite pictures. Tucked away in the moose's left ear is the Mohawk room -- a large basement room with a small stage, chalkboard, and pull-down screen which was perfect for my projector. Well, almost, the pull-down screen refused to stay down!

To the east is a baseball diamond and the horse-riding stables. The horse rides go along the trails in the woods to the east, all of which the resort owns. Deep in there somewhere is a good-sized ropes course. This would've been fun to do naked, but it was never used. Going counter-clockwise we have the trap shooting over the fire pit, the fire pit at the bottom of the bowl, the driving range that goes down a hill, and a toboggan run that goes down the same hill.

Finally, we reach my favorite building -- Tally Ho! This building has a horse theme, better implemented than anywhere else I've been. It used to be a big all-wooden horse stable, and has three parts. The biggest room is the theater. The rafters are full of old wooden carriages, among many other classic decorations. There is a big stage and seating for everyone. This was used for dances each night, the talent show, meals if rainy, and the TNS town hall meeting. The middle rooms are a small bar, bathrooms, and a kitchen, with pictures of Eastover groups over the years. (One naturist picture was added from last year just for that week.) The back room was small, but had character. They had stables there for around eight horses. They took off the stall doors, made each one into a (big) restaurant-style booth, and put a small band performance area on the other side of the room. That's about it... The stalls even had the horse names above them, and the saddles and other equipment were still hanging around the room. You can't get more authentic than that!

Next up, on the north side, we have the buffalo. According to Eastover's history, George (owner at the time) was the first person to bring buffalo to the east, way back in 1963. They have a large pen that they live in, and Eastover provides safari rides to go see them up close.

We were given a home near where the buffalo roam. On the west side of the mansion, we checked in to our cottage. It was little, but had a porch, two beds, a small bathroom with a leaky toilet, a dresser that doubled as a counter, a clock that buzzed constantly when the alarm was set, and a furnace that could bring the place from 65 to 80 in a matter of minutes. We were delighted to find a bottle of Eastover labeled wine for our Anniversary.

The whole resort wasn't in it's heyday. It has the classical charm and architectural beauty, but also a feeling of doom. All buildings were a little bit dirty. There was no landscaping other than mowing. The waterfall on the indoor pool was never running. The stream running the length of the wall in the American Heritage room wasn't going either. Stuff was broken. Sheds were falling apart. Ceilings were leaky. Art on walls was faded. Graffiti was all over the furniture. The Civil War stuff was disappearing. It did NOT look as good as the pictures.

The end is near, and everyone knows it. The resort is closing in November and is up for sale. The next owners will likely bulldoze everything and put in condos. Why? Regulations -- the place is being regulated out of existence. New rules that they need to comply with come with a huge cost and they don't have the budget for that, and to keep maintaining it all. The next owners probably can't afford to keep the place open either. It's sad, and it was on everyone's mind the whole time. "The Last Hurrah", as the staff's t-shirts said.

Although the place was getting run down, the staff were absolutely wonderful! Many of them worked previous gatherings too, so the nudity was no big deal to them. They treated us just like everyone else. If there were any newbies, we couldn't tell. They said we were the favorite group all summer, and the amount of effort they put in showed that they really do like us. Many promised to show up at future gatherings, wherever they may be.

The naturists were absolutely wonderful too! Among them were many of the TNS staff, several from the NAC crew, Dr. Paul Rapoport from FCN, and representatives from beaches and resorts all around the US. The naturists that go to this gathering are like family, which has a pro and a con. The pro is that once you're in and known, you get priority in contacting the naturist leaders. It's a social network. The con is that it's a little difficult to get in, and those who aren't in aren't initially trusted. Either way, they are always friendly in person and are quick to accept you when you're at a gathering. This is a good reason for going.

Several of the naturists are hardcore. By that, I mean they can be called "cold weather naturists" because they would brave the 60 degree rainy mornings. They were completely naked -- I was in a long-sleeve and jeans. My initial hypothesis was that it had something to do with where they lived, because Paul was from Canada. But, Bob Morton from Texas and Morley Schloss from Florida were just as extreme. Morley and Paul also defeated the hypothesis that it has to do with weight, or "insulation". My final hypothesis is that the more widely known the naturist is, the colder the weather they can go naked in. It seemed that all the big names, with exception to the TNS ladies, were the ones naked in the cold. This includes some women like Claudia (who everyone knows from Blacks Beach) and families like the Kapus's (the poster-family for TNS). For the rest of us, it usually warmed up to the mid 70's.

So why did we even leave our comfy cottage every cold morning? We wanted to hit the breakfast buffet at 8am to make it to the 9am workshops. The meal plan for Eastover is wonderful! Breakfast has all the standard items you'd find at a buffet. Lunch and dinner was a variety of their choosing, and always good. One of the days, I wrote down what they offered for lunch or dinner: "Steak, ribs, roasted chicken, baked potato, corn on the cob, full salad, fried scallops, fish, milkshakes, cookies, brownies, and several other fillers that I'm not remembering right now." Every day had a variety that good, and it was all cooked to perfection!

Now that you have a good introduction to the Eastover grounds, staff, and participants, I'll talk about what we did during the seven days.

Monday, there wasn't much going on. This was the only day that dinner was served in the mansion because of the small crowd. It was also determined that Wisconsin was the best represented state, with a total of six people there. Of course, that only applied to Monday. In the afternoon we played some frisbee golf. In the evening we checked out the dance (which happens every night) and watched a movie in the library.

Tuesday is when the workshops really started. I went to "What's going on with the left coast?" by -- who else -- Bob Morton. He tells stories better than what he writes for the NAC updates, although much of it was the same content. My girlfriend went on the safari ride, where the buffalo kept ramming the truck. We then played frisbee golf again, and I went on the nature hike. It was a nude hike on the wooded area that Eastover owns. The two people that walked right by me most of the way were the primary entertainment for Thursday. (They also perform for church groups, so I probably shouldn't mention their names online. They are in N 28.4.)

Wednesday morning I woke up to "Why should naturists care when lawmakers target 'adult' businesses?" by -- you guessed it -- Bob Morton. In the afternoon, we had an appointment for riding the horses. We wanted to go naked, but it was advised by the young lady in charge that we don't. (She, by the way, was really cool and fun to be around!) We wore pants and were glad that we did! Some of the trails were tight, with questionable spiky plants and some tree limbs to brush by. My horse didn't want to walk down the middle of the path -- apparently I wasn't stern enough. The girls were fine on their horses. It was a lot of fun, even though we had to weather out some rain on the way. Well worth the money! We snuck a camera to her, and she gladly took some pictures of us on the horses. I heard the camera focus (half-press of the shutter), and assumed they took (full-press) -- but they didn't. Zero pictures of us on the horses.

At dinner there was a meeting in the Tally Ho where Nicky, Bob, and others welcomed everyone to the gathering. They shared some stories, talked about the future, and let all the workshop hosts pitch their upcoming workshops. This took a while since there were a lot of workshops! I had my turn, introduced myself and my girlfriend as first-timers with creative new ideas, and pitched the two presentations I had ready.

Sometime early in the week (not sure exactly what day), I was introduced to two different people. First was Morley Schloss. I hadn't read the N magazine from that month (28.4), so I didn't know much about him at that point. We didn't talk much initially. I also met Dave Cole and his fiance from Black's Beach. We talked for a while comparing notes on each of our beaches -- everything from politics to undesirables. I also found out that Black's has just a few steps less than a famous landmark in our area.

That evening we went to the naturist theater (big screen TV in the Heritage room) and watched as "Blaze Starr Goes Nudist". We have movie nights just like this at home, so we knew what to expect from that film genre. We sat way in the back and giggled at each-others jokes and the cheesy plot-lines. During the film, Morley entered the room behind us and we greeted him. We asked if the resorts in Florida were just like what the film was showing. I was blown away by his response... He sometimes went to the resort that the movie was filmed at, and remembers about when it was filmed. As the scenes were playing, he'd point out that "the ducks were added to the pond -- there were never any ducks there" and that "the cottages were never usually that nice".

Thursday we skipped "Speaking to College Classes & Groups" (even though we're interested) in favor of "The NAC Area Representative Program" by -- surprise, surprise -- Bob Morton. We signed Bob's book for being a NACAR, but I haven't heard anything from it yet. This was shaping up the be the warmest, sunniest day that Eastover had that week. This was great for our all-over tans!

Nicky signed us up for a video that they plan to put on YouTube. We were interviewed with five seemingly simple questions. My girlfriend did a great job with them. I didn't, probably because I was overthinking them instead of coming up with a quick cheesy answer. "Why are you a naturist?" I don't know... it's like asking why I'm a human. I was just born that way, I guess. (They wanted a better answer than that.) "What is your favorite thing to do in the nude?" Sex is an obvious good answer, but unacceptable. The answers I delivered generally weren't what I was thinking at the time. Before the shoot, the guy doing the filming showed us a clip from the previous people -- of course, the Kapus family.

Early in the afternoon we attended one of Nicky's workshops, "Getting Published in N Magazine". We discussed the magazine sections, what people liked and what they didn't, and where it was heading. She also went through the list of what she's looking for with contributions. I got invited to a possible future workshop out west on writing specifically for N. We'll see where things go with that...

My girlfriend attended most of the DUMass Olympics events. For those who are curious, it's Dave Cole's series of workshops where they play silly games and win stuff. They are simple and fun, which is why he always has a great turnout. My girlfriend also tried some skeet shooting, and got 3 out of 3... misses. With a gun in her hand, I stayed quiet! She thought it was fun to try anyway. I thought it was fun to watch her shoot a rifle naked.

We both went to the "Naturist At Play" photography workshop. Although I like photography, and had a camera in the car, I figured that we would get copies of the pro's photos instead. We both posed in a lightsaber scene. My girlfriend posed for a lot more including a group jump photo and a solo Mary Poppins scene. We haven't gotten a copy of the pictures yet. [UPDATE: We eventually did, all stamped with Eric's logo and "for personal use only" as per the contract. Why watermark them if they're just for us? I have no idea... Most places won't print them if they're watermarked. I removed the watermarks to print them for the brag book.] After Eric excused everyone from the workshop, he hung on to his favorite models -- one long-time female participant and the Kapus family -- for some additional shoots. We're a good young attractive naturist couple, and we told Nicky early in the week to have the photographers take pictures of us for the magazine. We told Eric this too, but he didn't seem interested at the moment.

Before the main entertainment that evening, we decided to make our own photoshoot. We collected golf balls from the driving range, which is a lot of work when it's the side of a hill and among lots of white flowers. Back at the top, we grabbed a nearby photographer and asked him to take pictures while we golfed. "I suppose..." It looked like he got some good pictures out of it. I sent him an email after the gathering, and haven't gotten any pictures yet. [UPDATE: We eventually got these too.]

That evening we watched the main entertainment couple for a bit. He was naked except for boots, a hat, and a few other small things. She was in a sarong or a dress, one of the two. It seems she wasn't comfortable enough to be naked on stage like he was. They had some naturist themed songs that they performed, among other things. They were very good musicians!

Friday was a big day for me. I raced to breakfast, collected my equipment, and went to the moose's left ear (Mohawk room). I used duct tape to make the broken projector screen stay in place, found an extension cord to plug everything in, and was ready to deliver the most professional "workshop" the gathering has ever seen! I was the only person who had a Powerpoint (OpenOffice Impress, actually) and did a full-on presentation instead of just sitting around and talking. I'm better at these anyway -- I did a lot of them while in college.

My topic was "Crowdsource Our Problems Away", and the presentation is temporarily online here, with the ideas partly from my Future Resort part 5. It's an edgy presentation, so I expected it to be a little difficult. Bob, Claudia, Dave and his fiance, and a room of about 25 other people attended. Bob didn't seem comfortable with the ideas I presented. Dave and his fiance called me on one item -- the list of undesirables for beach safety. They said it's a privacy issue and grounds for a lawsuit, which it could be if I listed full names. My intent would be more like "a heavy-set guy with the Brewers cap who tries to take pictures". At the end of the presentation, it was my guess that people didn't like it. They were fairly quiet. But then Claudia approached me and said "it was the best workshop I've seen all week -- naturism needs more fresh ideas like this! Keep up the great work!"

I took down all my equipment and removed the duct tape so the self-photography workshop could take over the room. It didn't last long -- an hour later I had to set it all up again so that Nicky could use my projector for the Lee Baxandall tribute. It looked great, and she thanked me many times for it. A lot of people were there (60?) to see her Keynote presentation. Then, I took it all down again and finally got the equipment back to the cottage.

After lunch, we were the only youth at the "Apparent Youth Death Among Naturists" workshop. Many were content to discuss the problem, without having much of an idea about the solution. Morley, the awesome man that he is, already had it all figured out. He does an excellent job of bringing in students at Sunsport and the other groups / resorts in the area. I had ideas to pitch in, but Morley beat me to it and verbalized it better than I'd be able to. He should've been the one leading the workshop, because he was clearly the one with the most valuable information. He had a lot of things that I didn't even think of too, like purposefully not including a bar and offering healthy eco-friendly foods as a choice. He targets the college-age crowd with specific events, advertises in their media, and gives them rock bottom (or sometimes free) rates. There's a lot more, but it's fair to say that he has my generation figured out!

We attended the "Unusual Poses & Perspectives" photography workshop. My girlfriend posed a few times, but I didn't. It was cold and rainy, and I doubt there were many good pictures that resulted from that one. [UPDATE: I was right.] Afterwords, my girlfriend had a blast at the pudding toss, except that two men targeted her butt and made sure it stuck good with a firm grope. I attended the "NAC Roundup" workshop by -- oh not again -- Bob Morton!

The talent show was surprisingly good! We sat by Claude, who decided to give us the full bio of everyone who performed (which was appreciated!) There were a few songs, a funny guy doing reverse-burlesque (dressing as the song went on), one really good / funny poet, one not-so-good poet, some guys talking about their "decks", a spot of just music in memory of the singer who recently died, and a lady who beautifully sang and did sign language for a classic song. Another great, and depressing, talent was a singer who had 4am inspiration early in the week to write a song bidding farewell to Eastover. She was the last of the naturist performers, and then began the textile ones. What am I talking about? The tradition is that the Eastover staff always perform in the naturist's talent show.

The Eastover staff don't exactly practice for the talent show, and that fact makes them quite funny! They take random songs and rewrite the lyrics to talk about the "nudies". They can't sing, but they really try to with the lyrics in hand! Some of the staff were even brave enough to drop their pants during the show, which must've been a first considering how quickly the TNS girls ran to the front. They went through quick versions of a half-dozen different songs. They finished with this classic song while going out through the crowd, and it probably brought tears to some people's eyes. Bravo, Eastover staff!

After that, we went through the eerie night-time fog to the moose's left ear. We modeled for the "Images and Patterns Projected on the Human Form" photography workshop. I recommended that we make use of the projector in the fog for some neat silhouettes, because I've taken some good fog shots in the past. Nope -- Eric wanted to do the same thing he's done in the past instead of make use of the unique conditions. He started the workshop by having us find good slides and write down the numbers so we can take the pictures we want. Once his favorite models were on the set, it turned into a free-for-all with going through slides and snapping pictures. Towards the end, my girlfriend and I insisted on doing the shots we wanted to take. He was reluctant, but got through at least some of ours before time ran out.

Friday night the dance was rockin', and the two person band was "in the stalls". We listened to both for a while and had some pizza before calling it a night.

Saturday morning, I started my day with "Who speaks for naturists?" by -- he's gotta be tired of seeing me by now -- Bob Morton! In this one, he stressed that all politics are local. For most of the legal battles that are fought, it's the naturists and not NAC who are at the front lines. NAC coordinates, advises, empowers, and steps in to fill any gaps with the local Friends Of groups and other naturists. It's really the naturists who speak for naturists at a grassroots level. It's a different philosophy than those who try to be the "credible voice of reason" for naturism.

After that, I broke out the laptop, projector, and duct tape once again for my other presentation: "Greening For Profit". It was less edgy than the other one, but I still prove that some green technologies are stupid and that greening to save the environment costs money. The other green workshops were on saving the environment, so I might've irked a few people. The roughly 30 attendees loved this one as far as I could tell! (Morley pointed out that Sunsport already does a number of these things, but I at least clued him in on the Vegawatt. All-in-all he loved it, and invited me to give it at other gatherings.) Follow along here while I add some quick notes: Slide 4 shows a solar array on a Walmart in Mexico. Slide 6 source. Slide 7 source. Slide 8 is common knowledge by now. Slide 9 source. Ideas are from my Future Resort series parts 3, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3. Slide 30 is a hot springs in Alaska. Slide 31 Vegawatt. Slide 36 shows a bad fireplace with no doors and likely no cold air return. Slide 37 is this building in Maine that is so well insulated that it doesn't need a heater.

After lunch was the group photo, in which we should be easy to spot. The closing circle was a bit cheesy -- we all held hands in a big circle around the pool and took turns offering our feedback and thanks. My girlfriend left after that to tie-dye a few things in a workshop, and at some point snuck off to the catacombs with a photographer for some "pictures I'll love" that sound a bit more provocative than a simple naturist photo shoot. It seems the photographer loves them too, he never responded to her email. [UPDATE: She eventually got these too, and they're not exactly great from the few she's shown me. Actual lighting and brushing her hair (and maybe a recent shower) would've helped a lot.]

I went to the town hall meeting, where a lot of things were discussed and where feedback was sought to help choose a future gathering location. TNS still couldn't disclose possible locations, but from what Claude told me it's certainly a step up if they get the one they want. (No traditional naturist resorts were options due to the number of attendees.) After that, I stopped by the NAC Large Donor Reception. I hadn't donated largely at that point, so I handed Bob the NAC donation envelope with a bit more than the minimum to qualify as a large donor. I should be getting the NAC newsletter also, but we'll see. [UPDATE: This wasn't active anymore, but is again in 2010 as an online free version.]

After the reception, Morley, my girlfriend, and I took to the tennis courts. Morley is a tennis pro, I could keep a volley for the most part, and my girlfriend is lucky if she keeps it in the court. I must admit that playing tennis is fun when naked, and playing any sport naked is much more comfortable since the sweat works as nature intended. We talked quite a bit with Morley. My girlfriend admitted her second job as a Passion Parties consultant, and Morley thought it was cool. Apparently they've had a few of those at Sunsport. In the right atmosphere (as-in with no kids due to the products shown) it's completely acceptable by his standards. I was worried that he'd dislike her bringing up that topic. He's all about body acceptance, and sexuality is a part of that. We concluded that he's the coolest person we've met all week. I'm very tempted to visit him at Sunsport for the Midwinter Festival.

Our game ended as it got dark, and we went to Tally Ho for NAC's ticket drawing. We won a towel, which my girlfriend wanted to buy anyway before we left. (We didn't buy much from TNS, but we did buy a bunch of stuff from the Eastover gift shop. My girlfriend loved the fact that she could try on shirts without a dressing room! Shopping naked is more fun in person as opposed to online shopping.)

After the drawing, the DJ started. Photographers had slide-shows of their pictures this year in the middle part of Tally Ho. We watched those for a while, then danced for a while. At one point, I counted over 50 naked people on the dancefloor having a good time! Luckily, none were doing the YMCA with their legs. I didn't dance much, and probably spent too much time admiring the character of the Tally Ho building and thinking about it being gone soon.

Outside, it was a cool night. We went to the bonfire for a bit to discover that only a few drunk guys were there. We'll pass on that... We heard there's usually late-night parties in the catacombs, so we stopped there as well. It looked like a bar scene with maybe 20 people around, and had a bit more of an adult feel than anywhere else. One of the many rooms had ping-pong so we played that a bit. In the middle of a game, we heard the funniest thing in a long time, but it's only funny to us. (Inside joke among some Wisconsin friends.) We had to quit our game. We tried to mingle a bit more, but it just wasn't our type of party -- we called it a night.

Sunday there was almost nothing going on. The lobby markerboard had a lot of thanks from the naturists, including one that said "We (heart) Eastover! -- The Nudies" We said our goodbyes to our new extended family, and spent the second beautiful day all week packing up and heading out. Despite the bad weather, we had a great time at this event and it was well worth the trip!

If you have any questions about the trip, post them in the comments and I'll try my best to answer them.

A Sheep in Wolf's Clothing

2009-07-23T18:13:00.002-06:00

If you're new to my blog -- you may want to skip this post! I don't normally do this sort of thing! This blog is a written history of my exploration of naturism and everything associated with it, which makes it difficult to skip a story like this one. (Also, don't stop reading the blog because of this post -- it's a "special case" that I don't plan to repeat.)

I'm actually a bit ashamed to be writing about this -- it's a bad topic, but it's a good story. As you read, you'll understand just how different the Sheep and the Wolf can be. Never confuse the two. Too many people already do. We were given a unique opportunity, and we decided to seize it. Read along and you'll understand why.

It all started last fall from an idea I had. As you know from before, my girlfriend is a Passion Parties consultant. It's like tupperware, but for romance and adult products. They talk about things at the parties, but nothing is actually demonstrated on people. It's just a bunch of folks talking about sex and ordering goodies from a catalog. Although I'm not really interested, I'm not against it either. It's her thing. My idea last fall was that I should host a party, which piqued her interest because it's quite unexpected. I was joking at the time when I said we should have the party at Camp NCN during one of their weekends. We got more serious about it in the weeks following, and eventually made the trip during the second weekend in June.

Camp NCN (No Clothes Necessary), for those who haven't heard of it, is a 60 acre adult campground near Black River Falls, Wisconsin. Here's how they describe themselves:

NCN is the Disneyland for Nudist, Exhibitionist, Voyeurs, and Swingers! Whether you’re into swapping or fetishes; Motorcycling or Porn; Sex Olympics or meeting new couples who share the same sexual freedoms; NCN will fulfill every one of your erotic fantasies and more.

Yep, they are the Wolf in this story. (They even tick me off by listing "nudist" first.) Naturists are the Sheep. Too often the Wolves like to dress as Sheep and invade their territory. Mazo Manor S2E02 talked about a pair of Wolves, "Flake" and "Gonzo", and they at one point admitted that they go to NCN. As the title of this post implies, my girlfriend and I are Sheep in Wolf's clothing as we attend NCN's "SPANK" (alternative lifestyles, BDSM) festival. We chose SPANK because there is probably less swinging, more variety of people, and seems to be their biggest event. Under normal conditions I would NEVER go there. The Wolves at the beach really get on my nerves and I'll be surrounded by them at NCN.

To make things worse, I have lots of experience with other "wolves" -- see my stories from Australia here, here, here... Is this what we're getting into? That concerns me!

Our primary motivator was profit. Even though the event is VERY expensive when compared to naturist venues, there's a good chance that we will be bringing home more money than what everything costs. Despite that, I still feel bad for giving them any money because I don't support their cause.

Our secondary motivator was curiosity. My girlfriend thinks the event will be sexy, like some of her romance books describe. Her Passion Parties side-job shares some of the same themes as the event. That makes the event partly educational for her. She was the one that wanted to go, and she understands that it's only this once. Unless we make some serious profits...

I also have curiosity, but not in the same way. I know all about what goes on, and say "no thank you!" I'm OK to go all weekend without participating in anything sexual! I'm true to my name -- Academic Naturist. I'll probably be naked, as a naturist, NOT as a pervert. My curiosity comes from how resorts like NCN can pull in such big amounts of money when the naturist venues are struggling. Is it just the sex, or are there other factors at work? I'm good at reading body language, have great self-control, and have a serious academic interest to pursue. I'm going there for work, not play. "Know thy enemy," as Sun Tzo would say.

I've collected a list of questions:

Why do people pay around $300 for the weekend at NCN, when VVRC's Car Show weekend is $100? What are the differences?
SPANK is expecting 200 people, and the Car Show usually gets around 400 -- why? Are swingers a minority? Do people love cars more than sex?
How do the demographics compare to naturist venues? If more younger people attend, figure out why.
How many will actually go naked? I anticipate that full nudity is rare.
Do people use towels and such to keep things clean, like nudists do?
Do they treat naked people as humans or do they gawk?
Is there any other recreation besides sex?
Do a majority think naturism involves sex? (It might be hard to ask this.)
Are any supporting organizations such as TNS, NAC, or AANR? (This too.)
Do these types of campgrounds have any good processes or ideas that naturists can steal? (Already, I'm satisfied with the web presence -- they have a nice website and stay in close contact via email. They also provide a forum for the participants of the event.)
Will the event change any of my attitudes? Or my girlfriend's attitudes? Will we ever go back?

The above part was written before the event, and what follows is written after...

---------------

Heh... so, a funny thing happened when we got there... To get in, we needed to sign a lengthy agreement. Part of this agreement said that I was not a reporter (or anything like that) and that I would not publish anything about the event at all. Technically speaking, I can't even write this post. If NCN finds it too revealing, I'll delete it.

But, I completely understand where they are coming from. Revealing anything about a person's identity could be disastrous, and even describing what goes on there could be harmful to the venue as well when others get their hands on it. So, I won't go into any details. A majority of what's written is from their website, and the rest is very generalized and probably in their favor. (An independent voice that says "it's not as bad as it's hyped up to be" is probably good for them.)

I should point out that nudist resorts don't have this clause -- they normally invite in the media and allow people to talk about their experience. Consider this a major difference between nudist venues and sex venues.

I'd at least like to address my initial questions, one per paragraph:

The price reflects the quality of the venue. Although we were paying a lot more than the car show, there was a lot more going on than at the car show. There were educational workshops during the day, and interesting events were organized every night. (They even had a CPR refresher course, just in case...) We had a fancy meal included for free, and pizza as a snack most nights. I'm concluding that we didn't pay the extra money just for the sex theme. The extra money went to improve the quality of the event. I'm not sure that they were pulling in extra profits just because of the theme.

The attendance was half of what the car show sees, but that doesn't mean anything about the swinger population. This event was basically a gathering for the BDSM crowd. It didn't seem like there were many attending just for swinging. I have no idea how many show up for the swinger events. It's fair to say that there are more nudists who will spend $100 at an event than BDSM folks who will spend $300 at an event. This was actually a bad question to try and answer, since I'm comparing apples to oranges. Since I don't know the market supply/demand curve, I can't scale the attendance based on price to see which is more popular either.

The question of demographics is an important one. There were more middle-aged people than ones our age, and there were a lot more couples to balance out the male/female ratio. Older people were around too, but they were a minority. It's obvious to see why many couples would want to attend, but you'd think that a lot of single men would want to attend as well. I'm not sure if NCN limits the number of single men. As for age, there weren't a lot our age, but there were more than most nudist events. Why are the demographics different? One guess is that curiosity takes hold, and they want to see what goes on behind that privacy fence. You want to know too, right? That's why you're still reading! Nudist resorts are more transparent in what they do. Another guess is that couples of that age range are more sexually active, and wish to include sex outside of their private room in their vacations.

How many will actually go naked? Full nudity is a little rare, as I expected. Most are dressed up in some way. If women are close to naked, they are almost always wearing bottoms. Men almost always wore bottoms too, and were generally more dressed than the females. It was typical that people would get naked for something and then get dressed when finished. It was clear that many were uncomfortable completely naked, and wished to dress sexy instead.

They aren't very serious about using a towel to sit on, because most are wearing bottoms anyway. I didn't witness any bare butts on public chairs, even though there were bare butts around without a towel in hand. They have special equipment for the event which naked people use without a towel. When finished, the users are expected to clean it with a spray cleaner and paper towels (all provided). There were plenty of condoms available to keep things clean too. All-in-all, they are just as concerned about being clean as everyone else.

Do they treat naked people as humans or do they gawk? I was really expecting gawkers, but I didn't find 'em. Nobody stared at us (or her) any more than any other place. Although nudity is somewhat rare, it's completely accepted. In fact, they accept just about anything there. Although I was calling them "wolves" at the top of this post, the people we met weren't like that. They were friendly, normal people. They didn't make advances toward my girlfriend, and didn't make advances toward me. If characters like "Flake" and "Gonzo" were there, they were better behaved than at the beach. We weren't surrounded by wolves like I was expecting.

Is there any other recreation besides sex? Actually, we witnessed very few sex acts. I'm sure there are a lot more during the swinger events, but this event was more about BDSM stuff instead of actual sex. People used the equipment, but didn't actually have sex. (Does this make sense yet?) They have a volleyball court, but nobody ever used that. The small indoor pool area wasn't popular either. People were busy with workshops and all the other stuff going on.

I couldn't ask if the majority thought that nudism involves sex. But, at least one person knew that there was a big difference between the nudist setting and the current setting. It's a different set of rules, and a different atmosphere. He quickly knew that we were nudists.

That same person is a member of AANR. So there must at least be some NCN people who support the nudist organizations too. This is good because the nudist organizations can use all the help they can get -- I at least don't care where the money comes from.

Do these types of campgrounds have any good processes or ideas that naturists can steal? Yes! 1. Improve venue website. 2. Offer workshops/presentations during events from volunteers. 3. Include some meals as an option for tent campers. 4. Recruit vendors for events. 5. A welcome packet is handy if there is no tour of the grounds. If I think of any more I'll let you know...

Have our attitudes changed? I know my attitude changed. I was previously connecting the undesirables at the beach with the average person at NCN, which I've found isn't the case. The undesirables are just bad people no matter where they go -- nude beaches, adult campgrounds, church events, the local grocery store, etc... The average person at NCN is similar to anywhere else. We even made some friends while we were there.

How about my girlfriend? There was some initial shock at what she saw (and trust me, we saw some interesting stuff), but then she just accepted it as no big deal like everyone else. Her attitudes weren't really changed, but her curiosity was certainly satisfied.

Will we ever go back? (Assuming they don't ban us for this post...) Well, we certainly didn't profit on the deal -- vending paid for about half of the trip. We probably could've done better with vending..but... Our big complaint is it's an expensive event! I don't like to support sex venues either, simply because I know it hurts naturism. But, it was an enjoyable weekend in it's own unique way. We won't count it out completely in the future, but naturist events will definitely take priority because they better match who we are. NCN has a different culture, and a different set of rules, where nudity is merely tolerated like everything else. If the goal of your trip is something sexual and not much more, then NCN is the way to go. If you'd like to have a relaxing naked weekend, with an occasional swim in the pool, a game or two, and some social time with friends, a naturist venue is where you want to go instead.

People always say that we should try something once to know if we like it or not. Well, we tried it. Now, we have a better understanding of this unique group. In the future this may be an advantage for us, whether they be friend or foe.

If any NCN people are reading this -- please stop calling it a "nudist" place. It's not a place that nudists would be interested in. You're only hurting the reputation that nudists try so hard to obtain. If you guys separate yourselves from the nudist venues, I wouldn't have a problem with you at all.

News Bits (7/22/09)

2009-07-22T21:36:00.002-06:00

Similar to the "Missed News" series of the past, I post some random news that I haven't seen elsewhere, and other thoughts.

Note: I'm sure you noticed that I'm not posting about the big issues like other bloggers. I'm very actively following it, posting comments, and helping where I can, but don't see a need to repost stuff here. Follow NAC, AANR, and The Political Naturist (a neutral party between the two) for all the news.

Blog news:

I'm catching up on my summer stories!
Thursday eve is a mini-trip writeup from just before our Gathering trip, and is probably my most questionable post to date.
Friday eve is the full story from TNS's Eastern Naturist Gathering at Eastover.
Next week is two more Mazo Manor episodes, the second of which is the Nude Recreation Weekend festivities.

Other news:

John Barrowman, from Torchwood fame and Doctor Who fame (the longest-running sci-fi show), is very open about his love for nude sunbathing.
Travel agents are offering sunshine insurance, which might be a good idea for vacationing naturists! (I should've bought some for the Eastover trip!)
I'm holding back all sexual jokes as the wienermobile penetrates a Wisconsin home.
I love the idea of turning old dumpsters into pools. I bet shipping containers could work good too and be a little bigger.
Talk about body acceptance issues, check out this list of games for tweens.

Lastly, I'm posting a clip from a magazine that I saw in Minneapolis. It's the "Mpls St Paul Magazine". On the cover it said "Skinny-dip discretely" so I had to check it out. It sounded OK until I read the last sentence. Should I write the editor? What should I say? Anyway, here's the clip:

How To: Swim naked
Skinny-dipping at the lake is a Minnesota tradition, but strangely, no one has ever seen a Minnesotan naked outside. To preserve their modesty, locals enter the water with their swimsuits on, slip them off in the water, discretely place them on the dock, and slip their suits on underwater when they are finished swimming. They then return to the privacy of their cabin, where all manner of sinful frolicking ensues.

Mazo Manor - S2E02 - The Art of Social Networking

2009-07-10T08:00:00.001-06:00

On the last day in May, we left early from visiting our family so that we could have some time at the beach. It's not exactly on the way, but was well worth taking the scenic route. Mosquitoes were out this time, and as expected we met a lot of people leaving the beach at around 3 in the afternoon. It was odd to see an old pickup camper parked in the lot. It was also odd to see a bike parked along the path, about half-way. There's really nowhere to walk to from that. I looked around a couple times but didn't see anything. Strange...

The beach was perfect -- the temperature was ideal, the wind didn't blow the sand, there weren't any bugs around, and the demographics were good. There were a few families with kids, some groups our age, and some women around too. In fact, there was a rare sight that day -- a pair of women our age who appeared to be a couple! Another rare sight was how high the water was that day. The sandy parts of the islands were gone, and the beach was a little more scrunched than usual.

As soon as we had our clothes off, Clamor approached us and congratulated us. He read our article in N magazine, and thought it was really cool. Of course, he had to ask where that secret place was, and I gave him the general area.

Our first goal was to find Luther and Manikin (new characters), who started the Mazo Beach Facebook group. My girlfriend led us on this hunt, since she was a member of the group and had been talking to them. The cell phones weren't working very well, so we just made a guess. We approached a group on the north side of the beach that were about our age, and asked if they knew Luther and Manikin. Nope. Kingpin didn't know them either, which really surprised us. We went back to our stuff.

What I noticed right away was a strange scenario. There was a group of a guy and an attractive girl both around our age, but they didn't seem to be a couple. Then, there was a middle-aged man half-way between the two and the water who decided that his back needed a lot of sun. His head was propped up looking directly towards them with dark sunglasses. To me, it just seemed rude. It was clear that he was watching them, or at least her. He gets a temporary generic name -- Snoopy.

My girlfriend spotted Luther coming from the south side (not south end) of the beach, and he led us to the pair I was just talking about. The attractive woman we noticed was Manikin, and the guy by her was a friend. It's no wonder they were hard to spot -- we were looking for a couple, not a group of three. We chatted for a while, but they were getting ready to head out. Snoopy never moved.

We convinced them, while they were getting dressed, to come over and meet Kingpin. During the walk, I asked the friend of the group about Snoopy, and he said that it was really bugging Manikin and that he had been there for a long time. I promised to "have a talk" with Snoopy after they met Kingpin. After literally two minutes of chatting, I turned around and found that Snoopy had disappeared! I mumbled a few choice words... I told the friend that next time, they need to request assistance from the regulars. They at least know Kingpin now.

After the group left, Kingpin informed me that a DNR warden grabbed one of the handouts for the summer festivities and had an angry look on his face. Gaia put them up, so I wasn't at fault, but my contact information is on them. It's good to know just in case I get a call from the DNR. I was a bit surprised that Kingpin told me this -- we must be on somewhat good terms now, which means I must've done the right thing in the previous episode.

Jumping ahead in this paragraph [insert candid interview scene here]: In a later phone call with Gaia, the rumor was that someone from the Elders had called the DNR complaining about the sign. Since Kingpin was at least close enough to detail the DNR warden's face, he may have been involved. The truth may unfold in a later episode. Like I said though, it's just a rumor. Gaia has put signs there for many years without problems, and always had permission from a different DNR warden.

Back at the beach, my girlfriend was approached by a pair that we had seen before in episode 5 last season. This time, they get names: Flake and Gonzo. Gonzo was the one flying the big flag on the beach. The one I didn't mention was Flake. In that same episode, he loudly read the captions in our Brag Book. I found that quite annoying. Both seemed a bit questionable.

The canaries of the beach cleared out when the sun went behind the clouds and a chill ran through the air. We were talking with Flake and Gonzo while that happened, and decided to stick around anyway. They are a truly odd couple... Gonzo is way out there; he looks like a tough tattooed skinny guy, and talks like a hippy. Most of what he says is completely inappropriate, like asking my girlfriend if he can draw circles around her nipples, but he doesn't talk much. Flake usually shakes his head when that happens. Flake is more like a straight-laced traditional family man. He's better at talking, and is quite convincing at being a good naturist, but he still slips on occasion and proves he's in the same boat as Gonzo.

The pair finally left us alone, and we scoped out who was left at the beach. There were a few singles on the north side, and the pair we didn't want to talk to anymore. The south side was more tempting, with a couple our age, a single guy our age, the slightly-younger-than-us female couple (who were swimming and giving each-other piggyback rides in the water earlier), and an older gentleman who was either sleeping or reading. We chose to socialize on that side of the beach, and promote the summer festivities to people our age.

We worked our way up from the water, and first was the couple. We recognized them as we got closer -- they were the couple that we didn't get to visit much with in episode 3. We were delighted to finally be able to chat with them! Since I hope to see them again, I'll give them names: Boots (him) and Tank (her). They live not too far away from us, so carpooling and meeting up elsewhere is an option. They are also getting married soon, and may still be on their honeymoon during the Mazo beach festivities. Where are they going? The Rainbow Gathering, which I'm sure many have never heard of. Lucky for me, I recently read N 12.1 which explained what it is. I asked if they had announced a location yet, or if they wait until the week of the event? Not yet, usually at the last minute. I wish I could go.

During our conversation, Flake and Gonzo appeared. They knew us, and probably wanted to get an eye-full. Flake told stories, challenged Tank to some frisbee golf, and invited them to share a room. (What?) He then went into another story.

With them distracted, and the female couple starting to pack things up, my girlfriend and I excused ourselves, approached the single male our age, and then split up when he started asking questions. I continued to talk to him, and answer his questions, and he slowly strayed topics. He asked for some pointers to swinging clubs. I gave him names for the ones I heard of, emphasized the divide between naturist clubs and swinging clubs, and he seemed content.

My girlfriend had a nice chat with the women, and encouraged them to attend the summer festivities. They were all on good terms and the couple were getting dressed. Our plan backfired when Flake decided to join in. I walked to them quickly afterwords to make sure the situation stayed clean, and my girlfriend decided to run to some geese. Thanks... what a help you are!

Flake told stories, and the women were looking at each-other figuring out how to get away. I was behind Flake, so I waved and then signaled that they should leave with a smile on my face. They got the hint, and just walked away mid-story. Not long after, Flake and Gonzo decided to leave -- I really hope the women made it out! We felt terrible... Not just for them, but for Boots and Tank as well.

We went back to them and apologized after collecting our stuff. They are very understanding and tough enough to handle situations with undesirable people. More people need to be like that, especially as the beach thins out in the late evenings.

Nobody was on the north or central part of the beach. The flock of geese (or is it a gaggle of geese?) that my girlfriend approached earlier swam up and took the spot of the Elders on the beach. It was really amazing, and quite humorous, to see the naked birds replace the naked people. Their demographics were better than ours too.

Back in the parking lot, that pickup camper was still there. I heard the voices of Flake and Gonzo inside, and nobody else. I hope they weren't planning to camp there all night. If they did, then I hope the DNR gave them a ticket for doing so since the area is closed all night. We left before they noticed us.

Since then, I've vowed to be more stern with Flake and Gonzo. If they say anything inappropriate, they're going to hear about it instead of me letting it slide. It's rude of them to bother us and anyone we try to talk to.

NEXT EPISODE

Missed News (7/2009)

2009-07-08T19:05:00.004-06:00

The "Missed News" series is for all the random stuff I found interesting, but was missed by other popular bloggers.

But, the main popular blogger decided to call it quits on his news recaps. See his post on where to find the latest news. I strongly suggest his Shared Items feed and an RSS reader.

Since he stopped, the "missed news" series doesn't make much sense anymore... I may still post news, but as a different type of post.

Nudiarist called it quits, then came back with the following:

The Political Naturist - His quality commentary, more posts than before. (Great news source too!)
The Naturism Blog - A one stop shop for the latest blog posts.
Nudist Photo Of The Day - Random nudist pictures.
Nudist Men - Proving he doesn't just post women.
Adam and Eve - Nudist couples.

All Nudist (Steve) is toughing out some medical issues. Hang in there!
The big news currently, that nudiarist wrote about one / two / three times, is the attack on Jasmine Trails. They moderated out my first comment, so I tried the shotgun approach. (They accepted a few under different names and locations.) In the beginning, most of the comments were anti-nudist. Now, it seems to be mostly nudist. To those the commented -- great job!
I posted a comment here too -- why not? More of us should proudly claim to be naturists in random unexpected places.
Treehugger had a WNBR slideshow -- that's pretty good promotion since they don't normally post stuff like that. (Google reports them as having almost 14,000 subscribers.) The slideshow avoids frontal nudity though.
Some Oxford girls strip around campus and enjoy it.
Big fines for women showing undies in Yakima, Washington.
An office in the UK had a "Naked Friday", which was recorded and shown on TV. (I can't find a copy yet though...) David said that the going naked improved the company.
City workers in Brooksville, Florida aren't allowed to go without underwear and aren't allowed to show underwear. If nobody can see it -- then how would they know if you're wearing any? Don't bend over or you might get fined....
Nobody was panicking as a passenger stripped on a plane.
A former Georgia mayor was caught naked at a county campsite and charged with public indecency.

Indian Ocean Rowing Race News:

The naked solo rower, Simon Prior, had to retire from the race. (News, Statement)
On July 6th, the Ocean Angels crossed the finish line (after 78.5 days) making them the first female crew to row the Indian Ocean. (Press release, BBC news, other article)
On their blog since last time, they wrote about the following:

They were battling with power problems and lists of small injuries.
Some dolphins visited, along with a bird that wanted to attack.
At the 1000 miles to go mark, they had a peach party and awards.
At one point, they worry about pirates.
A discussion of high fashion mentions that the "less is more" look is most popular and results in a better all-over tan.
It's cruel that the race designers had them row by land.
Their lingo list.
A few days away, they contemplate what to wear at the finish line.
They crossed the 200 mile mark...twice... Weather conditions were bad enough to take an oar and injure an Angel.
100 to go -- the last night -- and the arrival press release. Congratulations Angels!

Mazo Manor - S2E01 - Taking Care Of Business

2009-07-04T09:00:00.001-06:00

"Mazo Manor" is inspired by the Meerkat Manor TV show. (You have to admit that there's a striking resemblance between the FOMB and the FKMP, at least in the pictures.) I'm the production crew, who occasionally goes to the beach and then writes a dramatized, and somewhat anonymized, documentary of what's going on. At the conclusion of the last season, I was unsure if I'd want to continue. I'm not that great at writing drama. You guys seem to endure it though, so a second season is here!

It's been a long winter for all of the Mazokats. Except for a party here and there, picking up trash on a rainy spring day (which I didn't write about this time), and trying a few new things, the cold months were spent planning. I exchanged a few phone calls with Gaia regarding the Nude Recreation Week festivities. I emailed the Contenders, and have their cooperation for the festivities. (Although they didn't let me in their group.) I also tried a phone call with Kingpin, but it didn't work so well and we resorted to writing letters. This was done so we could both speak in turn. Most of his letters were promoting the conflicts between the Elders and the Diligents. Most of my letters were trying to resolve such conflicts, and to arrange an agreement for advertising. Kingpin has a wonderful and unique form of advertising that almost every Mazokat will see. This advertising could be better than what the Diligents can provide, but Kingpin turned down my offer and was bitter over the other things I said in my letter. It worked out though -- I'm partnering with the Diligents and things seem good so far.

On Memorial Day, I made my first trip to the beach. I was alone, it was cloudy and cool, and I was going for business. There were no mosquitoes (!), and there wasn't a very big crowd. Nonetheless, families with kids were about. Kingpin and most of the Elders were (surprisingly) not at the beach. It was easy to spot the two people I was planning to meet -- Gaia and CatHerder (a new character this season).

They were both dressed since it really wasn't that warm, so I kept my pants on also. The shirt was off so that I could work on my tan. It was cloudy, and my stay would be two hours at most, so I should be safe. My skin forgot what the sun was, and today would make a good slow re-introduction.

We sat as a group and chatted for about an hour. There were almost no canoes floating down the river, and not many people made it to the water. Some kids took off running from the back of the beach all the way to the water, then stopped right before entering. Once they carefully stuck a foot in, they decided it was too cold!

Several people braved the water and hung out on the island. CatHerder couldn't believe that people were going there, outside of the traditional nude bathing area. They are the ones that draw complaints, risk getting in trouble, and partly get the beach in trouble. My opinion is that it's a neat area to walk to, and the grass is greener over there. Despite that, I only rarely make the trip over. The DNR has full power to put up signs to close that piece of land, like they have with a lot of other areas around there.

Just as Gaia and CatHerder were driving out, Kingpin arrived on his bike. As he walked by, I said "I hear yesterday was the day be here." He replied with "Both weather and people." He didn't seem upset, but he didn't stop to talk either. Perhaps he was just tolerating me.

The sun came out, so I took the hint to finally take off my pants. I didn't want to stand out too much by being one of the few wearing clothing. If only the rest of society had problems such as this...

Even though Kingpin and I didn't make a deal for advertising, I felt that I should give him the payment anyway. His reasons were beyond what I was expecting, but I understand them now. He doesn't accept money. Instead he has a charity fund set up for the local humane society. My donation was quite generous compared to the funds he's raised thus far. I took it over to him and said "I don't expect anything in return." Hopefully he picked up that there were no hard feelings from the letters, and that I didn't want to be seen as rude by NOT donating to his charity.

If that didn't work, I spent the rest of the time talking to one of his female friends. (Someone else started talking to him that he hadn't seen in quite a while.) Anyway, she thought it was really cool that we were bringing back the summer festivities in full force. Good, I thought, convince Kingpin of that later on. He's the one that doesn't really care.

I returned to my chair just in time to overhear the Contenders calling out a name I recognized. I approached them, and shook hands with the contact I had online. We talked about gaming details and about the upcoming festivities. It was cool to meet him in person! (Note that this wasn't Champ from before. Champ didn't appear to be there today.) I also learned more about the Contenders. They really are a professional group, and play in big (nude) tournaments all around the midwest and the nationals out East somewhere (possibly here?) All-in-all, I think it's impressive!

After that, I called it a day. I noticed that I was a bit pink, and wondered how that happened since it was cloudy almost the whole time and cool. I ended up being sunburnt! It wasn't a bad sunburn, but it was probably enough to make me peel during Eastover. Great -- that's exactly what I was trying to avoid....

Exiting the beach, I walked past the family that included the kids I mentioned above. They had quite the setup! They built up a table and chairs, a gazebo to shade their dining room, and a grill as a kitchen. Whatever they were cooking smelled good, but I didn't want to intrude. I smiled as I walked by.

Remember that mysterious car way back in episode 1? A picture of it has been posted -- make sure to read the caption!

NEXT EPISODE

TNS Eastern Naturist Gathering

2009-06-17T18:46:00.003-06:00

We're leaving tomorrow, and we're Twittering the event! (Thanks to Nudiarist for the idea to set this up!)

My girlfriend's cell phone is linked to her Twitter account: NaturistGirl. We'll be using the #TNSENG hashtag for the event, so feel free to use it too if you're going or commenting. Follow our trip at both of those links. Internet access will be spotty, so don't expect a quick reply to any @NaturistGirl comments.

For the trip there, we're spending two nights at Niagra Falls. For the trip back, we have no plans.

I have two presentations to give at the event: "Crowdsource Our Problems Away" on Friday, and "Greening For Profit" on Saturday. Much of it is already posted in my Future Resort series, parts 5 and 3.x respectively. My goal is to make these available on the net afterwords for all of you. If I'm good, I'll be able to offer a video instead of just the slides.

Wish us luck!

Clothing Optional or Not?

2009-06-08T17:47:00.004-06:00

I posted it on Twitter, but it's worthy of a quick post here too... There seems to be an interesting debate going between Bare Oaks and Terra Cotta Inn about their clothing-optional policies. One side says that nudity should be mandatory so that people have to "jump in" instead of hesitating. The other side says that people should be allowed to "jump in" when they are comfortable.

Both seem to work, but I think there is a better compromise that mixes the two and would end up more profitable.

My vote is that resorts should be "clothing taxed". Charge a flat fee for every warm hour in which the person is dressed. (The only exception would be bottoms on women during certain weeks.)

That way if they are seriously uncomfortable, they have the option of staying dressed a while and are willing to take the hit in fees. These fees also compensate for the discomfort from others when that person is dressed. Lastly, the fees encourage people to disrobe early to avoid having the fees stack up. Each hour, they must commit to either getting naked or paying more money to the resort.

It's a good idea -- feel free to steal it. Leave a comment if you decide to try it out.

Missed News (6/2009)

2009-06-02T16:21:00.003-06:00

The "Missed News" series is for all the random stuff I found interesting, but was missed by other popular bloggers.

News:

The Emerging Nudist (which may count as a popular blogger now?) posted a series called "Shock and Awe: A Strategy" which introduces military tactics into naturist strategy. The other parts are listed in the May archive.
A furnace repairman decided that having a solid wall between him and a showering 21-year-old is unacceptable.
Although it drew a crowd, having sex on the Windsor Castle lawn also drew cops and handcuffs.
David had an interesting conversation with an officer while photographing a nude woman.
In the same blog, he also tells a story of almost losing a model.
Check out this Saudi Beauty Pageant article -- do you want your country to be like that?
Germany had a school shooting, so they are now banning paintball and tightening gun laws.
C'mon, we can think of some better captions for this photo!
A real penis was spotted on Google Street View.
Here's some interesting spy gadgets (including cameras) for those who are concerned about such things. I'm not sure how to spot some of those at the beach...
This is how reporting should be done. Swingers invade a German beach, but it isn't called a nude beach. They never say nudity is bad, and seem to not care about the nudity at all. The real issue is the sex and invasive behavior of the swingers. Instead of banning all nudity like the US would do, beach regulars are keeping track of who goes there and the town is working together to clean up the beach.
We need to think up a new word, because "textiles" won't apply if people start wearing paper.
80% of the 225 Key West businesses support a new nude beach. Richard Mason: Keep up the great work!
Hopefully this catches on -- swimming pools that ditch the chemicals and use plants to filter the water.
I like to post obvious comments in popular blogs. I should do it more often.
He proclaimed: "You're all wearing inferior clothes to the sun's rays!"
I thought it was a funny ad.

Rowing Race News:

On the 20th bad weather halted the fleet and flipped a boat. The bad weather extended to the 26th.
Southern Cross has a bad AIS unit (to warn other ships), and held their breath as an oblivious tanker closely passed by.
The latest news is that the Angels are in 4th place. Boat #7 is still in the lead, #88 is flying by all of them as expected, and #5 is really close to the Angels.
The Angels ate some moldy food, and survived without any issues. Sarah also announced that she will be getting off the boat at the next available opportunity. One of them keeps getting messages from her father asking about grandkids.
They also hit a road closure, spent a night in the motel, and cant find the change for the toll road. Really though, they were just under the weather.
After the weather, they answer to some cheery thoughts and describe their luxurious accommodation.
In deceptive calm weather, the girls photographed some unique lunar phonema, played cards, did some gardening, and finally decided to row to record speeds. They have some catching up to do, so I hope they keep it up!

World Record Strategy Analysis

2009-05-26T19:08:00.002-06:00

AANR is being naughty again.

They have been promoting a new world record for the most simultaneous skinny-dippers. So what's wrong with that? Four things stand out:

It's on July 11th, at 3pm, which happens to be TNS's biggest day of their traditional Nude Recreation Week. (Why didn't they pick the weekend of the 4th? It's my experience that more people attend beaches or resorts over the weekend of the 4th. If AANR wanted bigger numbers, they would've chosen the 4th!)
It's a record dealing with skinny-dippers, which is the core of TNS. (AANR is focused on recreation, not specifically skinny-dipping. Why didn't they go for nude volleyball instead?)
Beaches are part of the record attempt, probably the significant part, which has always been TNS's domain.
TNS is not mentioned as a collaborator anywhere. They're not in AANR's original post, or in the news stories. (Note that Serendipity Park is also TNS affiliated, but never mentioned TNS.)

It is clear that AANR is directly attacking TNS with this record attempt. They are trying to steal away the small number of members that TNS has, the traditional National Recreation Week that they started, and trying to become the go-to source for skinny-dipping on public lands. (That is, before they close them.) What they will never steal away is a tough Game Theorist named Doug!

First lets take a look at the variables at stake. TNS has an associated cost with their efforts. They need to spend time and money depending on their decisions. Cost 0 (zero) means they don't need to do anything, 1 means they put forth a small effort to get stats on beaches, 2 means they put forth effort to get stats at all affiliates. I don't know the dollar value on each of these, but it doesn't matter at this point. Publicity is measured in percent, and is quite subjective. Associations are made based on who gets the publicity. For example, if TNS gets publicity about nude beaches, then people will associate TNS with nude beaches. Lastly is the number of participants in the world record. A bigger number looks better in the publicity. The initial question is: Will TNS help in collecting numbers?

If TNS says no, it may end up with negative publicity towards TNS that won't help AANR any. If TNS helps, AANR might be kind enough to mention them once or twice. Either way, AANR wins and TNS loses. People who think "skinny-dipping" will turn to AANR, the record holder for that very subject. This would be the case even if AANR managed to get only 100 participants.

It's easy for TNS to lose this game, but there is an opportunity for them to win big instead! The solution is an unexpected strategy. The new strategy is to submit their own attempt:

If AANR has the bigger number with all of their clubs, then TNS loses with a bigger cost. But if TNS tries, they could win this record, win the publicity, and keep their heritage.

AANR can have people at every AANR resort, which totals more than TNS. (TNS can count people at their 82 resorts too, which negates those resorts.) AANR's page lists 112 "places", but some are travel clubs who are likely going to travel to a participating resort. Taking a representative sample, figuring out the pool sizes, and estimating how much space the average American takes up, my estimate is that AANR can have a turnout of roughly 50,000 to 70,000 before literally running out of water (or hitting a realistic participation limit) at their clubs. AANR's estimate of 400,000 to 1,000,000 suggests that they really have no clue.

AANR is also trying to count people at legal beaches as well, but many of the "friends of" groups at the beaches are primarily TNS. My suggestion is to try and keep AANR off the beaches, because they are more valuable. (I'd say that throwing AANR cameras into water is fair game for protecting the privacy of the skinny-dippers.)

If TNS focuses on the beaches, they could collect far bigger numbers. TNS knows people at beaches all around the world (not just in North America like AANR). Remember, this is a world record attempt. TNS produces the world guide with 1,000 of the best nude beaches. Any decent beach has hundreds to thousands of people, and they would all fit in the oceans, lakes, or rivers. The only problem is getting them there, and counting them. If TNS is at 100 beaches, they will likely beat AANR.

According to a recent article along similar lines: "To verify the record, each game needed a notarized statement from one independent witness or un-notarized statements from two independent witnesses. The schools also were required to submit high-quality color photographs and video of the games in progress." In other words, two people write statements with the counts and one of them takes some (dated) high-res pictures and video -- done! (Is there a privacy issue with this? Probably!)

AANR is deceptive in what they publish. Most AANR publicity has unverifiable numbers, or unverifiable claims. I'm happy that a different company will be verifying numbers for this. However, I believe the door is still open for cheating. What are the chances that two AANR people will state the wrong number? How many of the reports will actually contain pictures and/or video? Will the media contain a date? Is AANR photoshopping dates on to pictures as we speak? I really hope that Guinness throws out anything they can't verify. I also don't like AANR spewing out made-up preliminary numbers, like 400,000 to 1,000,000 participants.

I believe that TNS deserves that world record since it's their traditional day of naturist celebration.

I understand that the best strategy for both AANR and TNS would be to work together. This is a classic prisoner's dilemma scenario. AANR gets slightly more by not cooperating, and TNS would too if roles were reversed. Together they could easily double the number and share in the wider-scale, bigger impact publicity.

I discussed my suggested strategy with a TNS official, and they told me something very enlightening that is worthy of being published. Whenever TNS organizes a big event, they always call and ask AANR if they would like to be a part of it. For this AANR-created event, they never called TNS. For anything skinny-dip related, I'd say TNS is a major player and it only makes sense to include them.

AANR is playing the Greedy move in this game, and this is a bad choice since the game gets repeated for every new event or idea. Does cooperation last after one player gets greedy? Not usually. AANR is single-handedly breaking the history of cooperation between the two players, and it is damaging to all of naturism.

Since AANR is being naughty, I would like to start a new campaign called "Spank-an-AANR". If you disagree with AANR's world record strategy to leave TNS behind, and encounter an AANR-only supporter, leave a sore spot on their behind when they least expect it! Explain that the Academic Naturist told you to do it, and that they should tell their managers to include TNS in their events for everyone's benefit. AANR is being naughty, and deserves a spanking! If you're outside of spanking distance, feel free to mail a paddle, ruler, flogger, or crop to AANR with a note explaining the same thing.

So will AANR change their strategy to include TNS? What strategy is TNS going to take? Is there another unexpected strategy? I have my predictions, and a little inside knowledge, but am staying quiet!

*Note: I'm not affiliated with TNS in any way except for being a member, so my opinions don't represent TNS. I just want to make that clear. The Spank-an-AANR campaign can be taken as a joke, but if someone manages to spank an AANR authority figure, or mails them something, be SURE to post it in the comments! Even though it may be a joke, it's still an important message to deliver to AANR. A typical AANR member might just be clueless, so maybe tell them about it but don't actually spank them.

Privacy, anyone?

2009-05-21T19:02:00.004-06:00

The good news is that I have my first article in N magazine! I think Nicky bumped me to the top of the mailing list this time because she was expecting the magazines back from the printers yesterday. I received mine in the mail today. Thanks Nicky!

Overall, it's great and they did my writing and pictures justice. I do have some problems with it though. First, my name is spelled wrong in one place, but that happens a lot. (Even Wild Bill Hickok's guns were engraved with the misspelling. Yes we're related.) Second, you'll notice that I never said "Wisconsin", because I was unsure how the DNR would take it that I'm freehiking in new places. I left the title up to TNS, and they decided to specify what state I was hiking in. No biggie. Third, they removed my joke about running around with a white-tail during deer hunting season. C'mon...it was funny! Fourth, they dumbed down my "tom" joke -- the word "turkey" was added since people might not know that a tom is a male turkey. Again, no biggie, but it doesn't read as smoothly.

Last, the biggie, you'll note that I removed the cell phone number from the article text. Among the pictures I delivered to them was a picture of the sign, with the phone number on it. And what picture do they include? Do you think people will call a phone number by a picture with an attractive female? I'm curious how many calls she's going to get.

What makes this worse is that it's a business line for Amanda's "second job" as a Passion Parties consultant. Think Tupperware, but with romance products instead. This probably isn't the image that TNS wants to project, but they probably shouldn't include random phone numbers either. The lesson is: edit out personal information from pictures. We're both guilty. I'll have more commentary on her business in a later post, but the short story is that we know exactly where the line is drawn. We're true naturists. Her business is just a business. The conflicting topics don't mix.

So if you'd like to book a party around Southwest Wisconsin, grab the latest N and give her a call!

As an addendum for the Wisconsin people, one additional tool that I love is the DNR WebView. Wisconsin is the only state that I know of that has a tool like this, which is why I didn't mention it. The tool points out every tiny piece of public land, among many other features.

If anyone wants to go for a hike in our mystery spot, let me know. I was thinking about forming a small freehiking club for the area if there's interest. There are many other places that seem safe enough to freehike, and there's a lot of trails that could use trimming during the summer months.

More News (5.58/2009)

2009-05-18T21:10:00.000-06:00

It's not quite a regular "Missed News" post, but there's at least Ocean Angels news and a some news about the blog.

First of all, you may have noticed that there hasn't been a real (non-news) post in about three weeks. Well, I've been busy. For the record, if there aren't any posts from me it's likely due to being busy at work or busy with some (likely naturist related) project that isn't quite ready. If I'm not busy, I have a million things I can post. This time around, I've been busy with two naturist related projects. One is the Nude Olympics for Mazo Beach, which is being announced next. The other, well... Sometimes the best move is to stay quiet for a few months. It's not a project that I'm driving, but instead a project that I'm reacting to. I don't like those. I'll tell you all about it later.

On top of all that, we're planning for our big trip to Eastover for the TNS Gathering. I'm not sure how to write about the Gathering just yet... Should I do a blog post afterwords? Should I do posts each night if internet is available? Or, as Nudiarist suggested, do lots of Twitter posts during each day? The problem with Twitter is that we'd need a cell phone, and it's hard to carry one when naked! Plus, we're going our separate ways to attend things we each like. Before that, we also have an interesting weekend lined up which will result in another fairly long blog post. I'll probably do most of the writing/posting in early July. Sorry in advance for the delays...

Onward to the latest Indian Ocean Rowing Race / Ocean Angel news!

They posted a naked picture of Simon. I have no idea how he can row that huge boat all by himself.
Early this month, they summarized the problems on all boats, and went into detail about the water issues.
The 8-person crew has been mooning other boats. That same post also states that the Ocean Angels are extending their lead.
The site also talks about rower cuisine. I haven't heard of any teams fishing, but it seems like a good idea.
Speaking of fish, a flying fish hit Simon in the forehead and landed in his boat. Easy dinner, I'd say! That post also sums up the aches and pains from rowers.
Boat 7 was closing the gap between them and the Ocean Angels. In all fairness, a giant wave from nowhere hit Boat 7 and knocked their pants off -- literally.
News from the Ocean Angels started out pretty good. The sea showed them a lot of love, and they were making great progress.
Soon after they claimed they felt like peanuts, salted and tanned.
Speaking of food, they detail what they eat.
They also explain how they use the toilet. A later post provides more detail when talking about cravings: "And Jo who is a craving a toilet she can sit on without having to straddle the person rowing at bow." Hope they aren't shy...
Around the 7th this month, when they were still making good progress, they say that it's getting a little monotonous. Their phone rang, but would cut off before they could pick it up. They were hoping that it was Charlie and that he was going to send the Angels on a more exciting mission.
After 3 weeks at sea, they hit the 1000 mile mark.
They look a bit sunburned already in their picture.
On the 15th they had to fix their last "whale gusher bilge pump".
Around that time, they were caught in a vortex by Eddy. On the 16th, their direction was backwards. They finally broke away on the 17th, but this vortex caused them to lose their lead position.
Life is back to normal, and they explain the process of washing their hair.

For those who don't actually read the blog posts from the Ocean Angels, you really should. They are quite funny writers, and have a lot of running jokes. They are having a miserable time at sea, but they take it all in good humor.

Missed News (5/2009)

2009-05-01T06:08:00.002-06:00

The "Missed News" series is for all the random stuff I found interesting, but was missed by other popular bloggers. (Or that needs to be covered again.) Nudiarist has been on break, so hopefully I can snap up some of the stories he'd normally post.

Indian Ocean Rowing Race News:

In the first day, Hoppipolla had a steering issue and had to quit. Also, one of the members of the Dream It Do It boat was injured, flown to the hospital, and is recovering. Dream It Do It has also quit the race. They were one of the teams rowing naked.
Whatever It Takes (the Aussie boys in budgie smugglers) have also quit due to a leaky boat.
Doing Time has also quit due to losing a lot of their equipment and other broken stuff.
Old Mutual (Simon, who is rowing solo and naked) capsized his boat but has recovered and is still in the race.
Ocean Angels news:
Day 1 treated them pretty well, even though Fiona was washed off the seat twice and a flying fish made her scream like a little girl.
Day 3 they wore matching textiles, and days of paddling made their butts sore.
Day 4 and day 5 had a storm hindering their (and all teams) progress, so they deployed the para-anchor and took a break. They went a little crazy during these days. Day 4, one of the waves smashed an oar and the dagger board, and bent a light, but all is fixed. In day 5, they described their very own Swedish sauna -- including four naked blonds! (If anything, read the day 5 post because it's quite funny!)
Day 6 they were full steam ahead and making great progress.
A few days later they detail their entertainment for the "nightshift of doom", and talk about their daily song. (Also a funny post.)
On the 29th they talk about their power issues. The gadget queen, who is having withdrawal, has also been saving the day (or night, actually) with her sextant. They are also seeking out an Eddy, but are worried that he's hiding from the four naked women.
If you haven't seen pictures of the boat, and are wondering what they mean by the "coffin" and the "master bedroom", they are at opposite ends of their boat.
Right now, the Ocean Angels have just pulled into the lead! Woohoo!! Go naked ladies!!

Other news:

It's not quite the publicity we wanted. We answered an open call for models, and linked to our only decent online picture saying we could work with him in Wisconsin, and he did a post about it. Oh well... It'll scare the people who subscribe for the pictures!
The Australians spice up an advertisement event with a little nudity. (video)
The XKCD comic author just loves his Kindle. (Excuse me, his Hitchhikers Guide. (?)) I'm quite tempted to buy one for some quality beach reading. I may also copy his idea for reading in bed. Or maybe I'll just wait for the price to come down a bit.
I love the Low-Tech Magazine blog since he proved that the sneakernet can be faster than the internet, and that wind-powered cargo ships cruised faster in 1902 than the fuel-gulping ships of today. Responding to reader comments, he pointed to some of the newer wind-powered ships like the Royal Clipper (which you can cruise nude on).
Some artists like to skip over certain parts that other artists are willing to show. Being a nudist, those drawings just look weird.
A high school cheerleader coach is fired after tastefully posing for Playboy.
A lottery winner tries to open a Nude Dude ranch, but ran into a couple of issues. All Nudist covered this story already with some added commentary.
Philly has a store selling topless bikini's (they don't know the word "monokini"). Be sure to read about the price -- it's not quite half-off.
The Come As You Are blog did a great writeup on Educating Non-Naturists.
A huge TV star was found drunk, naked, and yelling in a public park.
Doctors are complaining that an Australian Miss Universe contestant is "dangerously malnourished".
AOL's news channel puts Mazo Beach on their US beaches list.
"Mom, will this chicken give me man-boobs?"
You missed you're chance to be naked on VH1.
Here's some Nudes in Scarves pictures (clothed naked bodies), and some commentary about the event at the Bare Oaks blog.
Make sure to bring an extra $176 in your pack next time you hike naked past Appenzell, Switzerland.
This DIY fashionable top is ready for felting. (I really hope it starts a new trend!)
A spa in New York is specializing in vaginas.
A naked and reckless driver (with naked female passenger) was pulled over in Nebraska. Neither was charged for being naked, which gives me hope that police know what's important.
A busty mannequin is bringing in business, and trouble, at a Cincinnati BBQ joint.
The US supreme court is cracking down on TV profanity. "Even when used as an expletive, the F-word's power to insult and offend derives from its sexual meaning." Is it a war on profanity or a war on sex?