Sunday, February 26, 2006

Naturist Musical Revue in the Planning in Philadelphia


Must be a banner day for naturism and the arts...

The Living End Theatre Company of Philadelphia is seeking skits, short
plays, and original songs (especially songs) with a nudist/naturist
theme to compile into a full evening of naturist theatre entertainment
for production in Philadelphia - a musical revue about naturism. Sort
of like OH! CALCUTTA!, but without the sex. If you have or if you can
write a piece that you would like to have included, please forward it
(or them) to chuckcan2002us@.... Each writer will get full credit
(I'm not looking to claim your work as my own) and a small royalty
stipend if the piece is used in the show. You may also email further
questions to the same address. Thanks. Chuck DeLong (Chuckcan2002us@aol.com)

Naturist Documentary Reaches the Mainstream



This was released today:

"Naked in the 21st Century: A Journey Through Naturism" is my debut
film distributed by Pathfinder Home Entertainment.

This docu-drama presents the history of nudism and nudist films
contrasted with the nudist lifestyle today in this entertaining
documentary. Also go behind the scenes on the making of a new naturist
film, "The Naked Place."

Also interviewed is actress Lisa Ko on her first attempt at skinny-
dipping, as well as Honey Lauren who starred in Doris Wishman's last
film, "Satan was a Lady." Wishman is the auteur of many nudist films
including "Blaze Starr Goes Nudist" and "Diary of a Nudist."

"Naked in the 21st Century: A Journey through Naturism" will be
availabe via all DVD retail outlets in March 7, 2006. Check it out
first at Amazon.com.

A brief scene about nudism and the Bible appears on this DVD. Why a
deleted scene? Production felt that Christian nudists were too small
a minority to be acknowledged. Is this true?

I would like to invite Christian naturists to speak up. Perhaps a
comment page or a blog spot to my own (www.pacinv.blogspot.com).
Let's get our voices heard.

For more information, see www.pacificvision.com

Just a Little Privacy, Please


Posted on Sat, Feb. 25, 2006

Fences, trellis, trees create private oasis
By Clayton Nelson
Special to the Mercury News

Q Our neighbors have just remodeled and added a huge second story, which overlooks our yard and the back of our house. We are looking for the best option to give ourselves privacy again. Should we build a high fence, and if so, what are the rules about that, or are we better off with planting shrubs or trees? Also, how do we avoid blocking the sunlight if we want privacy? Are there any building ideas you could offer?

A Alas, yours is a common lament these days. Over the years, as suburban California evolved, most homes built in the Bay Area were single story and averaged around 1,500 square feet with modest front yards and generally good-sized rear yards. These days 2,500-plus square feet is more common as a desired home size.

Although lack of privacy is a concern, I would venture a guess that what you don't like are the imposing view of the new structure and the interrupted view of the open sky and hills. Unless you are exercising ``naturist'' tendencies, I would bet that your elevated neighbors are going to become bored pretty quickly with what goes on in your back yard. In any case, what can you do about it?

Fences may help, but most cities allow only a 6-foot-high fence at your side and back yard. As far as building landscape structures or planting shrubs, there are many options to create a private back yard and your own private oasis.
Here are some options to create a private back yard:

• Line your patio area with a decorative screen or fence that makes an outdoor room open to the sky.

• Build a roof or trellis over your patio or outdoor room with skylights or openings to give lots of light.

• Build a series of planter boxes topped with a trellis and vines that will provide cover and shade.

• Plant quick-growing bamboo to provide screening in a narrow side yard or against a back fence. (Be careful, though -- some bamboo can be quite invasive.)

• Plant deciduous trees to provide a visual screen.
Most of these solutions block the sun, but shaded spaces are wonderful places to spend outdoor time in our mild climate. If your garden has a lot of sun-loving plants or you have a vegetable or herb garden, you may have to rearrange the planting or redesign the entire landscape.

To create a new, private back yard or to redesign your outdoor living area, I'd recommend that you work with a talented landscape architect, a certified landscape designer or a licensed, design/build landscape contractor. Be cautious about hiring the lowest-priced contractor, and always check with the Contractors State License Board to make sure your contractor is licensed and holds valid workers compensation and liability insurance.

Resources

• For landscaping ideas: Sunset books, such as ``Landscaping for Privacy,'' ``Trellises and Arbors'' and ``The Complete Patio Book.'' For more information, www.sunset.com.
• To find a local landscape architect, visit the American Society of Landscape Architects at www.asla.org. To find a certified landscape designer, check out the Association of Professional Landscape Designers at www.apld.com.
To find design/build landscape contractors, visit the California Landscape Contractors Association at www.clcasfba.org.
• Verify a contractor's license by going to the Contractors State License Board at www.cslb.ca.gov.
Local bamboo nurseries can be found at: www.bamboosourcery.com or www.bamboogiant.com.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Clayton Nelson is a San Jose contractor.

Thursday, February 23, 2006

Not a Naturist...Just a Kook


As a naturist who is also a conservative republican, I find this laughable...

Naked biker draws stares
Shae Drefs – ASU Web Devil
Thursday, February 23, 2006

ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY -- An unknown naked young woman was spotted riding a bicycle around the Memorial Union Wednesday, police and witnesses said.

Tempe resident Elizabeth Brown, 23, said she was eating outside the MU at about 11 a.m. when she saw the woman riding toward the union.

"She was just wearing a Sun Devils baseball cap and a pair of sneakers," she said.

The woman had "Pro-choice" airbrushed on one leg, "Impeach Bush" on the other and "No oil" on her chest, Brown said.

"She passed a tour group...and their mothers gasped," Brown said. "They probably won't be going here next year."

By the time police officers got to the MU, the woman had left, said Leah Hardesty, spokeswoman for the ASU Department of Public Safety.

"Before she took off, she took her hands off the handlebars and gave little peace signs," Brown said.

DPS has put out an alert in hopes of finding the suspect, Hardesty said.

Source: http://www.statepress.com/issues/2006/02/23/news/695925

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Sunny Rest Wants Liquor License


The photo is from www.sunnyrestlodge.com.

Nudist camp seeks liquor license

Sunny Rest Lodge is a BYOB, but owners want to sell booze.
By Sarah Fulton - The Morning Call

February 21, 2006

FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP, PA -- Owners of Sunny Rest Lodge, a nudist camp in Franklin Township, are applying for a liquor license so guests to the popular resort can get a buzz in the buff.

Co-owner Myra Mesher said Monday she hopes serving liquor will attract new guests to the Palmerton area resort as well as provide a service for longtime guests.

''We have plans of selling [liquor] in our nightclub and restaurant by the pool area,'' Mesher said. ''We've been a BYOB for years.''

Guests to the nudist resort have been permitted to bring their own liquor on premises for the past 30 years or more, Mesher said.

Mesher's family has owned the 190-acre resort spanning Franklin and Lower Towamensing townships since relocating from New York in the 1960s. The resort was built in 1945.

''I think it will be more of a service for the people that are already here, and I think it will be more of a convenience too, so our guests won't go out and have to purchase alcohol and bring it back,'' Mesher said.

''It's a change for our guests and we hope it will be a good thing.''

The facility has a restaurant and a nightclub where owners plan to serve alcohol. Mesher imagines contented guests lying poolside, lapping up the sun and frozen drinks.

''People will enjoy it and realize the convenience of it, too,'' Mesher said.

Representatives of the resort must appear at a hearing before the Franklin Township supervisors at 3 p.m. Thursday.

The state Liquor Control Board requires a municipality to hold a public hearing whenever a business owner wants to transfer a liquor license from one municipality to another.

The license slated for the resort is coming from Mahoning Township.

Members of the public can attend the hearing to voice their opinions and make recommendations. The Liquor Control Board has the final say on whether a license will go to the resort.

Up to 3,000 nudists from throughout the East Coast attended a convention and festival of the American Association for Nude Recreation, Eastern Region, in July. The resort welcomes nudists of all ages, from children to the elderly.

Guests to the resort enjoy playing horseshoes, volleyball, swimming or relaxing in the hot tub.

The resort opens May 12 and closes mid-September.



Source: http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-b4-1naked-3rfeb21,0,3030707.story

Britain's 'Naked Rambler' gets dressed after marathon walk




I have to admit to have very mixed feelings about the wisdom of this guy, and if it advances the cause of naturism. But then again, I'm not British...

LONDON (AFP) - A man attempting to walk the length of Britain wearing nothing but a hat, boots and a rucksack completed his marathon trek and celebrated by putting his clothes back.

"It's nice to get warmed up again," the self-styled "Naked Rambler" Stephen Gough, 46, told the domestic Scottish Press Association news agency from a cafe in John O'Groats, on the tip of the northeast Scottish mainland.

Gough and his partner, 34-year-old hairdresser Melanie Roberts, completed the last 20 miles of their 874-mile (1,363-kilometre) walk from Land's End, southwest England in temperatures of about five degrees celsius (41 degrees Fahrenheit).

"It has been pretty cold and the locals have been coming up to us offering us whisky and all sorts," said Gough. "They've been very, very friendly. We passed a school and there were even parents coming out with video cameras."

Gough, a former Royal Marine soldier who first completed the naked hike in 2003-2004, said he would "never say never" doing a similar stunt again.

On the first occasion his progress was slowed by 14 arrests and two jail terms.

He suffered a similar fate this time round. In September last year, he was jailed for two weeks for breach of the peace by walking in his birthday suit along the A701 highway near the Scottish capital Edinburgh.

A two-month sentence followed for breaching his bail conditions.

Gough and Roberts managed the final leg of their journey without a hitch, although they were picked up twice last week following complaints, including one from an outraged church minister. No charges were brought.

The couple are planning to hitch a ride back to their base on England's south coast in the next few days.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060220/od_afp/afplifestylebritainnakedoffbeat_
060220164957;_ylt=AuJ1resyslkfuSh.YwPblkkFO7gF;_ylu=X3oDMTA5bGVna3NhBHNlYwNzc3JlbA--

Sunday, February 19, 2006

At Least You Can't Stain Your Shirt


Naked lunch? Make it dinner

Eating in the altogether with perfect strangers is not everybody’s idea of a relaxing evening, but one Edinburgh couple has turned it into an art form, writes Eva Langlands

The Times Online – Scotland

February 19, 2006

It’s eight o’clock, the candles are flickering merrily and Roxanne is putting the finishing touches to tonight’s meal. Her husband, Richard, is entertaining the guests, the sound of Michael Bublé humming soothingly in the background. Conversation is polite — it’s the first time the couples have met — yet brimful with anticipation.

Everyone is waiting for the party to begin. Finally the signal comes: “Dinner’s ready. If you’d like to get changed we can start the meal.” Disappearing into separate bedrooms, the couples re-emerge minutes later. Naked.

Nude dining may not be everybody’s ideal way to spend a Saturday night, particularly in the company of strangers. But in a surprising number of Scottish dining rooms, people are willing to bare all before the breadsticks arrive and only cover up again as the carriages are called.

The whole naturist thing is bigger in America, of course. In New York, nude dinners are a huge hit and naturist groups host “clothing optional” meals at restaurants around the city. American converts to the cause can indulge in naturist cruises, flights and even train journeys. Instinctively one knows this kind of activity is never going to break out on the 8:15 from Falkirk High.

But if naturism has never quite achieved the market penetration in Scotland to match its successes on the other side of the pond, it plainly has a growing band of adherents. And when the options are the plunging temperatures of winter or a midge-infested summer, it’s easy to understand why, rather than parade in public, our hardy home-grown naturists have begun to open up their dining rooms to perfect strangers.

If their retreat inside is understandable, other questions about naturists nag away. For a start, if it’s not about sex, then what is it about? Self-respect, apparently. According to the British Naturism organisation, it’s “a way of life in harmony with nature . . . with the intention of encouraging self-respect, respect for others and for the environment.”

Given the apparent maturing age of many of its adherents, it might be possible to accept the British Naturism notion that “nudity in sun clubs is not sexually stimulating”. But it seems fair to ask just what is it with some fiftysomethings that makes them whip their kit off as soon as their stomach muscles slacken? The answers from the converted are amazingly bland. It seems a BBC documentary first made Richard and Roxanne curious about naturism, and they broke their duck 10 years ago on holiday in Spain. They were apparently attracted not by the aesthetics of the human body but by much more mundane factors. Roxanne mentions the comfort of not having to wear damp swimwear. For Richard there was a certain classlessness about the whole thing. After all, your top hat’s not too much use if you’ re naked, however rich you are.

On their website, the couple explain themselves with a certain diffidence: “We are definitely not models and we welcome couples of all shapes and sizes from all backgrounds and religions, to join us for a nude evening, dinner, and a good conversation. Roxanne is a mild smoker and we don’t mind if you do either.” Heaven knows where the smoking ban will leave them. They plough on: “We deliberately have not placed our photos on this site as we have family who we do not want to offend, we’re sure you appreciate this.”

Other Scottish naturists are more robust. Take the publisher of the online Secret Naturist Handbook who boasts: “For more than 20 years I’ve explored the rolling hills and valleys of southeast Scotland. I have walked for miles across the heather moorland of the Southern Uplands, mountain biked along lonely forest trails and splashed in the cold waters of the North Sea. All the while totally and utterly naked!” Totally and utterly naked they may be, but Richard and Roxanne are less evangelical. They have made the choice to be more discreet, offering three-course dinners at their detached home, somewhere near Edinburgh. The evenings are entirely free of charge.

“Lots of people think there must be a catch. To be honest, I think we’d get more people coming if we charged,” says Richard, who wishes his surname to remain confidential. “But we do it for social reasons, not to make money. We have dinner, blether for a few hours and then the guests go home. Nothing more.”

The couple believe they are the first to host nude dinners in Scotland, though there are naturist guesthouses in the Borders and Glasgow.

After their experiences abroad, Richard and Roxanne couple reckoned there had to be naturists at home who wanted to socialise just as they might in Spain — but without the hazard of a fierce Atlantic gale playing about their parts. Eighteen months ago the couple decided to go public — well, almost. Richard, a 52-year-old IT expert, created a website inviting naturist couples for “an intimate nude dining experience”.

Since then, the number of inquiries has risen exponentially and the website receives about 300 hits a day. While many inquiries are from people wanting more intimate entertainment, a substantial number are from genuine naturists eager to meet like-minded people. Now the couple host nude dinners every month.

The list of participants seems endless. A sheep farmer from Australia. A range of academics from central Scotland’s bigger cities. Local council workers, doctors, nurses and a recently retired army officer.

“Most people are around 50 years old, says Richard, “but we had one American couple in their seventies. Like us, guests are couples whose children have fled the nest. They see this as a chance to have a good night out in good company.”

Swinging is strictly off the menu, a no-nonsense approach that is spelt out on the couple’s website. To safeguard against undesirables the couple chat with people over the telephone first. Couples are not given the home address but instructed to meet Richard at a nearby hotel. Here he assesses the couple’s sleaze potential over a pre-dinner drink. If the couple pass, which all have until now, he shows the way to his home where Roxanne gives the guests the final once-over. Only after this final check, lasting about an hour, do the clothes come off.

“I’m sure the day will come when we get the wrong sort visiting. It’s bound to happen just because of the law of averages. We expected to have more bother. But so far we’ve been really lucky,” says Richard.

And what’s the key to a good nude dinner? Satisfactory room temperature? A ban on double entendres involving meat and two veg? No hot soup on the menu? None of the above. It’s just like any other dinner party, according to Richard, who says he is “a sociable character, willing to speak to anyone”. Keeping wine and conversation flowing is essential. Many people — especially first-timers — are understandably nervous about revealing all in a stranger’s home. Job descriptions, addresses and workplaces are kept secret as diners attempt to safeguard themselves from unwanted revelations on departure. With napkins strategically placed on their laps and bare bottoms resting on discreet hand towels, guests and hosts keep to safe topics of conversation such as football, naturist holidays abroad and, of course, the weather.


Despite becoming increasingly expert in the art of nude dining, Richard and Roxanne maintain that the best dinner was their first. It was the guests’ wedding anniversary and the couple — an Australian and a Scot — decided to dine nude to celebrate. Richard remembers: “It was just one of those nights where everyone got on really well. Sometimes conversation can dry up after an hour or two when you don’t know people. But that night the chemistry was just there.”

The good experiences have encouraged them. The couple once considered buying a holiday flat in a naturist resort abroad, but they couldn’t imagine how they would keep it a secret from their non-naturist friends and family, who are currently unaware of their passion, but who would have wanted to visit. These days, emboldened by their success on the dinner party circuit, the couple have plans to open a naturist B&B of their own.

“It would mean moving house, but it would be worth it,” reckons Richard. “A nice place in the country where people can come and relax would be great.”

Until then, they’ll spread their naturist good news at home, but with the curtains firmly shut.

www.nudedinners.com


Source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2090-2044920_1,00.html

Friday, February 17, 2006

The Naked Experience of the Russian Banya


A Banya in Seattle is actually allowing coed nude use; see www.banya5.com.

The Russian banya: an essential guide

Yulia Boyle, Kyiv Post

February 16, 2006

KYIV, UKRAINE -- My American mother-in-law once found herself in a very uneasy situation: While visiting her son (my future husband) in Kyrgyzstan years ago, she was introduced to the invigorating experience of a Russian banya. However, with no understanding of Russian culture or the language, she found herself locked in a steamy room with a large, naked Russian woman who proceeded to undress her and beat her with a bunch of birch branches.

While to American tastes, such immodesty may appear inappropriate, uncomfortable, or even appalling, the genuine Russian banya experience can actually be amazingly enjoyable.

Like vodka and borshch, the popular Russian banya (or steam bath) tradition has been acquired by many other post-Soviet countries. The supposed medicinal qualities of all that steam and heat make a trip to the banya comparable to a visit to the doctor: People go there with the hope of improving their health.

Since ancient times its primary purpose was hygienic, but a trip to the banya reportedly also offers positive physiological effects. The air and temperature in a banya activate sweat glands and normalize the saltwater exchange in our bodies, increases metabolism and oxygen levels, eliminate toxins and improves blood circulation. Banyas have also played an essential role in local ceremonies such as weddings, births and even pre-funeral proceedings. Pushkin, Russia’s authority on just about everything, wrote “[The banya] is like a Russian’s second mother,” to whom people go for comfort, rejuvenation and spiritual renewal.

But don’t mistake the Russian banya for its Roman cousin. The main difference between Roman and Russian baths is that in the former the air is hot and dry and in the latter it is hot and moist, making it easy to breathe.

Russian banyas in Kyiv

There are several Russian banyas in Kyiv of both old and new varieties. But the general “mode of exploitation” of both is very similar.

How it works

After changing out of your clothes, you take a venik - a bundle of birch or oak tree twigs - and put it in a metal or wooden basin to be soaked in hot water for about 20 minutes. This procedure helps soften the leaves and twigs. Usually, veniks can be purchased onsite at most banyas (typically Hr 15 each). After a hot shower, you proceed to the steam room where you lay on a shelf and wait until you start to sweat. The higher you sit, the hotter the air and steam will be.

Exit and reenter the steam room every few minutes to cool down and rejuvenate. This procedure should be repeated 2-3 times as a good warm-up before using the venik. The venik is used to flog or beat the skin, improving blood circulation and intensifying capillary activity. Adherents of Russian banyas claim that venik leaves release a substance in them called “phytoncide,” which kills various germs.

After getting a good rubdown and working up a sweat you should pour ice-cold water on yourself, jump in a cold pool, or - for anyone really daring - jump in some snow. The procedure can be repeated for up to two hours. Banya aficionados suggest up to six such cycles.

Before going to a public banya in Kyiv, bring toiletries and flip-flops; wear a felt or wool hat to protect your hair; bring your own tea and other refreshments (they can also typically be bought in-house); take off all jewelry to avoid burns, and take a large towel or sheet to sit on or to cover yourself during cool-down sessions.

Old-style

It can be difficult for regular ex-pats unfamiliar with the communal bath experience to fully appreciate such a place. Located right off of Independence Square, Kyiv’s Central Public Bath has a large common bathing area with lots of people, lots of steam and lots of healthy public floggings.

In 1743 Catherine the Great banned co-ed bathing, and local public baths remain true to this decree. Kyiv’s central banya has women-only days (Tuesdays and Saturdays) and men-only days (all other days except Mondays, when they close for the ubiquitous sanitation day).

Scary as it might be to imagine sitting naked in the same room and sweating with 15 to 40 complete strangers flogging each other, this is perhaps the only place in town that offers an original Russian banya experience, so it’s definitely worth a visit.

Source: http://www.kyivpost.com/guide/general/23891/

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Something to Keep in Mind if You Sleep in the Buff



Nude sleepwalking rises

By PETE BELL
Sun Online

SLEEPWALKING is on the increase, and it's all down to stress, a survey has found.

Nearly half of sleepwalkers put their odd behaviour down to pressure of work and demanding lifestyles.

About one per cent of sleepwalkers do it every night, while 12 per cent go on a nightly walkabout several times a week.

Just under a third of nocturnal wanderers will simply walk around their bedroom.

But those who sleep naked are likely to go on longer trips, according to the survey commissioned by hotel chain Travelodge - who say sleepwalking in their hotels is on the increase.

About 16 per cent of nude walkers will wander into other bedrooms, 15 per cent will get stuck in the bathroom, and 23 per cent will go into a ground floor room.

Alcohol, sleeping in an unfamiliar bed, cheese and caffeine are all considered causes of sleepwalking by those who suffer from it.

Chris Idzikowski, director of the Edinburgh Sleep Centre, said: "These
figures aren’t a surprise.

"Sleepwalking is a serious disorder that can develop due to a stressful lifestyle, sleep deprivation, alcohol abuse or even snoring.

"Sleepwalking is most likely within an hour or two of going to bed, when first slipping into a deep sleep.

"Part of the brain switches into auto pilot and can manage well-learned movements such as walking, bending or sitting, despite other parts being in a deep sleep.

"Sleepwalkers will awake quite unable to recall any of their actions. This can also be quite distressing."

The survey involved 2,800 UK adults.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006070484,00.html

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Hollywood Reporter Bares All to Report on Nudists--in 1953!


Aline Mosby: Montana’s Hollywood reporter

Dressed or not, Aline Mosby wrote truthful accounts of movie stars from the view of a small-town Montana girl working in Hollywood

UM School of Journalism

Aline Mosby’s reporting on a nudist convention gave her national fame.

by Anne Sundberg Siess

Would you do anything to get a story? How about getting naked ... completely naked?

As a young Hollywood columnist for the United Press wire service, Aline Mosby bared it all — with only a pencil and notebook in hand — to cover a 1953 convention of nudists outside Los Angeles.

The 1943 University of Montana School of Journalism graduate got naked to report on the story and two legendary actors — one known for the phrase, “Come on in, Pilgrim” and the other for being Playboy magazine’s first playmate — would not let her forget it.

After her story on the nudists went to print, John Wayne hung a sign over his dressing room door that read “Wayne’s Nudist Camp.” When Mosby came to talk about her new movie, Marilyn Monroe asked her if the flies bothered her.

Mosby using her interviewing skills with Ava Gardner.

Mosby detailed these experiences and many other Hollywood reporting adventures in an autobiographical account titled “The Perils of Aline” for Collier’s magazine in 1956. “I think I have a more truthful attitude toward Hollywood, working as a newswoman for a wire service,” Mosby wrote in a letter trying to persuade a publisher to transform her Collier’s article into a book.

“Most of the stories and books written about Hollywood have been by gossip columnists or fan magazine-y writers who have a different viewpoint — one that I, for one, think the public is tired of. My point of view is more of a journalist’s — and of a young girl from a little town in Montana working in this wacky community.”

Mosby bequested The Perils of Aline article to the UM School of Journalism upon her death in 1998.

Learning the beat

Interviewing movie stars was not what Mosby had in mind when she started at the United Press Los Angeles office in 1945. She landed the job after the regular Hollywood columnist became pregnant.

The beat was not easy to master, according to Mosby. In the beginning, she found the Hollywood mega-stars intimidating and had to tour the movie studios by bus, because she was too poor to buy a car.

She recalls an interview with actor Humphrey Bogart (“The African Queen,” 1951) where she sat timidly halfway across the room.

“Lissen, kid,” she recalled Bogie as saying. “Actors are just like people. Look ‘em in the eye and bark back.”

Even as an experienced celebrity reporter, Mosby wondered how she survived life in Hollywood. She wrote of being tongue-tied in the presence of Clark Gable (“Gone with the Wind,” 1939) and not knowing Arlene Dahl (“Slightly Scarlet,” 1955) from Rhonda Fleming (“Gunfight at the OK Coral,” 1957). During interviews, she recalled actor John Carroll (“Hi Gaucho!,” 1936) insisting that his head be in her lap. She remembered actor Rod Steiger (“In the Heat of the Night,” 1967) murmuring, “Your eyes keep saying ‘Please!’” Mosby wrote that she was actually just sleepy.

In addition to putting up with the likes of Carroll and Steiger, she learned to deal with more subtle celebrity quirks. Mosby wrote that it was a challenge to understand the sophisticated silence of Marlene Dietrich (“Morocco,” 1930), the meaning behind thank you notes from Joan Crawford (“Sudden Fear,” 1952) and the need to talk about clothes to get information out of Jennifer Jones (“The Song of Bernadette,” 1943).

Fearless nude reporting

Mosby wrote that her boss lamented that no female reporter had ever reported on a nudist camp in native attire — and she was “ordered to the front.” She was not the least bit hesitant of the assignment, but she did detail the repercussions of the experience.

First, she wrote of getting sunburned in all the wrong places and then bumping into a Los Angeles Times columnist and several photographer colleagues — all in their birthday suits.

“And I had thought the rest of the press had covered the convention days before!” Mosby wrote. “We all laughed weakly, taking care to keep our eyes skyward.”

“Many reluctant interviewees aren’t particularly shy, but followers of the theory that the press invades privacy,” Mosby wrote.

“These actors — often from the Actor’s Studio in New York — have accepted the philosophy of ‘I’ll talk about my work but not my personal life.’ At first this awed me. But later I decided they should stay out of show business if they don’t want the public, which gives them their living, to know about them. How many actors beg us reporters to write about them when they are beginners — but when star billing arrives they shut the door in our faces!”

“I dutifully trotted behind the irritated Sinatra and asked him the Forbidden Question — was he going to marry Ava Gardner? His fist stayed in his pocket but he leaped into his chrome-trimmed, fin-tailed horseless carriage and charged into us reporters, scattering us like pencil-holding chickens. I nearly had a souvenir imprint of Frankie’s fender to remember that story by.”

“The beautiful blonde and I were sitting in the 20th Century Fox studio commissary with a publicist and chatting about Marilyn’s controversial tight dresses. She wound up the discussion by showing me how she tucks a fresh flower in the plunging neckline.

“Then I put my pencil away and asked about that nude calendar the Hollywood grapevine whispered she had posed for. Marilyn, erroneously thinking she no longer was talking for print, confessed all in her wonderful breathless voice. (Later she told me that after the first horrified gulp she was glad the story finally was officially printed because ‘some people thought the calendar was bad or something.’)”

“The late Jimmy Dean was reluctant to be interviewed from the minute he arrived in Hollywood. I was allowed on the set where he was working on ‘Rebel Without a Cause’ because I promised to do a serious interview.

“He stood with head bowed, occasionally peeking up at me like a wistful puppy dog who would like to be friends but doesn’t know how. While I was floundering for words to warm him up, Dean fortunately spotted my MG sports car parked outside the studio. Jimmy, then at the peak of his racing career, hopped into the driver’s seat and immediately became talkative. We tore around the curves of a nearby park at 70 mph, while I tried to scribble his quotes in my notebook. Unfortunately the notes were undecipherable. But later he agreed to chat — in unmovable chairs over lunch.”

“One Dean Martin-Jerry Lewis interview was utter chaos. They tied a rope around me, stuffed sugar cubes between by teeth and left me sitting while they had a battle with water pistols. Another trick of theirs during restaurant interviews is to make a sling-shot out of a napkin and pelt the other patrons with pats of butter.”

With her high expectations, Mosby had to suffer the wrath of angry readers. A mad actor, she wrote, is “worse than eyeing those grizzly bears in Montana.” Yvonne de Carlo (“The Ten Commandments,” 1956) refused to speak to Mosby after she quoted a young police officer as saying de Carlo was too old for him.

Bette Davis (“Dangerous,” 1935) extended the silent treatment by objecting to Mosby’s attendance at a party. Davis claimed Mosby misquoted her in a story. Mosby wrote that this Hollywood-talk usually translates into, “I wish I hadn’t said that.”

Mosby wrote about the sad departures of Hollywood, as well as its accomplishments. She covered the funerals of Al Jolson, Carole Landis and Lionel Barrymore and, even though she rarely knew the deceased, wrote that it was hard not to feel sad. She added that publicists did not help the situation.

“It’s always a shock to go behind those beautiful flowers at a Hollywood funeral to find the telephones, mimeographed press releases and cases of soda pop that mortuary publicists leave for the press,” she wrote.

After admitting that press agents can give a reporter story leads, she noted that there is more hate than love in the press-agent-reporter relationship.

“They’re on my phone trying to get me to talk to their clients all day long — nights, Sundays, when I’m in the shower or on a desperate deadline,” Mosby wrote.

“They bombard us reporters with gifts, give cocktail parties, haul us off to movie previews and nightclub openings and leave us crawling, limp and with circles beneath our eyes, to the typewriter.”

She wrote that most columnists would write the same stories without the mink-trimmed whisky jiggers, live pigeons, 43 personalized ceramic ashtrays and other presents they received.

In the beginning of the Perils of Aline, Mosby wrote, “Journalistically speaking the show business capital is, in my opinion, the most colorful and adventurous beat in the country.”

But Mosby’s Hollywood stint was only the beginning of her career. In 1959, she left Hollywood for Moscow and Beijing, becoming one of the first female foreign correspondents. In her book, “The View from No. 13 People’s Street,” she contradicted her earlier opinion of the show business capital.

“Pounding out stories on Warsaw Pact meetings and dogs and men whirring around the earth is more glamorous to me than all the interviews I’ve had with stars like Elvis Presley and Debbie Reynolds put together,” she wrote.

Stories about Cold War spies, the KGB, nuclear proliferation, Khrushchev, and censorship make a Los Angeles nudist convention look like nothing.

Anne Sundburg Siess has her undergraduate degree in computer information systems and is currently working on a master's in journalism. She hopes to pursue a career in business journalism and to one day work for CNBC.

Bare Cyclists Draw Fire


Petition calls for cover-up in bay

Hayley Gale – stuff.co.nz

February 14, 2006

TAKAKA, NEW ZEALAND -- Takaka resident Ron Swan has started a petition against next month's Golden Bay Naked Bike Ride, describing it as "immoral".

The annual "clothing optional" ride, to be held on March 12, has been organised to highlight the safety of cyclists on the region's roads.

It will be the third time the event has been held, but Mr Swan wants cyclists in this year's ride to wear more than just helmets and shoes.

He has collected 76 signatures from people objecting to the ride. He plans to present the petition to the police, to get them to stop nude cyclists taking part.

"I'm right behind the ideal of safe cycling but why the hell do they have to do it in the nude?" he said. "It's immoral."

Mr Swan is well known in the community as president of the Golden Bay Senior Citizens Association and conductor of the Takaka Citizens Band. In 2004, he won an outstanding community service award from the Tasman District Council.

He said he also protested last year's event and asked the police if arrests would be made.

"I told them that if I walked out of the police station and took my clothes off, they'd arrest me, so why wouldn't they arrest nude cyclists? It's exactly the same."

Takaka police warned last week that arrests would be made for indecent exposure. They threatened to arrest participants last year, although no arrests were made.

Cyclists will ride along Abel Tasman Drive from Port Tarakohe to the Totally Roasted Cafe at Pohara, a distance of just 3km.

Ride organiser Victoria Davis said last week that participants would get ready in a private building near Port Tarakohe to avoid any offence.

"We want to draw attention to the vulnerability of cyclists on our roads. I'm sure the police have better things to do than disrupt this bit of fun-loving street theatre," Ms Davis said.

Also strongly against the event is Golden Bay vicar the Rev Andy Thomas.

"I support safe cycling but in actual fact they are promoting nudity," he said. "If their fundamental principle is safe cycling, they are clouding the issue by riding naked."

Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/nelsonmail/0,2106,3572221a6007,00.html

They Call Him the Streak...


Streaking is Alive, Well and Legal at Florida's Naturists Parks
Florida Running and Triathlon – Press Release

February 2006

In the mid 70's a craze swept the nation in unprecedented speed, it was called streaking. It wasn't an original idea, but a popular ritual that occurred on many college campuses marking the rites of spring. However, for a fleeting moment it was occurring everywhere and involved a lot more than just college kids. It even generated a pop tune by Ray Stevens called "The Streak". But just as soon as this fun-filled adventure appeared it soon vaporized back to college campuses with many people wondering, still today, of what it would be like to run carefree and naked.

Then in the 1990's, a similar craze began, but on a much quieter note and not on the campuses of American universities. It's called the 5K clothing optional race and it is growing in popularity at naturist and clothing optional parks throughout the United States. In Florida there are currently three clothing optional (nude) races held annually.

Hidden River Resort, a clothing optional park located 30 miles east of Jacksonville in the small rural area of Moniac, Georgia, is holding their second 5K clothing optional trail run. Called the Hidden River 5K Streak, this run is not a road race but uses existing nature trails on the park. It's scheduled for April 29th and is held in conjunction with the annual Nudie Blues Concert weekend. The race is open for anyone. In addition to the 5K run they are hosting a 1 mile guided clothing optional trail walk that lets participants learn about nature naturally.

Just 12 miles north of Tampa in Lutz, Florida, Lake Como Nudist Resort will be hosting their 14th Annual 5K Dare To Be Bare race which will be held on Sunday, May 7th. In addition they will have a scheduled 2.5K walk as well. In past years there race have attracted well over 100 participants for their 5K race. Finally, in November, Paradise Lakes Resort, located in Land O Lake, Florida will host their 12th Annual Sneaker Streaker 5K Race. This race is held in conjunction with their Health Fair which is held on the same day and opened to the public.

One may ask why these clubs host these races. Quite simple, it gives them an opportunity to invite folks to their clothing optional or nudist park and participate in outdoor activity that they are use in doing. Each of these races is open to the general public and welcomes runners and walkers to spend the day and visit the facilities. It's a great way for naturist parks to let people see for themselves that there is no mystery behind these parks, just a different and fun way to enjoy the outdoors.

As for the runners, it gives them a different running experience that they can reflect on long after the race. Many runners would agree that after participating in fifty or so 5K races there is usually not anything real special to remember. However, once involved in a nude run, it is definitely something you will not soon forget.

So, if you ever felt cheated in not getting the chance to experience the streaking craze of the 1970's, or just wondered how it felt to run like the early Greeks in the Olympics, then here is your best chance. For more information on any of these races just simply log on to your favorite 2006 Florida race (running) calendar or click on to one of the following park's webpage: www.hidderiverresort.com , www.lakecomoresort.com , www.paradiseclubs.com

Source: http://www.flrunning.com/news/02-13-06-streaking.

Monday, February 13, 2006

Barely Know What to Do for Valentine's Day?


Sick of the same old thing? Try your local nudist park
Weather permitting, Cedar Creek offers no-clothing events
Tim McManus – The Daily Gamecock
February 13, 2006


SOUTH CAROLINA -- Are you tired of all this Valentine's Day commercialism? Are you looking for something simpler, something more stripped down, so to speak?

Leesville nudist park Cedar Creek, about an hour from Columbia, hosted a nudist Valentine's Day party Saturday.

The party consisted of a beach music band playing classic tunes and middle-aged men and women dancing badly but having a lot of fun.

Perhaps the most striking thing about the nudist Valentine's Day party was the amount of people clothed, which was nearly all of them.

They explained this phenomenon with an old joke: "What do nudists do when it gets cold?" The answer: "They put on clothes."

John Shaw, who owns Cedar Creek along with his wife, Susan Peyne, reflected on this topic by saying, "We're nudists, not idiots."

Eventually, some people disrobed, but most of them quickly got dressed after the door opened, letting in the February air. Shaw said nudists call those who wear clothes, "Textile People."

Shaw and his wife purchased the park in 2000 after the first owner, who started the park in 1989, left. Shaw said that the original owner started Cedar Creek because he was a nudist and wanted "a place where other nudists could come and enjoy themselves (which he could) run as a business."

Shaw added that he and his wife are also out to make money. "My wife and I are both nudists, but that's secondary," said Shaw. "We run it as a profit-making business."

While his first visit to a nudist park was over 20 years ago, Shaw and his wife have been nudists for only "eight or nine years," he said.

"She was the one who was interested in trying it. I had been to them before, knowing that it's no big deal."

Shaw says there is a difference between a nudist facility and a clothing-optional facility.

"'Clothing-optional' is not a PC way to say 'nudist party,'" he said. "Clothing-optional means you can be dressed or can not be dressed."

"This is a nudist facility," he said. "Weather permitting, you must be nude."
Shaw says nudists wear clothing as the environment dictates. They don't go nude in inclement weather or in a setting where nudism is not appropriate, such as work.

"One of the people, years ago, here made the mistake of trying to fry bacon naked," Shaw said. "You don't do that."

Shaw mentioned two national nudist organizations, the American Association for Nude Recreation and The Naturist Society, which he called primarily "political lobbying groups."

"You have to be constantly on the alert for local and state governments wanting to pass anti-nudity or anti-adult entertainment ordinances that could impact family-oriented nudist facilities," he said.

While the original owner was in charge of Cedar Creek, Lexington County was passing anti-sex-oriented ordinances. The original owner sent people to the hearings and county supervisors eventually amended the ordinances to say that facilities such as Cedar Creek are exempt.

One of Cedar Creek's more widely known accomplishments is Nudestock, a three-day concert that attracts nudists from all over the Southeast, and even from as far away as Hawaii.

The event usually features seven or eight bands. While the bands' members are not nudists, they are certainly welcome to perform nude, said Shaw. He's never been able to find any nudist bands, he said, although he added that he's sure they exist somewhere.

Another well-known event that Cedar Creek sponsors is the 5K run-walk. All proceeds from this event go towards the Pelion Branch Library in Pelion, S.C.

"This past year they were able to buy outside benches that people can sit on with the proceeds they got from us," Shaw said. "They're very grateful that we took them on as a charity."

Source: http://tinyurl.com/aedoq

See www.cedarcreekpark.com

Naked License Plates?


Florida: OK to "B NUDE" but not "HOT COP"
WTSB-TV
February 13, 2006

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida (AP)—In Florida it's OK to "B-NUDE" but not a "HOT COP." The state's Personalized Plate Review Board decides just how far car owners can go in sending a message to the world with their vanity license plates.

The board rejected more than 130 proposed license plates last year for being objectionable.

"HELL" is fine, but "HEL YA" isn't. Doctor Harvey Shub has the personalized plates "TUSH MD."

The Orlando colorectal surgeon threatened to sue when state officials tried to revoke his TUSH tags.

Shub got to keep his license plates but does get some strange reactions. He says once he was mooned by a bus full of school kids after they saw his plates.

Source: http://www.wtsp.com/news/news.aspx?storyid=25399

Thursday, February 09, 2006

Why is is that the woman is always naked?


This writer gets it right: there's something wrong with attitudes toward nudity makes it so that only women are supposed to get naked. It's part of the sexualization of nudity, and very much part of "textile" thinking. Naturists should mull that over every time they are tempted to celebrate some example of public or media nudity.

Nudity, schmudity

Betsy Pickle - The Knox News

Ferbruary 8, 2206

I know we're supposed to blame Eve for the fact that we feel compelled to wear clothes, yet frankly, especially around this time of year, I can't help feeling she set the right example. Not only would Adam not be wearing anything, but he probably wouldn't even ask for directions to the mall to buy clothes. His extremities would be blue with, er, cold.

I bring this up because nudity seems to be all around. Last night's episode of "Boston Legal" featured a storyline in which activist Irma Levine (Lisa Vidal), the budding love interest of lawyer Alan Shore (James Spader), marched topless with dozens of other women to protest the redrawing of voting-district boundaries to favor local incumbent politicians.

Then today, I read the "news" that actress Rachel McAdams of "Wedding Crashers" and "The Notebook" dropped out of the photo shoot for the March cover of Vanity Fair because she felt uncomfortable posing nude. Actresses Keira Knightley and Scarlett Johansson went ahead with the shoot, sans attire, and photographer Annie Leibovitz had fashion designer Tom Ford, the guest art director for the issue, fill in for McAdams -- fully clothed.

It's one of my pet peeves that nearly every entertainment magazine I read shows up in my mailbox with the same attributes. If a man is on the cover, he's fully dressed (or at least has pants on). If a woman is on the cover, she's either naked or scantily clad. It doesn't (usually) offend my modesty, but it offends my sense of fair play. It annoys the heck out of me, and I shudder to think what kind of message it sends to girls and young women who are still trying to figure out what it means to be a woman in today's world. I've heard the argument that the nude female is art and the nude male is ungainly, but if you look at the artists and critics who've made that statement, they're mostly men.

I've got no problem with nudity. I've pretty much seen it all, and it can be beautiful, homely and funny. I thought the brouhaha over Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" at the Super Bowl a couple of years back was silly. Why is it that American families are offended by a woman's nipple but have no problem watching 300-pound guys endanger each other's lives as they knock each other to the ground? I'd like to send Child Services to the homes of parents who won't let their teenagers watch a quality film with "nekkid" women or men in it but will buy them violent videogames that surely are desensitizing them to violence, if not making them more aggressive.

(On a semi-related note, I asked my mom to call me Sunday night so I'd know when to turn on ABC to watch the Rolling Stones' Super Bowl halftime show. It was about as entertaining as it could be for a bunch of 60-year-olds playing archaic songs for exuberant "fans" who didn't even know them, though the sound was a bit spotty, and I wondered whether Mick Jagger had forgotten some of his more suggestive lyrics. Come to find out, the NFL censored the Stones' performance. Talk about deja vu all over again. I've seen the clips of "The Ed Sullivan Show" where Mick had to sing, "Let's spend some time together" instead of "Let's spend the night together." We haven't come a long way, baby!)

The "Boston Legal" episode was amusing because, as I watched my TiVo recording, I didn't even notice that the women weren't wearing tops. I was looking at the placards they were carrying. When Irma was arrested, I had to replay the scene to see what the fuss was about. Even though the situation was fictional, I supported the protesters because they did what they did to get attention, and their less-exposed efforts weren't getting them anywhere. In my opinion, this falls under the category of "By any means necessary."

The Vanity Fair situation is less amusing because it's part of the magazine's annual focus on Hollywood, and every year the cover seems like just another exercise in objectifying women instead of celebrating talent. I don't think it's wrong for people to want to look at pretty women and/or pretty men. I kept last year's "Into the Blue" calendar just to enjoy the photos of Paul Walker's biceps and abs -- oh, and his grin, too.

But I grew up watching classic Hollywood movies that trained me to find mystery more alluring than the obvious. Skin is fine in the right amount, in the right place (and that doesn't include chubby girls who insist on wearing midriff tops that force us to look at their flab rolls, or less than sculpted guys who like to show off their lack of physique with tank tops). My mom drilled into me the concept of "accentuate the positive; disguise the negative."

I don't agree with those who denounce nudity because it's lewd. Nudity is literally as natural as it gets, and if it hadn't been for Eve (and that snake), we might all be walking around in our birthday suits. And we'd be very cold. But when the only nude images we see are female, and we act like it's immoral for them to be exposed in that way, we're doing something very wrong.

Source: http://blogs.knoxnews.com/knx/pickle/archives/2006/02/nudity_schmudit.shtml

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Naked, Nude, But Not Naturist


Not naked but nude

Jonathan Jones
Wednesday February 8, 2006
The Guardian

Vanity bare ... February's cover of Vanity Fair taken by Annie Leibowitz. Photograph: PA

What does it take to get two stars who have absolutely no need to do anything so potentially desperate to take their clothes off for a magazine? First, the magazine has to be Vanity Fair, which persuaded Keira Knightley and Scarlett Johansson to be photographed naked in bed on its cover. Second, tell them they're not naked, but nude.

It was the art historian Kenneth Clark who claimed there is a difference. A naked human body is exposed, vulnerable, embarrassing, he wrote in his 1956 book The Nude. "The word 'nude', on the other hand, carries, in educated usage, no uncomfortable overtone. The vague image it projects into the mind is not of a huddled and defenceless body, but of a balanced, prosperous and confident body ... "

I wondered, coming across this recently, what on earth he meant. Then I looked at Annie Leibowitz's cover photograph for the annual special edition of Vanity Fair that portrays the people who matter in Hollywood. On the cover the former Gucci designer and guest artistic director of the issue Tom Ford nibbles at an ear. But don't be fooled into thinking this is a carnal image.

The women in this picture are not naked - they are nude. They have the gorgeous unreality of Botticelli's Venus, or Lorenzo Ghiberti's Eve, or the 18th-century paintings by Boucher and Fragonard that are its more direct models. These stars' bodies are Art.

Johannson's pose is based on a rococo painting by Boucher of Louise O'Murphy, a mistress of Louis XV, undressed and lying on her front, in what the cataloque of Munich's Alte Pinakothek - its owner -calls "a lascivious position".

Then there's that famous, anonymous French Renaissance painting in the Louvre of Gabrielle d'Estrées and her Sister, in which one aristocratic bather tweaks her sister's nipple.

You can see why Leibovitz is Hollywood's favourite portraitist. Her camera worships celebrity as something superhuman. If she lived in ancient Greece she'd have been sculpting gods and goddesses with marble flesh as smooth as the sun. What, then, does this picture tell us? It tells us its subjects are in on a sophisticated game, flirting with nakedness but withholding it in the artifice of nudity. It tells us, subtly and authoritatively, that appearing nude on the cover of Vanity Fair is a very different thing from appearing naked on the cover of FHM.

Naturism in Europe: a Major Factor in Tourism


Revealing Naturism in Europe inside this ‘Travel and Tourism Analyst’

Business Wire

February 8, 2006

DUBLIN, Ireland -- Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c32479) has announced the addition of Travel and Tourism Analyst - Naturism in Europe to their offering.

For many people, naturism is essentially the same as nudism with the distinctions between skinny-dipping, nude sunbathing and social nudity blurred. This report offers an invaluable analysis of official definitions and the development of organised naturism around the world, highlighting the important contribution that it can make to tourist economies and looking at how naturists in countries with colder climates commonly travel overseas for a holiday with some element of nudity.

Individual case studies look at how naturism is practised in different countries, naturist tourism, and the prognosis for its future growth.

The countries selected give an insight into naturism within a variety of contexts including:

- Countries where naturism is well-developed and fairly widely accepted (France, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK)

- Countries where attitudes to public/social nudity are liberal and the naturist product is quite well defined (Croatia, Spain and the Scandinavian countries)

- Traditional beach holiday destinations where naturism is tolerated rather than embraced (Portugal, Greece and Italy)

- Countries where organised naturism is very much an emerging concept (Bulgaria and Luxembourg) and Countries where naturism is inhibited by culture, religion and the law (Ireland).

This report also looks at trends in the membership figures of official naturist societies and examines issues central to the debate about naturism, highlighting difficulties faced by naturists in terms of the negative perceptions of the naturist community, acquiring information, and booking holidays.

This report is part of the "Travel and Tourism Analyst" (TTA) subscription. Travel & Tourism Analyst provides an examination of the travel industry, sector by sector, focusing on all the latest transport, accommodation and technology issues and highlighting developing outbound travel trends and niche markets. Combining the latest tourism data from the most authoritative sources and unique, independent analysis, it provides a level of market-explanation that can help create focused marketing and shape effective tourism policy at the highest level.

Comprising of 20 objective reports each year, a subscription to TTA enables the end user to react to the most significant industry developments, including:

- The most significant developments in transport trends

- Accommodation trends

- Travel industry technology issues

- Growth travel market sectors

- Shifting outbound travel trends

- Niche travel markets

Contents Include:

- Introduction

- Data Sources

- Defining Naturism

- History of Naturism

- Naturism Today

- The portrayal of naturism

- International Naturist Federation (INF)

- Naturist Guidebooks

- List of Figures

- Outlook

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c32479

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Naked V-Ball in Kiwi Land


Reaching for freedom and a win
07 February 2006
By BECK ELEVEN

It's normal to play volleyball in the nick. At least that's how the New Zealand Naturist Federation were illustrating their Go Natural week.

Members of the Rolleston-based Pineglades Naturist Club invited residents to come and watch their 27th annual volleyball challenge against the Rolleston fire brigade.

And then the cops turned up.

But only for the volleyball. Constable Nigel Craythorne, of the Selwyn police, said the day out was just another community event the force was happy to attend.

"We managed to get numbers for the team ... eventually. The Pineglades team are pretty good but the only reason we came third (and last) in the tri-series was because we haven't been practising."

Pineglades publicity officer Glenne Findon said naturists were keen to show clothed Kiwis they were just normal people who did not feel they had to hide themselves away.

"We're getting out from behind the fence and showing people we're about freedom. Taking your clothes off takes away barriers and sheds stresses.

"It's a family club with people who lead a normal life – but without clothes. It's very free and we do it in a place where we won't offend anyone."

For a while the Pineglades team, in their more aerodynamic uniforms, were in the lead but it came down to an equaliser and the fire brigade won.

Senior firefighter Terry Sowerby said the firefighters didn't mind playing a team of naked men.

"It doesn't worry us."

Findon said this was the first year in memory the firemen's beepers hadn't gone off, calling them to a fire.

"They come out with their fire truck and their uniforms sit beside it."

Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3564669a10,00.html

Sunday, February 05, 2006

The Great Equalizer



Sun club's 'uniform' a great leveller

Bernadette Cooney – The Nelson Mail

January 31, 2006



MOUTERE, NEW ZEALAND -- There is no such thing as a designer uniform, Nelson Sun Club members say.

In fact, the idea of a "body perfect" naturist uniform would make most members of the Moutere-based club chortle.

"There's no ideal body shape. We are more about enjoying the freedom that naturism brings. Free from life's tensions and expectations, free to do ordinary things without the restrictions clothing brings," said a club spokeswoman.

The sun club uniform is a great leveller too, she says. "It doesn't matter who you are, what you earn or how educated you are. Without clothes on, we are all the same."

The club in Sunrise Valley Rd, Upper Moutere is holding an open day on Saturday as part of a national Go Natural Week organised by the New Zealand Naturist Federation.

Many of New Zealand's 21 naturist clubs are holding events to publicise the naturist lifestyle and debunk common myths.

"We are not a bunch of weirdos by any stretch of the imagination. We simply enjoy life as nature intended," the spokeswoman said.

The club has 120 members, many of whom live outside the area but take regular holidays at the club each year. The Moutere base, which includes a swimming pool, golf and bowling greens and tennis courts, has 16 naturist households as permanent residents.

The club was established in 1969 and has had a steady membership ever since.

One foundation member, who has visited the club almost every summer, said the naturist movement was family-oriented and safe.

Every member was continuously vetted throughout their membership, which could be terminated at any time.

Skin cancer safety is also encouraged, with hats and sunscreen a common sight.

The Nelson Sun Club open day will be from 11.30am to 2.30pm. Clothing will be compulsory, but interested people are welcome to stay for a "clothing optional" barbecue later in the afternoon.

Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/nelsonmail/0,2106,3557499a6510,00.html

Saturday, February 04, 2006

Columnist Opines About Body Acceptance


Love Your Bare Body

Trevy Thomas – Bella Online

January 31, 2006



Feeling comfortable in clothing is a whole different world from being at ease naked. I’ll bet if you could follow a confident looking woman on the street home, watch her strip and glance at herself in the mirror, you’d see another attitude all together. That former confidence might just melt into criticism, disgust or simple avoidance of her own reflection.

I have had all of those feelings. But I’ve also enjoyed a sense of absolute pleasure in looking at my own naked body. There have been periods in my life when I’ve felt awfully good about my shape, and the lifestyle I was living that provided it. For me, those times are not about strict diets or excessive exercise, but occur as the result of having a really healthy approach to life. The reward always shows up in my skin and physique. Having known the opposite existence, I’m truly grateful when my healthy body appears and, therefore, very glad to see her in the mirror, the shower, or the eyes of my lover.

Times like that I’ll walk around naked every chance I get. Now I feel compelled to add a disclaimer here. There are parts of my body that I wish were different, even at those happy naked times, and there is not a thing I can do to change them. It is not about weight, or a big nose, or small breasts or any of those things women are sometimes tempted to hire a surgeon to “fix”. I was born with a crooked spine, one that decided to get more crooked with time, and one I cannot stop from twisting without a rather frightening procedure I have no desire to submit to. So it is easy to find fault in the mirror. And yet, despite this, I have found a fierce pleasure, at times, in looking at my own nude body. What a lovely surprise this has been.

What I find interesting about this is the discovery that it is possible to find joy in your body even though you may still be judging it. It can happen in many ways. Maybe your goal is to lose 100 pounds, and along the path, you’ve lost 50. Those lost 50 pounds make you feel like a new woman. In fact, you look like a new woman, and have probably become one of those confident girls walking down the street. Yet, you still see yourself as a woman who needs to lose 50 pounds. You may notice that need when you look at yourself naked in the mirror, but you’re also very (perhaps more) likely to notice the beautiful changes that you’re proud of. So you’re criticizing and appreciating your body at the same time.

I tell you this because I believe it’s important to enjoy our daily lives, just as they are right now, with all their imperfections and beauties lined up side by side. I’m afraid if we wait until we’re perfect to enjoy our bodies, we will arrive at the end and never have truly valued the lovely physique that carried us through. What a shame that would be.

I much prefer the gratitude I have for my body in the healthy-self state, but I don’t want to forget that there are beautiful things about it in any condition. And there is a special joy to walking about the house naked, whether or not I have an audience, feeling so aware of the true shape of me, the things I like and even the things I don’t. Because it is me, the real me, and once I cover myself with clothes, it’s a little easier to be disguised, to lose a little of my true self.

I am humble naked. It is hard to be anything but when you have no armor. And the joy in liking what you see is all the more rewarding when you see yourself without disguise.



Source: http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art39996.asp