During this last month, we have heard from several people how they came to social nudism or why they are a nudist. We want your story. Send it to president@aanr-nw.org. We will leave off your name if you like, but we want to get all of our stories out there.
Or send us story ideas about that you would like to read.
Opponents packed the August 4th Missoula City Council meeting to stop the August 17th “Bare as you Dare” Naked Bike Ride. See http://missoulian.com/news/local/opponents-pack-council-meeting-to-decry-nude-missoula-bike-ride/article_b029aa96-1c56-11e4-aad2-001a4bcf887a.html
Although they spoke for 90 minutes, the city council did not revoke the permit. The naked bike ride went off without a hitch ( http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/bare-as-you-dare-nude-bike-ride-goes-smoothly-no/article_4b02fe60-266f-11e4-b810-001a4bcf887a.html ) with 350 cyclists, no protesters and no citations.
When you shop at amazon.com, you can donate to the AANR Education Foundation and it won’t cost you anything. Amazon’s smile program allows you to select a charity and .5 % of the purchase price for most Amazon items will be donated to your cause. Search for and select AANR Education Foundation and from then on, you go to smile.amazon.com to do your shopping.
The AANR Education Foundation’s objectives are to:
Seek partnerships with individuals, groups and organizations in support of the creation of art, literature, and scholarship, relating to the nudist world, its practices, and the wholesome nature of the human body.
Endeavor to develop educated persons and leaders in broad areas of society; and aim to improve people’s lives by developing community support for nudist resorts, clubs, groups and areas.
You are always encouraged to donate to the AANR Education Foundation (http://www.aanr-ef.org/). But here is a way to get Amazon to do it for you.
I enjoyed hearing about how others “got started” in their naturist journey…I find it interesting.
My family was very open about our nudity. As a pre-kindergartener, I learned to swim at a nudist pool in CA where my mother would take my brother and me during the hot summer months. We often hiked and camped in the PNW and would skinny-dip as a family at lakes and creek pools. We often showered together after working in the yard. My mother was an artist and she an her artist friends would take turns posing nude for sketching sessions. So I grew up being very natural with my body and seeing others naked.
My wife and I learned early on about the benefits of spa life, massages, saunas, steam rooms, hot tubs and natural hot springs and have incorporated those activities in our world travels and homelife. We built an indoor spa room in our home with shower and hot tub which we enjoy textile-free with friends. We had a lovely massage therapist who for over ten years would come to our home once a month to enjoy our hot tub and work in the nude with each of us…sometimes including us for 4-hand massage. I guess that was the inspiration for me to go to massage school, become licensed as an LMP in WA and to continue the art/science of naturist massage work. We enjoy traveling to Baden Baden Germany for the Roman-Irish bathes, Antigua, Cap d’ Agde and California for the nude beaches, Turkish bathes, and spa resorts like Living Waters in Desert Hot Springs and Alicante Spa Resort in Spain. We also enjoy naturist lounging and gardening in our secluded back yard. Many of our friends have joined us in our lifestyle and we’re meeting more and more wonderful people who enjoy and are comfortable with their nudity and bodies.
I guess I have my open-minded parents to thank for this lifestyle.
Cheers,
Wayne Dumas
Captain’s Table Massage (http://www.yellowpages.com/lynnwood-wa/mip/captains-table-massage-456868307)
Recent news events of the 40th anniversary of Richard Nixon’s resignation prompted a memory… of the first time I went skinny dipping.
It was August 1974 and I was 19, with Michael, my fiance, visiting friends of his on Long Island in New York. We were staying at their home, and I don’t remember the circumstances now, but they had either gone out or gone to bed when Michael suggested we use their pool for a moonlit swim without clothes.
It was glorious. I loved the feel of the water gliding around my body. Still do. But it was a one-time thing back then.
It wasn’t until 1990 when I was up on Orcas for a singles weekend held at Camp Moran, that someone suggested at dinner that we go over to Doe Bay and use the hot tubs there. This was my first experience with co-ed social nudity – where I was getting naked with people whom I’d just met earlier that day. A little awkward, but still worth being naked in water…
Between 1991 and 2006, I was immersed in women’s groups and it became common to go to the spa together, or drum naked together, or participate in sweat lodges naked. So I was becoming more comfortable being naked around other women. What was amazing about this time was noticing all the different shapes and sizes women’s bodies come in.
In 2006, I began dating again and that August he invited me to a clothing-optional swim held out at the Redmond LongHouse. By this time I was ready and eager for any opportunity to swim naked. I met a SLUGS member there and we exchanged email addresses etc.
In February 2007, he and I were chatting on Yahoo Messenger when he asked me how the weather was up in my neighborhood (at the time he lived in Issaquah and I lived in North Seattle). It had been storming earlier, but I told him the weather had now cleared and then asked why.
His response changed my life: “Because there’s a nude swim I could go to up near you in Shoreline.”
My immediate response: “Really? Can you guest me in?” He did and that was my first (of many) swims at Larry’s. I was so comfortable by all the friendly SLUGS members that I sought out the president and asked how I could become a member. I really had no idea before this that there were places and people with whom I could be nude on a social basis.
Since between 1991 and 2006, I had gained quite a bit of weight, I had been having a hard time reconciling my current body image with the one I had carried all my life as tall and skinny.
The biggest benefit I have gotten from being a social nudist is the acceptance of my body just as it is. I mean, if I can let a bunch of relative strangers see me naked, and see their acceptance, then I achieve a deeper acceptance of myself.
In January 2013, I took on the responsibilities for Treasurer and Membership Officer of Sun Lovers Under Gray Skies (SLUGS) as a way to pay back all that I’ve gotten from them.
My tantalizing desire is to swim nude in the ocean someday. I loved to body surf as a child/teenager in the ocean near my home in Boston. The ocean here is just too cold!
Naturally yours,
Jane Smallman
A discussion thread on the SLUGS list had people telling about how they became nudists. We all have different stories and this newsletter is a great way to share them. Being able to tell your story is a first step in being able to tell other people why nudism is great. If you would like your story published, please send it to president@aanr-nw.org. We will publish these essays as they are sent to us. Enjoy.
From BANX:
I just spent a glorious day at Wreck Beach yesterday. While sunning and swimming I reflected on the events that let me to naturism. Following the death of a friend I sought refuge hiking up the wild reaches of a river. I came to the trail’s end at the river bank. The opposite shore was a wide sandy beach. So inviting, it was calling to me. Not wanting to get my clothes wet fording the river I made the choice to strip down and cross. The cool mountain water and sun on my back felt incredible (I think you all know the feeling). When I reached the other side I hesitated before dressing and thought “what’s the point in dressing now?”. Skinny dipping was not new to me, however, I had always done it under the cover of darkness, away from prying eyes. Initially it seemed to me like all the world’s eyes were on me but then I realized that all of nature is naked, nothing covers themselves except humans (and maybe hermit crabs). I spent the next couple hours nude in meditation about my friend’s life and the question “what’s it all about”? We were both raised “Mormon” and that in and of itself raised concepts to consider during my time of reflection (perhaps more to write about later). What was clear to me in a few minutes was that here I am a nude human in nature. The scene could be taken from 30,000 BC, 100 AD, or in the future and little would change. I was in a slice in time that has and will be replayed as long as humans exist. Humans have that need to commune with nature in our most natural state-it is well documented. I thought of the 300 Spartans as they bathed naked before their battle at Thermopylae and Adamites worshipping in the nude. The experience left such an impact on me I felt I had to explore nudism more fully. Wreck beach certainly allows that opportunity on a communal level (Thank you Judy Williams and the Wreck Beach Preservation Society). I feel sorry for those that remained clothed since they are missing such a wonderful experience. Now I feel comfortable walking nude through the mass of people and comfortable sunning while textiles walk past. Perhaps the textiles will take courage in our example and eventually join in.
Thank you for sharing your story.
We’ve had our meetings to plan for the Gathering, and our amazing volunteers have stepped up again. We love for people from far away to come here, because the facility is so nice, but we really love to show off the great folks who spend time here, and who help out so much.
The rooms have all been reserved for some time now. We have a waiting list set up for rooms and cabin. Plenty of room for tents, and still a few RV sites left. You local folks can come for the day, too. Also, the Coeur d’Alene casino is just up the road and they have very nice rooms. Their phone number is 800-523-2464
We will have jewelry making workshops, one on silver collecting, archery, all the sports and games, a lot of Naturist themed workshops, the long-awaited hula hoop workshop, and of course, music:
On Wednesday evening, as people are arriving, we’ll have a jam session on the patio, complete with Cowboy TV and s’mores. On Thursday night at 8 on the stage, we’ll have Halladay Quist, with her dad Rob as backup.
On Friday night at 8 in the gazebo, The Drum Brothers, and we’ll light up the pickleball court for dancing and hula hooping.
On Saturday, after an afternoon workshop on line dancing, John Shovic and Laurie will treat us to a DJ Dance. Come on down!
If you are an attorney or know of an attorney that would be willing to represent nudists that have been wrongly discriminated against, please let us know. We are building a current list of such lawyers so that referrals can be made. Please send this information to president@aanr-nw.org
The next scheduled Oregon nude beach clean-ups are as follows:
Saturday, August 2 at 10:00 a.m. at Rooster Rock State Park. This is a clothing optional event, for those cleaning in the nude area. Hats are advised – the temperatures will reach into the high 80’s. Volunteers do not have to pay the day use fee. Tell the person in the booth that you are a clean-up volunteer. Barbequed hot dogs, minor snacks and cold beverages will be provided. Gather at far east end of parking lot.
Saturday, August 2 from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., there will be a “Tribal ID” photo shoot on Sand Island. This is an event for a book co-sponsored by AANR-NW. This book explores man’s (or women’s) need to reconnect with his or her primitives self by covering their bodies with mud and being present in nature. If you want to be in the shoot and don’t mind covering yourself with beach mud, this is for you. For more details, contact tribalmud@gmail.com .
Wednesday, August 6 – Sauvie Island- Collins Beach – clean-up at 3:00 p.m. – A parking pass is normally required but we have worked with SOLVE and have a clean-up day waiver of the fee on the day we clean the beach and parking area. Contact me to get one as we approach the chosen date. Again, a hot dog barbeque is scheduled after the event. Meet on the beach near the second Collins nude beach opening (number 3 opening). Restrooms are portable toilets located in the parking area near the beach trail openings. We will concentrate our efforts on the gravel road parking area and litter sweeps of the beach area from the first Collins nude beach opening (number two marked opening) to the opening marked number six.
These clean-ups last around three hours each and are a good way for us to let the public know about our community involvement. We are doing these in conjunction with SOLVE and the Oregon state parks department.
Saturday, September 27 and Sunday, September 28 is National Public Lands weekend and the final beach and riverside clean-up days at Rooster Rock and Sauvie Island are now also on the schedule. More details will be released later.
We need additional volunteers at these events so that we can retain our beach sponsorship. These legal nude beaches are unique to Oregon and we want to continue to keep our beaches bare!!
Want to volunteer but need more info? Contact me below.
Mike Parker
AANR-NW Government Affairs Chair
gat@aanr-nw.org
The August AANR Bulletin focus is tolerance, acceptance and diversity. If you are an AANR member, you can access an electronic copy of it in the members’ area at http://www.aanr.com . Among other articles, there is a column written by Bill Schroer, the AANR Executive Director, that speaks to this issue. By being a nudist, you are in a minority. So, how do you think minorities should be treated? It is worth reading and discussing. If you aren’t an AANR member, you could go to one of the clubs and read it there. Or you could join AANR. The reason to join AANR is to advocate for nudism, not to get a discount when you visit clubs. You can join at any of the clubs listed at AANR-NW.org or online at href=”http://www.aanr.com”>http://www.aanr.com.