Penultimate Day 2023

Surprise! I’m still here, sort of. Yet another year has passed in which I didn’t participate in any organized social nudity, or any unorganized social nudity for that matter. When was the last time I was socially naked? It’s been a few years since I went to a meeting of that local non-landed club. Are they still around? I don’t know. Other than that, I have to go back to 2010 when I did the naked hike in Chautauqua Gorge with the Northcoast Naturists, and the Skinnydip Challenge at Cedar Trails.

It’s not that I’m not interested in social nudity, nudism, or naturism. Far from it. I’m all for casual, non-sexual nudity with others, and part of me longs to do that again. I lost interest in organized nudism, clubs, organizations, and venues. I don’t recall exactly when I lost interest, but I started sensing a change in it. I was starting to see signs of the swinger lifestyle when I visited venues. Social nudism seemed to be turning away from a family activity and becoming for adults only. I was generally bored at venues because they didn’t offer much that interested me. One can lie in the sun by the pool or sit in a hot tub for so long. I found that I really didn’t have many common interests with other nudists. There was also the expense, ground fees and gas, the traveling distance. I didn’t care for many of the rules and restrictions imposed by venues and organizations. It never seemed right that I was usually not allowed to document my naturist experiences in the same way I would at a clothed venue or event.

I’ve been out of touch with the nudist/naturist community for some time, so I don’t know if things have changed. The restrictions on photography were one of the biggest reasons for leaving organized nudism. I would have enjoyed doing something on a laptop whilst naked outdoors, but that’s not allowed because my device might have a built-in camera and I might take a picture of someone and post it on the Internet somewhere. Cameras in electronic devices are ubiquitous, and they’re not going away. We need to learn to trust one another and stop assuming that everyone has an ulterior motive.

I also grew weary of having to travel at least a couple of hours to visit a resort and being unaccompanied. I rarely really felt welcome at a venue, my “singleness” always seemed suspicious as if it was assumed I had an ulterior motive. I knew from the moment I became interested in social nudity, my spouse would never be a participant. She didn’t understand it, but she accepted that I went to swims and nudist venues, and trusted me.

I still believe in many of the ideals of the nudist movement. To be nude is to be in our natural state and casual nudity should be more acceptable. It’s not going to happen within my lifetime. If it’s going to happen at all, it’s still many generations away. There is still a lot of ignorance and oppression to be overcome and a lot of enlightenment to be acheived.

Maybe I’m not a “true” nudist, but I still enjoy relaxing in my natural state when an opportunity arises. Labels belong on clothes and stuff you really need to identify. Generally, they don’t belong on people. They’re cumbersome and usually don’t fit very well. There’s a tendency to focus on the label and not the person. The person is much more important than the misapplied label.

Penultimate Day 2022

I don’t really have much to say about naturism, nudism, or just being naked. I didn’t post a Penultimate Day entry in 2021, and I didn’t post anything at all this year. I really haven’t actively participated in any nudist/naturist activities in about 12 years. Am I still a naturist or am I just someone who likes to be naked?

There were a lot of factors that led to my withdrawal from organized nudism. There was the expense, the travel, and the planing that went to visiting a nudist venue or event. There was also the lack of activities to hold my interest once I got there. I also had to deal with the stigma of being a “single” male, meaning unaccompanied by a female partner. There always seemed to be the presumption that I was there to look at titties or seek a sexual encounter.

One of my biggest frustratins was policies against having any kind of camera or severe restrictions with photography. Granted, I can understand people wanting to protect their privacy and not wanting their pictures appearing on some porn site on the Internet. I totally get that. Yet, at the same time, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to want to document one’s recreational activities just as you would at any other recreational venue. I can’t pictorially document my experiences just because everyone happens to be naked? it seems to go against the fundamentals of nudist and naturist philosophy. Personal devices with cameras are obiquitous. Everyone has a cell phone and every cell phone has a camera. Is everyone expected to give up their cell phone in order to be naked together?

Even a dozen years ago, I was starting to see a shift away from nudism as a family frirendly to being more adult oriented and excluding minors. I don’t know what it’s like now, but I suspect it’s a lot less family friendly. I enjoyed seeing families at Paradise Gardens, Cedar Trails, and Sunshower. I think family nudity is at the core of naturism.

Though the opportunities are few and far between, J enjoy being naked at home. I’d love to be more open about it, but that isn’t going to happen. I still beiieve that nudity is our natural physical state, and it’s healthy to be unclothed, emotionally, mentally, physically, and spiritually. Clothing is artifical, there is nothing natural about it. The concept of clothing is unnatural.

Penultimate Day 2020

Okay, I’ve been neglecting this blog for a very long time. I didn’t even post a Penultimate Day entry last year. Sorry.

Well not much has changed. I’m still not active in social nudism and I don’t belong to any nudist organizations. Well, I still have an “active” account on True Nudists but the only time I ever vist the site is when I get a notification that someone sent me a friend request. I don’t ever intend to send them money to upgrade to full membership. I don’t see any point in it. I just don’t see it as a legitmate nudist site and about the only benefit I can see for full membership is to view pictures (including my own) and that just isn’t incentive enough for me.

I subscribe to a few nudist bloggers and that keeps my interest in naturism alive. I haven’t been to a nudist venue or event in ten years and I allowed my membership in the Dayton Warm Breezes almost two years ago. I fit squarely into their age demographic but I didn’t feel like I had much in common with them.

It’s doubtfull I’ll ever get involved with organized nudism again. When I left it, I felt that it had little to offer me. At venues, I rarely, if ever, saw activities that interested me. I also found it frustrating to be restricted from documenting my naturist actiivies as I might at a textile venue. Maybe things have changed for the better in the last ten years.

I still love being clothes-free and I cherish opportunities to be in my natural state. I still advocate casual, non-sexual nudity for all. I appreciate all the benefits it offers.

Club Membership

I let my membership in the Dayton Warm Breezes Naturist Club expire. I’ve been dropped from their mail list. I was on the fence about joining for about a year and attended one of their house parties in February 2017. In 2018 they waived the membership dues so I went ahead and joined.

In all that time, the only event I attended was that one house party. When my membership came up for renewal this year, I decided that it wasn’t a very high priority. Most of their events were on Saturday evenings which often conflicted with family activities. There were usually conflicts with their other events as well.

I had hoped to be able to at least attend a few swimming events but they lost their access to the facility they’d been using and they hadn’t been able to secure another. They thought they’d found one but the cost of the required insurance was prohibitive.

I disagree with bans on cameras and any devices with a camera, a common policy in most nudist and naturist clubs. I understand about wanting to maintain personal privacy and people not wanting their images appearing on porn sites. I get that. Just the same, it irritates me to no end that, in most cases, I’m not permitted to document my naturist lifestyle or activities in the same manner as I would if I took part in the same types of activities whilst clothed.

The presence of cameras in our electronic devices is ubiquitous and is not going away. We need to learn to deal with it. Banning these devices from places and events where we are nude is reactionary and, ultimately, counter-productive. It gives the impression that what we have something to hide or we’re ashamed. Or are we assuming that in a nudist environment anyone with a camera is some kind of pervert wanting to exploit our naked images on the Internet?

At public events such as the World Naked Bike Ride, there are no restrictions on photography or on how those images can by used. I’ve participated in nude hikes sponsored by a naturist club where nearly everyone had a camera and took pictures. No one had a problem with it. We just need to respect our fellow naturists.

I don’t hold anything against the club for their “no camera” policy. I know that they’re acting in the interest of their members. Still, it seems to be a pervasive attitude among nudist and naturist organizations. If we don’t adapt to change, our days are numbered.

Penultimate Day 2018

There wasn’t much activity on this blog in 2018. I didn’t actively participate in any nudist or naturist events despite opportunities for nude hiking in Chautauqua Gorge, the Columbus (OH) WNBR, or the monthly gatherings with the local nudist club. Often I had other commitments and at other times I really wasn’t all that interested.

But that should come as no surprise to my regular readers (if there are any) because my interest in social nudism and in nudism/naturism in general has been steadily declining for a number of years. It has become less and less of a priority with each passing year. I don’t see my level of participation rising in the coming year.

DWB

At the end of 2017 I was still on the fence about joining the Dayton Warm Breezes naturist club but when they offered a free year’s membership, I took advantage of it and joined. Still, I didn’t attend a single party or event.

When they found an organization that would allow them to use their pool for a nude swim I considered attending the swim. The hosting organization’s requirement for insurance coverage put the individual cost out of reach so the idea was scrapped. Someone proposed an idea to buy some property and build their own facility but the cost per member put it out of my price range. My my current membership will lapse at the end of January and I will probably let it expire. A decade ago, belonging to a local club would have been great and I would have jumped at the chance to be a member.

R.I.P. Steve Willard

In April the naturist community suffered a great loss with the death of Steve Willard of All-Nudist. He was a voice of reason in the naturist community although many didn’t always agree with his views or how he always spoke his mind. He is greatly missed. The site is still up but isn’t being maintained.

Closing Thoughts

I really didn’t kept up on nudist and naturist news anymore although I occasionally come across something interesting and post some commentary on it.

I still believe that nudists and naturists need to come to grips with current and new technologies and learn to live with the fact that nearly every cellphone and tablet device has a built-in camera. They’re ubiquitous so get over it already. We need to get past our paranoia of being outed as nudists. We need to trust one another.

I might be more interested in participating in social nudity or naturist events if were given the opportunity to document my participation just as I would at any clothed event. We’re never going to have a shot at normalizing casual nudity if we act as though we’re hiding something.

I’m very much in favor of transparency whenever possible. Maybe not all of my family, friends and acquaintances know I’m a naturist. I don’t proclaim it from the rooftops but I don’t hide it either. It’s out there in the open and all anyone needs to do is look for the evidence or make inquiries. It’s not a secret, nor should it be.

Comptemplating Aquatic Nakedness

The DWB nude swim in Yellow Springs is still a little over a month away and I’m still on the fence about attending. It would be nice to have two or three hours of aquatic nakedness even if I will only be able to record my memories of it in words but not images.

The only reason I can’t have pictorial memories is because there will be nudity. I can have pictures of a clothed swimming event but not a nude one. We don’t want to take a chance that a naked picture of someone in the group might appear somewhere on the Internet and someone’s friends, family or employer might find out they’re a nudist. I’m quite weary of the double standards, the secrecy, and the anonymity that surround naturism and nudism.

The idea that there will be someone at the door to ensure that I do not have my cell phone with me implies distrust. It’s not like they are a clandestine organization with secret rituals. Or are they? An outsider might jump to the conclusion that being naked is naughty and they’re engaging in orgies and other illicit behavior.

There is a large window at the pool so I’m sure that most of it will be covered with brown paper. Whether that will be to ensure our privacy or to prevent anyone who might be passing by from potentially being offended by naked human beings depends on your point of view. I’m going with the latter although I’m sure that most participants will be concerned about  their privacy. I’m not all that worried about my privacy but I understand the concerns other members may have.

I’ve been ambivalent about my membership in this club from the beginning. I’ve only attended one club event and waffled for over a year before finally joining. I haven’t been to their monthly gatherings because of family and social commitments on those Saturdays. I really haven’t had much of a chance to get to know anyone in the club but it seems unlikely that I have much in common with them.

There’s a chance that I may put aside my philosophical differences and enjoy some naked time. If I do attend, I will have the chance to have one pictorial memory of the event, a single group photo taken by a designated photographer. I’ll treasure it, I’m sure.

 

 

Another Nude Recreation Week

Nude Recreation Week 2018 ended yesterday with National Nude Day and today I find myself thinking about my participation in nude recreation or, rather, my lack of participation. Other than a nude house party about a year and a half ago, I haven’t been nude with other like-minded souls since this time in 2010 when I went to Cedar Trails Nudist Retreat for the Skinny Dip World Record attempt. It was fun being a part of that, to be in the pool with over a hundred other naked people.

Each year as the week approaches, I mark my calendar with the intention of going to either Cedar Trails or Sunshower Country Club but nothing comes of it for whatever reason. I often make tentative plans to visit family and, while I’m there, run up to Chautauqua Gorge for a nude hike and a little skinny dipping but I rarely follow through.

Am I still a “true” nudist or naturist? By some definitions, probably not. Just the same, I still identify as a naturist in my attitude, my perspective, and in my general life philosophy. Nude recreation hasn’t been a high priority in quite a while and being nude socially hasn’t been particularly important to me.

In our society nudity may not be normal it is natural and while wearing clothing my be normal, it is not natural. I know it’s a Utopian idea but I believe that being nude should be a viable choice and free of social and criminal sanctions.

As a society we seem to be hung up on arbitrary rules and sanctions for activities and lifestyles that harm no one. Why do we insist on being ‘protected” from what is not likely to cause harm? At the same time we do almost nothing to protect ourselves from things that actually do cause harm to people. There’s something wrong with our society.

Defying Dogma: Contrary to Popular Opinion Our Private Parts are not Unique

To paraphrase another nudist blogger, “Naked, we resemble one another.” Speaking from my own experience, we do.

We pride ourselves on our uniqueness but we may only be unique in a very small sampling. The larger the sample size, the less unique we become.

I agree that being seen nude does not give the viewer any kind of consent or power over us.

Steve Willard of All-Nudist.com passes away peacefully last night | The Naturist Page

Steve will be missed. He always spoke his mind and was a voice of reason in the online Naturist community. Though we’d never met in person, I considered him a dear friend.

RIP Steve, I will miss you.

The Naturist Page

It’s a sad day in the Naturist community today. I was given word from his wife, Angie, that Steve Willard — an iconic man who dedicated himself not only for his education on Naturism via his website, but a great friend of mine and a loving husband to his wife, Angie.

Yesterday, Angie came on his personal Facebook account to mention to all his friends and family that he had fell ill last Sunday under hospice home care. It was then Angie mentioned that his time was near and he is comfortable. However was not able to communicate. At 9:30am EST, Angie posted on Steve’s Facebook that he passed away.

My heart goes out to the family & friends who knew this amazing man. May he rest in peace. My deepest condolences.

RIP….

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Morning Selfie

I took this selfie after my shower this morning. I thought the shadows and the composition were interesting. Of course it’s a nude selfie.