Ilsley Completes His Travels Last week, the Ilsley trophy completed the trip across North America and arrived at the AANR 75th Anniversary Convention at DeAnza Springs Resort in Jacumba, California. The week-long historic celebration, August 6-13, featured a variety of activities, seminars, sports, and nostalgia as AANR celebrated its past while looking toward the future. Accompanying Ilsley was a guestbook that was signed by many members and visitors at AANR clubs along the way. The Ilsley trophy was buried in a time capsule along with other AANR memorabilia that will surface in 25 years, in time for the AANR 100th Anniversary Convention. The Ilsley is a traveling trophy commissioned to commemorate AANR's 75th Anniversary as the credible voice of reason for nude recreation in North America. Ilsley traveled weekly to AANR clubs and resorts across the U.S. and Canada. Throughout his tour, special themed events and celebrations were planned at host clubs along the way. The award was named for the late Rev. Ilsley Boone, the founder and first Executive Director of AANR's predecessor, the American Sunbathing Association. Boone is perhaps best remembered as the flamboyant clergyman who served as plaintiff in the 1958 case of Sunshine Book Co. v. Summerfield. That case went all the way to the United States Supreme Court and established, once and for all, First Amendment protection for nudist publications. 
Dance Without Pants At the end of a busy workday, Tad Low sometimes cranked the music loud and urged his staff to unwind by taking a dance break. At one of these impromptu dance sessions, someone asked, "How hilarious would this be if we did this in the nude?" and an idea was born. "Pants-Off Dance-Off" is now the Fuse network's most popular series ever, reports CBSNews.com. Low, creator of VHI's "Pop-Up Video" series, says he is surprised no one came up with the idea before. Each show features five dancers, and viewers vote online for their favorites who compete in a Saturday night dance-off. Catherine Mullen, Fuse's manager, likens the show more to "The Gong Show" than something more titillating like "Girls Gone Wild." The show features ordinary people such as a 58-year-old retired male teacher, not models, as a way of denouncing a culture of perfectionism. While the "pants-off" might be a bit of a tease--the dancers' bodies are covered with an electronic version of a towel--the show's website shows pixilated body parts. Just about everyone can remember dancing nude or semi-nude to their favorite song. Low says it is "one of life's moments of unbridled enthusiasm, and the notion of this show is to make that contagious." Read more at Pants-Off Dance-Off. Breastfeeding Photo Causes Uproar The latest controversy over nudity doesn't involve a supermodel or a well-known singer performing during the Super Bowl. The image that is shocking some readers is the cover of Babytalk, a wholesome parenting magazine, featuring a mother breastfeeding her baby. The free magazine is geared toward mothers of babies. CNN.com reports that in a poll of more than 4,00 readers, a quarter of respondents deemed the close-up photo "inappropriate." The response is a sign that many Americans still are not comfortable with breastfeeding in public even as breastfeeding itself has seen a resurgence and is supported by the government and the medical community. The debate among women who choose to breastfeed in public and women who don't has spawned a new term for those who advocate public nursing: "lactivists," supporters of a woman's right to nurse whenever she needs to. CNN.com quotes Babytalk editor Susan Kane, who says, "There's a huge Puritanical streak in Americans, and there's a squeamishness about seeing a body part--even part of a body part. It's not like women are whipping them out with tassels on them," she says."Mostly, they are trying to be discreet." Read more at Babytalk. Black's Beach A Top Surfing Spot It's been 40 years(!) since the much-loved surfing documentary "Endless Summer," that followed surfers around the world in search of the perfect wave. In honor of the film's anniversary, Ron Barber, surfing coach and editor for Carve Surfing Magazine shared his picks for top surfing spots as a special for USA Today. Coming in at number 2 is Black's Beach in San Diego, a poplular nudist beach. Barber says Black's has "one of the best reef breaks" and receives an abundance of swells. Read more about Black's Beach--and the other nine winners-- at Top Spots for Surfers.  |
