Ursula Martinez, I love you

Ursula Martinez:

I love her.

Okay, not really. I don’t know Ursula Martinez. I imagine she’d be an interesting person to know—smart and funny and not uptight. Or maybe not.

Anyway, I do love this piece of hers called “Hanky Panky”. It’s a magic trick/striptease.

I first saw it online somewhere maybe a year ago or more, and have come across it a few times since then.

I thought it was hilarious.

Still do.

Now, despite dabbling a little as a kid, I am not a magician. But I would guess the magic trick involved in “Hanky Panky” is probably not all that complicated. It’s her performance that makes it great. The music choice, the choreography, her facial expressions, the nods and winks to the audience...they’re all perfect.

Well. She had always kept it as a live performance piece, and not put it online herself. But a video of “Hanky Panky” was apparently made and put online without her permission. Then she started getting creepy emails from men in response to it (along with some not-so-creepy emails from men & women.)

A few years later, in response to the whole thing, she created a show called “My Stories, Your Emails”.  

Here she is talking about it in an interview:

I was going to post that original “Hanky Panky” video. Buuuut...in light of what she has to say about it in the interview, I decided against it. (If you’re really interested, I’m sure you can find it online easily enough.)

Her website, ursulamartinez.com, describes some other pieces she’s done. 

I’d love to see any of those, really.

“A Family Outing”

“Viva Croydon!”

“Curing Homosexuality”

...Or to meet and actually get to know her. Then, who knows? Maybe one day I really could say “Ursula Martinez, I love you.”

Naked in the News (2)

A friend of mine posted this on the facebook this morning:

She commented “check out dude with the sandwich!”

It’s true, at about 2’05” there’s a guy lending a hand while still holding onto his hamburger. 

Weird.

But my comment was this: “Why can't the naked people be more coherent, and responsible?”

Seriously, those folks give us reasonable naked people a bad name.

News-type stories about naked people always have some drugged or drunk person...or somebody loudly protesting something.

Why does there have to be an excuse? 

Hell, I’d rather go naked. 

Period. 

Well, assuming it’s not too cold. 

Actually, even then I might rather go naked, but it’s just too uncomfortable.

I guess you can also find coverage of the sensationalized nipple slip or celeb caught sunbathing nude sort of things. But that’s not exactly news; it’s more something else...maybe info-perv-tainment.

Wouldn’t that be a great human interest story on the evening news? A normal naked person. No big issue they’re trying to raise awareness about.

“And here’s this person. He or she happens to be naked. So...you’re naked. What’s that like?”

“Oh, it’s pretty much the norm. If it’s warm enough, I’m probably naked or semi-naked. You know. It’s not a big deal, really.”

“Hm. Interesting. I notice that you’re not staggering around, or yelling, or speaking incoherently. Surely you must have some horrid injustice you protesting.”

“Um, no. I mean, there certainly are injustices in the world. But that’s got nothing to do with my being naked.”

“No? An important issue to awareness about?”

“No, I’m just naked. I suppose that’s an issue. But I’m not on a mission here. Just...hanging out.”

“And there you have it. ‘Just hanging out.’ Back to you in the studio.”

Th’giving

Last night I saw somebody’s facebook status about how she likes to occasionally make a list of 50 things she’s thankful for and then compare to see how it changes, and that it makes her feel good. Lots of people are posting today about thankfulness. Is anybody on the facebook NOT posting something about Thanksgiving?

I’m not really a big holiday person. And, to be honest, I’m generally dissatisfied in life these days. So, the thankfulness thing is really hard for me to get into. I’m not sure if I could come up with 50 things. But I thought I’d at least give it a try. Not 50 things, but a list. So, what am I thankful for?

—I’m not starving, or totally broke...yet. Of course I’m not working nearly enough, which kinda sucks. There just seems to be too many people around here who do what I do. I don’t know how good they all are, but I suspect the people doing the hiring may not necessarily be able to tell the difference between adequate and good. I am working a little. I’m thinking I may look elsewhere & move next year.

—Up until this point, I’ve been able to make a living doing what I want to do. Unfortunately, I’ve mostly not been able to do it at the level I really want, but I have sometimes been able to work with people who were really awesome and done some work that I was really happy with. And of course, there’s all the other work that doesn’t quite fit into that category.

—I live somewhere that I can indulge my clothing-optional lifestyle. I don’t feel oppressed about it. I mean, I’ve lost “friends” and, maybe I’m wrong here, but some other people seem to be avoiding/ignoring me. I’d much rather people engage than avoid, but at least I’m not being oppressed. And I haven’t been arrested or anything yet.

—I’m not in great shape, but I’m alright. I’m not sickly or anything. There was something wrong with my knee this summer, but they didn’t have to do surgery or anything. It still gives me problems a little, but I’m thankful it’s not worse.

—Along those line, my penis still works. I mean, I’m not 20 anymore, but with a little work...

Tripdytch

Yep, still works, despite not having anyone to “work it” with.

—Well, that leads me to this: most people around here are gone for a few days, so I felt pretty comfortable taking some pics outside yesterday and today—a little more than I might normally. I’ll post those a bit later, as I’m hoping to take a couple more.

I’m sure there must be other stuff. I’ll think on it later. But as you can see, I have a hard time being thankful without a “however”...unconditional gratitude is hard. 

I wonder if other (“normal”) people feel the way I do, but they just don't vocalize it. Of course, I do. I’m not one to refrain from saying what I think or feel.

...

Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving...what else to say about Thanksgiving?

Well, there will be little or no “dressing” at my place today. Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha! I’m hilarious.But, yeah, I'm "celebrating" a naked Thanksgiving. I mean, I'm not really celebrating in any special way. But I'm naked. No big surprise.

Okay, what else?

Oh. There’s this strangeness:

Turkey-woman

It’s kind of funny, but also rather disturbing. I mean, the implication is that the woman is a thing to be consumed. Also there’s the whole bondage thing. I mean, this looks like serious bondage, which I’m not super-keen on.

...

Well, I’m not coming up with much else. So, I’ll go back to just hanging out on “Turkey Day”.

Save the Cheerleader!

Hayden Panettiere—

best known as Claire, the cheerleader...or maybe Claire the amazing healing chick...nah, Claire the Cheerleader it is— 

was at the MTV Europe Music Awards several days ago, presenting the award for best song. 

She was “interrupted” by a streaker.

(see the video here)

At first it was said by the streaker, etc, to be an unplanned prank. But soon it was admitted to have been planned, if not rehearsed, and that the guy is an actor who was hired by MTV.
Come on, people who believed it wasn't a planned thing. Do you really think some random naked dude would have gotten all the way out there onstage and "hung out" for a minute and a half chatting on camera with a presenter? No, he'd be dragged off by security. 

Apparently the writers or someone thought it would be a fun bit to have a streaker.

Now, it might be an interesting bit if there were something controversial in the news about Hayden Panettiere and nudity, or maybe a movie she’s in that has a streaker...but I couldn't find anything like that. Just a few contradictory comments by her about nudity and a brief implied nude scene in I Love You, Beth Cooper.

So, what was the point of the MTV streaker? I mean, hey, obviously I don’t have a problem with nudity, but seriously, it seemed to have no point. Just, hey, let’s have a naked dude out there...for no reason.

No reason at all...except maybe the “hey, let’s just throw in something crazy here”...you know, like Lady Gaga’s headgear.

Naked woman in horse

A friend of mine posted this on my facebook wall, thinking I might be interested. I was.

Seattle Weekly article ...with pictures

An “aspiring model” (she has a profile on some modeling site) in Portland, Oregon, along with a friend, bought an old horse, killed it, gutted and skinned it, and took some pictures of her inside the carcass. Later they ate the horse.

Okay, so you may think, "Ew." Yeah, I thought that too, but mostly I thought it’s just odd. The police investigated, but it seems that no laws were broken. She posted the pics online, and then claimed to have “no idea why people care.” Apparently she wanted to “be one with the animal” and was inspired by Star Wars.

Yay, Star Wars! But I don't think she's a huge fan or anything.
I think, as she is an “aspiring model”, (her model profile) that she’s just hoping to jumpstart her modeling career.

Well, of course, lots of people are outraged. The comments on the article fall into the 3 typical categories of comments on anything surprising &/or unusual:

1. This is sick and twisted; we hate her; she’s a horrible, horrible person OR she so ca-ra-zee.
2. What about all the other animals that are routinely slaughtered for us to eat? (This response on some other topic could be “what about all the starving people...the uninsured...victims of abuse...global warming...whatever”.)
3. OMG, she’s HOT, I wanna hit dat.

Comments on others people’s comments also fall into those same categories, with one additional group: your so dum sombody should get rid of you to; often followed by another comment pointing out the ironic misspellings, lack of punctuation and other grammatical errors. Yes, poor writing bothers me, and I occasional stifle my own grammar-nazi impulse. Because just calling someone stupid or pointing out grammar issues does not really add anything truly useful to the discussion. 

Probably my favorite comment, one which I might’ve made if I were paying more attention when I first skimmed though the article, was to point out a mistake in the Star Wars reference.

"I am so disgusted! This article is SO WRONG!
Han Solo did not use HIS light saber.  He used Luke's.  Get your story straight!"

Sci-fi nerds are hilarious, and yes, I mean me too.

“Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you? Hm?”

Walking In

I remember hearing once that my dad saw somebody naked. I was maybe 13? We were on some church retreat thing with my family and several other folks from our church. Apparently my dad walked into this woman’s hotel room when she had just gotten out of the shower and was naked. I was intrigued. I remember it was surprising to me that my parents and this woman and the other adults were talking about it, like it was funny and no big deal. That didn’t quite mesh with the feeling or the concept I was developing up to that point about nudity.

I grew up in a Christian household, but it wasn’t one of those super-crazy-guilt-laden places, where the children are being yelled at all the time about how horrible and sinful and evil sex is and that you’ll burn in hell, blah, blah, blah. In some conversation that I, as an adult, had with my mom about church and faith and how we were raised, she said that they didn’t feel like they needed to preach at us all the time at home because they figured we were getting what we needed (to be good Christian kids) from church. However, at that point, to me, the idea that seeing somebody naked could be amusing or anything other than a serious breach of appropriate behavior was just out of the realm of possibility. I basically never saw anyone naked except myself in the shower and rarely my younger siblings when they were small babies, and generally that was when they were in the baby-tub. But I was old enough to be interested in sex, so the idea that you might see someone naked was exciting.

Anyway, I’ve occasionally heard other people mention walking in on someone naked, or being walked in on. I’ve never walked in on anyone naked. One Sunday afternoon early my freshman year in college, I had gone home for the weekend and was returning, with my parents (and my high school “sweetheart” I think), and we walked in on my roommate in bed with a girl. They weren’t actually having sex, nor were they naked. But it was strange, because I’d never met her before, and she was in my room, cuddling with my roommate.

Now, other people walking in on my while I was naked...it doesn’t feel like it’s happened. (Except “the neighbor”.) Then again, if I were walked in on, I probably wouldn’t care all that much. I guess that’s the idea that I have—the sort of oops!/oh-my-god!/whaah! sort of thing. Yeah, society has somehow convinced me that people are supposed to react that way in a walking-in-on-someone-naked situation. So even though I don’t feel that way, it’s in there, in my brain that way. Sometimes I really hate “society” and it’s “values”.

There was one place I lived which had a screened in porch, so sometimes we’d just leave that door open. And a girl I know and her guy friend dropped in while I was sort of lounging on the couch naked under a blanket. We chatted for a bit until I needed to get up for something, and they realized I was naked. That type of thing has happened a few other times in other places as well. There’s always that issue of thinking, well, I need to get up, and they’re gonna see me naked; I don’t care, but they might...

Where I live now, there’ve been a couple of people I was expecting, but who showed up early, when I was still naked or just then getting dressed. I’m not sure exactly what they saw. But like I said, it really doesn’t bother me. I’m a little curious what they actually saw or were aware of, and went through their minds.

So I guess if any readers out there have “walked in” on me, feel free to share. If it doesn’t make you uncomfortable.

Or if you have your own walked in on story, chime in.

National Coming Out Day 2011

“...I’m coming out. I want the world to know, got to let it show...”

"I'm Comin' Out" video:

I don’t mean to steal anybody’s thunder...or to diminish the social pressures facing gay, bi-sexual & transgendered people. However, it’s generally considered unacceptable to be naked most places, and often illegal. And when you appear naked, other people there—even casual passersby— know right away.

I know some may argue about people “becoming” gay, when that happens, etc. But, I can confidently proclaim that I was born this way. And I challenge anyone to say I wasn’t.

"Born This Way" video:

(heh-heh, just kidding)

actual "Born This Way' video

So, I hope I’m not stepping on anybody’s toes here, but I’m going to embrace National Coming Out day on a more personal level than usual and post this blog a little wider today on the facebook. Don’t worry: I’m still not gonna post to minors and a few other folks.

Anyway...

I’m straight.

I’m naked.

Whoo-hoo!

I even have a flag.

Sadly, it’s damp & cool today, or I might be sitting outside typing this.

Anyway, I’m just gonna copy (& edit) & paste a couple of things I wrote last year on National Coming Out Day. It may be a little long. 

A couple of years ago I worked for one semester at a private Baptist University, where the head of my department asked me to not tell the students that I was not a Christian.

... As the semester dragged on, I found it harder and harder to not talk about my lack of faith. Only one person, other than the head of the department, ever asked me directly about what I believed. I told her the truth. I’m agnostic. But there were so many other times when I could tell that people were assuming that I was like them, that I shared their faith... I was in the faith “closet”. There was something about me that was rather significant, and I knew that most everyone else around me was not “that way”, and they assumed that I was just like them and not “that way” either.

... My being asked to not reveal that I wasn’t a Christian was a symptom of the larger problem of a focus on the appearance of things at the expense of the substance... That attitude is in direct opposition to my feeling about life, how people should communicate with each other, and... teachers and schools ought to be encouraging students to examine things and explore the truth, even when it’s uncomfortable. I think this is a general problem in “the church” and the reason behind so many church/minister scandals. They’re busy working on the appearance of right-ness or righteousness and not dealing with the substance or truth of things.

... Before that experience, I knew that I considered it important to tell the truth. It’s something that I value. But I now know that it’s also very important for me to not not tell the truth. Not telling the truth about something feels just like lying, which I hate.

... The whole experience of feeling “closeted” in that way was just dreadful. And I didn’t even feel any shame about being agnostic. How horrible would it have been if I thought it was bad or evil or sinful or unnatural or just plain wrong to be the way I was.

It’s not wrong or evil to be agnostic. Sometimes it can be difficult. But there are people out there who are like you and others who aren’t but will support you and love you and not think that you’re bad because of it.

And it’s not wrong or evil to be gay. Sometimes it can be difficult. But there are people out there who are like you and others who aren’t but will support you and love you and not think that you’re bad because of it.

In college, after a friend of mine came out, I decided to do an “experiment”.

I went around to lots of people I knew and did the whole spiel: “There’s something I want to tell you; my family and some friends already know, but I feel I’m ready to let everybody know; it’s not anything that has to change our relationship, I’m still the same person, but I just wanted you to know that I am a heterosexual.”... With most people there was a moment mid-spiel when they realized what (they thought) I was going to say.

... I remember one guy—and he was the type you might expect to come out one day (I once described that type as the north-Alabama youth pastor type: a bit flamboyant with no overt sexual interests and very much in love with God/Jesus and his mamma)—who just seemed to be listening, not reacting, until I got to the end, “heterosexual”, and he exclaimed “Chris, no!” Like many people, he picked up on the context clues and his brain heard me say “homosexual”. I just remember his reaction in particular, because his voice got high-pitched ... and he seems so upset that I could be gay. It went against his Southern, religious upbringing.

... I would like the moral of this story to be something else, something like “support your friends and loved ones and strangers who come out because we’re all just people who need love”. But I realize the story doesn’t really support that. I guess the actual moral is that “most if not all of us make assumptions and judgments that may not be true”.

It’s National Coming Out Day, and that’s my coming out story. I know the day isn’t about doing informal social experiments on your friends. So let me say this: stop the hate; stop the condemnation. Those attitudes are based in fear. But you don’t need to be afraid of homosexual people. The “gays” are not out to get us “straights”. Sure there may be the occasional individual who threatens you somehow and happens to be gay, but there are scary straight individuals too. Straight guys out there, if some gay man really wants to have sex with you, then you should feel flattered that someone finds you attractive even if you don’t reciprocate. Or, if he’s really making unwanted, inappropriate advances, now you have some idea of (the beginning of) what a woman might feel when men make those advances toward her. You can feel better about yourself, &/or learn something. Isn’t that a win-win? Well, maybe not.

Anyway... If you have a religious objection to homosexuality, here’s something for Christians: stop focusing so much on a few passages in the Old Testament and the letters of Paul, etc; look instead at what Jesus supposedly said, you know, the “red-letter” words in some of those Bibles. He was not all about hate, and hell-fire and damnation. He was not all about “don’t”. he was really quite radically about “do” love people and “do” help people and “do” forgive people...even the ones you don’t like or maybe who you don’t think deserve it. Now, if you’re Muslim or Hindu or something, I can’t help much. I just don’t have much background there. Sorry.

In conclusion...love and support your people, no matter their gender preference/identity. 

Yeah, that's still the conclusion. 

Also, your naked friends need love and support too, not fear and avoidance.

Hi, Mom

I’ve been “sharing” these blog posts on the facebook with most of my friends. But I’ve been not sharing with a fair number of people...including my relatives, most anyone who knows them, anyone that’s a minor, and anyone I’m currently working with. Mostly that last group is to avoid awkwardness.

A few people have posted comments pertaining to this blog on my facebook page. When they do, one of my first thoughts has been “Who can see this?” I think the answer is “friends and friends of friends”...which includes all those people I’m not sharing. The thing is, I wouldn’t care if they saw this blog, but they would care.

Minors... I don’t really need to explain that, right?

People I work with.... Well, I work in a generally liberal environment, but there are some who aren’t so free-minded.

Relatives... I don’t think my siblings and other relatives would care all that much, but you never know. They might think it fun to tell my parents.

My mom would use that same tone of voice she has when we talk about religion. That tone that’s full of disappointment and tinged with shock. My dad’s generally quiet, but he’d probably be on the same page as mom. I used to think that she was in charge and he didn’t make a lot of decisions or care much...until he surprised me a few times by actually saying what he thought.

It’s not as if this blog is hidden. It’s pretty easy to access. If there were somebody trying to find info on me, I suppose they could find this blog easily enough. So, while this blog has been a sort of “coming out”, it’s been only mostly public. And I suppose I may have to “come out” some time to my family about being naked.

A few years back, I asked my mom what her reaction would be if one of her kids were gay. My parents have dealt with various issues with us kids, but that’s not one of them. She surprised me a little. I’m not sure exactly what I expected, but what she said was that of course she would love them, although she wouldn’t wish that life on anyone, as it’s full of difficulty. It’s very much like her attitude about mixed race relationships...her main concern is that the children would have difficulty.

Of course, the main difficulties come from other people, society’s disapproval, etc.

Anyway, I imagine mom’s reaction in this case—my being naked and being naked online— would be more like her attitude toward my lack of faith: don’t I want to do the right thing? (She would put it that way.) & wouldn’t I be happier if I just played along with everyone else? (She wouldn’t put it that way.)

Maybe I’m wrong, and maybe I’ll find out sooner or later. Mostly it’s just another issue in my general difference with my family.

Thinker

A friend of mine, in talking about this blog, mentioned that sometimes women, after having been an exhibitionist, feel like they’ve given something away—a part of themselves. It wasn’t an idea that really resonated with me. But I was thinking about it this afternoon.

(hmm...)

I wonder if it’s a difference between exhibitionism and nudity.

What I mean is that you might think of “exhibitionism” as a sexual thing. In other words, showing your body to people as a sexual expression, or with a sexual agenda, or as part of “being sexy”.

So, if being naked in front of people is a predominantly sexual thing, I can easily see how someone might regret their past exhibitionism, or perhaps feel they’ve given something away.

But nudity doesn’t have to be about sex. Think about a model in an art class. Or, there’s this:

(if you haven't already...or go back and revisit your favorites)

Yes, of course some nudity is sexual. And there may be those reading this who view this blog as sexual. If that’s you, and you’d care to discuss it, leave a comment or send me a message.

Also, you can have sex without being nude. And I’m not talking about teenagers dry-humping. But to me, that only makes sense if you’re really in a hurry to “git ‘r done” or if you’re trying to be discreet with your “dogging” (if you don’t know, look it up).

Many Hollywood movies would have us believe that women generally don’t remove their bras or even their shirts when having sex—even 2-people-alone-in-a-room-with-no-likelihood-of-someone-walking-in-on-them sex. I don’t get that. Every time I see it, my brain is violently shoved out of the story, the film, the TV show, whatever is it, to wonder why that is.

Okay, maybe you’re not willing to show bare breasts, but you’re willing to show people fucking? I don’t get that.

There’s also the whole thing of one person completely nude and the other completely clothed. It’s a little odd, but that seems to be about exhibitionism/voyeurism and a whole power-dynamic thing.

Anyway...what was my point?

(uh...?)

I’m sure it was something about how, even though they overlap, sex is not nudity and nudity is not sex.

(if you can't actually read this, click on it...it gets bigger

. . . . . . . . 

yeah-yeah, "that's what she said")

Response

That’s the “Word of the Day”: response.

Okay, sorry Stephen Colbert, for borrowing your phrase. Let’s call it the “Word of the Blog”.

I’m very interested to know what people think about this thing. I’ve gotten feedback from a few friends, whom I asked. But it’s hard to imagine that anyone would actually comment non-anonymously on this blog. I guess there’s the fear that someone will see that you’ve looked at it and not felt guilty about it.

Reminds me of that joke:

What’s the difference between a Baptist & a Methodist?

The Methodist will say hello when he sees you in the liquor store.

I’d be fine with anyone seeing this. Well, at least I think so. But, sadly, I know that many people would be fine.

The whole guilt thing is deadly. Whether it comes from religion or parents or cultural pressures—one might argue that they’re all the same—it tears people up, unnecessarily. I touched on this briefly in my "(like this guy)" post.

It makes people hate themselves for doing what seems natural to them, and it can make people do some really fucked up things. 

If you grow up being punished for being a really, bad, naughty boy or girl, then when you grow up you may go to some extremes looking for someone to punish you.

Can you imagine what it would be like if people were just open about stuff? What they want & need from each other. With their bodies. 

I think it would be awesome if people were naked more. I don’t mean just the “attractive” people. In fact, it's probably more important for some of the “unattractive” people to be naked. 

Imagine people doing housework in the nude, yard work, checking the mail & waving hello at the neighbors, just hanging out in the backyard with company or grilling up something on a summer evening (you might want an apron...for the grease spattering).

In a world like that, how much more healthy would people be about sex and body image issues? Young people would grow up seeing what actual, normal bodies look like, not just the dangerously skinny magazine models, with their digitally-edited looks, or the artificially top-heavy and silicon-ized porn queens. Not just men with 6-pack abs and tanning-bed-bronze skin. Just people...people who need people are the luck—

Sorry. Musical theatre moment. What I meant to say was just people who are “just people”.

Maybe trying to not feel guilty is part of what this blog is about. It’s partly a diary blog where I write about whatever’s going on or maybe something from the past. 

And it’s partly a “statement” blog. I guess the statement might be:

“You don’t need to be ashamed of your body. Nor of someone else’s.”

Maybe that’s not the statement. I’m not sure. I’m still figuring this blog out.

Maybe that’s part of my problem right now—that I feel like I ought to know what it is before I do it.

Maybe that’s why I want so much to get some kind of response... 

And that’s the “Word of the Blog”.

(from http://www.quotecounterquote.com)

naked history

Caveman:

Ancient Greece:

The Renaissance:

The 70s:

Okay, this actually MY naked history.

(not me)

Yes, I was a baby. I must’ve been born naked, but I don’t remember it. I don’t recall my younger siblings just running around naked when they were babies, so I kinda doubt that I did it. Or, rather, I doubt that my parents would’ve let me.

(also not me)

I certainly didn’t grow up naked. I remember once catching a glimpse of my mom changing when I was a boy, and I think only once I saw my dad’s penis in a changing room at the beach.

In college...

(not my dorm, yet not unlike my dorm room)

...I had a roommate who slept nude, but when he jumped out of bed, he did what I called “the pillow dance”. He had a little throw pillow, like you’d see on a couch, which he held in front of his penis, or his backside if that was facing me. I always kind of thought that was silly. I mean, I didn’t have any real desire to see his penis, but it certainly wouldn’t’ve offended me if I had.

Later, when I had another roommate, I came home from school one winter night—I bicycled to & from school most of that year; I was usually hot & tired when I got home, and the first thing I would do was take some of my clothes off—and went in my bedroom and took off one layer of clothes. I came out of my room, got something from the kitchen or went to the bathroom (whatever), then went back in my room & took off another layer. It was winter: several layers. Well, my roommate said something to the effect of “Are you gonna keep coming out of there wearing less & less? How far are you going with this?” 

Well, he was being kinda funny, so I kinda went along with it, to be funny myself. I kept going in and figuring out what I could wear that showed more. I got all the way down to the skimpiest underwear I had at the time. The roommate said something like “You can’t go much further.” And I said something like, “I guess, I’ll go put on something more formal.” So I went in the room & came out again wearing only a (long) necktie. My roommate thought that was pretty hilarious.

(this is not the same tie)

After college, I got my own place—no roommates—and I was naked in there, pretty-much all the time. Nobody came over much. There was one girl who came over a few times, and I wore almost nothing when she was there, but I guess I just wasn’t brave enough yet. Or maybe I wasn’t so secure yet in the idea that being naked in front of someone doesn’t necessarily have to be about sex.

(this is clearly a drawing or something...again, not me)

Eventually, I went through a stage of flashing some of my friends. For me, the most interesting thing about that was the different reactions people would have. There were 3 basic reactions:

1. Oh-my-god-I-don’t-wanna-see that-oh-my-god.

(I do not know this person.)

2. I’m-looking at your face...I’m-looking at your face...You do see me looking at your face, right?

(Nor this one.)

3. Hey, he’s naked. That’s funny.

(Nope, not her either.)

A little later, I had a roommate who saw me naked all the time. Eventually he decided it was okay to go naked to, but only around me. Where we lived, lots of people we knew would just stop by, so many of them happened to see me naked. A few of them actually hung out there while I was naked.

(ME!)

I also got interested in massage around then. I found that I would rather have a friend give me a massage (or vice versa) than to go pay someone who doesn’t know me to give me a massage. A lot of people think that’s weird, and most of my friends weren’t interested in a massage-swap.

(I wish this were me right now.)

That was a little off point. Anyway...

These days I live alone in a tiny apartment. When it’s warm enough, I don’t wear anything. Honestly, I really don’t mind if people know. In fact, I’d rather everyone did. However, I’ve learned enough to know that there are lots of folk who would be horrified or embarrassed or mad to see me naked, or perhaps even to know I was naked. That’s sad.

(Uh-uh. Don't know him.)

Well, this is a long blog. Hope it was worth it.