Twofer

Okay, this is going to be a posting in 2 parts. I have been tagged some I am going to give you 8 facts about myself. Hopefully they will be interesting, entertaining, and even trivial (I like trivia and trivial facts). Only, I’m not going to play the whole game but only half. I’m going to expose myself but not pass it on.

Part One: Answers to unasked questions

I was born in Cambridge, MA, USA. The Home of Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital. Since leaving there at the age of 9 I have lived in Ohio, California, New York, Colorado, and now Michigan. There are a number of other states I would like to live in (including the state of reasonable sanity) but I don’t think that I will live long enough to achieve that goal.

My favorite vegetables are broccoli and brussel sprouts. Most people dislike these two, or a least the brussel sprouts, but God help me I love them. My favorite fruit is grapes. I love eating a bunch of cold crisp grapes. I am also especially fond of them in their liquid version. I just don’t understand why my doctor won’t let me count wine towards my vegetable/fruit servings for the day.

I was an altar boy. Decades later I lived in a monastery and contemplated becoming a monk. It was a good try but not a great try. To this day I still love reading and studying theology, spirituality, and comparative religions. I just don’t like participating in organized religion. Too much politics.

I have a dry sense of humor. I also love bad puns. You know, the kind that make people roll their eyes and groan and think that I must be off my meds. Speaking of being off my meds, I also like dark humor.


I am a conservative. People I know are shocked when I say that because they have thought of me sometimes as a radical, sometimes as a libertarian, but mostly as a liberal. I believe I’m a conservative because I believe in the Constitution of the United States and the principles, beliefs, and thinking of the founding fathers. I think that people like Richard Nixon and George W. Bush are radicals (not to mention demented and out of touch with reality) because they want to destroy all of that. Other great radicals include Jerry Falwell, Pat Roberstson, and James Dobson, who hope not only to destroy the USA but Christianity and anything that resembles sanity and intelligent thought.

I do not suffer fools very well. Stupidity is a mortal sin. Now this is not to be confused with ignorance. An ignorant person doesn’t know any better but is open to learning. A stupid person is someone who does know better and just doesn’t care. Regretfully, science has not found a cure for stupid.

My taste in movies leans to intense psychological dramas. I think that this is because I am not a warm fuzzy person. I’m a curmudgeon and proud of it. As for TV, I’m a sucker for most anything on the history, discovery, or the learning channels. My wife and I are also suckers for forensic shows. We both now know how to do away with each other and never get caught.

And last, but not least, also has to do with part two, Oscar Wilde said, “If God had intended for me to be naked, I would’ve been born that way.” Well, I was born that way. I was born naked. Actually, after exposing myself to you with all of the above there seems to be no point in not telling you that I am a nudist and that is the naked truth!


Part Two: All Shook Up

As I last posted, my world has been topsy-turvy for a while. Things are beginning to settle down and fall into place and some good things are coming from it. I haven’t been painting much but that seems okay to me. Lately, I’ve been doing a lot of picture framing and getting things ready to do an art fair at the end of July. The Turtle Lake Resort, a nudist resort, in Union City, MI (southern MI between Kalamazoo and Battle Creek) is having an art fair. They are doing this for a few reasons. First, an art fair is a good thing. Also, this gives artists a venue to exhibit artworks of nudes without viewers getting bent out of shape. It also gives the resort a way to market to non-nudists, called textiles, in order to introduce them to nude recreation. I have done a similar fair down in Kissimmee, FL (just outside of Orlando) and it was great for exhibitors and patrons alike. I will be doing that fair again in October.

A resort like this is peaceful and calming because it removes so many stereotypes that people have about each other. Without clothing you don’t see social or economic status, liberal or conservative, job position or status. You don’t see the things that make you or I different or that separate us, you only see that we are all the same. We ate the same basic 2 models with variations on a theme. Sans clothing, a lot of psychological barriers are removed and people converse more easily and openly. Stress is reduced because everyone’s flaws are showing and no one is held to an unattainable standard of beauty or image. In a society that equates happiness and fulfillment with wealth and beauty this is a big deal. Because of my disability I often feel like an outsider. With other nudists I don’t feel all that different. Besides, for an artist what better way to get in some life drawing?


I have started painting again. I have been playing with some different materials and techniques. There has also been a shift in my palette. It is as if recent events have shifted my axis 3-5 degrees off center. Not a real big change but over time it will be significant. I am approaching this slowly and seeing where it will take me. Right now it feels very good and has me hopeful. In my next post I will write what has been going on and post the images.

These three pieces were done for a friend I know from when I was in high school. He was part of a community group that worked and volunteered to help beautify their city by planting trees. They have put together their own book and these paintings are to be included in it. They are all oil and oil pastel on paper. They are all 9” X 15” to fit with the 11” X 17” book format. The name of their project is “Trees For Menlo.”