Welcome to Issue 4.

One of the things I’d planned to do with the mag originally was have specified dates and publish ‘quarterly’ or ‘bi’monthly’ but it hasn’t worked out like that. Instead, it has been an ‘as and when’ publication, with proper issues, to which have been added a supplement and regular ‘other’ postings, with the hope/expectation that there’s at least one posting per week.

I expect that, now, this state of affairs will be the norm, unless RL gets in the way, as it will next week when I’m off on my own RL (naturist) holidays, so I expect there will probably not be any postings. Despite wifi access, I’ll be otherwise occupied with the hard work of sunbathing, eating ‘al fresco’, sipping wine under balmy evening skies, a lot of swimming and general lazing about and recharging batteries.

One of the things I will be doing is taking a lot of photographs. Not of naturists, as it goes against naturist etiquette to photograph people without their permission, and invades their privacy, but of the architecture, because we’re hoping to take SLN to a ‘next phase’ by building our own, small sim later in the year and replicate ‘Spain’, and Spanish naturism, within it.

One major problem I have is that I have absolutely no idea how to build, nor time to learn, so we’re probably going to have to do this ‘out of the box’, as it were. To accompany this, there will be a ‘SLN Readers’ group and tag, through which some of us will make additional posts through group messages, and it will be somewhere that readers can pop in and out of and visit us and let us get to know you better. We don’t intend this to be an elaborate sim, just a small, basic place where we have an inworld presence.

In Issue 4 you’re going to find something less ‘themed’, as some other of the issues have been, as I’ve given each of the writers a brief to come up with their own articles, rather than ask for something specific. To that end, all of our writers contribute, including new writers Pierre and Fionnuala, as well as from Pookes, Areola and Harry. We’ve also got a ‘commissioned’ piece, of sorts, with my old mentor Emmanuelle tip-toeing back inworld to write about changes she’s seen during a long hiatus from SL. And, as usual, lots of photographs of how we all enjoy our SL naturism.

I’ve also decided that, in the main, now that we’ve got a bunch of ever-willing models to pose, that you’re probably going to see many of them return again and again, much in the way that other naturist publications do often use the same models. Certainly, British naturist magazine H&E, German mag ‘Sonnenfreude’ and British naturist film-maker Charlie Simmonds have done this in the past, and managed to do this in the past, and continual use of the same models manages to put some sense of personality into the photographs. I’m hoping that we can do the same, as we ‘get to know’ some of the models much better and they, too, impose their own outgoing personalities into the photos and onto the magazine.

*****

As previously mentioned, I’m off on my RL hols next week, so (probably) no postings to the blog, although I’ve allegedly got wi-fi access, so I’ll see if that’s true when I get there!  If we’re having a quiet night in, I might just pop inworld and bring you whatever SL naturist news I think is worth bringing to you.

*****

We use a lot of ‘Eden’ slurls. I do try to ensure that your tp point is a public area, always. However you will know by now that many of the neighbouring islands to those tp points are rented or owned by others, and none as far as I know are security protected. This does not give you carte blanche to poke around others’ property. Please respect the privacy of others, and their property. Don’t island hop, even if the island isn’t being used at the time. Yes, I know it can be hard. I fly around Eden a lot, and sometimes zoom over someone’s house. I do try to use mini map to avoid occupied areas within Eden, and let people enjoy their SL uninterrupted by flying avatars. You may wish to do the same so as not to land somewhere that may incur the wrath of the owner.

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The photos on this page are from various sources. None of yours truly, I think I’ve posed enough! 🙂 but just a round up of images before I remove all we’ve gathered to the external hard drive. There are far more photos taken than can ever be used, but I’m thinking of doing an SLN ‘Christmas Annual’ when the time comes to use up more of the images. In the UK, the concept of the ‘Christmas Annual’ will be familiar, where loved weekly comics issued a hardbound Christmas edition and you often woke to find it in your Christmas stocking. My favourite was Rupert the Bear, a weird, quintessentially English and possibly marginally psychedelic bear and his chums in the fantasy village of Nutwood.

Ella.

Hi, I’m FIonnuala, and I’m Irish. We don’t all have red hair but in my case, I do! In and out of SL! Ella’s blog is UK based, but there are close ties between our two island homes, and apparently SLN has a healthy Irish readership, showing that Irish folk are both into SL and their naturism. And all this despite a backdrop of being the only European country, apparently, not to have a single officially designated naturist beach.

Of course, there are -in the time honoured traditions of Ireland- semi-official ones. When it boils down to it, the Garda, the Irish police, could choose to arrest you for being nude on a beach, but turn a blind eye or ignore the matter. We also have the spectre (and I use that word in the full knowledge of what I’m saying) about a still overbearing, interfering church attempting to mould the people to their own patriarchal, sexless (or not, read up about any number of priest sex scandals) version of life.

Take it from me, I’ve no time for organised religion, despite growing up in a fairly strict Catholic family. And so I think that my, ah, trenchant views on naturism, Ireland, and an increasing interest for naturism amongst Irish people may impact just a little bit in my posts 🙂

Below, I’m checking out a pint of Guinness, and showing off my red hair. But that’s the beginning and the end of Irish cliches. One thing that irritates me in SL is the Irish caricatures. Sure, most are affectionate, but they’re still caricatures. I don’t drink alcohol, and I’ve no time for Guinness at all, as it tastes vile. I don’t do jigs, say things like ‘begorrah’ and I log out of SL for the days leading up to St. Patrick’s Day, as all of that false jollity and the need for a ‘hoolie’ is simply annoying.

I’ve also got no time at all for Americans who claim to be Irish. They aren’t. They’re American, and the surname ‘O’Donohue’ or ‘O’Keefe’ or ‘Keogh’ doesn’t make you Irish. It just makes you someone who might have had roots in Ireland. On the same basis, that makes me Ethiopian, since we all originally sprang from the Horn of Africa. So please, get over yourselves pretending to be Irish. I’ve already been in several arguments with Americans, born in America of American parentage and grand-parentage, about their non-Irish credentials. I’ve even managed to get myself barred from one ‘Irish’ bar! 🙂

The problem there was that some Americans started giving me the history of my island, as filtered through some idiotic romantic vision of the place with no basis in fact. Oh, and by the way, St. Patrick was actually Welsh, lol!. I’m afraid the truth, the actual truth, doesn’t play well with some people in SL. I don’t care, I make no apologies for being who I am.

I’ll be back with more reports, and fights, probably, in forthcoming issues of SLN. See you soon.

Fionnuala.

Inspired by Claudia’s Mykonos shoot in Issue 4, reader Lorraine sent us a couple of shots of herself at Mykonos. Remember, Mykonos does turn up in a search for naturist locations. While not overly populated with naturists, yet, it certainly seems to replicate the vibe of its real life equivalent, and is naturist friendly!

(Below) A reader who wishes to remain anonymous shows off his tattoos for us, as photographed ‘somewhere in Eden’

Around 10pm, (UTC +1), I’ll be arriving in my Spanish apartment for a week’s much anticipated vacation. Of course it’s a naturist holiday!

One of the things I adore about Teresa’s ‘Naked Dreams’ sim (on the Eden estate) is that it is so reminiscent of my own apartment on a naturist ‘urbanizacion’. I do live, just over a waist high wall, from my neighbours, some of whom are good RL friends and one who is also a SL user.

The architecture reminds me very much of my RL bolt hole (I just wish I could rent or own on Naked Dreams for that reason! I could pretty much replicate our apartment! The only difference is that we step out of the kitchen/dining area onto the roof terrace, whereas ‘Naked Dreams’ has the sunbathing area next to the roof)

So, at 10pm on Saturday, after ‘the other half’ has dropped the suitcases and headed off to a bar to watch one of the Euro 2012 quarter final games…it has already been planned for months with some of our friends who are holidaying at the same time), I’ll tuck a couple of small, tired children into bed and step out onto the terrace with a glass of wine. The scene will almost exactly match that of the photo. If my neighbour(s) are there, I’ll probably have a conversation over the wall with them! 🙂 

When whoever has won or lost the football (soccer, for the benefit of our north American chums) and the other half returns, not overly tiddly, I hope, from the bar, he’ll assume baby-sitting duties while I indulge in one of life’s simple pleasures,a walk around our ‘urbanizacion’, as nature intended, prior to ending up treading water on my back in the swimming pool, gazing up at the stars. It’s an event that will be replicated for each of the seven nights we’re there.

We’ve just put in wifi, but haven’t been there to try it yet, so it’s hard to know how fast or reliable it is yet. If I do get a late night opportunity, sitting on our terrace, sipping wine and listening to some jazz, naked at midnight under a clear, starlit sky, I might log in and check SL, but don’t bank on it!

In the meantime, enjoy Issue 4, and take the opportunity to look over previous posts. See you all in about 10 days time, after I’ve got home and done all the washing.Yes! Naturists seem to end up with a huge amount of washing!

Ella.

I got into blogging thanks to my friend Emmanuelle, who ’employed’ me as the naturist writer on her blog Emmanuelle’s Erotic Excursions, later rebranded as 2ex. After writing there for a bit I got ‘headhunted’ by the publisher of this blog, and it seemed to coincide with other writers for 2ex leaving, moving on, quitting SL, etc.

Emmanuelle suspended the blog, then placed it in the hands of another mutual friend, Jayne, who then underwent some RL crises that meant she didn’t have time to keep the blog going, although it’s still -as you’ll find if you follow the link- online. And this, in turn, coincided with Emmanuelle, by her own admission ‘getting bored’ with SL and leaving the game and killing off her own, successful blog.

Recently, I popped online and OMG! Guess who’s name was showing her as online? Yep, Emmanuelle. And with that, I’ll let her pick up the story in her own words…

‘I just got fed up, not so much with SL as with the blogosphere. Ours was a blog very much intended to be very clear and blunt about the existence of and many players’ participation in cyber sex. It goes on all around us, all the time, but we still, often, pretend it’s not. It would have been easy to keep it going as there’s far more sex in SL than there is naturism, for example, so I admire the way you’ve managed to keep things fresh and relevant and not run out of ideas for it. I simply found that all my free time, intended for playing SL, was being eaten up organising the blog (I know that feeling well : Ella) and I’d lost sight of why I’d joined SL. So I decided to take a break from it all. The blog, and SL itself. I went on holiday, didn’t have internet access, couldn’t blog or play. When I came home three weeks later the ‘habit’ had been broken, and so I continued not logging in. And it just got to be a longer and longer hiatus from SL until I’d decided I’d not go back.

Emma hops aboard someone’s yacht at the Eden Yacht Club

‘I imagined that was it for me with SL, but I recently read something about SL on some news page or other, and decided I’d log in to see who was still around, or what had changed. I went exploring, picked up a new dress or two and suddenly I was hooked again. Well, hooked in the sense that it reignited my interest in SL. I’ve not been a daily log in since returning, but I’ve been a regularly occasional 🙂 log in since then!

Sipping a cola at Eden Yacht Club

‘No, there won’t be any return to blogging, ever, on my part. I would write for a blog if I could choose my moments, but I wouldn’t revive 2ex, or start a new blog. I’ve not got the time to do it justice. When I log in, I want to socialise, not being running around the grid for three hours each evening searching for this or that.’

Because naturists have green credentials, Emma chooses to take her empty cola can home with her.

I remember Emma seeming very brave in that her naked, SL form graced the opening page of her blog at a time when few, if any, were prepared to do such a thing with blogs, and still aren’t, even skins often being routinely censored on blogs and even in stores. I asked her if she saw herself as a trailblazer for SL nudity.

‘No. I wouldn’t imagine I was first. There’s been a few short-lived blogs that have dealt with SL sexuality, Mine was short-lived as well. Despite it being a big, big part of most avatars SL lives, no one wants to deal with the sexual side of it. I think there’s definitely a market for it, but it is exceptionally time consuming. Even getting a decent crew of writers around you doesn’t lessen the work. I had several good people writing for the blog, which was a feat in itself. Many people are inarticulate, inworld and also in conversation. When the old crew broke up I didn’t have the energy to try to assemble a new team of writers. You left for this blog, Marlene (Macbeth) opted out of SL to concentrate on RL fundraising work for breast cancer charities. Others became more sporadic in their logging in. SL is a constant state of flux.’

Has Emma had any contact with the rest of her team of writers?

‘No. I left SL for a period, so no. Just you. I’ve not seen any of the others online in the time since I’ve returned, and I’ve not really thought about contacting them. I think we reached the end of the road, and people move on in their SL time, or move out of SL altogether. So, the answer is no.’

Could Jayne (Chun) take it over again? The last we heard 2ex was coming in under the SLNMPG umbrella (that’s the organisation that publishes this blog, and has plans for others), so maybe some sort of revival?

‘I’ve no idea. I ‘sold’ the blog, in that I passed the passwords over, so I couldn’t even access it now. It was a period of my life for a while, but now I’m pleased to be able to log in occasionally and merely socialise with others. Regarding the nudity, it seemed to fit with me ‘talking a talk’ in respect of the blog. I’m happy with the photos I posed for, but realistically I don’t even get my clothes off in SL that much anymore. Since I’ve popped back in, I seem to be shooting around sims that aren’t naturist or dealing with sexuality. It has been more a case of me exploring what I never got to see in SL first time around. Just going to places and admiring the builds, the scenery, the artworks, the inventory items available.’

Hi, I am Pierre and as my name suggests I am French. I do occasionally change my avatars’s name display tag to ‘Pete’ or ‘Peter’, depending on how Anglophile I’m feeling! 🙂

In RL I’ve lived in both England and America, so hopefully my English is good enough that you won’t even notice that I’m not a native speaker!

I’ve been taken on as a SLN writer to give the blog, and the cause of SL naturism, a male perspective. I’m not sure how this will begin and develop, but hopefully I’ll have things to say that perhaps will show a different side to SL naturism.

Pierre

Following requests, I’ve put the ‘Mr and Miss SL Naturist’ page back in place. I don’t plan to run any sort of Mr and Miss SLN competitions, I’ve put it back ‘for information purposes only’….unless anyone has any ideas as to what we could do with it.