French avatar Sandrine poses for Harry’s camera

I found the photo, above, at Spencer Tunick’s tumblr site.

It resonated with me because I’d just been over at the Blue Lagoon Marina sim, and I’m impressed by the manner in which it is developing apace! A major BLM post is coming soon. One of the impressive elements of it is the ‘joined up’ nature of its roads, which are extensive. It’s possible to drive from one end of the BLM Estate to the other, through imaginatively twisting, turning roads. I’ll report on this, and other elements of BLM, in due course!

In just a few weeks they’ve developed an airport, church, gas station, diner, dance area and much more besides. It’s possibly the biggest SL naturist story for several years!

Ella

We’ve written about Gypsy Taub before. More than once.

For those who don”t know her, she’s a naturist activist in the San Francisco area, with her own website, My Naked Truth.

The latest entry to her page suggests that the San Francisco Police Department have permitted her ‘Love Parade’ to take place next weekend. Good news for all of us who wish to see naked living integrated seamlessly into a textile world.

That’s not to say that she’s not suffered her travails, previously having been arrested, as far as I know, when San Francisco decided to ban public nudity.

Here’s a small gallery of photos from last year’s Love Parade…

I did try to find an SL San Francisco, at which to stage our own small ‘Love Parade’ in support of Gypsy’s terrific work in San Francisco but unfortunately there doesn’t appear to be an SL SF right now, or any other SF landmarks, such as the Golden Gate Bridge, in which to stage it. I will be replicating Gypsy’s ‘Love Parade’ in Second Life later this week, however, just not set in San Francisco.

Ella

I mentioned, last week, that I was snowed under with work, and also that I had planned to grab some family time at the weekend. I did, but at some expense! Our walk began normally enough on Sunday afternoon, but ended in agony with some foot pain and me being unable to get it to the ground.

A trip to A&E/casualty/the emergency room yesterday revealed I’ve developed some sort of stress fracture in it. Not necessarily as a result of the walk, but the walk just brought matters to a head. To compound matters, I’ve an infection in the foot, so I’m on antibiotics, and trying to ‘save’ myself from the pain in the foot resulted in me giving myself a heel-sized blister on my heel! That’s actually more uncomfortable than the stress fracture right now to be honest. I’m not quite so plastered as the photo, but I’m on crutches and in the meantime I’m probably off work for a fortnight. Certainly I’m off until I’m able to (a) drive and (b) move around with some comfort on the crutches.

Every cloud has a silver lining! I’m pretty much being told, by my body, to slow down a little and not burn the candle at both ends. So it’s an opportunity to catch up with SL. All of my work is in work, so there isn’t much chance to do any! 🙂 and so I’m rather hoping we can get numerous SLN articles published while I’m stuck here on the sofa with the laptop. Mr. Keng can, happily, work from home on occasion, or split the time between home and his office, so he’s on child-minding duties as well as having been appointed chef and bottle washer for at least a couple of days.

So…’work’, for the remainder of the week, is SLN orientated! Every cloud, as I say, has a silver lining!

Ella

The suits worn by a couple of ‘college professors’ (above) are a L$1 prize in the ongoing ‘For Him 3’ hunt, and are the gift from Wilsons Designs.

I’m showing it for the reason that, dressed accordingly, neither model ‘looks like a naturist’. As I say, there’s something more of the ‘college professor’ look about them, or guys who -away from their profession- love more than tinkering with electronics, under the bonnet (hood) of a vintage car, or reading poetry in a library somewhere.

‘Clothes maketh the man’, as Shakespeare once wrote (in Hamlet, if memory serves). Mark Twain then tweaked that to read ‘Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.’ (Booooo!!!! You’re so wrong, Mark Twain!!!)

In naturism, I will often run into people in both clothed and unclothed states, and I’m always intrigued as to how their clothed state often belies the naturist underneath. It’s that old ‘you don’t look like a naturist’ meme again. What does a naturist look like?

Granted, the photos above show ladies dressed and undressed, rather than them being identifiable as real life naturists, but the point still stands. In their dressed state, the ladies go for a casual look, for comfort, rather than any style that suggests naturism as a lifestyle in their lives. I’ve spoken to real life grandparents dressed as, sometimes, grandparents do. Clothing that isn’t particularly flattering (and hey, it’s not just grandparents who do this…I dress for casual comfort too!).

‘Clothes maketh the man’ in terms of giving us ‘clues’. A policeman’s uniform, a nurse’s uniform, a businessman or woman’s ‘power suit’, a judge’s gown and wig all indicate their standing in society.

The old naturist maxim that ‘removed of our clothes, we all stand equal’ is very much a truth. I’ve had conversations with doctors, teachers, lawyers, construction workers and so on while they and I have been nude, and we’ve judged each other on who we are, rather than what we do. We’ve stripped off to create a much more equal society, something that the wider world could and should learn about, and quickly!

In the current world context, much is made of symbolic clothing, specifically the hijab or burqa.

I’ve wanted to do a post on these for quite some time, not easy in a Second Life that is in retreat from Islam, to some extent. When I started in SL there was a visible Muslim presence in SL, now largely gone, reflective of our real world, perhaps. It has been something that other SL writers, as well as myself, have tackled and failed to get to the kernel of over several years, and it’s something I’d like to get to grips with soon. What we’ve stitched together so far, with input from some Muslim SL avatars, may surprise you to some extent, and challenge some prejudices.

Hijab wearing woman

Burqa wearing woman

Ella