Bare Facts
Copyright 2000 Lake Edun Foundation, Inc.
Official Publication of the Lake Edun Foundation, Inc.
October 1, 2001
Box 1982; Topeka, KS 66601 Voice Mail: 785-478-BARN e-mail: benude@lakeedun.com Website: www.lakeedun.com
Chili Cook-off Rescheduled
Rain and cool, blowing weather dampened the spirits of contenders in the Chili Cook-off scheduled for last month. Undeterred, the event is rescheduled for October 13. So, find that supreme chili recipe and be prepared to warm up taste buds. Let the competition begin!
As was the case last month, the Cook-off will follow our work day. It will be a full day with lots of activity. We will have the work day, sauna, and Chili Cook-off. If the weather cooperates this month, it will be a great time.
If you believe you can make a winning pot of chili, you should participate; if you don't feel confident with your chili recipe, bring a side dish and join the fun. As in the past, anyone who does not either enter the contest or bring a side dish will be asked for a contribution to our Legal Defense Fund.
Return to Edun/10 Scheduled
At its September meeting, the Board of Directors scheduled our 10th annual Return to Edun celebration for the weekend of June 21-23.
For the past nine years, Return to Edun has established itself as the region's premier clothing-free event. Each year, hundreds of people come together to experience the joys of naturism. Although about half the participants claim it is their first such experience, nearly all look forward to enjoying a similar experience again. The Return to Edun celebration is characterized by good music, fun activities, careful security and great people.
Planning for this very special, 10th annual celebration will be headed by ptMike. If you are interested in helping, please contact us or talk with ptMike.
Plan To Attend Our Annual Meeting
Our Annual Meeting will be held on October 27, 2001 for the purpose of reviewing our operations for the past year, and electing a new Board of Directors. All members are encouraged to attend. In addition, we will be discussing our plans for the next several years.
All members will want to be at this important business meeting. Mark your calendar now so you don't miss it. It will be followed by our Halloween party so it should be a fun evening. All members will find directions enclosed.
Eduners represent talent in a number of areas. Continued success of LEF depends on our talented members volunteering to serve on our governing body to set policy and insure we provide a quality program for our members and the public we serve. This is especially true at this critical time. Review your time commitments; review your talents. If there is any way you can do it, volunteer to serve on our Board of Directors.
Luau Tremendous Success!
By Kelly "Dizzie" Cook
Labor Day weekend is always kind of bittersweet for me. It means the end of the warm days of summer and being able to go catch some sun at Lake Edun, but it also ushers in the fall weather, with the beautiful changing scenery.
This Labor day weekend was wonderful! It began with a tye-dying party hosted by Vickie and Carl. There were some really neat designs that I saw hanging out to dry!
In the evening, Chuck & Marianne brought fish to feed the masses. Some was batter dipped and deep fat fried some was grilled, and some was wrapped in foil with lots of spices and allowed to steam in its own juices. It didn't seem to matter how Eduners tried it, it was all delicious! Combined with a variety of offerings from everyone else, everyone left the table stuffed. Thanks Chuck & Marianne for the food and cooking the fish.
A Luau hosted by yours truly and Biology Bill followed that up on Sunday. Bill and I both enjoyed hosting the festivities, even though it seemed to take awhile to get the grills heated up and working! Many thanks to all of you who participated and brought some wonderful side dishes. When everyone left the table, they were stuffed.
By the way, whoever made the seven layer salad with the deviled eggs, would you please e-mail me the recipe? That was the best seven-layer salad I've had! (E-mail is Kellys1129@yahoo.com).
Those of you who stuck around Sunday night were treated to music on the beach and an impromptu version of the Hokey-Pokey! That was quite a sight, let me tell you! We hope to be able to do this again next year and hope you will all join in!
So! To summerize: Saturday we had a great time and ate 'til we were stuffed; Sunday we had a great time and ate 'til we were stuffed; Monday we had a great time and ate leftovers 'til we were stuffed. Not a bad weekend!
DON'T FORGET
Oct 13; Sat; 10-12; Board of Directors meeting
Oct 13; Sat; noon-4; Work Day
Oct 13; Sat; 4-6; Sauna
Oct 13; Sat; 6-7; Chili Cook-off and Pot Luck
Oct 14; Sun; NH Bowling-Independence, MO
Oct 19; Fri; 8-10; HN Swim; Elite Aquatics
Oct 27; Sat; noon-4; Work Day
Oct 27; Sat; 6:30; Annual Meeting & Election of Board
Oct 27; Sat; 7:30; Halloween Party
Nov 10; Sat; 10-12; Board of Directors meeting
Nov 16; Fri; 8-10; HN Swim; Elite Aquatics
Dec 29; Sat; Winter Party
June 21-23; Return to Edun/10
A Few Lines From The Prez:
by Eldon Rice
lakeedun@mail.com
This will be a hard letter for me to write. As it is the last letter that I will be adding to Bare Facts as president.
Lake Edun is going through a transition period. It is a long and tough one as well. I know that a few of the members are not happy with this, but it will be a better place in the long run. You just have to believe in the reason you joined in the first place. It is still there. These things take time to implement. We have made a few changes in policy at Lake Edun. Some are very good, and a few that are a bitter pill to swallow. There are many more changes in the works. Just remember the whole reason Lake Edun exists.
Thanks, Eldon
From The Mail Bag
Dear Lake Edun;
I visited Lake Edun last Sunday. The grounds are the best I have visited . The people are the greatest. All make you feel welcome and enjoy meeting new people. Chuck and Marian, Cookie and the others are great and send a warm and friendly welcome to a first time visitor. The beach and lake are wonderful; everyone in the area is lucky to have Lake Edun so close. It is two hours for me to drive but it was well worth it!!! I hope to camp for a weekend some time so I can enjoy the lake and the people who enjoy being free. Thanks Again
Please thank all who were there on Sunday
Jim V.
Dear Lake Edun;
I really love Lake Edun. Any time of the year, all you have to do is open your eyes and see the beauty, listen to the wonderful nature sounds and smell the excellent scents. You can even taste some of the berries (although I wouldn't recommend this unless you are positive as to what they are ).
I think some people need a gentle reminder of how wonderful our special place is. We need to remember that Lake Edun is only as beautiful as we make it. This includes our attitudes towards each other. We need to try to be more respectful of each other. If you don't care for someone or something - fine... Separate yourself from it. There's lots of room to wander. We need to remember to treat others as we wish to be treated.
Let's try to keep our place beautiful in all ways.
- Marian
Dear Lake Edun;
Thank you for the information regarding labor day weekend. My wife and I made it to both of your open houses this summer and had a wonderful time on both occasions. Although she was some[what] reluctant on our first visit, she now feels very much at ease. Everyone was so friendly. We would very much like to visit again this weekend, and to come to any other events you may be having this fall. We hope to join next year and to attend as often as possible. Thanks again for some wonderful experiences.
- Don and Glenda
Student Memberships
Recently, the Board voted to offer, on a trial basis, special membership rates for students. We have received a number of inquiries from students in the past about becoming members, but very few have taken advantage of our facility. The Board hopes more will do so as a result of the new membership rates.
Student memberships are available to full time students enrolled at an accredited school who are between the ages of 18 and 25. Annual costs for students is $150/single and $200/couple. If you know someone who may be interested in taking advantage of this opportunity, please contact them and also let us know so we may follow-up.
Help Out At Work Day
Our first work day of the Fall got rained out. Weather this time of year is unpredictable and not all work day's happen. Plan to join us either October 13 or 27 (or both) to help us get through a list of things we hope to complete before winter sets in.
This is a pleasant time of year. Weather is generally cool and it is easy to make considerable progress on projects that are really not too pleasant to work on during warmer weather. Plan on joining us.
Random Thoughts & Reflections
The new Feist phone directories are out and we are in it! We are listed in the business white pages. We can also be found in the yellow pages under Camp Grounds, Recreation, and [something else]. Thanks to ptMike who negotiated with the Feist people to make this happen!
Just because the weather seems to be turning does not mean Lake Edun has nothing to offer. Eastern Kansas plays host to some glorious fall days. The sun is bright, the air is warm, and nights are crisp. What could be better for a weekend at our special place! Enjoy the fall colors of Eastern Kansas; take a stroll on the trails that go around our lake; observe the changes Biology Bill has been telling us to look for.
We have a 50 foot pole. It would be great to fly an American Flag from the top of it. If you have a large American Flag you are willing to donate, please contact us.
Volunteers Make It Happen
Although he is a new member, many Eduners are already enjoying the fruits of Bret's presence in our midst. He gladly took on responsibility for final editing and competing our video, Lake Edun: Exposed. This involved revising the script, selecting the video footage to use, recording the narration, and putting it all together. It was a huge task!
As if that weren't enough, he also finds time to assist with upkeep at our special place. He has even provided his own chain saw to help gather fire wood. Bret has also been seen combing the trails for litter and he was a great help at Return to Edun.
If you haven't met this wonder-member Bret, yet, be sure to take time to introduce yourself. You'll be glad you did.The Naturalist Naturist
By Biology Bill
Last month I wrote about the signs of the season - autumn is forecast not only by falling temperatures and more clothing, but also by changes in rainfall, humidity, and especially daylength and the times of sunrise and sunset. Animals (and plants) get ready for the impending winter by changing their behavior, feasting to put on fat, going dormant, or simply leaving. At the end of the article I mentioned the monarch butterfly, a familiar insect that is common throughout our area, and its amazing migration through the United States into central Mexico every autumn. On sunny afternoons in September the butterflies were easily seen moving through the eastern Kansas prairie; driving on I-70 you did not see flocks of the insects, but one solitary migrant fluttering south across the traffic every few seconds. One of the amazing things about the migration of the butterflies are the methods the insects use to tell the way - among other things the height and angle of the sun (see last month).
This month I'd like to talk a little about bird migration. Although we in the temperate United States think of birds going south for the winter, and returning in the spring, that is only one pattern of many both here in America and around the world. Firstly, migrating species come and go throughout the seasons. The early spring migrants arrive from the Gulf Coast and Latin America as early as late February (for instance grackles and red-winged blackbirds), while others arrive as late as late April or May (examples nighthawks, cuckoos). Many birds are simply on their way through, as are many warblers and those big flocks of gulls you see soaring by. Later in the season, birds stop breeding as early as the beginning of August (upland sandpipers), but most hang around until September or October.
These birds might use several cues to tell them when to think about the seasons changing. As I wrote last month, the change in day length is the most reliable one - by late August, even though it might be quite hot, the sun goes down earlier, foretelling the coming autumn. Even earlier, although summer may have been only starting in late June and July, birds might not start a new nest because food sources had changed from spring, or because the summer heat was not ideal. A final cue to tell them to leave in the fall might be the reaching of a certain day length, a certain snap of cold weather, or the loss of some food source because it has gone dormant for the winter.
Of course, there are still many birds around after the summer breeders leave in September and October. First, there are many species that stick around all winter. Chickadees, nuthatches, crows, woodpeckers and others may change their home ranges somewhat, but don't go anyplace. Other birds like blue jays might migrate over short distances (up to a couple of hundred miles). Some species like robins might be found in eastern Kansas the entire year, but individuals we see in the summer are different from those that are here in the winter! Our breeding robins might migrate south to Texas or Mexico, but others that breed in Minnesota might think Kansas is their kind of winter warm-weather destination. And there are several species (examples white-throated sparrow, song sparrow) that are only found here in the winter - they breed up in Canada or the northern United States.
So, how do these birds know where to go on their migration routes? Some species easily travel 3000 miles or more ("I just flew in from Mexico City, and boy are my arms tired!"), and often at night. In the 1960's, a study at Cornell University put indigo buntings in a planetarium, and learned that they use the stars for signposts. Stars close to the north pole, perhaps the Big Dipper, may provide essential cues for these birds. They may obtain directional information from the star patterns, much as we do ourselves. However, scientists have often reported large oriented flights on overcast nights, detected by radar. It remains an open question whether these birds are able to use high altitude winds, geological formations and other cues. One theory suggests that migrating birds are able to sense the earth's magnetic field and travel along its clines.
So, if any of you think about taking a trip to the Caribbean this winter to warm up, think about how you know how to get there. Some backyard friends of yours just might be there, and they didn't need airplane tickets.
Items We Need
Circular saw & blades 2-way radios
Last Opportunity To Buy TNS Items
With the end of a really good season, we will be returning to TNS some of their items we have offered to members and friends. We still have a fairly good selection available. If you are interested in purchasing something for yourself or to use as a gift, make arrangements before Monday, October 29.
Fun Things To Do In Topeka
The days are getting shorter and cooler, but October still provides us with plenty of beautiful weather to enjoy outdoors. Here are a few things going on in Topeka:
Oct 6 Memory Walk for the Alzheimer's Assn. Topeka Chapter, contact Marcene Grimes 234-2523
Oct 6 Dollar Day at the Topeka Zoo. Contact 272-7595
Oct 6 Washburn University Ball, Convocation Hall, Washburn University. Contact Lisa Hase 231-1010 Ext. 1020
Oct 7 Blessing of the Animals at the Zoo. Contact 272-7595
Oct 7 Apple Festival, Ward Meade Park. Contact Sara Leeth 368-3888
Oct 20 BOO at the Zoo. Contact 272-7595
Uncovered Opinions
by Dave Bitters
Where Was God?
Like most everyone else, I'm struggling to gain perspective on the shocking events of September 11. Herein is my imperfect attempt at it along with some ruminations on how the naturist experience fits into it all.
An article in the Religion section of the Kansas City Star (09/21/01) asked rhetorically, "Where was God?" This searching question referred, of course, to the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
The author polled several religious leaders and classified their responses. One category was "we don't know." Karl L. Barth, past president of Concordia Seminary in St. Louis wrote, "We can, of course, never fully comprehend in this life the 'why' and 'wherefore' of God's dealing with us." He added that "Nevertheless, we confess with Isaiah that we are not immune to God's judgment. We remain 'a sinful nation, laden with iniquity.' "
Another category posited man has a free will, therefore makes independent choices of good and evil. Muzammil Siddiqi, past president of the Islamic Society of North America wrote "Islamic theology says everything happens by the will of God, but this does not mean that God is pleased with everything. God has given free will, and he wants us to use our freedom in the right way. But if God would interfere with everything that we do, then people would not have freedom; they would be acting as robots."
Then there was the "wages of sin" view. Barth hinted at it but Jerry Falwell expressed it more forcefully: "I really believe the pagans, the abortionists and the feminists and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America, I point the finger in their face and say, 'You helped this happen.' "
Interestingly, the article omitted the views of neo-pagans, let alone those of free-thinkers, backsliders or skeptics. Practitioners of Wicca might have argued that everything one does comes back threefold: do a good deed and you can expect to be repaid for it threefold; do an evil deed and you can expect evil to be thrice repaid.
The problem of how to explain human behavior extends beyond inquiry into the urge to smash airplanes into buildings. Those who have followed the travails of Lake Edun over the past three or four years know that social/ recreational nudity, which some of us accept as harmless and uncontroversial, nevertheless has the power to inflame and outrage. Indeed, in the larger culture the body taboo seems to be more rigidly in place now than thirty years ago.
How might we explain this? The emerging scientific discipline of chaos theory and nonlinear dynamics might offer at least metaphorical insights. Nonlinear systems sometimes exhibit the property that a small change in an input produces a large change in an output. It's called the "butterfly effect." Also they can have "strange attractors" - equilibrium states toward which the system eventually will converge, though perhaps unpredictably.
Cultures seem to manifest the phenomenon of strange attractors. For instance, this might plausibly explain the difference between, say Austin, Texas and Lawrence, Kansas regarding nude recreation. Both are university towns and both are located in the Bible Belt. Both claim to be centers of progressive thinking in their respective regions. But small differences in public policy in Texas and Kansas almost two decades ago set Austin and Lawrence on vastly different paths regarding naturist understanding.
Austin has a well-known and popular county park set aside for nude recreation. McGregor Park (AKA Hippie Hollow) generates parking revenues sufficient to support the other county parks. By contrast, latter-day Lawrence, despite its supposedly liberal tradition, seems to find the idea of public nudity anathema. A suggestion a decade ago to convert a beach at a nearby state park to clothing-optional use resulted in the passage of a county anti-nudity ordinance.
In his article "Nude Bathing, No Controversy" in the August, 1987 issue of Parks and Recreationmagazine, George Harker documented the policy decisions that led to the formation of McGregor Park. In the 1970s this was a neglected site that had developed an unsavory reputation. Harker described the nudity at Hippie Hollow as part of a more complex youth culture of the period. To address problems of trash, vandalism and theft, in 1983 Travis County and the Lower Colorado River Authority jointly provided $500,000 to develop the area as a county park, providing parking lots, signage and a mile-long trail. Harker indicated that few people objected to the nudity and prohibiting it was never at issue. Parking revenues generated since completion of the project have repaid the initial investment many times over.
Kansas took a different approach. In the Naturist Society quarterly for spring, 1997 (Nude and Natural 16.4) Judi Ditzler documented that in the 1970s a peaceful nude bathing tradition had developed at Lake Henry, a few miles west of Lawrence. In 1978 the state leased several hundred acres adjoining Clinton Lake (including Lake Henry) to develop a state park. Douglas County officials saw no problem with managing the nudity at Lake Henry rather than prohibiting it. But state officials had another view. TheUniversity Daily Kansan quoted Kansas Park and Resource Authority manager Walt Settles as saying "The skinny-dipping will have to stop. I personally don't care one way or the other. But once the park opens, the public won't accept this."
It soon became clear, though, that there was little public support for banning the nude bathing. So KPRA took a different tack. KPRA director Lynn Burris, Jr. stated, "We cannot permit swimming in that lake unless we have rules, regulations, sanitation facilities, fresh water and parking." But neither did the state offer to provide these. In fact, on Dec. 15, 1978 KPRA amended K.A.R. 33-1-11(b) to include "Nude swimming and sunbathing are prohibited." Thus did KPRA end the nude bathing tradition (not only at Lake Henry but throughout the entire park system) by administrative fiat, opposition notwithstanding.
Public policy affirmed and managed the naturist tradition in one place, denied and quashed it in the other. Once affirmed and supported, it can flourish. Once lost, it's hard to recover; people simply have no experience of it.
The term chaos can be applied more than metaphorically to the events of September 11. It's clear that supporters of the terrorists relished the chaos they caused. The effects of their actions probably will be transitory, though. If the self-similarity model applies to the current situation, we probably will rebuild New York, the economy will recover and we'll emerge from the anti-terrorist campaign as strong as ever.
Still, the terrorists already have succeeded to some extent. They got our attention. The talking heads on television aver that the country has been "changed forever." The tightened security at airports (and elsewhere) that we may eventually view as an overreaction set in motion an irreversible process. We'll get used to the inconvenience. We may find ourselves good-naturedly assenting to random searches of automobile trunks, wiretaps on our telephones, 100% scrutiny of our e-mail and other things we would have found troublesome a few months ago. (Who knows what uses law enforcement will make of the powers they've gained in the name of security once we've overcome the terrorist threat?)
Militant religionists may find their hands strengthened, too. The government backed away from calling the operation against the terrorists "Operation Infinite Justice" because, we learned, this offended some Moslems. They claimed that only Allah is infinite. (One wonders how many of the offended people ever took a calculus course.)
Will we also accede to Falwell concerning "the pagans, the abortionists and the feminists and the gays and the lesbians" (and I might add the naturists) because he and his ilk find them offensive? Will we be more inclined to tip our hats to those who oppose nudity, under the rubric of public safety?
Or, will we wonder aloud just what the fighting was all about? President Bush declared the attack on the World Trade Center "an attack on freedom." This term becomes more elusive the harder one thinks about it, because freedom fromand freedom to may be mutually inconsistent; because collective liberty isn't always synonymous with individual liberty.
When the campaign ends we should be prepared to make the case that freedom to choose one's attire (or lack thereof) belongs among the basic freedoms we fought to preserve. I probably wouldn't choose to walk down Main Street without clothes, but what if I did? The remedy for people who might object would be for them to simply look the other way. (Hint: eventually they'd get over it.)
Maybe when the current madness ends, the body phobia of the 1990s will come to seem quaint and archaic.
We should work toward this.
Board of Directors Responsibilities
2002
The Board of Directors sets policy and implements the program for the Lake Edun Foundation. Board members meet monthly as a group and as needed with their committee. Each member of the Board chairs a committee with specific responsibilities and makes periodic contributions to Bare Facts.
President:
Preside at all meetings of the Board of Directors. Sit as an ex officio member of all committees.
Secretary:
Keep minutes of meetings of both the Board of Directors and members. Maintain membership records. Carry on correspondence with members and with others for the Foundation.
Maintain contact with all appropriate national organizations including TNS, NEC and NAC. Educate our membership on the function and importance of these organizations. Encourage support among our members for these groups.
Treasurer:
Account for all money and property owned by the Foundation. Pay all legitimate invoices in a timely manner as directed by the Board. Make regular financial reports to the Board.
Education/Outreach:
Implement the educational mission of the Foundation to the public through seminars, press releases, articles, presentations, meetings, interviews, etc.
Bare Facts Editor serves on this committee. Edit, write articles for, produce, print and mail our monthly newsletter.
The Web Master also serves on this committee. Maintain and enhance our presence on the Internet.
Education & Outreach committee is responsible for spreading the word on the beneficial impact naturism can have on the individual, the family, and our community.
Member Relations:
The overall purpose of this committee is to improve membership retention. Screen new applicants. Make a recommendation to the Board concerning their suitability for membership. Maintain contact with members; determine problems or conflicts that may develop with their membership. Work with the Social Committee to develop meaningful activities for all members. Remind members we have not seen about upcoming activities. Keep all members active and interested in the Foundation.
Promotion/Publicity
The promotion and publicity committee should work in concert with the Education Committee to arrange for appropriate publicity of our foundation with the objective of improving the public perception of nude recreation in general and increasing membership in the Foundation. We want to present nude recreation as a healthy alternative to other forms of family entertainment. We should strive to be featured positively in news stories twice during the year.
Social:
We realize not everyone will be comfortable with the Naturist lifestyle at first. The Social Committee must plan and coordinate special activities throughout the year that implement our educational objectives with our membership and permit members and guests to learn firsthand about the benefits of naturism. It should plan indoor events during winter months when use of our leased facility is not practical. It should make a special effort to conduct events that will attract women and families to the Foundation. Major summer activities should be limited to not more than one per month.
Return to Edun is a sub-committee. It plans the annual Return to Edun celebration including entertainment, security, and all aspects required for the safe execution of this event. Our objective for Return to Edun is to host an event to provide an enjoyable introduction to nude recreation for those who may not have tried it in the past. This committee should plan an event that is safe, enjoyable, and attracts new people to try the clothing-free lifestyle and then join the Lake Edun Foundation.
Lake Edun Association of Kids
Represent to the Board the interests of children of Foundation members. Promote events designed to involve children so they become comfortable at Foundation activities and parents recognize the benefits on their children's development. Elected by LEAK.
Facilities:
Insure we meet our obligations for maintenance as required by the terms of our lease. Organize our resources, including work days, toward achievement of these obligations. Coordinate with other committees to insure their requirements are met. The facilities committee is also responsible for insuring firewood is available for all friendship fires.
Conservation:
Insure we meet our obligations for conservation as required by the terms of our lease. Organize our resources in coordination with the Facilities Committee to achieve these obligations. Our lease requires we maintain a rustic, natural setting. This committee must plan ways that will tend to encourage suitable plant and wildlife growth. This includes planting trees and shrubs and attracting compatible wildlife. This does not mean all plants and wildlife are desirable. Poison ivy and other noxious and annoying plants must be discouraged. Likewise, beaver that kill trees or muskrat that damage the dam are not desirable. Our objective is to balance the needs of desirable plants and wildlife against our lease requirements.