American Association For Nude Recreation

Happy Nude Year

Canadian Polar Bare Swims Start The New Year

It wouldn't be the new year without polar bare swims, a tradition for nudists everywhere. Canadian nudists had a variety of events to choose from this year. Don Pitcairn, the president of Surrey's United Naturist Association organized Surrey's first Polar Bare Plunge, reports canada.com. The noon hour swim was scheduled for the noon hour at Crescent Rock Naturist Beach. Pitcairn says he'd been a skinny-dipper most of his life and frequented Wreck Beach, the popular nude beach in British Columbia, but this was his first polar bear swim.

Other festive swims included the 87th Polar Bear Swim in Vancouver, which has attracted up to 2,000 people. One of the swimmers at another event, the Deep Cove New Year's Penguin Plunge, will be 83-year-old Juanita Valentine. The event raises money for PADS, a group that trains dogs that help the disabled. In Ontario, the Toronto Polar Bear Club will dip into Lake Ontario to raise money for Habitat for Humanity. Read more at Polar Bare Swims.

Photographer Asked To Remove Nudes

A photographer in Lexington, Kentucky, took his photos and left behind his award ribbons after being asked to remove two nude photos from his display at the Kentucky Horse Park's Southern Lights promotion. The Lexington Herald-Leader reports that Frank Becker wasn't angry, just disappointed at the request. Both of the photos in the Creative Camera Club exhibit featured a nude woman but there was no frontal nudity involved. One of Becker's photos was judged best black-and-white photo in the exhibit. Another photographer also was asked to remove a photo that featured a nude. The park said it was trying to maintain standards for the family-oriented event. Read more at Nude Photographs.

Nudity No Big Deal

Acclaimed actress Dame Helen Mirren says she doesn't understand the fuss over her past nude scenes in film. Mirren, nominated for a Best Actress Golden Globe award this year for "The Queen," has been "getting her kit off," as they call going nude in England, since the late 1970s. Mirren's best-known nude scenes were in the popular 2003 film "Calendar Girls," which started a wave of nude calendars to benefit various charities.

"I just don't see the big deal," Mirren recently told Morley Safer during a "60 Minutes" interview. In fact, Mirren even suggested they do the interview in the nude. Read more at Mirren.

My Baby Is A Nudist

Duke Tumatoe has led his own band for 29 years and is still going strong. This month he is touring behind his newest release, "You've Got the Problem," featuring a mix of humor, traditional blues, and country. One of the most popular songs from the new CD is "My Baby Is a Nudist," which the DesMoines Register calls one of the songs on the CD that is "full of gut-level honesty and relate to most of the problems for the American working person."

Tumatoe grew up playing with and learning from legendary artists Buddy Guy, Bo Diddley, Albert King and more. He is also one of the founders of REO Speedwagon. Watch the MySpace video for My Baby Is a Nudist.