More FRN

[eyesup]

Jbee made a post here in Public Promotion of Nudism/Naturism where it links to a National Geographic article. It is about getting the newer generations of kids interested in visiting the National Parks. A park ranger talks about how kids are not interested in being outdoors.

My experience with young people in nature was the opposite of the writer of the National Geographic article. My son and daughter were both in Scouts. My wife and I were campers before the kids came along and we continued after. I was an active member in an astronomy group when we met and we kept that up also. My kids were raised with a knowledge that nature is not only in your backyard and out there away from the city, it is also out there beyond the moon.

As I read I was saddened to discover;
“Young people,” Jonathan Jarvis, director of the National Park Service, told me, “are more separated from the natural world than perhaps any generation before them.”

He pointed to a framed picture hanging in his office, one of the iconic views of Grand Teton National Park, bathed in glorious evening light. . . . when a similar lovely picture was shown to inner-city kids, growing up without a tradition of national park visits, Jarvis had an epiphany.

“It looked scary to them. Empty. Forbidding. Not welcoming. They said, ‘Where are all the people?’ We had the same experience when we brought a group of students from Los Angeles to Death Valley. They wouldn’t get out of the van. The quiet, the pure darkness, unnerved them and threatened them.”

How can you communicate how wonderful it is to run, walk, climb or swim through such landscapes clothed or naked when the very quiet and solitude is threatening? Wearing clothes is a layer of protection. Sometimes the weather demands it. But the protection sought by those that cannot even step out of a van in a developed national park is not found by wearing outdoor gear or even everyday outfits seen in the city.

Failure to see and understand how we can be connected to and be a part of nature is at the root of that type of fear and uncertainty. It is what developers prey on when seeking to obliterate yet another pristine landscape with a patina of cookie cutter communities masquerading as civilization.

When I see those photos I am motivated to go there, not hide. When I stand on a bluff and view 360 degrees of nothing but the natural world I do not run to my car to escape. I would rather learn how to live in it. I don’t understand the reaction of the children.

I am aware of it and why they think that way and that is what I find sad.

Duane

[jbeegoode]

Sounds like those kids were afraid of the dark. It didn't tell us how old they were, or did it? Did it tell us how they were warned about snakes and scorpions? Kids, especially Junior high, are more interested in what they know, and the social scheme around them, like a party. Having done maybe 50 to 100 field trips, I found that quite often, the kids just want to socialize and be cool. Cool being something that they brought with them that they know. The entertainment and learning are not so important. Often they don't care to be outside of their box. I suspect that he just experienced some of this and it supports the perception he has been hearing and the nature of the article. Kids love nature like ducks to water. It's in their nature. They do need to be taught what else to do with it, and how to respect it.

The urban kids around this town are disconnected from nature, especially in the poorer areas. They do video games and are carted off to activities like soccer, etc.  They stay away from the desert if there is any. In the summer, they stay indoors. Maybe, when they experience it, it will hit them like being naked outdoors for the first time.

The comment about white people practicing being homeless got me. That was certainly insulated, and egocentric. Maybe it's not that they don't appreciate nature, but we don't appreciate technology and fancy shelters filled with convenience as much as we should?  We may be the last generation to go camping? I think not. REI and local Summit Hut, are not geriatric centers...but are still very white.

More for us, I suppose. They can stay in hotels, take tours and never venture further than a few hundred yards away from that, while we are nude and free and attuned in the fantastic distance.

It is getting about time to get granddaughter out camping. Seven is a good age to begin teaching. We took her hiking in a forest on Mt. Lemon. Big people do it, ya know.
Jbee

[nudewalker]

Not that it has anything to do with FRN directly but I ran into this article. www.campusreform.org/?ID=8189 which goes to show that now body image is going to determine who goes outdoors? And over Speedo wearing guys? Sure would like to get in touch with those who are dissenting and take them on a nude hike.

[eyesup]

Oh why not!

You could make the club inclusive to everyone, regardless of gender, natural or designed.
Everyone no matter the ethnic background, no matter the age or hair color, body shape or size.

Let's just include everyone.

Oh, wait! We already have that!

It's called Claremont College!

Duane

[jbeegoode]

Not that it has anything to do with FRN directly but I ran into this article. www.campusreform.org/?ID=8189 which goes to show that now body image is going to determine who goes outdoors? And over Speedo wearing guys? Sure would like to get in touch with those who are dissenting and take them on a nude hike.

Sick! And I don't mean slang for cool. Being unfit is a choice, just like being fit. Any handicap, disabled can't participate, so it isn't done? What's wrong with reveling in ones good health and using it for its purpose. I ain't gettin' this.
Jbee

[JOhnGw]

At this rate they could ban WNBR because some people can't ride a bicycle.

[eyesup]

Or the Olympics, or spectator sport in general, or participatory games no matter the venue.

Because someone some where just might be offended or have their sensibilities disrupted lets not do anything, at all any where any time.

Where is all this PC nonsense headed and when will it end?

Duane

[JOhnGw]

Or the Olympics, or spectator sport in general, or participatory games no matter the venue.

Because someone some where just might be offended or have their sensibilities disrupted lets not do anything, at all any where any time.

Where is all this PC nonsense headed and when will it end?

Duane

It's not PC that's at fault - it's jobsworths using PC as an excuse to get totally non-PC results.

[jbeegoode]

"Jobsworth" is one of those colloquialisms that didn't make it across the pond. I looked it up and yup, that sounds about correct. I thought that it was a satire at first.
Jbee

[nudewalker]

I think our version  here is "jagoff"!  Those petty public servants that feel their job title enables them to be the arbitrator of the rules. Or club officials that feel it is their right to make the rules. Or decide what is PC or not.

[ric]

it always used to be "little hitler"  but i guess it changed to jobsworth when we got in the eu.

[eyesup]

I've always heard "Little Napolean".  Same difference, same behavior!

In a mature society, “civil servant” is semantically equal to “civil master.” - Robert Heinlein

I was reading an essay by Heinlein once and he advocated making the bureaucrat work as hard for his pay as he was working to make your day miserable. If the public servant is being an obstructionist, invent as many tasks as you can for them to do. He claimed it was the only way to get the value out of the taxpayer dollar spent on the pay.

Duane

[Greenbare Woods]

I've always heard "Little Napolean".  Same difference, same behavior!

In a mature society, “civil servant” is semantically equal to “civil master.” - Robert Heinlein
Duane

There should be a 10 year lifetime limit on government employment at all levels.   Government should NOT be a career for anyone.    Government officials and bureaucrats should have to spend most of their careers having real jobs producing real services or products. 

[eyesup]

I've always heard "Little Napolean".  Same difference, same behavior!

In a mature society, “civil servant” is semantically equal to “civil master.” - Robert Heinlein
Duane

There should be a 10 year lifetime limit on government employment at all levels.   Government should NOT be a career for anyone.    Government officials and bureaucrats should have to spend most of their careers having real jobs producing real services or products.

A good idea!
There should also be some limit placed on these layabouts with regard to the issue of the "double dippers", especially when COLA's are implemented. Those are more costly than the original plans. 

Duane

[Greenbare Woods]

There should also be some limit placed on these layabouts with regard to the issue of the "double dippers", especially when COLA's are implemented. Those are more costly than the original plans. 
Duane

Government service should NOT have a retirement plan.   It should NOT be a career for anyone from the clerk to the President.  Do it for your country for a SHORT time, and then get a real job in a real industry.  Or work for the government for a short time after retiring from a real industry.

The only exception might be the military, but even they should not be able to get full retirement and full pay concurrently.