Welcome to Naked Season
Mary Conley
A friend of mine who's lived here for a number of years calls the first warm days of Spring in Eugene, "Naked Season." After spying her first man mowing a lawn topless, she'd come into the office and declare "Naked season has begun!" This was more of a public service announcement for those of us from colder climates where people generally stay as fully clothed as possible. She warned us that here in the Emerald City, we're likely to see the occasional woman mowing topless as well. Equal rights, baby. (So far, my only such sight has been at Country Fair and, welllll, that's Country Fair.)
One of the elements of the freedom we have here is certainly free speech, but according to this article in the Register-Guard recently, we've lost the privilege of amplified free speech. Due to concerns about the "level of what we consider illegal activities" such as drug dealing, defecation, urination and vandalism around the Wayne Morse Free Speech Plaza at Saturday Market, the plug is being pulled on the free speech microphone. I guess people weren't gathering to hear the free thoughts of their neighbors as much as to do other things on Saturdays. The few times I'd stopped to listen, I came away thinking that five minutes was often more than enough time to give somebody to air their thoughts.
I'll admit there are some scary looking folks who hang out on street corners here. You got your major tattooes... your weird bathtub plug earrings in boys' earlobes... metal piercings and rings and studs stuck through orifices and cartilege most people never think to stab through with sharp objects. Yet, I've gotten used to seeing them while I have a conversation with someone so adorned.
When you take those externals and combine them with the possibility of drug induced craziness and bad behavior, however, it can be toxic to your neighbors.
A local downtown restaurant and music venue, Cafe Paradiso, closed this year due to the wall of miscreants that customers had to break through to enter the place (or so the owner claimed). So far, I haven't been scared off by these characters. I mostly wonder why they have nothing else to do. Are they really homeless or are they just college kids acting out and trying to annoy their parents for a semester? They look too plump and clear-skinned to be meth addicts... but maybe I'm naive.
Now that naked season is upon us, I guess I'll be staying awake for the unexpected. And making sure I don't get peed on when getting my biweekly dose of free speech.
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11:12 a.m.
Apr 13, '06
The first warm spring day of the first year i taught at reed, i saw naked sunbathing on the great lawn.
The first "Renn Fayre" softball I played in that year, the catcher played nude. Eeewwww!
A new reality for this erstwhile east coaster.
Apr 13, '06
Sounds like you have something in common with some neighborhood association activists in Portland, who don't feel comfortable riding public transit in the downtown area anymore because of the types that are on board. They want to get rid of Fareless Square because of it.
It's a pretty ticklish situation. Is it prejudice against people who are expressive in unorthodox ways? Or is there a real danger? I'm interested to see how it will all work out.
Apr 13, '06
Paul, you mean there isn't an entirely naked softball team anymore? Sigh. Old Reed is dead.
Apr 13, '06
Your post reminded me of the other unofficial holiday in Eugene, which my friends dubbed "hippy christmas." It was the day every May when all the students moved out of town, leaving dumpsters full of practically new furniture, appliances and whatever, for the locals to pick over. (Okay, though not a hippy, I admit to celebrating the holiday myself.) John
Apr 13, '06
Becky: As my mother used to say, "It takes all kinds to make a world." And we have all kinds here... luckily. It's an interesting question to watch develop here as the downtown struggles to come back from years of Dead Zone-ness.
Re: Hippy Christmas Thanks for the tip. I'll keep my eyes open for that hallowed Holiday of Freecycling. I've already learned not to leave anything in my yard or on the sidewalk that I don't mean to give away...
4:01 p.m.
Apr 13, '06
Reminds of the time I was in grad school at the U of O. It was a fine sunny day when a VW bus pulled up in front of the bookstore on 13th Street. In nothing flat, 5 men and women jumped out of the bus fully clothed, striped off all of their clothes, left them in a tangled pile on the sidewalk and entered the bookstore stark naked. It really was a fine sunny day.
9:31 p.m.
Apr 13, '06
Dana Carvey used to have a bit called Naked Time. But Naked Time was limited to one's own children under the age of six, and lasted at most, a half-hour.
So it appears that Lane County has expanded the concept of Naked Time to a period of weeks, if not months, and to all ages. Just like I remember it: inclusive, diverse and free.
Apr 14, '06
Yes, two summers ago on the hottest night of the year, my wife and I came across a pelaton of 12 nude men and women riding bikes with lights at NE Knott & NE 9th. It was 10:30 pm.
Some smiled at us. One of the women wore panties. But, most of them looked dead serious (from discomfort?) and grimly stared straight ahead into the naked night, flaunting their freedom.
<h2>We couldn't stop laughing for days. Viva Naked Season!</h2>