<p><a href=“http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060825/od_nm/vermont_nude_dc[/url]”>http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060825/od_nm/vermont_nude_dc</a></p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>Hey, better than shooting each other in Essex. :(</p>
<p>Lderochi, funny that I have to read CC to find out what is going on in Vermont! I had not seen this news story. However, I live very far from Brattleboro, as I think Bethie likely does too. When I first read the thread title, I thought for sure you were going to ask about the headlines in our paper today which are tragic headlines, so was surprised that is not what you are talking about. As far as the article you linked to, I didn’t know they had the law in Brattleboro about public nudity but hey, guess those kids are not breaking the law. Must be fodder for lotsa small town gossip (and more) down there. </p>
<p>The tragic news story I thought maybe you heard about, might not be big news in some city but VT has very little hard crime of this sort. But the headlines today are of a man who went on a rampage and killed two people and injured three (he is one of the latter). It stems from a domestic dispute supposedly. However, it took place at three locations and ONE of these was an elementary school where school has not yet started but the teachers were there for inservice days. This guy’s girlfriend, who apparently had just broken up with him, worked as a teacher there. However, he shot and killed a different teacher and injured others at that location. Very tragic. Very rare in VT. As well, I am sure school children will fear going to school there next week. </p>
<p>My D’s acting coach lives in that town. He teaches acting at a theater school in NYC but two years ago, moved his family to VT for the lifestyle, and commutes back and forth to NYC during the week. I’m wondering what they think of leaving NYC and now this in his lovely town in VT where his kid goes to school. </p>
<p>The nudity story is a MUCH better one!</p>
<p>PS, I did not see Mini’s post before I posted but there you go…was thinking the same thing.</p>
<p>Unfortunately I heard of that story as well, but I’m very happy to have the chance to post a much lighter one. The bad stuff can happen anywhere, I’m afraid. I’m not sure you can say the same about random outbreaks of teen nudity. And nude hula hoop contests? I like Vermont even more.</p>
<p>I was returning to school today (drove home last night, and saw it on the news) and UVM is one town over. Everyone was buzzing about the shooting- very rare and very surprising for us. I drove through Essex Junction today and there were definitely fewer people out on the streets and sidewalks, even though it’s a lovely day.</p>
<p>Nude hula hooping? UVM is known for the infamous “naked bike ride” in which a few hundred students strip and bike through campus with a few thousand onlookers.</p>
<p>Naked bike ride? Sounds painful!</p>
<p>So there we were sitting in a very nice resturant in Chicago looking out the window about 10:30 one late winter night this year. All of a sudden about 50 naked, most male, bicyclists came riding up Michigan Ave. G___were they ugly. They should have kept their clothes on. </p>
<p>What do yo think that was about?</p>
<p>You probably saw the local contingent of participants in World Naked Bike Ride (WNBR), which usually happens in March and June. Quoting from the Wikipedia article linked above:
They weren’t doing it to entertain you or to be judged, trust me, and they don’t care if you think they’re ugly. I personally think the human body is beautiful, whatever its size, shape, color, age, gender, or completeness, and I think it would be a healthy thing for American society to learn from our European cousins to be more casual about our reactions to nakedness.</p>
<p>And no, it’s not actually painful to ride a bike naked, if you pay a little attention to a few details.</p>
<p>/soapbox</p>