Au Naturel

 “What spirit is so empty and blind, that it cannot recognize the fact that the foot is more noble than the shoe, and skin more beautiful that the garment with which it is clothed?” Michelangelo Buonarroti

 Medici Tombs sculptures by Michelangelo

When Michelangelo painted male nudes on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel in The Last Judgment, religious conservatives were displeased and after his death ordered draperies painted over most of the exposed genitals and buttocks.  When the painting was restored a generation ago, the Catholic Church chose modesty over, in the words of art critic Jonathan Jones, “a chance to remove the additions and reveal the full glory of the resurrected flesh.”

In the March 2016, issue of Journal of American History David Allyn reviewed Brian Hoffman’s “Naked: A Cultural History of American Nudism.” Allyn includes this quote by Hoffman:

  To grow and prosper in the United States, American nudism negotiated the fluid boundaries of sexual liberalism by architecting an appearance of respectable normalcy even as many of its early advocates supported sexual experimentation, radical politics, and homosexuality.

I recall Adult movie theaters in the 1950s and 1960s showing films of nudists seemingly devoid of sexuality playing volleyball and exercising.  Ironically, according to Hoffman, the family-oriented nature of the nudist movement became its greatest liability, “as officials have begun to worry loudly about the inherent potential for child exploitation at family-oriented nudist resorts.”

 above, drawing by Dale Fleming; below, "Dune Faun" by M.P. Waldron

In 2013 I wrote an article for South Shore Journal entitled “The Dune Faun: Diana of the Dunes’ Male Counterpart,” about a naked beachcomber whom author Webb Waldron encountered in the 1920s.  In a section titled “Au Naturel” I wrote:

      During the Roaring Twenties a group of intrepid young women living near Michigan City formed a group called the Dune Dancers.  According to area resident Don Van Vomen, “Their claim to fame, shocking in those days, was to dance on the beach in very shear veils.  One by one in the moonlight, as dusk was coming, they would release their veils until they were dancing nude.”  At this same time male clubs formed whose members embraced the physical culture movement and commonly disrobed when away from gawking strangers.  Some were open to those who embraced a gay or bisexual lifestyle.

      Nudism as a social movement spread from Germany to the United States during the 1920s as a healthy way of counterbalancing the stresses of modern industrialized, urban life.  In contrast with Europe, where social nudism eventually gained a large measure of acceptance, in America self-appointed guardians of morality viewed displays of nudity in a sexual context as immoral.  Even so, during the 1930s the largest nudist club in America, the Zoro Nature Park, opened in Northwest Indiana.

 giant sundial at Naked City

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Every couple years during the 1970s the Post-Tribune would do an exposé on Naked City in Roselawn, sometimes at the time of their annual Miss Nude U.S.A. contest.  According to P-T editor Dean Bottorff, reporters would scramble for the assignment.  In an interview Vietnam Veteran L.T. Wolf told me about visiting Naked City in 1972 with neighbor Diane, who was first runner-up in its Miss Nude U.S.A. contest.

  You drove a good distance and just left your clothes in your car.  The only clothes people had on were shoes or sandals.  A bunch of people, from children to grandparents were walking around or playing games like volleyball.  It was pretty boring and depressing.  The wild goings-on, I heard later from Diana, were behind closed doors and reserved for certain select long-time members.  The average person wasn’t going to get anywhere near them.

During the 1980s IUN professor John Dustman took students in a Human Sexuality class to nudist camps in Roselawn.  The purpose, he claimed, was to expose them to inaccuracies in people’s minds as to what’s going on.  Interviewed for my oral history of IU Northwest (Steel Shavings, volume 35, 2004), Dustman said:

      One year I took 16 students to Naked City, the biggest damn truck stop that didn’t sell gas you ever saw.  On a tour a 15 year-old kid was talking about orgies, and it was sleazy.  Of course, this was my intent.  Guys were gesturing to us to join their group.  There was a unisex bathroom with no doors on stalls.  A couple students went in and quickly came out, saying they could wait.

      We went to a legitimate place, and the husband and wife owners and a 90 year-old geriatric conducted the tour.  They’d run ahead to explain why clothed people were walking through.  We ended up at the volleyball court and swimming pool.  It was a hot July day.  I went in to get a copy of the rules.  When I got back, my students were in the pool.  Being a professor, I couldn’t join them.

I love book reviews that dare to be different.  Writing about Steven Dillon’s “Wolf-Women and Phantom Ladies: Female Desire in 1940s U.S. Culture” in the Journal of American History, Paula Rabinowitz, author of “American Pulp: How Paperbacks Brought Modernism to Main Street” (2014) passed on this personal information:

  Toward the end of her life, my mother (with the maiden name Wolf) spent hours watching movies from her youth on television; she was obsessed with Howard Hawkes’s To Have and Have Not (1944).  Turning 16 just weeks after Pearl Harbor was bombed, she spent the war as a Brooklyn College student, marrying soon after V-J Day, then worked as a social worker in the New York City Welfare Office and an auditor for the Textile Workers’ Union of America until her first daughter was born a decade later.   She was fascinated by the film world she had spent hours viewing with her girlfriends as they wiled away the war in a city emptied of men.  In 1944, her contemporary, the 19 year-old Lauren Bacall, looked far more sophisticated than my bespectacled mother when, in the film, she leaned into jaded Humphrey Bogart’s room and reminded him that all he needed to do was whistle.  Bacall’s casual sexiness and brazen seductiveness still amazed her; how could she compete?  She may have been called Wolf, but to Hollywood, my mother was a mere phantom.

Over the IUN library public address system I heard someone say, “Will Terrance Durousseau please report to the circulation desk.”  Durousseau was a student of mine 13 years ago, and I had used an excerpt from his “Ides of March” journal in “Gary’s First Hundred Years.”  I rushed down to catch him, but he had already departed.  Here’s an excerpt from his journal:

      While working at Church’s Fried Chicken, a man reeking of alcohol placed an order and then asked for a refund, claiming what he got was not what he wanted.  Then he placed a smaller order and pretended he’d been short-changed.  He asked for the manager, Ali, who checked the bleed-box, where 20-dollar bills are dropped as soon as they are collected.  It was empty, but the man still left in an outrage.  I got a call from my older brother Cool Breeze thanking me for his birthday gift of ten dollars and the funny card featuring a woman in a bikini on the front.  It said, “Tammie is going to remove her top for your birthday.”  Inside was a chimpanzee named Tammie.

At bowling Frank Shrufran needed to double in the final frame for the Engineers to win a second game and series.  He came through, so we picked up five points rather than just two.  My best game was a 158; my score was 96 after five frames but then had three splits.

Steve McShane and I spoke to a dozen Archives visitors from Twenty-First Century Charter School about a class project on Gary. Steve showed photos of the building and operation of Gary Works and discussed reasons U.S. Steel chose Northwest Indiana as that Midwestern site for its state-of-the-art new integrated plant.  Because student are researching white flight, I mentioned that geographical mobility has been a constant in American history and involved both push and pull factors.  From its earliest days Gary residents sought to escape the pollution and overcrowding and relocate to neighborhoods both within and outside the city – opportunities denied African Americans until the mid-1960s for most Gary neighborhoods.  Beginning in the 1980s, “black flight” to Merrillville, Griffith, Portage, and other previously all-white suburbs drained Gary of many middle-class families.  The students had so many questions I didn’t get to have them recite, as planned, from “Gary’s First Hundred Years.”

At Gardner Center in Miller Jeff Manes had a reading and book-signing for “All Worth Their Salt: The People of NWI, volume II.”  I read lines from his 2012 interview with son Dave, who mentioned being close friends with fellow East Chicago Central teacher (now retired) Leon Kendrick, whose interview also appears.  On hand was John Bianchi, who worked 38 years in Inland’s Steel’s coke plant.  Bianchi, Manes wrote: “walks with a cane these days.  He attributes that to years of working underneath the pusher and the door machine changing shear bolts and the countless times he carried a pair of 60-pound idlers to the top of the coal handling section of the coke plant.” 

Also on hand was Mary Kay Emmrich, whose parents owned the Hilltop Bar in Morocco, located in Newton County.  Nicknamed the Bucket of Blood, the Hilltop, Mary Kay told Manes, “was a farmers bar.  Papa always said if there was dirt under the bar stools, there was money in the register because the farmers had been in.”  Cullen Ben-Daniel read the lines of Jack Gross, who came to America in 1940 at age 6 and graduated from Gary Horace Mann in 1952.  He told Manes:

  When I was growing up, people bought their groceries on credit.  They worked in the mill or a place that supported the mills.  After a couple weeks, when they got paid, they’d pay their grocery bill – same thing with clothes.  Everything was credit.  There was a mutual trust.  But sometimes people would up and move – you lost money.  If a person is working, they can pay; if they’re not working, they can’t pay. What are you going to do?

Manifested Dreams

“Given a chance I’m gonna be somebody,” Kings of Leon

As WXRT’s Saturday morning show reminded me, it’s been 30 years since Harold Washington was elected mayor of Chicago.  I stayed up most of the night to watch the returns and Washington’s victory speech.   Like now with Obama and in 1968 with Richard Hatcher, some whites just couldn’t accept a black person running City Hall, and what ensued in “The Windy City” became known as the Council Wars. Topping the radio station’s 1983 album listener poll was “Speaking in Tongues” by the Talking Heads, which opened with “Burning Down the House.”  It was a big year for Michael Jackson, with “Billie Jean” and “Beat It” demonstrating that the Gary native was at the top of his game.  Both Van Halen and the Pointer Sisters put out hits entitled “Jump.”

Becca and James participated in “Singing the Manifested Dreams,” a three-hour tribute to East Chicago Central musical director Leon C. Kendrick, who is retiring after 36 years.  Both grandkids were in the chorus and amazingly knew all the words to the songs, including one partly in Swahili and with a verse in sign language.  James was swaying to the gospel numbers with a broad smile on his face.  Becca was in several dance routines, including a scene where she was wearing a choir robe.  It was so hot in the auditorium, and especially on stage, that her glasses flew off.  She quickly retrieved them before they were stepped on and continued with hardly missing a beat.  She also brought down the house singing “A Better World” in a routine with two of Kendick’s young grandsons.  They received a standing ovation.  The entire show was done professionally and very moving, at times resembling a rousing church service.  Two male dancers were remarkably talented and sexy.  Speaking of which, an alumnus did a scorching Tina Turner impression to the strains of “Proud Mary” in a medley that included “Tutti Fruity” and “Just My Imagination.”  The crowd especially responded to Kendrick’s composition “Stand Up and Cheer East Chicago” and the Gospel Legends classic “Don’t Let the Devil Ride.” 

Dave was the announcer but joined me for part of the first act.  Next to me were Patti and John Teague (Angie’s dad); she looks remarkably fit but is bedeviled by a bad back.  A kid in front of me mostly played video games on a hand-held device; behind me was a beautiful woman with an infectious smile who reminded me of a young Diana Ross.  I said hello to Richard Spencer, listed in the program as Sign Language Choreographer, and to his mom, who reported that son Tony, an army dentist and high school friend of Dave, was being sent to Japan.  During intermission I ran into soccer coach Castulo Perez and thanked Dr. Kendrick for including James and Becca in previous productions and for being such a good mentor to them and so many others.  Three daughters dedicated “Love’s Anatomy” to him and their mother Yvette, nicknamed Precious, his wife of 34 years.

Sunday morning I stopped by Dave and Angie’s to congratulate the kids and see the new Camry Dave leased after the transmission failed on their old one.  James reported that he ate seven bananas between rehearsal and the show since the only other available food was a single piece of pizza.  Angie thought the kimono Becca wore in the “Multicultural Garden of Love” scene was something I brought back from Hong Kong 20 years ago.  Maybe so, I can’t recall.  Still in Grand Rapids for Alissa’s birthday and an event Josh coordinated called “Build a Better Block,” Toni saw the new “Star Trek” with Phil and Delia.

Sunday’s NWI Times contained an article by Diana Poulton about Garrett Cope.  Wife Barbara said that fellow teacher Anne Thompson introduced them when she needed help with the set for the play “Hansel and Gretel.  “In one afternoon, I had a forest, an oven, a house for Hansel and Gretel, and trees, all made from butcher paper and poster paint,” Barbara said. “He was so talented and could do so much with so little.”  Describing his talents directing musical numbers, Barbara said, “He didn’t plot it out on paper; he did it as he was watching it onstage.  He never screamed or hollered. Everyone just loved Garrett because he never got angry.”

FBI seizes files, June 2012, Times photo by Kristen Smith; Scott King and George Van Til, photo by John J. Watkins

Lake County surveyor George Van Til was indicted for allegedly having employees engage in campaign work.  One person on the payroll just one month complained of being asked to pick up a tuxedo from the cleaners that Van Til subsequently wore to a political event.  George is a good man and ably represented by former Gary mayor Scott King.  If the government indicted every elected official whose employees engaged in political work, there’d hardly be any left.

The 2013 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony opened with John Fogarty, Tom Petty, Jackson Browne, and Don Henley joining in a tribute to Randy Newman, who was in good voice himself.  Sadly Albert King and Donna Summers didn’t live to enjoy their induction, but Rush and Heart (neither among my favorite bands) rocked out impressively. At the Billboard Awards Taylor Swift was a big winner, but what made the news was Miguel landing on a woman’s head during a number and a crotch shot of Jennifer Lopez lying on her back in a revealing outfit with her legs wide open.

 “Room 237,” is a documentary about weird theories of hidden meanings in Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining.”  One claims Kubrick was admitting complicity if faking the Apollo 11 moon landing.  Some believe it is about the extermination of Native Americans.  In one scene is a canister of Calumet baking powder.  Since “calumet” means peace pipe, the suggestion is that it calls attention to broken peace treaties.  Since the Overlook Hotel was built on Indiana burial ground, that might explain young Danny’s visions of rivers of blood spilling from the elevators into the room.

A stiff neck caused me to sleep in a different position and I scratched the left side of my face as a result.  Hate when I do that.  Driving along 80/94 listening to “Unbelievers” by Vampire Weekend on WXRT, I spotted two women kneeling by an access road.  One was consoling the other, as if a loved one had died in an accident nearby.  State cops, including one on a motorcycle, had pulled over several vehicles in the speed trap between Central and Broadway.  On Broadway near the Little Calumet bridge two people were trying to nudge a big snapping turtle off the road. 

Nephew Aaron “Beamer” Pickert is visiting in early June on his way back from a business trip to Fairbanks, Alaska.  It will coincide with Game Weekend at Wades and a Blues Cruise gig at the Portage marina.  Beamer is a gamer and the whole family can’t wait to see him.

Anne Balay posted photos of her father’s wedding.  I am going to audit Anne’s Summer II Women’s Studies class to see if there is any legitimacy to alleged student complaints about her classroom comportment.  Recently a colleague following my coverage of Anne’s “p and t saga” on my blog questioned the assertion that her detractors were on the wrong side of history.  It was her understanding that the cause of the unfavorable tenure decision was that she “ran into problems in dealing with students.”  In other words, her superiors supposedly had no problem with her personally, they were simply reacting to numerous student complaints.  The question remains: were these complaints valid or did they come from detractors who couldn’t handle a “queer” teacher and thus were on the wrong side of history?  I responded to my colleague in this manner: “So what were the ‘problems [Anne] ran into’ with students?  While it appears that she was too rigorous a grader in the eyes of a few disgruntled grad students, most complaints appear to have had to do with students feeling intimidated by her being an open lesbian feminist or finding fault with readings where LGBTs were treated sympathetically and homophobes unsympathetically.  It is these detractors that I feel are on the wrong side of history.  How sad that administrators gave their "problems" with her more weight than the unanimous recommendation of the English Department promotion and tenure committee, which included such distinguished members as Mary Russell, Ana Osan, and William Buckley, while neglecting the excellent work Anne has done with so many other students, many of whom have presented scholarly papers at conferences here and in Bloomington.”  I also mentioned that when I was History Department chair, I frequently received student complaints about professors.  Ironically, most were leveled against our two best teachers, one for using the "F bomb" and other profanities, the other for rude and insulting comments about those who arrived late or left his class early.  While respecting academic freedom, when I received valid complaints, I responded to them and tried to have the problem remedied.

Despite Summer I having begun a week ago, IUN’s campus has seemed deserted.  At the History and Philosophy office I noticed on the schedule that most offerings were Internet courses.  I suppose there are some advantages to students and faculty, but isn’t something lost in the way of social and intellectual exchange if there is no classroom.  I guess those in charge believe it is cost effective in the short run, but the department lost $30,000 in summer faculty salaries.  Diana Chen-lin is teaching two courses for the price of one because neither had 15 students and otherwise would have been cancelled.  The administration raised the number of slots in Chris Young’s Internet course from 30 to 40 and as a result only 13 students enrolled in his second section, costing Chris an estimated $6,000.  The secretary called 57 students to tell them the bad news that their classes were cancelled.  Many were not happy and will be less likely to sign up for classes on campus in the future.  One wonders, will more and more Internet classes also be the trend in the Fall and Spring?  When January comes around, how many students will opt for an Internet course rather than get dressed, drive through snow, and come to Gary?  Are precautions in place to assure quality control and prevent fraud and cheating?  The long-range implications of this trend seem disturbing.  When I think back on college, I recall dynamic professors and a vibrant campus atmosphere.  What will the memories of the next generation be?   How soon before trustees and legislators decide campus buildings are superfluous?  Will Indiana University morph into a glorified University of Phoenix?  Are you and other officials studying the implications of this rapid expansion of “long-distance learning” on the traditional university?

Due to Tea Party influence, Virginia’s Republican Party selected extremist Ken Cuccinelli to be their candidate for governor and Reverend E.W. Jackson as his running mate.  The black minister has compared Planned Parenthood to the KKK, claimed Obama had Muslim sensibilities, and asserted that homosexuals have perverted minds and condone pedophilia in their advocacy of complete sexual freedom.  What a sickie Jackson must be, and what a travesty that he has been able to win non-profit status for his organization STAND (Staying True To America’s National Destiny).  Commenting on the Internal Revenue Service being under fire for holding up requests for tax exempt status for Tea Party groups, Ray Smock wrote: “There is no question that the IRS needs improvement and that tax laws are often unjust.  But it is not because the bureaucrats screwed up while trying to figure out how to handle the flood of requests by tea party organizations for tax exemption, it is because corporate America and super rich America are not paying their fair share of taxes because they can afford lawyers and lobbyists to write loopholes into tax code.”

I attribute the growing tolerance towards same-sex relationships in part to the sexual revolution.  Where once oral and anal sex were seen as homosexual perversions, many heterosexual couples now engage in these practices.  Ten years ago by a vote of 6 to 3 (with William Rehnquist, Clarence Thomas, and Antonin Scalia dissenting, the Supreme Court in Lawrence v. Texas struck down sodomy laws in 14 states and declared that consenting adults had a right to sexual privacy.