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Nude Saviour

She doesn't appear to be a gritty heroine with her wide smile and blue eyes. And yet, Elizabeth Young and her husband, John, not only saved Desert Shadows Inn in Palm Springs from the wrecking ball, but they are also keeping alive the nudist dream.

Today, Elizabeth and John own the renamed Desert Sun Resort www.desertsunresort.com that appears to be thriving despite the economic downturn. One should consider that the property nearly didn't even make it to, let alone through the recession, in 2008.

"I hate to think back to the negative times because when we took it over it was so painful," Elizabeth told the Naturist Society's "N" Magazine www.naturist.com. "Everything was being shut down. The gardeners were let go and the pools were being turned off. When they (former owners) walked out the door at midnight they did take everything possible, including the phone system, the computer system, and everything..."

Elizabeth even recounted how a Norwegian couple showed up on the doorstep of then-Desert Shadows Resort, only to spot a sign saying the resort was closed. Talk about a bummer. One of the resort homeowner's came to the rescue and let them stay at their unit for the week.

The story has a happier ending. Today, the pools have been replastered, the hotel rooms have been remodeled with free Wi-Fi. What has not changed is the resort is "clothes free," rather than the more common "clothing optional." Sorry gawkers, no free shows at DSI.

From a public relations standpoint, accomplished, intelligent and telegenic women are the future of nude recreation. They are quite normal and yet they enjoy going without their clothes. What message does that send to women as a group?

The same can be said for Sharon Picone, the vegan nude chef from Florida with her au naturel cooking videos www.nudechef.com

It is easy to get discouraged about the future of nude recreation and then you see a wide smile and bright eyes . . .

The Nude Chef

As many who have followed this blog know Godiva has been highly critical of the antiquated PR effort of the American Association for Nude Recreation www.aanr.com, particularly its sleep-inducing monthly membership newspaper by the super-charged name, "The Bulletin."

Even though the subject of nude recreation should convey excitement for both existing and prospective members, most of the items are relatively dull and predictable. However, there was a glimmer of light in the February edition, a story about the Nude Chef http://www.thenudechef.com/

Her name is Sharon Picone, 45. She originally hails from South Africa and lives in Florida with her husband, Paul, and as the title of her website suggests, she loves both cooking and nudity . . . and does both at the same time (except for cooking with oils).

"I decided that I wanted to combine the joys of being a naturist as well as my passion for cooking,” she told the Bulletin. “There's a connection between our bodies in their natural, unclothed state and the food we eat. It just boils down to a simplicity of life, being nude and also my philosophy of consuming simple, natural, healthy foods.”

In her case, no beef, chicken, pork, fish etc. She is a dedicated vegan. She extols the virtue of the vegan and nudist lifestyle in her videos. She is hoping to parlay her love of cooking and nudism into an eye-catching television program.

The AANR Bulletin reported that Picone sells her down-loadable book and three short cooking videos on her site. The videos were not the easiest to produce because she had to convince a student film crew that her nude cooking video did not have some hidden agenda

“As soon as they hear you're going to be nude, they think porn,” she told the Bulletin. “So I had to assure them that it would be legitimate, nothing seedy at all.”

Sharon deserves credit for having the courage of her convictions, demonstrating to the world that nudity can be a perfect complement to a daily activity, such as cooking. Godiva is a little concerned that Sharon's guest book and testimonials is mostly made up of the male of the species (Didn't know there were so many male cooking enthusiasts). Come on, sisters let's support Sharon!

A young, beautiful and classy woman like Sharon (watch her videos if you don't believe me) should serve as an ambassador for nudity. As Godiva has stated before the future of nude recreation lies not with men, but with women who are confident enough to take the plunge and to stir the pot.