This week on Planet Nude
Mexico City’s World Naked Bike Ride turned 20 this year, and the anniversary ride carried more weight than usual. What started in 2006 with roughly 450 riders and organizing done through Yahoo Groups has grown into one of the largest WNBR editions in the Americas — this year moved to August 1 to dodge a scheduling conflict with the World Cup. The piece traces two decades of the ride’s core idea: the exposed body on a bike as a literal protest against a city built for cars, not people.
Naked Age is back after more than eight months away, and this one was long in the works. The episode sits down with composer Leonard Lehrman and soprano Helene Williams, whose decades-long marriage and creative partnership has moved between political activism, serious music, and naturist stages. From an Emma Goldman musical to Leonard’s own Naturist Anthem, it’s a portrait of two people who never saw a reason to keep art, politics, and nudity in separate rooms.
Over on the New Nudist Podcast, Scott and Evan got into the mechanics behind last week’s big news: FUNN’s induction as the INF-FNI’s 41st member, ending a 17-year U.S. absence from the international table. FUNN treasurer James Nunn and INF president Stéphane Deschênes both joined to unpack what the seat actually does — not just the symbolism, but the day-to-day of dues, governance, and votes at the World Congress level.
Tito Adler is trading Pretty Beach for an apartment building. His new monthly comic, The Great Arcadian, is an ensemble sitcom set inside a sprawling naturist high-rise — think the Arconia from Only Murders in the Building crossed with the Pink Palace in St. Petersburg. Tito walked us through the inspiration and the goal: neighbors with ordinary problems, nudity as the given rather than the point.
And we pulled back the curtain on how the Sticker Club maildrop actually gets made—the print-run math, the deliberate curation, and why the club is staying capped at 100 members for the time being. There are still spots left if you’re interested in being one of the few: Join here.
Also worth a look: Waypoints headed to Karlsruhe for a club whose founding runs through a 1947 court case and a five-person split—good company for a week about origin stories and institutions.
Check out these stories and more from this week on Planet Nude. 🪐
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This week on Strips
The Great Arcadian #1
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News of the Nude
For the Philly Naked Bike Ride, some cyclists will have tire treads painted onto their bodies
PhillyVoice
A Charlotte-based bodypaint artist is bringing a free pop-up station to this year's Philadelphia Naked Bike Ride—taking place today! Artist Matt Deifer will be painting willing cyclists with a tire-tread design meant to evoke, in his words, the imprint of the road and the resilience of the human body. It's a small addition, but it lands on the same theme running through Mexico City's twentieth-anniversary ride this month: the naked body on a bicycle has always doubled as its own kind of protest sign, and artists keep finding new ways to make that message a little more literal.
Discord Dispatch
Our Discord just crossed 450 members, and the community keeps finding new ways to hang out beyond the usual meetup planning. This week's new addition: #One-Word-Story, a channel where the group writes a story together one word at a time—no phrases, no cheating with hyphenated combos, and no single person steering where it goes. Add your word and see what the collective decides to do with it. Punctuation counts as a turn too, so choose your moment for that period wisely. Scroll up in the channel to see where the story currently stands, then add yours.
Meanwhile, over in #Mail-Room, Sticker Club members are sharing their impressions of their August mail surprise.
Join us at discord.gg/8gt7D6ssMd — or click here to learn more.
Featured: 1 Naturist Life
After a 16+ year absence, the United States has officially rejoined the International Naturist Federation following the admission of the Federation of United Naturists and Nudists as the global organization's 41st member. The U.S. lost its international representation in 2009 when the American Association for Nude Recreation withdrew, leaving American naturists without a voice in global advocacy efforts. FUNN’s recent inclusion restores the country's involvement in the federation's ongoing work to protect and defend legal naturist beaches, campsites and resorts worldwide.
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