nakedjen

This Isn't The Naked Photo You're Looking For

As you all may have heard (or perhaps you choose to ignore unpleasant news) the man who happens to currently occupy the White House and portends to be our President was here in Salt Lake for two days this week.  Two days!  Here.  In this city. 

My own sister, NeverNakedBeth, actually phoned me on the first day that the President was here to find out if I had gotten naked in protest?  When I informed her that I had not, but then shared that what I really wanted to do was infiltrate the $30,000 a plate dinner and perhaps get a photo with him naked, she implored me to please NOT do that. 

NeverNakedBeth knows me well. 

Because, you see, I do have what I like to call my "invisible ticket".  I have been able to make myself invisible for quite some time.  It's a parlor trick I learned while I was traveling with the Grateful Dead.  And if there's a venue with tight security that I want to enter, well, I just make myself invisible and walk right inside. 

I know it sounds a tad implausible, but I assure you I can do this.  It really isn't that difficult.  You could do it, too.

So I was all set to go up to the very expensive dinner chock full of secret service agents in Deer Valley and get myself inside and then grab my opportunity to take a naked photo with the President. 

Now, dear readers, I do not support our President.  I have never agreed with his policies.  I'm aghast most days when he even opens his mouth to speak.  However, a naked picture with him?  Well, that is a political statement I am more than willing to make.

But...alas...I didn't even go to Deer Valley.  I didn't get naked with the President.  I stayed in Salt Lake, went to the local protest, and decided that being naked with George wasn't going to happen on this particular visit.

So, this is not the naked photo I was hoping to share this particular Friday.  In fact, there's another naked Friday photo I was also hoping to share, but that one actually seems even more probable than the Naked with George photo, so I'll save the details in the hopes that on a future Friday I can share it with you. 

Imagine (or perhaps it is too scary to think about) a naked George with a naked Jen.  Perhaps that would be the start of a new and different world, indeed. 

P.S.  I keep hearing rumblings that the world food crisis and gas crisis and global warming is a complete fabrication of the Democrats in order to make the Republicans and current administration look bad.  Um, hello?  Fabrication???  I think people need to wake up, look at the real economic factors and realize that we're in deep shit.  And all of us are responsible for this.  Not a single political party. Not even a single bumbling political leader.  It's a global problem.  Not just an American one.  We must, absolutely must, acknowledge that we are all responsible and take that responsibility to make the changes necessary or it will only lead to bigger and more dramatic problems.

He Didn't Even Know She's Pregnant!

There was a knock on the door this morning at ChezNaked....

Nakedjen:  Oh sorry.  Just a second.  I'm on the phone with my agent.
The Architect:  Oh yeah?
Nakedjen:  Yes.  She wants me to be an extra in a movie with Brad Pitt and Sean Penn this weekend.
The Architect:  This weekend?  Where is it filming?
Nakedjen:  Out on the salt flats.
The Architect:  Really?  What kind of movie is it?
Nakedjen:  Something directed by Terrance Malick.  A fantasy of some sort.  I don't know really.  But I'm not sure I can really do it.  Because they also have dates in June they will need me.  I'm trying to find out what those are. 
The Architect:  That's right.  You're out of town.
Nakedjen:  Yes.  And I can't be in just part of the film.   But I can't imagine Brad is just going to show up when he's about to have babies!
The Architect:  Whose having babies?
Nakedjen:  Brad!  Well, Angelina, actually.  Two more.
The Architect:  You mean he's really having them and not just adopting them?
Nakedjen:  Yes.  Twins.  Angelina is having twins.  She's ensconced herself on some private island or something.  Don't you know how she goes into seclusion to have her babies?
The Architect:  No, and I don't care, really.  How do you know this stuff?
Nakedjen:  Everyone knows this stuff.  I just absorb it from the atmosphere.  How do you not know this stuff?
The Architect:  Um, I suppose it is because I am living my life and don't care?  And it doesn't really matter?
Nakedjen:  Oh.  Right.  Well supposedly they're having the twins any day now and how can he be here to make the movie if he's having the twins?  Don't you think he'll want to be there with her?  With his babies?  He's a good dad, right?  He's not just going to say, "Gee, thanks for popping those puppies out, I've got to go back to the set and make my movie now..."
The Architect:  Whose having the twins?  Where?
Nakedjen:  Brad and Angelina!?!
The Architect:  We can stop talking about that now.  Really.  I don't care about them.  At all.  Let's go to breakfast!

And perhaps, dear readers, that is the reason I find The Architect so very attractive.  He really doesn't care.  So much so that he doesn't even know!  It's actually kind of refreshing. 

They're Just Like Teenagers

Since the very day that I brought Buddha and Stella home from their mama's house, I have been rather obsessed with their diet.  Not in a bad way, I do not think?  But in a way that has ensured that they have always had the very best possible food to eat.  Food that was both organic and human grade.  Food that probably was better and more nutritious than the average American diet, sadly. 

I used to cook every single day for Clyde.  Organic chicken and vegetables and grains.  Plus a mixture of herbs and other supplements that were fantastic for his arthritis and other ailments as he aged.  Let's remember that Clyde lived to be 17.  He was quite the happy dog right up until the very end so I do feel that I must have been doing something right for him.  At least I was trying.

I would love to cook for Buddha and Stella, too, but truthfully, when they arrived the thought of cooking for two 90 pound dogs, twice a day, became a tad overwhelming.  So I did my research and discovered Honest Kitchen.  Which I was really happy to learn was an organic option that was chock full of the same human grade ingredients that I wanted to feed my dogs.  It also was a food that I cooked, but because it was freeze-dried, I could cook just the amount necessary for each dog for each meal. 

I know that sounds like a lot of work, but truthfully, all it takes is boiling some water and pouring it in.  There are days when I add in a few fresh herbs (not that the food isn't complete on its own, but some days I feel Buddha and Stella need an extra this or that) and I always give them a dollop of raw yogurt for some acidophilus, but honestly, Honest Kitchen dog food has been the perfect solution for Buddha and Stella.

However, they might tell you otherwise.

Today, while we were out in the dog park, they ate the following as a supplement to their 100% organic human grade diet:

A bag of marshmallows
A half-eaten Burger King kid's meal
A discarded peanut butter sandwich
Used Napkins
Half a can of uncooked Chef Boy-Ar-Dee Ravioli (this Buddha carried around like a prize!!)

Lovely, huh?  Of course they were unable to completely eat any of those things because when I discovered them eating these things, I implored them to "drop it and leave it" which, surprisingly, they actually did.  But not before they actually had eaten at least part of each prize.

My dogs.  They really are like teenagers.  I feed them wonderful, delicious, healthy, organic food.  And what do they eat when left to their own devices? 

Marshmallows and Burger King.   It's a good thing I love them as much as I do.  Imagine if I didn't??  Marshmallows and Burger King might be all they'd be eating!

Just Because I'm Naked, Doesn't Mean I've Lost My Mind

The news of me wrecking my car and running down the street naked has been greatly exaggerated.  Well, I don't know that the news has been greatly exaggerated?  I do believe that a woman did wreck her car this morning and did run naked down the street after doing so, but I just want to assure everyone who has contacted me about it that it wasn't me.

I promise.

It really was not me. 

If, for some reason, I do happen to wreck my car?  Whilst driving naked?  I will not run down the street.  I promise to stay and talk to the police officers and behave completely rationally.  Just because I'm naked doesn't mean I've lost my mind.

But at this point, I'm fairly certain all of you know that already.

Two Favors

Favor number one.

I am supposed to be leaving for Santa Cruz early next week.  I say supposed to be leaving because while I have every intention of going from here to there, at the moment, I have no place to stay once I arrive there.  Normally, this wouldn't dissuade me from just pointing my car in a westward direction and pushing the gas pedal and going anyway, but for this particular trip I am bringing the two big black furry dogs with me and it makes me just a tad more cautious.  I know they can manage quite well even if we are forced to sleep in the car the entire time we're there, but I'd rather we not have to do that.

I know I have a lot of readers in the Bay Area (and in Santa Cruz, in particular), so I'm asking for a favor. A really big favor. If you have a couch, floor space, a futon, a closet, that you'd be willing to share with me and the two big black furry dogs for a night or two anytime between June 1 and June 12, could you please let me know?  I'll be eternally grateful and will gladly make you your own very large batch of Clyde's Cookies as payment.  And can also offer a holistic consult or two or three and some Dreamsweet Organic Medicinal tea made especially for you.

The reason for my visit to Santa Cruz is because Pilar is graduating from high school.  Otherwise, I would certainly postpone.  I thought I had my accommodations all sorted, but it turns out it is not sorted (obviously, or I wouldn't be asking the Internet for accommodations) and so here I am asking for favors.  Again.

I know that the it will all work out.  It always does.  I just have to trust that there's some grand adventure in store for me and the big black dogs.  They, by the way, can stay in their kennel on wheels (AKA my car) and do not need to stay in your house, but it would be great if I can stay in your house if at all possible.

Let me know.  Like I said there are cookies and tea and holistic healing to be had in return for your kindness.

Favor number two is actually even easier.  It just involves sending an email on behalf of the environment.  You don't have to put up with me in your house or black dog fur tumbleweeds or anything like that at all! 
In fact, I'll just cut and paste and let Colin Bevan, aka NoImpactMan do the talking.

I really, really need support from all of you today (and I’m unashamedly bribing you with the offer of free Reverend Billy DVDs). But first I have to give you some background. Just read the bits in bold if you’re in hurry.

Next Friday, May 30, Representative Jerrold Nadler of New York’s Eight Congressional District has kindly agreed to meet with me in his New York office. As one of his constituents, I intend to ask Representative Nadler to support an effective global warming mitigation policy that is based not on what is politically possible but on what is scientifically necessary.

More specifically, I intend to ask him to:

    * Introduce, as soon as possible, a non-binding resolution to the House of Representatives asserting that we need a climate change mitigation policy with a goal of no more than 350 ppm of atmospheric carbon dioxide (read why here). Furthermore, the resolution should say that the United States must collaborate with the international community to achieve an effective successor to the Kyoto Protocol that will achieve the 350 goal or better (depending on how the science progresses).
    * Pledge to support the 1sky.org policy platform that also includes creating five million green jobs (through, for example, weatherizing our buildings and manufacturing solar panels and windmills), and placing a moratorium on the building of new coal power plants.
    * Pass on to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi a letter addressed jointly to her and Representative Nadler, in his position as Assistant Whip, asking them both to push for the introduction of new and the strengthening of currently pending climate change legislation to reflect the crucial 350 goal. This means, at the very least, aiming for an 80% reduction in climate emissions below 1990 levels by 2050 and a 25% reduction by 2020.

Now then, here’s how I was hoping you could help. My dream is to present Representative Nadler and Speaker Pelosi with between 350 and 3,500 (10 x 350) emails of support for these policy objectives.

Can you help? All it requires is a cut and paste job (see below).

Fellow bloggers: would you be willing to pass this request onto your readers?

Everyone: would you email this around and get your friends to pitch in?

Two bits of good news:

   1. Representative Nadler has been an ardent supporter of environmental issues ranging from the thorough cleanup of the World Trade Center site to securing federal funding for state conservation and wildlife grants. He received a score of 95% for his voting record in the 1st session of the 110th Congress from the League of Conservation Voters.
   2. Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping have provided me with five copies of their new DVD, What Would Jesus Buy (watch the trailer here). I’m going to give the DVDs to people who send in their emails of support (the 1st, the 35th, 100th, the 350th and the 1000th).

Here’s how to send in your email of support:

Simply cut and paste the below, making sure to substitute in your name, mailing address and email address, and send it to noimpactman+nadler+pelosi@gmail.com (it looks like a weird email address but, don’t worry, it will work).

———————

Dear Representative Nadler and Speaker Pelosi–

Thank you for your hard work on behalf of the people of the United States. It is indisputable that the health, happiness and security of the American people depends upon the well-being of our planetary habitat. It is also indisputable that the anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases is causing changes in our habitat that will adversely effect Americans on every level–from our health to our economy.

On May 30, Colin Beavan aka No Impact Man will visit Representative Nadler to express to him support for a number of climate change mitigation policies that are much stronger than those currently passing through Congress. Please consider this a letter of support for the measures Colin Beavan will be advocating.

Specifically, I support Colin Beavan in requesting that Representative Nadler and Speaker Pelosi both, together or separately:

    * Introduce, as soon as possible, a non-binding resolution to the House of Representatives asserting that we need a climate change mitigation policy that accords not with what is politically possible but what is scientifically necessary–a goal of no more than 350 ppm of atmospheric carbon dioxide (read why here). Furthermore, this resolution should assert that the United States must collaborate with the international community to achieve an effective successor to the Kyoto Protocol that will achieve the 350 goal or better (depending on how the science progresses).
    * Pledge to support the 1sky.org policy platform that also includes creating five million green jobs (through, for example, weatherizing our buildings and manufacturing solar panels and windmills) and placing a moratorium on the building of new coal power plants.
    * Push for the introduction of new and the strengthening of currently pending climate change legislation to reflect the crucial 350 goal. This means, at the very least, aiming for an 80% reduction in climate emissions below 1990 levels by 2050 and a 25% reduction by 2020.

Yours sincerely,

<Your Name>
<Your Mailing Address>
<Your Email Address>

So Here's To You, Mrs. Robinson

I know that I look much younger than I actually am.  I will thank good genes for this fact.  I will also chalk it up to the fact that I eat a very healthy very organic diet, I drink lots of water and I have the best skin care specialist on the planet. 

As we all know, the past few weeks I have been working at the hospital as a temporary employee.  Or maybe you didn't know that?  If you didn't actually know that, you do now.  However, if you were thinking of having an accident here in Salt Lake and having them rush you to the University Hospital so that I could greet you at the Emergency Room you're a day late.  I am no longer working there.  Remember, temporary assignment. 

I'm off now to do bigger and better things.  What those are will be revealed in good time. 

Let's revisit my few weeks at the hospital, though, just for a moment. 

One of the reasons I took the temporary assignment at the hospital was to meet new people.  While I have been meeting some very wonderful folks here in Salt Lake, I will be the first to tell you that I spend the majority of my days working from home.  Alone.  And that solitary existence can make a girl just a tad batty.  When your only conversation that you have in an entire day is with Buddha and Stella and it consists of telling Stella to please stop dropping that slimy tennis ball on your laptop for the one thousandth time and asking Buddha to please stop barking at every leaf that falls from the tree, well, yes, the idea of working at a hospital where you might actually have a conversation about something other than dog food, tennis balls and leashes sounds pretty darn appealing.

What I didn't expect to find at the hospital were all those cute boys. 

And I do mean BOYS.

It turns out that there are lots of boys that are employed by the hospital for a variety of reasons.  Not just as doctors.  But as nurses and aides and messengers and nutritionists and, well, the hospital employs over 10,000 people.  A lot of them are boys!

Now, of course, most of them are married and Mormon.  Or if not married, they're still Mormon and hoping to be married very soon.  Believe it or not, in Salt Lake asking someone if they are LDS is actually a very common question in your every day conversation.  There's no secret society handshake (or maybe there is, but I haven't witnessed it), but people actually do ask you directly if you're a member of the church. 

Even with all those married, Mormon boys (19 year old married Mormon boys!!) working up there at the hospital, there were still a lot of unmarried non-Mormon boys. 

I think I managed to meet them all.

It wasn't my intention to do so, honestly.  It just kind of happened.  I spent a lot of time at the hospital in all departments.  So I really did get to know everyone.  And let's face it.  I'm a gregarious girl.  I will, absolutely, talk to anyone.  Especially if they speak to me first. 

There was this boy. 
He spoke to me.
A lot.
He may have also found me in the cafeteria a time or two or fifteen. 
To share lunch.
Tonight he took me out to dinner.
And other things.
He's 22.
I'm older than his mother, I learned.
I thought he was older than he is.
He's never asked me how old I am.
I think he thinks I'm much younger than I am.
I will tell him if he asks.
He really is just a boy!

For Joey

This isn't the blog entry I planned on writing tonight.  That one is going to have to wait until another day.  Tragic events occurred today and, well, I feel compelled to share. 

This afternoon I drove to NeverNakedBeth's house for a visit.  I haven't been there in quite a while and I had some paperwork that she really needed and I also had a copy of last night's American Idol showdown on my computer.  NeverNakedBeth is always so busy being a mother that she never has time to actually sit still and watch television.  Like so many other people in this state of Utah right now, she has quite a vested interest in that little kid from Murray who keeps singing his way to the top on American Idol.  However, NeverNakedBeth has absolutely no clue how to download anything from the Internet and she doesn't seem to own a VCR that can record a television show so she always has me download the television show so she can watch it.

That is how I came to be at her house this afternoon with my laptop.  But it is also how Buddha and Stella happened to end up at her house this afternoon.  When I go to visit, I take the two big black dogs with me and they are NOT ALLOWED IN HER HOUSE but they are allowed to hang out in her fenced back yard.  They usually do so quite happily. 

It was while we were watching the showdown of the two Davids on NeverNakedBeth's very large projection television (have you all seen those very large projection televisions?  the kind that are like real movie theatres?  i think this one is 200 inches or something insane like that with surround sound and some kind of bass that makes the whole house shake!) when NeverNakedBeth's daughter, my niece, Heather came rushing into the room and screamed, "Those two big black dogs have eaten Joey!"

Joey is Heather's pet rabbit.  Who had been happily hopping about freely in the backyard.  Everyone at the house completely forgot that Joey was out and about and not in his cage when I arrived with the two big black dogs.  The two big black dogs who just happen to be hunting dogs and are, well, just a bit prey driven.

I was mortified and horrified.  We all ran upstairs to the backyard where we found NeverNakedBeth's husband scooping up tufts of white rabbit fur from all over the yard.  Just tufts.  That is all that was left of Heather's beloved bunny.

I immediately grabbed both dogs and removed them from the crime scene.  Heather was now sobbing.  My brother-in-law was so angry he could barely spit out his words at me and I was, as I mentioned, completely mortified and horrified that my dogs were even capable of such a massacre! 

But, as my sister NeverNakedBeth pointed out, they're DOGS.  And they're not only dogs, they're hunting dogs.  She felt absolutely horrible about the whole incident, as well.  She knew that Joey was out in the yard and not in his cage, but she completely forgot about him when my dogs arrived. 

She kept reiterating over and over again that it was a very unfortunate accident.

And I know that it was.  But I am still really horrified that my dogs, my sweet beautiful dogs, are capable of such a gruesome act! 

I do hope that Heather is going to be okay.  I know that it is a horrible, horrible thing to lose a pet.  And to lose a pet this way, to the jaws of your aunt's supposed beloved pets, is even more horrific. 

Buddha and Stella are no longer welcome at NeverNakedBeth's house.  I can't say that I blame her for revoking their invitation. 

Rest in peace, Joey.  You were a very well-loved and beautiful bunny.

When One Voice Is Silenced, We Are All At Risk

Thank you, to all of you, who tuned in from all over and listened to the radio program on Friday.  I loved hearing from you and also loved getting your kudos.  It was nice to hear that you thought I sounded at least somewhat coherent.  I did have a lovely time.  The folks at KRCL are fantastic folks.  Really.

If you were listening, you heard me talk a lot about how the exposure of our children to public nudity is truly a parental responsibility.  I meant that.  I do think it does take a village to raise a child and I have certainly contributed and done my share of helping to raise some pretty fantastic children on this planet.  I'm proud of my contribution!  But when it comes down to the moral safety of these children, to the things to which they are truly exposed, to their own values and the ways in which they see the world, I do feel that the parents play the primary role. 

You can disagree with me if you'd like.  I know and respect that each of you has your own opinion about this and that they are as varied as the there are types of people walking on this planet.  That's what makes life so very interesting. 

One thing, though, that is beginning to truly disturb me about our country (and here, I truly am talking about America and not the rest of the world) is how very conservative we are becoming.  How we seem to be taking more and more steps backwards.  We are becoming less and less tolerant.  Less and less open hearted.  Less and less accepting of those whose viewpoints are different than our own.   

All those civil liberties and rights that were fought so hard for and won beginning even during World War II and going forward are very systematically and slowly being stripped away in the name of Freedom. 

What freedom?  We're allowing ourselves and our voices to be shackled.  Is that freedom? 

I read this article today and was truly saddened by the possible implications for our First Amendment rights.   Because I am a woman who writes and publishes very openly here on the Internet about very personal and naked things, the idea that Karen Fletcher would be prosecuted for publishing fictional stories on the Internet truly is disturbing. 

Let me say that again.  They were fictional stories.  That she was writing to help ease her own pain.  When did we become a country that was intolerant of people writing to ease help themselves heal from their own pain and suffering?

I know that because she published these stories on the Internet she caused some sort of hullaballoo.  But let's think about this from a more moral and logical standpoint.  Yes she self-published her stories on a private web site on the internet.  Did she force me to read them?  No, she did not.  Did she send them to people who didn't want to know about them?  No, she did not.  Did she spam innocent children's email addresses with these stories and pollute their minds with these images?  No, she did not.

She wrote stories to help her heal from her own private hell.  Fictional stories.  She published them on a private, password protected website.  What on earth is wrong with that? 

When we start to prosecute writers for writing private material that is not even truly publicly shared we're crossing a very scary line.  Our rights as writers, as human beings in this country are becoming tenuous at best.

It makes me truly sad that Karen Fletcher feels she can not fight this.  I know she has to do what is best for her own mental health.  But I feel that this loss is a loss for all of us, not just for her.

If It's Friday, I Must Be Naked!

I know it's an old photo.  But you know what?  I can't help but look at it and smile the biggest and happiest smile. 

Today, folks, is Friday as you all may very well know.  Fridays, around these parts, we sometimes like to take our clothes off and get naked.  We call them Naked Fridays.  I started Naked Fridays back before I even started this blog.  I bet some of you didn't even know that, did you?  I'm also guessing that there are some of you who also have no idea why I started Naked Fridays and what they're really all about.

I'm going to tell you.

The reason I'm choosing today to tell you as opposed to last Wednesday or the second Tuesday from March 23, whenever that might have been, is because, well, obviously, today is Friday.  So it kind of sort of makes a little bit of sense to explain it today.  But also it just so happens that the good folks at KRCL radio here in Salt Lake City are going to have me on as a guest!  Can you believe that?  Public radio in Salt Lake City has asked me, Nakedjen, to be a guest?!  I just want to take this opportunity to point out that I lived in the Bay Area for 20 years and was never once invited to be the guest on a radio program while I lived there.  I move to Salt Lake City, a move that was seriously questioned by most of my friends and family, and what do they do?  They invite me to come and be a guest on the radio.  I'm not kidding about Salt Lake.  I really do like it here!  And not just because everyone is being so damn nice to me all the time!

Anyway, I was explaining about Naked Fridays. 

Even before I began this blog, I was already known on the Internet to lots of really fabulous people as Nakedjen.  And a lot of these fabulous people had some pretty unhappy feelings about their own bodies.  Feelings of hatred and remorse and guilt and shame. 

It bothered me that these beautiful women (and men) were so tormented by the shape of their own bodies.  They would share with me how they avoided mirrors.  How they would wear clothes a little too big to hide their shape.  How they avoided swimming pools and locker rooms and didn't even allow their own wives or husbands to see them naked. It was just awful to me.  Such self-hatred can only lead to bad things.  If we can't love ourselves first, how can we possibly be open to loving others?

So I started Naked Fridays.  I encouraged these people to spend a little time naked.  It could be 30 seconds.  It could be 30 minutes.  It could be all day.  But on Fridays, I encouraged them to get truly naked and celebrate the beautiful bodies that were uniquely theirs and theirs alone.

No one else has a body just like yours.  No one.  And let me tell you, no one else is as perfect and beautiful as you are, either. I know, I know.  Those of you who are uncomfortable being naked are shaking your heads and perhaps even laughing at my new age mumbo jumbo. But let me share this with you. I have received thousands (yes thousands) of emails from people all over this planet who have celebrated their naked bodies on a random Friday and realized that, yes, they are beautiful.  That yes, their body is worth cherishing.  That, yes, a naked body is a gift.  A gift that should never be shamed.

It makes my heart swell to know that there are so many lovely people in this world who have taken the chance, who have gotten naked, who have learned to love themselves just a little bit more because of Naked Fridays.  It really does. We're all only given one body during our journey on this earth.  Don't you think it's a good idea to really cherish and celebrate it? I do.  So, if you're in Salt Lake and within listening distance, feel free to tune in today and hear me blather on about this and other things from 6-7 p.m. on KRCL.  But if you're not?  I suggest that you go get naked.  It is Friday after all.

I Really Miss You, Uncle Jake!

It's probably no surprise that I'm still on the list of dog activists in Santa Cruz.  They're still trying to convince the city that they need an off-leash dog park within the city limits (and a beach!) for their dogs to have off-leash recreation.

As all of you who are regular readers of this blog know, I couldn't agree more.  I worked tirelessly to ensure that we'd have off-leash access for our dogs in Santa Cruz, but it was a losing battle.  And now, well, Buddha and Stella and I live in Salt Lake City where we do have some very amazing and beautiful parks for off-leash access.  The dogs and I run and hike together for over five miles every single day.

i am curious if there is another spot those regulars who used to visit dog beach / it's beach ~
now go to.  I ran into Jake's master today, we were both lamenting how the community just
does not exist now... and how sad our dogs are when we risk it and opt to get caught and
pay the fine. 
what would be an appropriate alternative ~ if there has not been one suggested ~ to meet on
a regular basis, like we used to at the now defunct dog beach? 
thanks in advance...

Today, I received this email.  And I have to say it brought real tears to my eyes.  Jake's master is one of my very closest and best friends from the dog park.  He befriended me the very day I arrived with Buddha and Stella.  Jake quickly became Uncle Jake to the puppies and Mike, Jake's owner, quickly became my old curmudgeon friend who even protected me from the crazy man with the knife!  Mike never believed that I was actually married to DearSweetDave and it was our own inside joke that David was just an actor whom I had hired to come to the dog park occasionally and "pretend" that he was my husband. 

When Mike and Jake lost their housing, I took pictures of Jake and created an advertisement for them on Craig's List saying that Jake needed a dog friendly home in Santa Cruz.  It worked and they found a really nice place to live.  I don't think anyone was quite as sad to see me leave Santa Cruz as Mike and Jake.  I do miss them quite a lot.

I'll say this again.  Dog parks are more than dogs running around barking and playing.  They're about the larger community of dog owners.  They're about exercise for both the dogs and their humans that help break down walls and truly create COMMUNITY.  They're about bonds between humans and their dogs, dogs and other dogs, and neighbors with each other. 

What's so wrong with that?  Santa Cruz touts itself as a peace loving and promoting COMMUNITY.  It is, unless you own a dog.