This was college.

I just rediscovered this article from our college newspaper that I'd taped into a scrapbook years ago.

 

I'm pretty sure most people don't associate college with rampant nudity, but this is just a drop in the bucket of examples I could list from my years at Knox. There was the mass streaking of the Freshman Preceptorial Lecture in the fall of 1992, the '94 back-to-school moonlight celebration in the middle of the football field known as The Bowl (I remember vast piles of clothing scattered along the grassy ridge overlooking the field - you were only allowed down if you were naked), the annual Williston Run, and countless occasions when people would randomly drop trou and wander around parties.

I was too self-conscious to participate in any of it, but I envied my exhibitionist friends in their bare-assed revelry. I regretted that I couldn't overcome my inhibitions enough to join in the fun.

Except for this one night....

While most of our male friends were doing private fraternity things across campus, a large group of women assembled in the common area of our two-level dorm suite for our own party. After a while (and much imbibing), the whole lot of us decided to go for a walk. I don't recall whether we left the dorm with nudist intentions, or if the idea struck us once we were outside, but when we reached the section of lawn about halfway between Post Hall and the TKE and Beta houses, we formed a circle and began disrobing to varying degrees in preparation for the Naked Hokey Pokey. Because a) it was dark, b) I was among women, c) I was drunk, and d) I felt weird being the only fully clothed figure among two dozen, I took off my shirt and danced the Hokey Pokey with my friends.

It was fun... and that's what it's all about.