The Republican National Convention is underway in Cleveland.  In this year in which it seems that the Republicans and Democrats have both nominated the worst candidates they could have possibly chosen, protests seem inevitable.  This week’s GOP Convention was kicked off with photographer Spencer Tunick’s latest project, 100 naked women posing just across the river from the arena where the convention is being held.  Esquire has a piece on it here, but be aware that the photos with the article are not safe for work:  http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a46763/republican-national-convention-nude-women/

I first heard of Spencer Tunick, who has become known for shooting large groups of nude people in very public places, while watching a television show called Real Sex on HBO in the fall of 1993.  In that show, he was merely shooting two or three nude models at a time in various locations in New York City.  I was immediately intrigued.  I had already been modeling nude for art classes for a few years at that point, and I couldn’t help but imagine myself as one of the nude models out on the city streets.  (What really vexed me is that I had just moved back to Texas from New York City, where I could have easily signed up to model, the spring before that show aired.)  That idea of modeling nude in public stayed with me long enough to coalesce into the story told in The “Volunteer”.

The striking thing about Spencer Tunick’s photos, not just of the 100 women this week but all of his past work, is how similar we all are under our clothes.  When naked, we are not CEOs, doctors, lawyers, politicians, or fast food workers; we are just human beings.

The “Volunteer” has only been available for just a few days, but it already has a couple of Amazon reviews, including a five star one that was just posted this morning. Reader K.C. Wilder wrote:

While the expectation is that this kind of story would devolve into a male voyeur fantasy of the submissive naked woman, I was pleasantly surprised to find that Dani’s experience focused more on portraying nudity and nudism in a positive light, and it became less about “look at that naked woman” and more about “wouldn’t it be fun to be naked all the time”. I thought it was very enjoyable, and also got my pulse racing.

Thank you K.C.!

My family and I have just returned to Texas from what was, for us, an epic vacation to Yellowstone National Park, Glacier National Park, and points in between.  After visiting both Helena and Missoula, I can say that I love western Montana.  Here’s a photo of my son taken on Going to the Sun Road in Glacier National Park.

In literary news, The “Volunteer” is now fully available on Kindle, and it is now visible on Goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30799836-the-volunteer.  Please feel free to post reviews there or on Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/Volunteer-Novel-D-H-Jonathan/dp/1534635246).

The paperback edition of The “Volunteer” is now available on Amazon.com at https://www.amazon.com/Volunteer-Novel-D-H-Jonathan/dp/1534635246/

The Kindle edition is available for pre-order at: https://www.amazon.com/Volunteer-D-Jonathan-ebook/dp/B01HAM329Q with a release date of July 5th (which is the day I return home from vacation).

Almost every work of fiction started off with the author asking a question starting with “What if…?”.  A little over a year ago, one such question entered my mind: What if a young college student was required to spend all of her time nude?  Several questions followed. How would people around her respond, and more importantly, how would she feel?  How could a university allow such a thing, much less require it?  And how could it even be legal? It was those questions that drove the writing of my upcoming novel The “Volunteer”.

And in case you are wondering how such a question even entered my mind, I will admit that it came to me while I was posing for a college life drawing class, a job I’ve been at for over thirty years.  And yes, I was nude at the time…