#99 Lori Kay: A Weekend at a Nudist Lodge
Dec 18, 2021
Episode Description:
Samuel Donner of the Finding Founders Podcast interviews Lori Kay Stout, owner and operator of Lupin Lodge Naturist Retreat in Northern California’s Santa Cruz Mountains. While host Samuel Donner experiences his first Nude interview, Lori Kay answers his questions showing vulnerability, strength to overcome and extreme perseverance as a woman, wife, mother and business owner. This is a very deep interview which will especially resonate with women. Parts are about Lupin, other parts are about the effect of being nude amongst other Humans, and some of it is deeply personal. Listen to how Lori’s determination, vision and strength built Lupin Lodge into a community of body positivity and self-discovery. Listen to the podcast above and enjoy.
Show Notes:
• Acceptance and Discrimination: With her own freedom as an adult woman now, Lori looks back at the racial discrimination her parents faced just for loving each other.
• Childhood: School is hard enough, especially when you are continually moving every couple of months.
• Values and Expectations: Breaking out of traditional values can be challenging, but it does help when you have very few expectations to meet.
• When in Switzerland: When you are an exchange student, sometimes you just have to go with the flow.
• College and Nudists: You can learn a lot of things about yourself in college. From changing majors to changing out of your clothes, you never know what is going to happen when you get there.
• Someone Special: You never know who you are going to meet in a nudist community, maybe a fellow nudist, the owner, or maybe your future spouse.
• An Awakening: When you are going into an anaphylactic shock, you may just have an epiphany about your life choices.
• Job Hunting: Making it as a professional sculptor has its own challenges. Now trying being a female sculptor in a man’s world.
• Inequality at Work: Even in her home country, Lori still faced misogyny at her day job.
• Keeping the Business: Some opportunities are so special that you have no choice but to step up to the plate.
• A Year of Fours: How much heartbreak and trauma can happen in one year?
• Twins: What is more exciting than having one baby?
• Trouble in Paradise: With a con-artist running the business into the ground and her husband’s health declining, will Lori be able to save her family and the business?
• Regaining Control: After taking Ed to court, Lori was finally able to evict him and regain control of Lupin.
• Tragedy in the Homeland: Just when things are starting to look up, they take a turn for the worst.
• Moving Forward: After overcoming her trials, Lori is able to expand her community and grow her business.
Fascinating interview. My most recent visit to Lupin occurred before Glyn Stout died. So I much appreciated the update. Going to a nudist park for the first time is akin to first riding a bicycle: It’s unfamiliar, perhaps scary, it changes you (in this case your worldview) and you never forget it.
This is but the tip of the iceberg. The legal system entrenches the nudity taboo, reinforcing the duality between prurience and prudery. The naturist worldview offers a sensible middle ground between these; this interview provides an example of the benefits. The body politic would be well-advised to rethink the wisdom of enforcing this taboo.
I was totally moved by this interview. There’s a reason why I believe Lori Kay is a treasure in human form. It’s because, while her artistry, talent, and perseverance are a gift, she was not required to share any of it, but she rewarded all of us by keeping Lupin Lodge open. By letting us come in, just as we are, we get to experience a little bit of heaven here on earth.