Beachcast: Lake Nokomis Main Beach with Patrick Scully and Wendy Morris

John and co-host/producer Paula Chesley begin by storming the main beach at Lake Nokomis doing "person on the beach" interviews. Then we're joined by local artist and activist Patrick Scully and his friend Wendy Morris for a conversation about a different beach: Twin Lake's hidden beach. For decades it's been unofficially a place where it's ok to swim naked -- until the police show up. Patrick tells a story of a 1977 police raid of the beach and how he barely escaped arrest (after a police officer maced himself). He talks about his 2012 legal battle with the City of Minneapolis for being naked on the beach. Wendy tells us about the time in 1998 -- enduring a hot summer, pregnant, and feeling the urge to swim naked -- that Patrick took her to visit Twin Lake. Two women warned her it would be dangerous to visit the "gay beach." We talk about the American cultural hostility to nudity on beaches compared to other countries and the Minneapolis Park Board's recent action to legalize toplessness for women. 

Camera work and chauffeuring by the indispensable Conrad Zbikowski.

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Wedge LIVE theme song by Anthony Kasper x LaFontsee