IT'S A MANZ WORLD

BEN - Note: Most of my Manz World stories are fictionalized accounts of how the painting shown here came to be. However, some of the stories are rooted in truth.

I have a friend, Ted, who I’ve known since college. We roomed in the same dorm, on the same hallway, as freshmen and had several classes together. Ted was a very good student—a very intelligent man—who went on to get an engineering degree from Ohio State University. But intelligence wasn’t Ted’s only god-given gift. He was blessed with a naturally muscled body, one that he put to use in playing sports during his high school and college years. Anyone viewing Ted, especially in a swim suit, recognized that he had strong, powerful legs and a chest and arms that were muscled in a manner that I could only hope to develop, but never could.

While attending OSU, Ted met his wife, who he married soon after graduation. Even before his marriage he had found a position with an aircraft manufacturer near the city of Columbus, where he and Mary eventually bought a home. So, over the years, when on my annual visit to my family in Indiana, one that I made by car, I was always sure to spend a day or two with Ted and his wife. As Ted said, “There’s always an open door here.”

Over the years I saw Ted’s family grow: first a girl, Sharon, then two boys, Robert and Ben, were born. From year to year I witnessed those kids grow from young children, into their teens and, finally, their adult years. They went from cute to, in Sharon’s case, beautiful and in the boys cases each grew to be very handsome young men. While there were some family resemblances in all the children, it was the youngest, Ben, who most looked like his father both in face and body. In fact, Ben had an almost identical body to Ted, naturally muscled with an innate athletic ability, which enabled him to play several sports during his school years, including basketball and soccer. He was also an excellent swimmer.

When Ben was in his junior year of college he was already thinking about where he would go on to graduate school. One of the schools he was interested in was one located near Philadelphia, only a short drive from my home. His under graduated degree was in biochemistry and the school here was one of the top in the nation when it came to studying for a post-graduate degree.

One evening I got a call from Ben asking me for a favor. Using his familiar name for me—“Uncle Dan”—he told me that he would like to check out several universities in Pennsylvania. One was Penn State University located in a very rural area of Pennsylvania. The other was the school near the much more populated city of Philadelphia. The call was to ask if he could stay with me for a night or two while he was in the area. I was obviously open to the idea and told him he could stay as long as he wanted.

Ben arrived at my home on a Wednesday in the late afternoon. He had already visited Penn State and had driven to my place from there. Given the time of his arrival, I had planned to take him to one of my favorite restaurants to have dinner, which we did. Over dinner, and then later at home, Ben told me of his plans for the future. He spoke with excitement about that future, one that revealed his relationship with a girl friend and his wish to be a pharmacist. But after a bit he then turned his attention to me, asking me how I was and what my life was like here. Part of his interest was knowing how I liked living in Pennsylvania, a state he had never visited. As I updated him about my life and answering some of his questions, he listened with interest. Eventually,  Ben asked me about my artwork, some of which he had already viewed on the walls of my home.

I not only told him of my artwork but because of his obvious interest in how and where I did my painting, I showed him the bedroom that I had turned into my studio. Not realizing I had one of my nude paintings on my easel, I quickly moved toward the easel so that the painting was not immediately visible to my guest. But my move wasn’t fast enough. Ben soon pointed to the painting, one of my male nudes, and asked about it. “So, did you have a live model? Or was that done from a photo?” My answer was, “A live model.”

I had always had a very open relationship with Ted’s children and now that Ben was an adult I was very upfront in telling him of my interest in painting nudes, including male nudes. Surprisingly, Ben wasn’t put off by this information. However, he did surprise me when he asked if the men I painted were from the the nude camp where I was a member. Seeing my eyebrows lift a bit, Ben said, “I knew about that place because you took my father there years ago. But he said that was a secret to be kept between us.”

That last sentence was a bit disconcerting, alerting me to a possible problem. I thought maybe Ben was now making me aware that I shouldn’t say anything more about that camp or about nudity in general since that might be offensive to him. Ben’s follow up was said with a chuckle, “Don’t worry. Dad told me that my mother didn’t know about it and I was not to mention it to her. However, I would like to hear more about your camp. That just might be an added incentive for me to move to Pennsylvania.”

Relieved in hearing Ben’s response, I gave him more information about the camp including the website where he could find out more about it. I was further surprised when Ben said, “Actually, I’d be open to going out there if you wouldn’t mind.”

Again, knowing he was now an adult—he was twenty-three years old—I was open to taking him there but still needed to know how he felt about public nudity, especially how he felt being naked around me. He smiled and said, “I’ve been to several nude beaches on holiday trips. One in California and the other in Mexico. And then there is the friend of mine who is a member of a nude camp in Florida, a place I visited for several days last year.”

Another surprise came from Ben when he took out his phone and, using his finger, scrolled through some photos. Eventually, he stopped and faced the phone my way showing me a photo that he said was one he took for his girl friend. “I’d just gotten out of the shower and took this selfie. I took it of my backside because I’m not ready to show…” Ben paused for a second before he continued with, “…not ready to show everything! At least not in a photo." He then laughed as he emphasized the word ‘everything.’

Unfortunately, Ben wasn’t able to stay long enough to visit the nude camp but said he would like to come back when he had more time. But that never happened. It was a few months later that he told me he had been accepted into the graduate program at the University of Michigan with the offering of a partial scholarship. I was disappointed that he would not be living near me but very happy for him since UofM is a fine school with great biochemistry program that can lead into the pharmaceutical field. Just what Ben wanted.

As time approached for his undergraduate degree graduation Ben called me and asked it I could make a painting of the photo he had shown me when he had visited. He said, “I’d like to give that to my girl friend since she really liked the photo.” He added, “I’ll gladly pay you for it.” My immediate response was, “No you won’t. It will be a graduation gift.”

So, I did paint Ben’s selfie and that is what you see here.