Thanks for sharing

Hey, everybody, did you know that there's an annual Swinger's Convention going on in Vegas? This assignment has to be a feature reporter's dream come true, since the participants obviously aren't very reticent about...sharing. Ahem.

Vera Rhodes has come a long way from her conservative upbringing in Pennsylvania's Amish community.

There she was a virgin until she married at age 30. Now, she is an enthusiastic 54-year-old member of the millions-strong "swinging" community who speaks openly of her encounters with multiple sexual partners.

"Last night it was really special," said Rhodes, who is divorced and makes a living giving massages in the Midwestern state of Iowa. "There was a couple from Mexico, a couple from Virginia and a couple from Ireland, from Australia."

How are you going to keep Vera down in the Amish country when she could be out there swinging with...the Irish? I hope she enjoys freckles in interesting places.

Oh, and let's hope the following people have relatives and friends who don't read the papers:

For all their enthusiasm, few of the swingers tell family and friends about their hobby.

"Socially, we're pariahs," said Drew Alexander, 40, who attended with this wife Tina, 38. "We're behaving in a way that's completely against the ingrained Catholic values."

Actually, the Alexanders' friends and family may already know. Note his use of the present tense.

Anyway, I'm not entirely surprised that this sort of 1970's type activity is still going on (hey, some people still dig fondue) in the age of AIDS, but then again, the article does note that most of the participants are middle aged, so maybe they're reliving their glory days.