Day: April 22, 2016

Fantasy Faire 2016: come gather for the Litfest!

Posted on by Inara Pey
Via Fantasy Faire
Via Fantasy Faire

Fantasy Faire 2016 will once again celebrate the written word through LitFest, featuring writers from across Second Life, participating in discussions, readings, tours and more, together with some of the top literary groups in SL.

LitFest will be focused on the pavilion in Otherworld, Elicio Ember’s magnificent build for this year’s Faire.

The LitFest Pavilion, Otherworld
The LitFest Pavilion, Otherworld

This year the emphasis is on creation, as a number of the leaders of creative writing groups in Second Life bring their regular events to the Faire, and welcome newcomers who want to join in with such events as the “Poetry Prompt” with Leslye Writer, where people are given a prompt word and write for 20 minutes then share what they’ve written or the “SL Flickr Photo Story Challenge for Beginners” with Prettyflower Vale.

There will also be daily writing challenges for everyone to enjoy: put your Fantasy Faire experience into words. There are stories, tales, legends, songs, and poems to be found around very corner in the Fairelands. How do the builds and the people, the places and the creations touch you? What stories do they whisper to you?

The LitFest Tours

To help inspire you with your writing, Fantasy Faire 2016 will include a series of tours to ten of the Fairelands realms, these will depart the LitFest pavilion  twice daily at 10:00 SLT and 17:30 SLT. Each tour lasts for an hour. To  participate, simply:

  • Join a tour at the start of a session, and travel to the selected destination.  Explore and open yourself to the voices there; see how they inspire you
  • Return to LitFest home base (or your own personal quiet space) and realize in words the narrative and feelings inspired by the region featured
  • Share your work in draft or final with the rest of the tour in a voluntary open mic, or submit your piece within 24 hours – either in-world or by email – to be posted along with others inspired by the same region. Sharing is voluntary.  Individual writers retain creative ownership of works shared.
Date 10:00 17:30
Thursday, April 21st (17:00 only) — The Golden Delta
Friday, April 22nd The Golden Delta Lucentia
Saturday, April 23rd Lucentia Twilight Illusion
Sunday, April 24th Twilight Illusion Echtra
Monday, April 25th Echtra Serenity
Tuesday, April 26th Serenity Dangarnon
Wednesday, April 27th Dangarnon Bright Haven
Thursday, April 28th Bright Haven Breeze
Friday, April 29th Breeze Tinker’s Hollow
Saturday, April 30th Tinker’s Hollow Blackmoor
Sunday, May 1st (10:00 only) Blackmoor —

The Golden Delta: first port of call for the LitFest tours

The Golden Delta: first port of call for the LitFest tours

Other LitFest Events

Note; the official schedule was still a work in progress at the time of writing – please check with it for any updates or amendments. All times SLT.

Date Time Activity
Friday, April 22nd 11:00 – noon Caledonia Skytower reads short stories
13:00 – 14:00 The Tales of Ashenborne with Ketsui Naidoo
15:00 – 16:00 The Short Story Discussion Group with Destry Recreant
Date Time Activity
Saturday, April 23rd All Day Shakespeare Day: a Fairelands-wide commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the bard’s passing
06;00 – 07:00 Poets’ Plunder Klannex Northmead
11:00 – 13:00 The Coldshot Players
13:30 – 15:00 A Midsummer Night’s Dream – a special Fairelands Players presentation of this popular comedy by Shakespeare
18:30 – 20:00 Tall Tales with Ceejay Writer (author Lori Alden Holuta)
Date Time Activity
Sunday, April 24th 11:00 – 12:00 Going Down the Tubes with Ceejay Writer, sharing a chapter from the 2nd novel in The Brassbright Chronicles
13:00 – 13:45 Boudicca Reads with Boudicca Amat
14:00 – 15:00 Self-expression & Discovery through Poetry & Stories
16::00 – 17:00 Literature Alive with Desideria Stockton

Continue reading “Fantasy Faire 2016: come gather for the Litfest!” →

The Drax Files 37: non-profits in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Joyce Bettencourt (aka Rhiannon Chatnoir in SL), the Nonprofit Common Community Manager talks Nonprofit Commons with other members of her community
Joyce Bettencourt (aka Rhiannon Chatnoir in SL), the Nonprofit Commons Community Manager discusses the role of the community, together with other involved with it through their own organisations

The Drax Files World Makers show #37 arrived on Thursday, April 21st, perhaps somewhat overshadowed by Fantasy Faire opening its gates. Once again, this is one of the shorter World Makers videos, running to just one second under 3.5 minutes.

The subject this time around is an overview of Nonprofit Commons, designed to lower the barriers of access to Second Life, to create a community of practice for non-profits to explore and learn about the virtual world, and to investigate the many ways in which non-profits might utilise virtual spaces. As such, this is something of a departure from recent World Makers segments. Rather than following a single narrative, it presents a series of sound bites for those responsible for  the various organisations, groups and communities which for Nonprofit Commons, allowing them to provide a concise overview of who they are and what they do.

While this may sound like little more than a simple infomercial for Nonprofit Commons, don’t be fooled. While the pace may be rapid, the comments delivered at a staccato rate, we are nevertheless drawn into more fully appreciating the many diverse social, ecological, sexual and personal areas encompassed by the work of non-profit organisations, large and small, within Second Life, and the critical role they place in bringing people together positively.

Such is the clarity of presentation within this piece by those involved, there is really very little to add to it directly, particularly as Drax has  so eloquently summarises things:

Over 60 international non-profit organizations with causes ranging from environmental awareness to LGBTQ activism, AIDS education and Parkinson’s support, groups that fight to end homelessness or promote emotional healing with the help of horses, are gathered in the virtual world of Second Life to do everything from training to fundraising.

For over 10 years this global community has been successfully showcasing the powerful force of SL to facilitate social good: at NPC in SL office space is given away free, agency over identity through avatars is a powerful facilitator and ideas for outreach and networking can easily be implemented in the digital realm before committing to them in physical reality.

Which leaves me with but one thing to say: watch the video, and if you want to find out more, visit the Nonprofit Commons website.