Stirrings of Hope on the Grid
Mostly a post to say I'm back officially with no end in sight to my backness
AND:
Help Me With The NCI (New Citizens Inc.)
I'm looking for new instructors, new classes, new specifically FUNDRAISER events/ideas/donors/whales/benefactors.
My own Sat Nite Salsa event turned fundraiser earned over $L4,000 on it's debut last weekend, but that is just a drop in the bucket of what the NCI needs for:
1. Tier & Rent & Other Fees
2. Ability to Pay Our Instructors Again
3. Basic day-to-day operations
Remember we are non-profit and are still here because of YOU and your generosity. Huge thanks to all for your support over the years. We would not be here, if it wasn't for you. THANK YOU!
__________________________________________________
Of interest an on topic right now in Esselle and especially for New Users/Residents:
LL's avatars for new users - and the rest of us too - take a peek in your library!
What Carl Metropolitan has to say:
http://jcarlhenders.tumblr.com/post/85883235654/vampire-is-the-new-black-a-look-at-second-lifes-new
What NWN's Iris Ophelia has to say:
http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2014/05/second-lifes-new-mesh-avatars.html
What Jo Yardley of 1920's Berlin has to say:
http://joyardley.wordpress.com/2014/05/17/alternativestarteravatars/
What I have to say:
I was looking to see if Linden Lab could really pull off diversity in their avatars. Funny thing is, in the past, the very very past past, they actually had MORE diversity than they do now, and even with these new offerings.
I always look to see how if at all the Black female avatars are represented. Partly because yeah that's ME, but mostly because that is a good litmus test for breadth and depth of diversity. I'll go into that more at a later date, but suffice it to say, most facets of US society, media, movies, television etc you name it, always seem to manage to leave us out.
Well Near As I Could TELL out of the 24 new mesh avatars there was only one "normal" Black woman available to us who would like to wear such an avatar. She is several shades lighter then the mid-chocolate brown skin I'm currently wearing: sort of like the one in the av picture up there at the beginning of this post.
She also has straightish BLONDE HAIR. 0_0 And she's wearing a skimpy dress. Truth be told, she looks like a Real Housewives Of Atlanta audition reject. Thanks LL, your idea of the average Black woman is taken from the ratchet side of life. Which would be fine really, as obviously there are Black women who look/dress that way HOWEVER: LL failed to OFFER US ANOTHER CHOICE OR TWO to balance it out.
I really appreciate that. You couldn't have put her in a business suit and done the Corporate Diva Hey Look I'm Oprah thing? Couldn't have made her a fitness maven in workout gear as a nod to our First Lady's Let's Move campaign for our kids? See, here, I'm picking some prominent Black women that even the bearded middle-aged white guys over at Linden Lab might have heard of.
Couldn't have given her natural hair? That's totally IN right now. *fluffs my TWA* (teeny weeny afro for those that dunno), and is actually how our hair umm --> naturally <-- grows out of our head. Couldn't have dressed her in neutral slacks/blouse/sweater preppiness? Anything? You also went stereotype with the Black guy avatar - tats, muscles, 70's fro and medallion type chains around his neck. So he's a vampire/hunter? Ya still effed it up. I bet you thought that avatar was COOL too tho right?
And all the POC avatars put in for diversity have skin so pale as to nearly match up their white counterparts, it's as if LL was SCARED to actually have a nice brown skin tone on any of them. *Le SIGH*. I won't mention that all but a couple of the female avatars all around were skimpily clad. *eyes*
____________________________
But I digress. That stirrings of hope on the grid thing.
LL going FUBAR on it's avatar selection is nothing new, but SHOULD be commented on. So I did
But hearing Ebbe Linden - the new LL CEO - speak his keynote address at this year's VWBPE conference made me feel that their might be hope for people like me - and prolly you reading this - who have dedicated years of their life to Helping Newcomers. Watchit for yaself:
We are responsible for the high/numbers of people that stick. Retention Rates they're called. We are the ones who know the magic formula to how that all works. That's why I dusted off my avatar and I'm back on the grid. That, and Carlos be buggin! LOL
I'm working to open a dialogue between Linden Lab and the currently active in-world New Resident Help/Education orgs. Dialogue that I hope will blossom into more support on many levels. I believe that we can help Each Other towards a better future for Second Life.
See you at the NCI: Come Help Out!
-BC
AND:
Help Me With The NCI (New Citizens Inc.)
I'm looking for new instructors, new classes, new specifically FUNDRAISER events/ideas/donors/whales/benefactors.
My own Sat Nite Salsa event turned fundraiser earned over $L4,000 on it's debut last weekend, but that is just a drop in the bucket of what the NCI needs for:
1. Tier & Rent & Other Fees
2. Ability to Pay Our Instructors Again
3. Basic day-to-day operations
Remember we are non-profit and are still here because of YOU and your generosity. Huge thanks to all for your support over the years. We would not be here, if it wasn't for you. THANK YOU!
__________________________________________________
Of interest an on topic right now in Esselle and especially for New Users/Residents:
LL's avatars for new users - and the rest of us too - take a peek in your library!
What Carl Metropolitan has to say:
http://jcarlhenders.tumblr.com/post/85883235654/vampire-is-the-new-black-a-look-at-second-lifes-new
What NWN's Iris Ophelia has to say:
http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2014/05/second-lifes-new-mesh-avatars.html
What Jo Yardley of 1920's Berlin has to say:
http://joyardley.wordpress.com/2014/05/17/alternativestarteravatars/
What I have to say:
I was looking to see if Linden Lab could really pull off diversity in their avatars. Funny thing is, in the past, the very very past past, they actually had MORE diversity than they do now, and even with these new offerings.
I always look to see how if at all the Black female avatars are represented. Partly because yeah that's ME, but mostly because that is a good litmus test for breadth and depth of diversity. I'll go into that more at a later date, but suffice it to say, most facets of US society, media, movies, television etc you name it, always seem to manage to leave us out.
Well Near As I Could TELL out of the 24 new mesh avatars there was only one "normal" Black woman available to us who would like to wear such an avatar. She is several shades lighter then the mid-chocolate brown skin I'm currently wearing: sort of like the one in the av picture up there at the beginning of this post.
She also has straightish BLONDE HAIR. 0_0 And she's wearing a skimpy dress. Truth be told, she looks like a Real Housewives Of Atlanta audition reject. Thanks LL, your idea of the average Black woman is taken from the ratchet side of life. Which would be fine really, as obviously there are Black women who look/dress that way HOWEVER: LL failed to OFFER US ANOTHER CHOICE OR TWO to balance it out.
I really appreciate that. You couldn't have put her in a business suit and done the Corporate Diva Hey Look I'm Oprah thing? Couldn't have made her a fitness maven in workout gear as a nod to our First Lady's Let's Move campaign for our kids? See, here, I'm picking some prominent Black women that even the bearded middle-aged white guys over at Linden Lab might have heard of.
Couldn't have given her natural hair? That's totally IN right now. *fluffs my TWA* (teeny weeny afro for those that dunno), and is actually how our hair umm --> naturally <-- grows out of our head. Couldn't have dressed her in neutral slacks/blouse/sweater preppiness? Anything? You also went stereotype with the Black guy avatar - tats, muscles, 70's fro and medallion type chains around his neck. So he's a vampire/hunter? Ya still effed it up. I bet you thought that avatar was COOL too tho right?
And all the POC avatars put in for diversity have skin so pale as to nearly match up their white counterparts, it's as if LL was SCARED to actually have a nice brown skin tone on any of them. *Le SIGH*. I won't mention that all but a couple of the female avatars all around were skimpily clad. *eyes*
____________________________
But I digress. That stirrings of hope on the grid thing.
LL going FUBAR on it's avatar selection is nothing new, but SHOULD be commented on. So I did
But hearing Ebbe Linden - the new LL CEO - speak his keynote address at this year's VWBPE conference made me feel that their might be hope for people like me - and prolly you reading this - who have dedicated years of their life to Helping Newcomers. Watchit for yaself:
Click to viewWe are responsible for the high/numbers of people that stick. Retention Rates they're called. We are the ones who know the magic formula to how that all works. That's why I dusted off my avatar and I'm back on the grid. That, and Carlos be buggin! LOL
I'm working to open a dialogue between Linden Lab and the currently active in-world New Resident Help/Education orgs. Dialogue that I hope will blossom into more support on many levels. I believe that we can help Each Other towards a better future for Second Life.
See you at the NCI: Come Help Out!
-BC