Feed A Smile

By Shaza Denver,

Hello my loyal readers,

     Well the hectic holidays are behind us for the most part.  I know I for one need to find the time to take down all the decorations and pack them away for next year.  Its still snowing of course.  Winter has  not left us,  at least not yet.  I hope everyone had a fantastic holiday season.   I hope you made new friends.  I hope you had good times with family and a peaceful and happy holiday season. 

     There were so many hunts going on,  and so many group gifts to be had.  It was indeed a joyful time for me.  My inventory is bursting at the seams.  I have no idea when I fill find to time to get this lot of goodies sorted.  Its probably going to take me a year! 

     With the holidays over I am skipping around Second Life looking for things to do and see.  Well as it happens I  was out on New Years Eve and I met a gentleman at a popular venue.  We had a dance or two and he told me about this charity that he sponsors, Feed A Smile.

     There are fewer things that gives so much joy than supporting others that are in need.  It warms your heart and gives meaning to your life.  Its what life is about. Helping others less fortunate.  In my humble opinion!   Second Life is no more different in real life in that respect.  We help those that we can when we can.   With that said let me jump down from my soap box and go ahead and tell you about this heart warming charity.

     Feed A Smile has events all over Second Life that help the Live and Learn in Kenya Int'l program.  The proceeds help very poor children in Kenya to receive hot meals.   A school is being built so that these children may learn.  How wonderful is that.   There is an art gallery where you may purchase artworks by SL artist.  These sales benefit the charity as well. 

Jump on over there and check out the artwork for yourself.  I know I bought several as the work is quite good and well......it does help this worth while cause.  Here is your taxi to the gallery. 

Art Aid at Commonwealth Village, Momil (34, 125, 68)

     I am told the village holds monthly events for the charity as well.  So stay tuned for articles that will inform you of dates and times.  Oh and if you are family oriented such as myself,  children of Second Life are more than welcome to attend. 

     There is an venue that caters to the needs of this charity.  This venue is called Lavender Fields.  At the venue you will find a replica of the school being built for the children. 
     
       I myself visited the replica.   It is quite impressive,  and to know just what it stands for and the benefits it gives to others is heart warming. 

     Lavender Fields in itself is  a beautiful venue.   The build is lovely, and of course the flowers are my favorite color! What's not to love. 

     Do get over and check out the venue.  You will be impressed as much as I was,  of that I  am sure.  Here is your url to the venue.  Get over and check it out. While you're there, Feed A Smile.   You won't be sorry.  The feeling it will give you is like no other.

The Lavender Field, Feed A Smile (53, 124, 23)

     Until next time loyal readers.  Please stay tuned for articles about this amazing charity here in SL.

Warm Tidings,

Shaza

Christmas Giving Tree and Sponsor an SL Child for the Holidays

By Alura Denver (Alura Messing)

The Holiday Season is all about spending time with family and friends regardless of what religion you follow.  No matter what community we spend our time in here in Second Life, we all find some way to celebrate with the people we spend our time with.  The "Family/Kid" role playing community feels the holidays even more than some others since "family" and "community" are at the very heart of the holidays.  But not every kid has a family and some families are not here for the SL holidays, because they are off in real life celebrating, or on vacation.  So, many who role play little kids are left alone with no one to spend time with.  This year however, a small dent is being put into that loneliness.  Sweet Tots store reached out to their customers and the kid community to host the first ever "Giving Tree and Sponsor an SL Child" for the Holidays.

Sweetiepie Riggles the owner of Sweet Tots was approached by her SL sister Cryssie ｱєνєηѕєу Tiepolo яιℓєу (Crystalle Qork)  with the idea for this because she herself was a kid with no family for the holidays.  As the two talked over the details and opportunities they could see with the event,  they got so excited that they started it two weeks early to give the kids even more time to make plans and interact with sponsors if they chose to.

What they soon found, was that they had more response from people wanting to help and sponsor kids, than they did have kids.  "At first pepols was scared to sign up. Sometimes pepols judge kids for being needy. but but the role of RPing a kids is being able to provide for us selves." said Cryssie "Lots of times kids are afraids to ask for help. Thems not wanna seem too needy."  But they found a way around this fear by asking the community to refer kids to them as well as sponsor, in a notecard that the sent to their whole customer base.

After the deadline for applications passed, Cryssie set up an "Angel Wall" that people could go to to pick kids to help.  This was set up as an activity for families so they could role play doing this together.  Depending on what the kid wanted to do (just get a present or spend time with a family) the sponsor was then able to contact the kid and share the gift or arrange an activity for them to join.  Some kids might just RP a nice dinner or maybe time with Christmas Jammies, hot coco and stories.  At that point it was all up to them.

The outcome of the event was a smashing success.  Some of the families fell in love with the kids they sponsored and asked them to join their families and adopted them.  Others just got the joy of opening not just the one thing they hoped for, but a whole slew of presents.  "Every kids that signed up gotta present whether they asked for it or not!  I had 3 stores donate toys and stuff and 5 stores donate clothing but but Sweet Tots donated huge gift cards to all the kids that signed up. So each box has about 25-30 presents" said Cryssie.

Cutiepie (0ojazzyd0o) was one of the participants this year.  She and her sponsor spoke a few times about things she liked and what they were going to do to celebrate.  When I spoke with Cutiepie she was looking forward to having dinner with her family, playing some games and exchanging some presents.  When I asked her if she would do it again she absolutely lit up with excitement and said " i enjoyed doing it yes and if i chould do it a gan tomarow .... i got lots of gitf all readyy from some of the sponcers of the giving tree in cluding  bubblegum and sweet tots and raynas closet.  i saport sweet tots and thought it was a realy cool i dea to have a giving event."

With such a successful event and so many wonderful experiences coming out of it I asked Cryssie if she would consider doing it again next year.  Her immediate response was, "yes! I hope to do it for many many many many many years to come.   I like knowing the lil bit effort helps sooooo many kids."  So be sure to look into it next year if you would like to donate or participate and share in some holiday love.

Alura Messing

Grease Coakes to Have Second Children's Book Published

By Grey Lupindo

          SL Newser reporter Grease Coakes will soon have his second real-life book published.   “Ginny Griffin and Friends” is a sequel to his first children’s book, “Ginny Griffin’s First Day of School”, which was published last year by lulu.com.  I met with Grease at a local restaurant recently to chat about his newest book.   The following is an edited version of our discussion.

Grey Lupindo: What's the title of this one?

Grease Coakes:  “Ginny Griffin and Friends”...[It’s] the sequel to "Ginny Griffin's First Day of School" and is a direct tie to the first book.

Grey Lupindo:   It should be easy for readers to find it.

Grease Coakes:  It's a little longer than the previous book.  Someone who read the book compared it to Encyclopedia Brown, but I don't think of Ginny that way.

Grey Lupindo:  I'm afraid I haven't read the Brown series, although I've heard of it.

Grease Coakes:    Encyclopedia Brown is a detective, but that's not really Ginny's style.   She's more like the girl next door with a big heart.

Grey Lupindo:  Sounds like they might have meant it as a compliment.

Grease Coakes:   The person said it was a good book so it was a compliment.   Maybe she happened to read a bunch of Encyclopedia Brown as a kid.

Grey Lupindo: Probably so.  What happens in this book?

 Grease Coakes:  Well, without giving too much away... If you read the first book, Julie Unicorn was a mean girl.   So when Ginny sees her crying and running out of art class, she gets concerned that no one is giving Julie a second chance.  No one else is willing to forgive Julie because she did some really bad things.  There's a reason she turned to the dark side in the previous book, but I won't say what.

 Grey Lupindo:   Mysterious.....I like that.

Grease Coakes:   Ginny risks all by trying to be Julie’s friend.  As a result Ginny is alienated throughout a lot of the book.  Oh-- I can say there is a cool action scene, but I won't say where in the book.

Grey Lupindo:  Let's give readers a hint. Is it a chase?  A fight?

Grease Coakes:  A fight.  Most children see a school fight so I don't think this will be anything new.  But one of my co-workers called me a terrible person for having a fight in a children's book.

Grey Lupindo:  If they aren't armed, it will be tamer than real-life.

Grease Coakes (laughing):  No, they aren't armed, but I dunno if it's tame.

Grey Lupindo: Kids see a lot in real-life.   We adults don't like to admit that.

Grease Coakes: Yeah, kids are growing up faster now a days and are exposed to more.

Grey Lupindo: Books are a good way for kids to work through the scary RL stuff.

Grease Coakes: Oh sure, especially when the characters are children.  They relate to children more than adults.  They see adults as mean people who forgot what it's like to be a kid.

Grey Lupindo: Can you tell me a little about Ginny’s world?

Grease Coakes:  The world of Ginny Griffin is different than the world we have in real life.  After their World War 2 they decide to stop putting money into war.   In the 1960's solar power is invented and widespread.  I can say that this book shows more of that technology.  More money is being spent on science and education.

Grey Lupindo:  Very forward thinking of them.

Grease Coakes:  Politicians aren't corrupt.   They actually do their job.  Bad things still happen, but it's not as bad our world.

Grey Lupindo:  Where do we sign up to move there?

Grease Coakes laughs.:   You can read my book to travel there for a while.  

Grey Lupindo:(smile)

Grease Coakes:   But a neat part of the book is that I cross over another story into this children's book.

Grey Lupindo:  What do you mean by "cross over another story"?

Grease Coakes:   Well, Rio the Otter happened to buy my writing skills at a tail sale around the same time I started writing this sequel.    He said he wanted a summer beach story.

Grey Lupindo:  Were you able to combine both story lines?

Grease Coakes nods:   Rio shows up in the book, and he meets with Ginny and Phil, her father.  I won't say how or why they meet though.  But what Phil shows to Rio is pretty amazing as he works for a tech firm.

Grey Lupindo: Cool!  So how do readers find your book?

 Grease Coakes:   I just got the cover picture last night so it's not ready yet.   But when it's ready it will be on www.lulu.com. 

Grey Lupindo: Will it be out in time for Christmas sales?

Grease Coakes:  Oh yeah, it shouldn't be long. 

    

         Grease and I continued to chat for a few more minutes about writing and Second Life.   He gave me a short excerpt from the newest Ginny Griffin book.   Like his first book, this one is set in the colorful town of Spoonville.  He has created an imaginative world where the art teacher, Ms. Harriet Hotchkiss, is a cobalt blue peacock and the children, like Harry Hyena, are animals.   But  real-life children will soon realize that the fictional children face a lot of the same issues and obstacles that they do.  They should be able to relate to the characters as they are entertained by the imaginary world.   

        “Ginny Griffin and Friends” by real-life author John Krauss will be available soon in the children’s book section of lulu.com.    

Grey Lupindo

Childhood in SL - A Visit to the SL Kids SL7B Exhibit

Kids! They are such a problem ! All moms and papas love them so and would also love to knock them in the head. This happens in real life and also guess what, here in SL.

I have talked to many and spent time with them having fun .. Riding, rafting .. dancing .. fishing ... I have spent some special times with kids fishing in contests and laughing so hard at their wit! They knock my socks off! Some are kids just to be kids. Some are reliving a time of their life that they really enjoyed and felt loved and safe. Some are living a life they never had when they should have had it. Imagine!

Isn‘t that why we are all here, hoping for something we don’t have or can’t have in real life? How many times have I heard “Why would anyone want to be a **** ?“ Replace that with anything you want, furry , vampire, tiny, greenie, slayer of zombies, model, stripper.

Some people think that the kids may be perverts. Forget it!! Perverts are not masquerading here as children. Some might try, but if they were they would be reported immediately by the KIDS! Also if a pervert does approach one of these SL kids they are reported immediately! There are SL kid websites and groups that watch and advise.

These kids want to enjoy this virtual life and have lots of fun doing it. Some are master builders and scripters. Some own sims full of furniture for sale, some have malls, some design clothing. I have seen some very weird avatars around in SL and I figure they must be that avatar because they want to for some reason. Live and let live. Enjoy what we have while we have it!

If you really would like to hear why a person chooses to be a kid now is your chance! You can do it easily without asking any kid. Visit the sweet build by Marianne McCann at the SL7B. There are toy blocks with the pictures of kid avatars. Click any block and you will pick up a note card that will tell you the personal view of why that person chose to become a SL kid.

The SL Kids Exhibit in SL7B is in the SL7B Visionary sim at (205, 184, 22).
Gemma Cleanslate