Ari at Cape Heron

By Deaflegacy

Ari (Arisia Vita) is a true friend. Ari plays music because it helps the others.  I thought it would be a good idea to come to his concert on Wednesday morning.  Ari plays the concert on Cape Heron every Wednesday morning at 10 AM SLT at Cape Heron (182/134/2)

I asked some people at the concert about what they think about Ari's music.  They had a number of things to say.

“I always feel so revived,” spoke Tater (Taterlinda).  “Stress and worries go away..... (laughter)”

“Ari is one of the most unique performers in Second Life.  His art consists in selection of a program, planning and assembling it, and then doing magic things with sound, so that his stream is a work of art in itself.  In addition, he is one of the kindest, most charming hosts I have ever found in SL.” Gaia Maria's alt  (Mariaseconda) told me, “He is accomplished and knowledgeable in almost all musical genres, so his concerts are always unique, never repeat, and whatever genre he chooses, his concerts are a delight, as is he.”

Tater, agreeing with Maria, puts in a request for Italian music, “I would love to hear Italian music.. southern Italian mostly."  Ari was most than happy to play the Italian music, “Then I shall play some by the composer/pianist Claudio Gizzo, not sure if he's Italian, but we can pretend,” Ari responded with a smile.

“I didn't mean to interrupt so much good to speak about.” spoke Tater.  “He lives his life through his art like all of us have.  Our own specific gift.”

“You all are saying such lovely things.” Ari told the people.

“The music Ari plays is always carefully selected in advance, and he always knows which songs to play, and when. I'm not sure if he has the song titles written down i the order that he wants to play them, or if it's a mental playlist, but it's always great, regardless.” spoke Six String (Roleplayismylife).

“Ok, close your ears Ari!!!” Tater told him, laughing.

“As long as I can keep my eyes open to see all the beauty around me....” answered Ari.

“The music goes quite well with the setting and the companionship.” Gentle Heron complimented

“I'd say, it's wonderful to relax with friends listening to his music,” spoke Carla (carla.broek) with a smile.

“Oh lovely Deaf, it's very relaxing and the piano is as stunning as the music,” AkiaFlame told me.

“And the audience is the best,” Ari spoke.

“It's not only the healing piano music, but also Ari's soothing and gentle energy that makes the whole package of this experience so dear,” Nimue Galatea observed, “That's what I'd say, Deaf.”

I thanked each person after they gave me feedback about Ari's piano music.  Ari even told me that he looked forward to reading the article.

I do think that Ari is the best piano player ever to come to Second Life.  Ari is kind, caring person with a sense of humor.  I do feel lucky that I have a chance to listen to his music and at the same time, be best friends with Ari.

Deaflegacy

One Billion Still Rising

By Gemma Cleanslate

 Saffia Widdershins sent out a call for a  meeting to discuss how to keep the One Billion Rising event on February 14 in SL to continue and not just be a one time 24 hour recognition of violence against women in the world. The event itself was a way to recognize the real life event taking place all over the world. There were demonstrations in many counties from one side of the world to the other .http://onebillionrising.org/ some were marches, some were singings, some were sudden dances. In my own state in the USA there was a hearing going on at the state capital and a group showed up there and broke into the song and dance.  

 

The way it was done here, in SL, in this little part of the universe, was to have magnificent art builds dedicated to the issue,  surrounding a party stage  where people gathered from midnight to midnight at this place in a universe that is open to people all over the world, men, women and children as avatars and they came! Every minute of the day there were four sims full of avatars who came to recognize, affirm that there is a problem against girl children  teens and adult women in this 21st century in the world. 

The discussion led by Saffia at the meetings Friday March 1 and Saturday March 2,  were held at the Virtual Ability sim and were well attended by those who had some contribution to the original event in some way during or before the OBR in SL. There were numerous suggestions and ideas presentedduring the meeting that went on for well over an hour . It is the first of many such meetings I think.

 

Education in SL is a wonderful idea, but that education is not always sitting in a classroom listening to lectures. How well does that go over in SL? (although I do it in philosophy, lol)  It can be as easy as being invited by a friend to participate in a party, where you say “what is this about“ and are suddenly educated to an issue you had no idea existed and become a student of it or more, a  part of it all. This IS education. This is to the betterment of life here and outside of SL for you. 

 

As a Customer Relations Officer at the SL event I saw wonderful discussion going on around me during the “party”  and at the art pieces and at the greeting points. If you attended and liked it all you may be interested in getting more involved . If so contact Saffia ... with a notecard with your ideas or suggestions how to continue this in SL. This is a universal issue and an easy way to get involved. Thanks to Gentle Heron, a “volunteer”  as she calls herself,  the heart of Virtual Ability, took notes and allowed us to use the site for a meeting. 

 

Watch the blog for developments: http://onebillionrisingsl.wordpress.com/2013/02/26/after-one-billion-rising-in-second-life-what-next/

 

Gemma Cleanslate

Virtual Ability Hosts "Health Literacy" Discussion

On Sunday November 4, Gentle Heron at Virtual Ability Island hosted a discussion on "Health Literacy." "I see some in the audience are health care educators," she told everyone after greeting them, "I suspect others of us will find useful information here for our own areas of work."

Zsuzsa Tomsen and ALiesel were the presenters of the discussion. Susan Toth-Cohen in real life, Zsuzsa "is the Director of the Occupational Therapy Doctoral Program and Professor at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, PA," Gentle told everyone, "She has extensive experience teaching and presenting in SL. She is an occupational therapist specializing in gerontology and consumer health. ALiesel is an occupational therapy graduate student at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, She works with Zsuzsa in the Garden of Healthy Aging here in Second Life, and is very interested in health literacy."

The discussion was in text, with the audience asked to introduce themselves first. Among them was a "doctoral student," "a pediatrician, the department head of University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas, and a vocational rehabilitation worker.

Zsuzsa and ALiesel had attended a health conference in Kobe Japan, "The conference … made us think about links between introprofessional teams and health literacy." He noted the conference had three main details" global perspectives, development of "interprofessional" education, and examination of results. Of health literacy, Zsuzsa described the definition by the Harvard School of Public Health, "the balance between literacy and verbal skills of a person compared to demands of the health materials, communication skills of health professionals and the health care system."

"Interprofessional education which I'll refer to as IPE," Zsuzsa went on, "is defined by the World Health Organization as being any time students from 2 or more professions learn about, with, and from each other with the goals of effective communication and improving health outcomes."

A screen behind them showed several illustrations as Zsuzsa talked, showing a few links. She talked about how, "IPE also makes health care safer by decreasing medical errors" and health mentors. She described the  University of British Columbia as a leader in IPE, "they've developed a fantastic interprofessional education series." ALiesel mentioned one project the Thomas Jefferson University started, "Since 2005, Jefferson has sent several IP teams of students to Rwanda. They have worked with Rwandan health care teams to train health professionals" in addition to working with them "to provide training in nutrition, hygiene, HIV/AIDS prevention, as well as providing education for the public through health fairs and other events."

There was some talk with the audience, one stating, " 'Nearly half of all American adults – 90 million people – have difficulty understanding and using health information, and there is a higher rate of hospitalization and use of emergency services among patients with limited health literacy,' the Institute of Medicine 2004." Near the end, Rachel Gloedu brought up, "We are inviting volunteers from the SL community to observe and evaluate medical and nursing students undergoing teamwork training in communication skills this month."

At the close, Gentle Heron, gave all her thanks, "Thank you all for coming today. And special thanks to Zsuzsa and ALiesel for sharing a few of the things they learned on their trip to Japan." "We enjoyed it so much!" Zsuzsa responded, "Great audience!"

Two links given during the discussion were:

http://www.healthliteracy.org.uk/seminar-presentations-to-download

http://www.jeffersonhospital.org/News/2011/December/thomas-jefferson-university-jeff-health-hosts-medical-students-from-rwanda.aspx

The Second Life Enquirer recently wrote on Virtual Ability Island: article here.

Bixyl Shuftan