2021 VWBPE Thinkerer Award Goes to Wisdomseeker (Lissena Resident)

 
By Bixyl Shuftan

Last weeked was the Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education conference. There were a number of talks and other events, including a few discussions by the Lindens. Near the end they gave out their Thinkerer Award. This was at the closing ceremony in which a number of people such as Pooky Amsterdam, Lorraine Mockford, Elli Pinion, iSkye Silverweb, Olivetree Lighthouse, Beth Ghostraven, Heike Philp, Serena Offcourse, and others were given thanks (and the Newser was also thanked as well for it's coverage). 

Then came the award, which is given to "for outstanding contribution in the promotion of learning, community, and educational practices, and who exemplifies the spirit of cooperative development within immersive environments." And this year, it went to Wisdomseeker aka Lissena Resident (Lynne Berrett in real life). 

Elli Pinion described the reasons, "Lynne began her educational career with an MA in English and doctoral fellowships in the Humanities. She was an English instructor at universities in New York and Michigan. She joined Manhattanville College in the New York City area as Director of the H.E.O.P. College Skills Center for at-risk students and held many other positions there for almost 30 years. Concurrently, she established a private psychotherapy practice for adults and couples after getting an MSW in Clinical Social Work at New York University.

"In semi-retirement Lynne trained as a coach with MentorCoach, a program based in positive psychology. She was on the leadership  team of the Alliance for Positive Psychology there for almost 10 years. 

"She says that her experiences as a caregiver, with her husband, first for her mother and again for her brother in law and his wife, led her to search out new ways to help others.  Because both women had developed dementia, she began to study brain health in depth to learn how to delay and even prevent the onset of dementia.

"Lynne first encountered Second Life at a Positive Aging Conference and was immediately attracted to the imaginative power of Virtual Worlds.  She recognized the potential for learning through virtual experiences (turning theory into action) -- learning that could transfer to a person’s life beyond SL.

"In 2013 she founded the Whole Brain Health Group in Second Life.  She established Inspiration Island, which now has 4 full levels of activities, as official home of Whole Brain Health. It is a 'public' region where over 40 volunteers, members of the island Collective, are given free parcels to create self-guided activities and offer hosted programs. Everything is designed to help visitors learn by doing.

"Over the years she has presented her work in Second Life at many conferences around the country. When she presented at the National Center for Creative Aging Conference in Washington D.C., Joyce Bettencourt (Rhiannon Chatnoir in SL) came along to stream Second Life into the event so they could be joined live by Thinkerer Selby and members of the Collective.

"Lynne is active in many virtual worlds educational and nonprofit groups such as Virtual Worlds Education Roundtable, VWBPE, AvaCon, OSCC conferences, and she was a founding board member of Nonprofit Commons. She also developed a course for SL entitled ‘New Frontiers in Brain Training,’ which uses activities on Inspiration Island to guide students to design personalized action plans for well-being.

"Her latest accomplishment is building Virtual Learning Village, a grid in OpenSim specifically made for lifelong learning and professional development. She and her group of volunteers have created a beautiful environment with many innovative tools for teaching and learning.

"To find out more about Lynne’s work, she has multiple websites:
https://agelessmindproject.org
https://virtualinspirationisland.org
https://virtual-learning-village.org
https://www.facebook.com/VirtualInspirationIsland

"It is for all these reasons, and more, that the VWBPE Organizational Committee proudly confirms Lynne Berrett, our Wisdomseeker, as the VWBPE 2021 Thinkerer Award recipient."

After much applause, Wisdomseeker went forward from her place on the stage to speak, "I want you all to know you have saved my marriage. My husband is watching this and has promised never to ask me again what I am doing in Second Life." She paused as a few chuckled, then resumed, "I am so honored to accept the 2021 Thinkerer Award -- not just for myself but also on behalf of the Whole Brain Health Team and the Inspiration Island Collective. I could not have done any of this work without their dedication and expertise and imagination over many years. There are so many people to thank! 

"First of all, the award winners who came before me. Every one of you has contributed to the success of our learning projects in Second Life and OpenSim through your example, advice, encouragement, and concrete help. I plan to thank people privately, so I won’t subject you all to a long list of names tonight. But of course the members of the Inspiration Island Collective are at the top of the list. Every year since 2014 we have taken a group photo of the Collective. Most of the original members are still with us—which is a source of great joy to me. Each year we have added new members to the photo. You can see the latest one in the Lotus – which is a miniature Inspiration Island – at our Exhibit here at VWBPE. It was made with loving care by Katsii Tennen (Catseye), Fran, and Tooyaa.

"If you attended our presentation this morning, you can guess whom I DO want to thank publicly. From the very beginning, Thuja Hynes (Tooyaa) and Francisco Koolhoven (Fran) have been essential partners in producing the rich experiences Whole Brain Health offers. Our long, fruitful collaboration has been absolutely central to WBH’s development and my own growth as a virtual worlds educator -- and as a leader. Their creativity, technical skill, and willingness to try anything I come up with have repeatedly made the impossible possible for us. 

 "I also want to shout out to Maximillian Merlin, my chief creative and technical partner in a newer venture, Virtual Learning Village. After creating our drone security system and a lot for Inspiration Island, Max brought his Buildwerk team of volunteers to OpenSim, where we have built a beautiful grid for adult learning of all kinds. 

"Our Whole Brain Health logo is a manifesto for all this work: it’s a simple circle with the three words INTERACT  INSPIRE  INNOVATE embracing the central word, CHANGE.  The more we can INTERACT and INSPIRE each other through our collaborations, the more we can truly INNOVATE – creating new forms of learning in virtual worlds and beyond, for people of all ages... because well-being is directly related to flexibility – the ability to CHANGE. 

"As one of my role models, Seth Godin, just wrote on his blog: “The world is going to change and resilience is our best response. 'Resilience is a commitment to design, an attitude and a system that works even when things don’t turn out the way we planned. Especially then.   … Flexibility, community, and a sense of possibility can go a long way. That doesn’t make it easier, but it’s our best path forward.”

"So my last thank you tonight goes to the VISION of Best Practices in Education that is illustrated year after year in this conference. And most of all, thank you VWBPE, this year, for illuminating the value of lifelong learning for adults in virtual worlds with this award. "

The award itself, which resembled the classic statue "The Thinker," when presented was very large, almost twice her height. Someone joked "The real test is if Liss can carry the trophy 20 meters." Another commented, "That award is going to take a heck of an anti-grav trolley to be taken away."

Following Wisdomseeker's speech, people started to head out to the last official event, the farewell party. She and several others would engage in a group hug, then depart.

Past recipients include Renne Brock / Zinnia Zauber, Barbara Truman / Delightful Doowangle, Valerie Hill / Valibrarian, Cynthia Calogne / Lyr Lobo, Andrew Wheelock / Spiff Whitfield, Alice Kreuger / Gentle Heron, and Selby Evans.

Bixyl Shuftan

And the Award Goes to ...

By Gemma Cleanslate

Sunday I attended the Relay for Life WrapUp. I made sure to get there for the pre-party to be in the sim since it fills up.There were three backup areas to attend. The final speeches were laudatory to all who had participated and I know you will get to see the video or read the transcript that was done so quickly by Miss Cuddly Waffle. 

It was a great pleasure to hear Random Darrow, the chair of the 2016 relay announce that special recognition went to Bixyl Shuftan for his years of support in blogging the Relay and all its events in the SL Newser. What a thrill to hear that and he was really surprised at the unexpected announcement. Wonderful! 

Random‘s words, “Community Champion Award: A Community Champion describes a person who goes out of their way to do good things for his or her community.  A person who dedicates a large portion of their time serving others, selflessly and generously.   This is our opportunity to honor and acknowledge the contributions made to RFL of SL by those who aren’t necessarily even on a team or committee or even in the Volunteer group. It is our opportunity to let them know that their service to Relay has made an impact and is so very much appreciated.

"Our second award goes to BIXYL SHUFTAN and the SL Newser.  Bixyl is a member of the Sunbeamers team, but outside of the team Bixyl has been blogging since 2010 about RFL of SL throughout the years with his SL Newser. Bixyl we appreciate all the time you devote to highlight RFL of SL in your Newser.”

Go Bixyl!!!

Gemma Cleanslate

Sunny Award

By Becky "Sha" Shamen

 By now, the word is out that local resident, RECoyote Mindes, has been helping out some members of the community. This story has grown on me and even made me a part of it. When I first began hearing of it, my friend and co-artist, Valkrye, announced that the coyote was sending her a powerful computer and a Wacom cintiq display/drawing board. Lucky Val! In my dreams, thought I, knowing how such a set up would aid my own art. After a week, I got an IM from REC, saying that he was also sending me the same equipment. I was stunned. Was this some kind of April Fools joke? Since I was now in the group of people that were being assisted, I began hearing details of how much and who was being helped. We were all being helped in real life, but the effects directly ripple through our SL community.

I contemplated that since he was helping Second Life residents, one could estimate the amount of Linden Dollars that would equal. Mind you, at the time I did the math, I only knew of a handful of cases, but it was adding up to over twelve million Linden Dollars. Now it was beginning to look like a news story that folks need to see. In a conversation with Rita Mariner, I half jokingly said' Maybe we should put up a coyote statue in the town square. She adopted the idea and we've played with building one. I think she wants to add pigeons to poop on it.


I have always been a big supporter of building healthy communities. If there are punishments for bad behavior, there should also be rewards for good behavior. Perhaps, like Oscars and Emmies, we could create an award for those that have given generously of their services to the community. I told Rita I was thinking of making such a reward and giving it to her to give out as she and or a committee decided. I made a walnut base and made the top design of translucent woven gold, which glows and gives off light. The gold forms a symbol, which is based on the universal thought-form that joy creates. The shape can be found in a smiley face, the SL hand logo and there is a hint of an all seeing eye, in the center. When the build was completed, I was delighted to discover that it seems to radiate joy, when you come near it.  I call it the "Sunny" award.

 So now I'm writing a story about a community hero, an award and a statue. Good heroes tend to be humble, so I think it best to go ask the yote if it's OK to write a story about him. I found him, relaxing at home with Perri. As I meandered up, shuffling my feet and clearing my throat, I made my request. His initial response was a heroic please no, but Perri quickly pointed out that, with the wide reaching benefits to community, having a "hero" will lift their eyes to the behaviors that lead to building a better world. With that in mind, he decided this article would be OK and I could ask him more questions.

   I began with my favorite question, "Was there a "spirit" or inspiration that led to his actions?". He just said, "I like to help". What does he do in RL? He drives a tank truck, hauling blood.  He said, "I drive truck. I love to drive, but hate driving". Driving is hard on the body and he's getting where he can't handle some equipment and climbing up in the cab is painful. Asked about the source of this new wealth, I learned it came with the sale of some land that had been passed down in his family.

   As we talked, we were joined by Niko and Erik. When I told REC that my artistic service would be freely given to him, the group began talking about how a coop of local artists would benefit them and the community. Pooling our talents, we could produce illustrated and or animated stories, with a potential attention and even income to the artists. I mentioned that Erik had also shown interest in creating graphic stories and could use Sunny Beach for "location" backgrounds for pictures and movies, a mini Hollywood.

 

   This is the ripple effect, which started with REC's help. Community members, joining to make a better world. I hope readers will join in honoring RECoyote, for his humble services to the community that loves him.

"Sha"