This week we are raising awareness for the COVID-19 information center on Inspiration Island.
Lissena, who also goes by Wisdomseeker, guides us through the colorful and comforting realm of Inspiration Island, which she created with several other volunteers to promote wellness in a fun and accessible way. In this region you can also find Whole Brain Health, which Lissena describes as “the virtual arm of our nonprofit Ageless Mind Project. Our mission is to give people the tools to stay sharp, active, and healthy, based on research coming from neuroscience, gerontology, positive psychology, and creativity.”
The COVID display in the courtyard was built by Lady Brielle, a medical librarian who maintains the text as new data becomes available. Lady Brielle has been a tireless essential worker throughout the pandemic, and her work has not gone unnoticed. Lady Brielle us that “our outreach work in Second Life has been recognized by the National Library of Medicine and won an award in Research by the Hospital Libraries Section of the Medical Library Association.”
Information on COVID-19 is displayed in Spanish, American Sign Language, and English. The creators of Inspiration Island took a multidisciplinary approach to presenting information so that as many people as possible can be positively impacted by visiting. In addition to medical data there are stories submitted by other Residents about their personal experiences of social distancing to remind us that what we’re feeling is totally natural, and we’re not the only ones who feel that way. There are also many activities to facilitate mental stimulation and help people feel connected.
Lissena wants us to know that even the scary parts of sickness are addressed here: “Once a month Rob, a member of the Collective in Germany, hosts a Death Café — something he is trained to do professionally outside SL — conversations that help make death less {of} a forbidden subject. Amazingly, we laugh a lot there.”
This vibrant region is the labor of love of a devoted community. Marly Milena, a volunteer who provides “programs focused on creative expression on Inspiration Island. I have introduced a way of working with arts-based processes, called Symbolic Modeling (SymMod for short). We use the building tools so people can make art in SL, and then we guide them in exploring meanings, new ideas, feelings, etc.”
Thuja Hynes, the associate director of the project, builds educational exhibits and tours. Two of his current projects are called Simply Imossible and Hero Walk. There are also many weekly events. Faust hosts the Positive Change Circle at Whole Brain Health on Sundays at 3pm SLT, and Arisia Vita plays piano in the gaebo every Monday and Wednesday. Priceless contributions are also provided by community members Catseye Tennen, Ghaelen D’Lareh, and Marylou Goldrosen.
Second Life is proud to host a space that incorporates elements of education, creativity, and community, and Inspiration Island is a living example of the positive it can bring. Lissena feels that the activities found here “give you insight into yourself, encourage your creativity and your sense of purpose and reduce loneliness, which is really important.” It is open to people from all walks of life, so stop by for a visit today.
Video Production Credits:
Draxtor Despres
Have a Great Week from all of us at Zoha Islands And Fruit Islands/Eden ♥
Every early session (first two weeks) included the custom-made ‘Spinoza Café’ scenario which involved performing the role of a waiter or waitress—delivering food to customers in the university canteen—which became progressively bizarre (clocks running backwards; customers suddenly staring at the participant or changing into mannequins; gravity failing) under control of the researcher. To increase the dream-like character, changes occurred outside of the field of the participants, i.e. they did not directly witness any changes, but only the result of the change when moving their gaze/attention to a different field of view. This produced an aesthetic which closely resembles dreaming, since alterations to working memory (among other cognitive changes) render otherwise intrusive, non-sequitur inconsistencies frequent and unremarkable from within the dreaming state. 