UNDER THE MANGO TREE--Tamsin Barzane

I just passed my second SL birthday (and, like RL, was convinced I was a year older than I was!), and feel like taking stock. I didn't find out about Second Life in any of the conventional ways--I saw a reference to it in the newspaper comics, and checked it out. And then I became indignant towards one of my work colleagues, who knew all about it.

I'd been interested in virtual worlds for a long time. I was an avid Mystian when it first appeared, and a Zorker in the days of text games. Anybody remember Adobe's trial 3D beta world, Adobe Atmosphere? It bowled me over, even though there was nothing to do but look! And I'd read Snowcrash and loved it--if you haven't read this great novel that formed the inspiration for the Lindens to create SL, get thee to a library. So even the knowledge that SL was there, and already big (summer 2007) was very exciting.

My first thoughts were of education, because I'd taught a seminar about delivering art history in new ways. This came about because of an incredibly feeble computer game, Lotus Spring. It had virtually no story, but was it gorgeous! It was developed up in Vancouver at the university, in conjunction with a prof who knew all about the Chinese Imperial Garden. You could click on an ornate chest and a men's embroidered jacket would appear! Just seeing it made me think how a further click could tell you about the meaning of the motifs, or the type of silk...oh, yes, stealth education! (random trivia--who remembers Apple's stacking notecards?) And those exquisite textures, created by Maya before it was a name every graphics fiend knew.

Of course I wanted Africa, not China or the ancient Rome that was my next foray into this kind of architectural/cultural submersion game. I pestered my chairman to buy me Maya, which I have been incapable of even installing correctly--perhaps a good thing, since it can't be transferred to another machine, and that was a good six years ago or more. But I still proudly have my Maya backpack in the closet!

So SL provided the opportunity to do just what I wanted, in an atmosphere full of people from all over the world! But as an unfledged chick, I wasn't ready for that. I had to acclimatize. I was lucky enough to find a mentor in Chan Dejavu, who at that time owned a little coffee shop, the original Soul Lounge. She started to up her presence with regular DJ'ed dances and drew a great crowd of interesting people.

I became her hostess, the Soul Mate, and learned about radar and IMs, spyware and gestures. When she branched out and built her sim, Dejavu Isles, it was thrilling to see the plans take place--why were these buildings located here, why were these shops priced this way? Her exciting vision of a spot to highlight the best of Diaspora culture while providing fun and beauty remains inspirational, and there's nothing like the nostalgia the club gesture (***I GOT SOUL!!!!***DO YOU HAVE SOUL?*** ) still provides!

I started my own little shop, Seven Cowries (now migrated to Saminaka), to sell African art--and had to learn (not very well at first!) how to make alpha channels and import and resize textures. Then tignon, that sold diaspora art. Now I was full up into it! I had a little shop on Santa Iemanja Island, another when Virtual Africa opened Robben Island. And Alanagh Recreant, owner of both, gave me a boost when she had me design some furniture, quickly followed by Feelino Paine, for his home. And then a little cowboy art store for a friend, and slex bed construction (yikes, scripts!), and even a tiny off hours, graffitied-up building in Little Philly.

All this plunged me into building, albeit in a haphazard way--a class here or there, looking in my Photoshop book index, asking questions.

Saminaka was born, and strategizing events and prims began! But then a RL exhibition created a looooong SL hiatus, and I came back to find a (temporarily) devastated sim---hmmm, somehow I had allowed any and all rights to terraform. But it was soon put to rights.

And finally, this past Spring, a real effort to combine my fun with education through slide shows, hippo books, informal lectures, The Middle Passage Experience, and the library began in earnest, with lots of help from Oliha Yiwama, Khoisan Fisher, Bafana Beaumont, and many more friends and cohorts.

And this past week a scholar got in touch with me about the Experience--she wants to include it in a publication she's doing about SL and education. A thrill, and an impetus to push my university and involve my students.

And yet, I find my latest venture, cacao...couture from the chocolate lands, is equally a thrill and fun to boot, a kind of supercharged exploration of the paper doll creation of my childhood (nobody dressed the Jetsons better). In RL, I have no entrepreneurial experience. I'm a sewer (lapsed at the moment) and love costume and fashion history (gave a seminar on African dress not too long ago), and I'm listening to the guidance of my friends Tomi, Oliha and Gudia as I feel my way forward to SERIOUS SL clothes. I am curious--will it go anywhere, or just provide entertainment for me? Could it possibly....pay tier? Provide a few Christmas presents? I shall keep you posted, along with suggestions and observations regarding successful and satisfying businesses along the way.