Under the Mango Tree--Tamsin Barzane

When I first traipsed around SL, I did it in solitary glory--gorgeous sims never seemed to have anyone on them. When I became more sociable, one of the first places I flung my limbs around was Irie Vibes, a reggae site that always had great music, plenty of companionship, and a funky vibe. Irie is still going strong, now on more elegant terms, but still with friendship and generosity to offer.

Besides the many freebies, shops and the reggae, soca and dancehall dj's, the sim's mastermind Irie Iwish/Irie Tsure has put up some elegant 3D sculptures, from the Ethiopian lion to a monument to Nanna of the Maroons. He's had an interest in culture all along, but it's blossomed now in a new direction.

By creating a substantial building devoted to diaspora culture (Irie is quite a builder, and has even written some handbooks on maneuvering within SL at http://www.hoddereducation.co.uk/TitlesList/30285/Second_Life.htm), he has given a great gift to SL. Irie and his gallery curator, Keno Beardmore, have set aside space for invited artists and exhibitors, and allowed them plenty of prims and free rein for an indefinite time--as well as the opportunity to change their displays at their own pace.

Numerous artists are participating, with paintings by Indea Vaher (in a lovely space that recreates her Louisiana/South Carolina site), Aruba DeCuir, Ivory Rexen, Tears Indigo, Parris Galli and more. Winn Wellman, curator of SL's Museum of the African-American Experience has an exhibit on Benjamin Banneker, while Keno Beardmore features dancer Katherine Dunham.

And Saminaka? Still setting up a Nupe display that will include buildings, furnishings, clothes, a slideshow and more from this exciting culture. And that's just for now--with the space and prims at hand, I promise to have changing exhibitions of traditional African compounds from all over the continent.

Support Irie. This is a terrific gesture--we don't all know him personally, he's hosting us for the love of culture and being terrifically generous. Show your One Love! http://slurl.com/secondlife/Irie/191/50/27

Middle Experience on Treet.TV

Treet.TV's Second Life show, Designing Worlds, featured Saminaka's Middle Passage Experience and Indea Vaher's Safe Haven Landing on their show last week.

Watch the wonderful video here: http://archive.treet.tv/designing-worlds-middle-passage-experience

Saffia Widdershins and Elrik Merlin travel as Ronke and Boubacar, leaving Africa through the tragic Middle Passage, arriving in the Low Country of the United States.

GREEN AND BLACK

Black and green. If you add red, those are the colors of the Pan-African flag, created in 1920 by Marcus Garvey’s UNIA. Its meaning? Red for the blood that unites all those of African ancestry (which, is, after all, the whole human race) and that spilled in liberation struggles, black for black people, and green for the natural resources and wealth of Africa. Black and “Green” are two colors Luchenpur Darwin wants to put together in Second Life, through his “Show Me the Green” Expo running at the Museum of the African American Experience through July 18. Go to: http://slurl.com/secondlife/SugarHill%20Retreat/24/35/60

Luchenpur Darwin wants to expose the black SL population in particular to ideas about how the planet can be improved through daily choices, as well as activism. The Expo has 15 booths devoted to eco-friendly concepts, as well as others erected by sponsors of the event and the Museum. “My goal is to bring the message of being green to a wider audience,” says Darwin. “The main thrust was to speak to the demographic that does not show up—that being people of color involved in Green. The standard ‘green’ person is a fairly well-educated, so-called white person. Not all of the exhibitors fit that description. We are wanting to expand the discussion.”

Darwin points out that one of the booths, created by the Avatar Action Center, includes information on environmental racism. Their “11 Facts about Environmental Racism” notes that “People of color make up the majority of those living in neighborhoods located within 1.8 miles of the nation’s hazardous waste facilities”—a chilling statistic. They also observe that “racial disparities of color exist in 9 out of 10 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regions,” and that health risks in these hot spots are abnormally high.

Darwin points out that knowledgeable persons of color can make a huge difference through grassroots efforts. Tatia Andel demonstrates this in her booth that showcases Majora Carter. This South Bronx native, whose background was in acting and film, became an environmental activist and consultant, galvanized by the ugliness endemic to the area. In 2001, she founded Sustainable South Bronx, which she headed until 2008. The organization did a complete makeover on an illegal dumping site, turning it into Hunt’s Point Riverside Park, an attractive and much safer environment. Carter, who won a MacArthur “genius grant,” speaks passionately about not only “greening the ghetto,” but training people for “greencollar” jobs. Listen to her inspiring speech here: http://www.ted.com/talks/majora_carter_s_tale_of_urban_renewal.html

Many of the Green Expo booths are sponsored by non-profits, such as Public Policy Virginia or HUMANBE Council, interested in sustainable strategy planning. They cover a gamut of environmentally-friendly topics, from solar power to animal rights, conservation, and recycling. Several are personal efforts. Artemisia Mathy of Africa Live! explores climate change and conservation initiatives, particularly those of African wetlands and mangrove environments. Your fearless reporter has a scattershot booth meant to encourage Westerners and Africans to learn from each others’ green and non-green practices for global improvement. It includes everything from Larry Vass’s digitally-engineered post-Katrina shotgun houses to using worn tires to sole shoes. Luchenpur Darwin himself, as well as fellow Chicagoan Paolo Rousselot, have for-profit real life ventures that they have brought into SL. Darwin, a developer, promotes rl homes that follow guidelines of sustainability, and his Expo exhibit (very professionally done!) explores sensible water practices. Rousselot’s booth showcases his Heat Saver Thermal Shades.

Darwin credits Rousselot with involving him further in bringing “Green” to the forefront. “I came to SL looking to build a virtual model of the RL home I hope to build, and I ended upon Etopia [an eco-minded region]. I told him [Rousselot] what I wanted to do, and he encouraged me.” Rousselot spoke warmly about their interactions. “I've met Luch in RL,” he says. “He is as wonderful and gentle, wise, in Real Life as he is here. I am honored that he is my friend and would do whatever I could--any time, anywhere--to support him, because I know his heart and his desire for a whole and healthy life and planet.”

Certainly Darwin and Museum curator/owner Winn Wellman (who eternally wears the black, red and green) deserve accolades for their efforts. They are not charging exhibitors, and only last night remembered to put out a tip jar. They have put a great deal of persuasion, enthusiasm, time and research into organizing the Expo and shepherding and nudging its exhibitors (well, me, at least) into timely readiness. I asked Darwin if the preparation was formidable. He replied, “Actually this isn’t bad. The grand opening I did for the sustainable home was hair-raising, because I had never done anything like it in SL or RL. I have had a year to form contacts, learn the ropes, and I still listen to Paolo sometimes, too.”

Darwin teamed up with Wellman, admiring his positive efforts on SL. “He had a certain vision,” says Darwin of Wellman, and the collaboration is fruitful. “I had met Winn last year when he had the Black Expo, and then again at the Obama rally he had here. So I brought a friend here to expose them to some of the more positive aspects of SL.” It was a match. Wellman is an enthusiastic proponent of many green-related issues, from the YouTube video he produced about young William Kamkwamba, whose electricity-generating windmill brought new hope to his Malawian village (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1XvqpKvrVs) to his own vegetarian practices and his Expo windmill construction. He personally collared this reporter, bombarding her with facts about the superiority of hemp textiles, till she caved in cowardice and created a hemp jacket for her Expo booth.

It is that kind of passion that allows ecomissionaries to make converts, even amongst the dancing avatars at the Expo’s opening, grooving to the soulful ballads of live performer Zerbie Magic and the dj’ed music that followed. I lassoed one visitor, Warrington Skytower, and was excited to learn he is planning an SL ecofurniture venture, presently confined to XstreetSL, but soon to be in a shop as well. Skytower, a RL civil engineer, says that he has considerable RL experience with green design. He feels his venture into ecofurniture “would be a good opportunity, since I couldn't find that many builders who use eco-friendly materials.” And which eco-friendly material was first on his list? “Well, in terms of fabrics, hemp is indispensible.” Skytower also uses “both bamboo and recycled wood, or sustainable harvested wood, where it’s collected without severely depleting forests. I believe the Sustainable Forestry Council sets guidelines for sustainable wood harvesting.” Skytower noted that formaldehyde is often present in pressed wood and particle board, which can create health hazards (it’s also present in much clothing, the main ingredient in “permanent press”). “The whole idea of sustainable design is to reduce the impact not only on the environment but also to people,” he noted.

While posing as an urban marketer, fruit and vegetables displayed before me, I saw a number of SL notables perusing the exhibits. Puff Klang bought my (adorable!) Green With Envy eco-shoes, with recycled tire soles and bamboo heels, while Indea Vaher joined Skytower, jacmacaire Humby of HUMANBE, and AfricaLive!’s artemisia Mathy in conversation and watermelon after viewing the Saminaka slideshows. The resulting friendly banter and conversation highlighted one of SL’s best features, its abilities to create cross-continental dialogue and create links and bonds through interests.

Darwin’s own interest grew long ago. “We were doing green stuff back in the 80s before they called it green. It was energy efficient uses--but Mr. Reagan set us back 20 years. I was remodeling my first home in the first energy crisis. So insulation and windows that didn’t leak made a lot of sense, so we did what we could do on the limited budget we had.”

With the Expo, Darwin has planted more seeds. He says he likes all the exhibits—“The polar bears are funny but true, the Peak Oil is very sobering, as is the Africa Live, but Saminaka is a lot of fun and Informative, too.” (The Saminaka Compass is dedicated to publishing every pro-Saminaka comment made, even if elicited with a nudge.)

Even the indifferent will find a trip useful, as some freebies are available. As well as many informational tracts, T-shirts of many green hues are available for the taking. Darwin’s Water4Life booth includes a Rivanna Conservation Society pack that combines info cards with some SL landscaping tools, while Mathy’s Africa Live! exhibit has free African textures, an Ndebele house and vases, and even a talking drum from OpenBuilding and OpenCafe. The Avatar Action Center has a carbon goggles HUD, while Coughdrop Little (self-described EcoWarrior) offers free wind turbines in two sizes.

Although July 18 is the official closing date, Darwin points out that really means that visitors will be able to talk with the exhibitors during that week. “The exhibits will remain for a while, so people can still come,” he says. Go and turn Green!

GULLAH CONNECTIONS

Women in headties interacted with their admirers amid the rocks and the trees during SL resident Indea Vaher's recent exhibition opening at the Bluff Center for the Arts. The women on canvas are the fictionalized residents of "St. Isabella Island"--also fictional, but based on the very real Sea Islands off the South Carolina/Georgia shores.

The Sea Islands, along with some of the coastal lands, are home to the Gullah, an African-American group whose relative isolation allowed greater retention of customs, names, linguistic habits and other Africanisms. Many of their ancestors came from the same part of West Africa, the so-called "Grain Coast" of southern Sierra Leone and parts of Liberia and Guinea. This was one of the few regions where "divide and conquer" was abandoned; plantation owner policy was usually to seek Africans of diverse origins to prevent communication.

The Gullah area, however, was rice-growing country, and the rice-growing was not a European crop--at least not in the area the settlers were from. The Grain Coast, however, was home to many rice farmers from multiple ethnic groups: Mende, Temne, Bullom, Kissi, Vai, and others. So the planters made an exception--it was far more useful to have farmers who knew rice well, than it was to try and train people in techniques they were initially none to familiar with themselves.

While they didn't all share a common language, they had common cultural institutions--the Poro initiation camp for boys, and the Sande/Bundu initiation camp for girls. These were schools, training grounds in adulthood, professions, medicines, educated use of proverbs and more; they began with circumcision/excision for all initiates, and membership was a social requirement. Sande/Bundu is the only African masquerade that women dance, attired in black raffia and a blackened wooden mask, representing the society's tutelary deity and acting as the embodiment of the ideal woman.

While Christianity, many elements of Western dress, and other adaptations affected the Gullah once they came to the United States, their distinctiveness remains.

As Indea shows on her sim, the women weave sweetgrass baskets for themselves and for sale on roadside stands and Charleston market. Adaptations to outsiders have been around a long time--handled baskets were necessary for those who didn't know how to balance loads on their head, a work habit African and Gullah women long shared.

The islanders have long fascinated visitors; the 1974 movie Conrack (and Pat Conroy's novel before it) was set in Gullah territory, as was Julie Dash's 1991 Daughters of the Dust.

A very fascinating documentary, The Language You Cry In (1998), traces a Gullah song lyric collected in the 1920s by Lorenzo Turner, an African American linguist. Turner found an African exchange student who identified it as Mende, from Sierra Leone. In the 1980s, a trio of Americans--a linguist, an ethnomusicologist and an anthropologist--tracked the song on two continents. They found the lyrics were a mourning song, and discovered its home was a specific Sierra Leonean village. Happily, the Gullah singer's daughter was still alive and remembered the song. Despite delays because of the Sierra Leonean civil war, a 1997 homecoming took place: the daughter, along with her own grown children, traveled to Sierra Leone and were welcomed, the song reuniting them with what is likely their ancestral village. This film is terrifically moving; my students and I never watch it without crying. Many public libraries own copies of the video. Try and watch this academic detective story that proves the worth of some of pursuits--they may seem dry and dusty, but they are far from it.

Gullah customs can be visibly different from those of neighboring areas, and naturally prove a magnet to visual artists.. Some, such as Eldzier Corter, were from other parts of the country, but were as drawn to the Sea Isle folk as they were to Haiti. Throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, the Gullah have been chronicled by painters such as Albert Hebby Hunter and locals Sam Doyle and Jonathan Green (one of the most successful of Gullah chroniclers). Photographer Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe chronicled Daufuskie island when she accompanied her late husband Arthur Ashe on a trip to neighboring Hilton Head, one of the isles first invaded by developers.

Indea Vaher's real-life counterpart was drawn to the area as well, to its tenacious relationship to the past, its great natural beauty, and its powerful history. She is drawn by many of the same things that attract conceptual photographer Carrie Mae Weems. While their media and styles are far apart, they

see the underlying strengths, struggles and stories in AfriAmericana--the folk beneath the folklore.

Indea, a Creole whose personal roots are in Louisiana, lives in South Carolina and feels a kinship with her Gullah neighbors. She admires their dignity, their adherance to a different lifestyle, and the culture they built with European supplies on an African foundation. Her fictional women mirror their real sisters. Vaher notes in her artist's statement that "Customs preserved from the past are prevalent as the natives of St. Isabella carry on life as if time has stood still. In this beautiful island paradise the FREE strong and independent women of color practice midwifery, and medicine. They sew sweetgrass baskets and create beautiful quilts. They seed and harvest next to the men in their world, and act as both priestess and teacher."

Indea describes herself as self-taught, but her mastery of color, sophisticated composition and mood are sure. Her skills have been recognized through numerous honors and awards, as well as a considerable number of national exhibitions. She noted that many artists who work in the Gullah region focus on similar subject matter and sell notecards as well as paintings, but her work has a recognizable style that distinguishes it easily.

Describing her interest in early African American history as an obsession, Indea has recreated the Metoyer Plantation of her Louisiana youth (home of the fascinating Marie Coin-Coin, 18th century daughter of Ghana's Akan, who left a plantation to her children to Frenchman Louis Metoyer) in Sunrise Mansion and related outbuildings. In June, her desire to participate in a world day of remembrance for those who traveled the Middle Passage let to her creation of Safe Haven Landing, reminiscent of South Carolina's Ibo Landing--where incoming captives chose to wade back into the sea and drown, in hope of reincarnation back home. The subject itself is still too horrific for her to address through painting; rather, she draws on the strengths of those survivors who together built a new culture and walked deftly in beauty.

Vaher's Sunrise Mansion and her Vaher Visions host exhibits by herself and other artists, and her SL exhibition schedule is vibrant. Besides the bucolic Bluff Center's outdoor space, she will soon show "Jumbalaya" at West of Ireland Art Centre, with an opening reception July 11 from 1-3 pm SLT at http://slurl.com/secondlife/West%20of%20Ireland/163/184/26.

The Bluff Center exhibition runs through July 31st at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Lappet/79/228/100

BITS & PIECES

***The discussion about the Middle Passage Experience, conducted by Acuminous Watanabe and held at Indea Vaher's Safe Haven Landing, was well attended and productive! Second Life has a lot to offer in this regard, and Acu is skilled and experienced. There will surely be more such explorations!

***FIREWORKS! Our Fourth of July fireworks were so much fun that a group of us (trees blocking our RL views) just kept watching them over and over! They will surely be hauled out for other occasions, but don't miss them! Best I've seen in SL

***Winn Welcome has added to his growing YouTube SL videos with a tour of Indea Vaher's Remembrance exhibition. History is explored through photos, sculpture, and verbal information. See it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSDckPAmMC0

***Luchenpur Darwin is taking his RL passion for GREEN and sustainable practices to organize the "Show me the Green" Expo on the roof of Winn Welcome's Museum of the African American Experience. It isn't open yet, but if you have some greenness you'd like to share through a display, contact Luchenpur or Winn. There will be a feature on the exhibit next week; it runs from July 12-18. Since it opens before our next issue goes to press, however, let me give you the SLURL; just remember everything isn't in place till the 12th for the opening! http://slurl.com/secondlife/SugarHill%20Retreat/35/41/60

THIS WEEK IN SAMINAKA--JUNE 29 to JULY 5

TUESDAY JUNE 30 at 5:30 pm SLT & 6:30 SLT. As the Middle Passage Experience draws to a close (though we are extending it a little longer), we are going to have a once-only GUIDED tour, so you can be sure you don't miss anything. It starts at 5:30 with Tamsin (the beach infohub has a Teleport to the tour's beginning), and will end up at Safe Haven Haven Landing with Indea Vaher. Immediately afterward (at about 6:30 or maybe a little sooner) Acuminous Watanabe will facilitate a discussion of how reenacting this tragic historical exodus affected participants. Were you too reluctant to do it? Did the sight of the Door of No Return make you cringe? Did the thought of manacles clench your stomach? You were not alone. Talk it out. Acu is a fabulous counselor, and you will find yourself processing and gaining a sense of healing.

The tour is going to be filmed by Winn Wellman, as well as by a news crew from Treet.TV for their program "Designing Worlds"--exciting indeed!

A box holding all the before and after stories of the ten African lives explored in the Experience is now available at Saminaka for free.

SATURDAY, JULY 4 at 5 pm SLT. An envoy from the American Embassy (tee-hee) will set off firecrackers for a rollicking good time down by the Manatee Lookout. Fireworks? Of course! They are likely to spook the manatee, but she'll settle down.

THE MIDDLE PASSAGE EXPERIENCE

To many Americans, the Middle Passage is too painful to think about in any detail. Our public schools make the "Africa" part of the equation look like a monolithic place, for the teachers themselves are often not taught about the continent's ethnic and cultural variety, or even the basics of the trade itself.

When Indea Vaher decided to host an exhibit in conjunction with REMEMBRANCE, a worldwide simultaneous libation pouring to honor those lost on the Middle Passage, I got excited. She has a site based on Nachitoches, Louisiana's Metoyer Plantation, now a kind of artist's colony, in SL and RL. Metoyer was built for Marie Coin-Coin (Kwan-Kwan) in the 18th century by her French lover, and the Akan woman and her offspring owned it till well into the 1800s.

In the early 20th century, one of the staff, an elderly African American woman named Clementine Hunter painted scenes of the plantation, and sewed applique quilts depicting it--they are now prized museum works. Indea has a permanent display on indigo cultivation, Creole life and more, and erected Ibo Landing there--a South Carolina debarkation point where Igbo slaves from Nigeria walked into the ocean rather than become enslaved on U.S. soil.

Indea graciously allowed me to create a link to my idea for the African end of the trade, and our own Oliha Yiwama intoned the invocation at Saminaka and the libation at Safe Haven Landing on June 13, just as others did it in Atlanta, San Francisco, Cape Coast in Ghana and elsewhere. Exhibits on both our sims run through June 30.

So what's on Saminaka? I wanted people to come away with a better sense of the specifics--not only of the trade, but the PEOPLE. So I delved into my notes and created stories for ten characters, five male, five female, from different affected areas and eras. Their stories may be fictional, but they're based on fact--as are some of their names. Participants assume their identity through a bio and clothes, then, once they've seen the display, look for a second box with their name on it. Forced to shed their African lives, they are given a new name, Western clothes, and a destination in the U.S. (and can tp to Safe Haven Landing). A reminiscences card follows up on the details of their lives--all the plantations and most of the people mentioned were real. Above, see PHaTTSam Fizz as Boubakar, a Malinke soldier, member of a blacksmith family, and ritual specialist before his capture in Senegal.

I loved doing this. It may be overwhelming, so we're hoping Acuminious Watanabe will be able to conduct a discussion session at Chan Dejavu's Baobab Academy in the next week or two (she wants to! not yet scheduled). People that have stopped by the sim say the experience has moved them; some wondered if it was roleplay (not really, but they have given me some ideas for later). I am very interested in hearing what you have to say about it--send an IM or letter to the editor, please!