The Rumor is Out: Moving to Lakeville

Well, I am sure you have all forgotten about this here blog (except Adrian - he is tapping his foot and waiting for a post :-). But, here is the story (lame as it is). We are moving.

After 5 years at Lehigh Carbon and 12 years teaching at the college level, I am turning in my grade book in exchange for a new life at a boarding school.

Why?

Well, here is the thing. I wasn't actually looking for a job. I would have been content retiring from LCCC. I love the students, and I love the diversity. Even the annoying grumpy people are slightly entertaining, and I would have loved to drive them nuts for another 35 years. But, when a SL friend named Lozvare sent me the job description, I was entirely intrigued.

Perhaps it is my love of boarding school stories (A Separate Peace, Peace Breaks Out) and their collegiate counters (Cherry Ames, Superior Women) or movies like Dead Poets Society that have always inspired a love for boarding schools. Maybe it is my love of New England (and Connecticut). Or, maybe it is my respect for the accomplishments of The Hotchkiss School or the spunk of its founder, Maria Hotchkiss, that prompted me to apply. Most likely, it was a combination of all these and a desire to raise my boys in a place where they can be safe, well educated, and creative.

I applied late for the position, as I found out about it at the end of its call. But, the position for an Educational Communications and Technology Facilitator was right up my alley. While I will certainly miss grading 200 papers a week and marking giant red Xs over comma splices, I was captivated by the potential of a position working with faculty to transform their use of technology in the classroom. I felt that my own experience as a professor using the technology would be a great match for what they were looking for in this new position. I also like the idea of living on campus, coaching a sport (diving), and being an active part of the community.

Even though I accepted the position early this year, we only told a few people, as I had a semester to finish out here. But, now that the semester has closed, it is now official: we are moving to Lakeville, CT on August 1. We will be dorm parents to first and second-year boys, and I will be coaching the diving team. The boys will be going to a wonderful elementary school (Salisbury Central), and Dave will either open a hobby/ebay shop, or work at a local cardiology office.

Moving is bittersweet. We have dear friends here (Liz, Terri, Colleen, and Gene), and family, too. But, it is only 3 hours away, and the benefits are tremendous. Above is a picture of where we will be living. Below is a little movie we made for our friends and family:

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

If Facebook Hits Real Life

Many thanks to Ewan McIntosh for this video!!!

Mad World by Gary Jules

It has been a while since I fell in love with a song. But, as I grade papers, I am listening to this song and thinking about our youth and the world they have inherited. Tears for Fears (one of my all time fave bands from back in the day) did it originally, but truly, I kinda think Gary does a better job. That just might be because I prefer piano over guitar, and I prefer slow and dramatic over fast and furious. Here is the Tears for Fears version.

This is Gary Jules performing the song live:



Here are the lyrics (source):

All around me are familiar faces
Worn out places, worn out faces
Bright and early for their daily races
Going nowhere, going nowhere
Their tears are filling up their glasses
No expression, no expression
Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow
No tomorrow, no tomorrow

And I find it kinda funny
I find it kinda sad
The dreams in which I'm dying
Are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you
I find it hard to take
When people run in circles
It's a very, very mad world mad world

Children waiting for the day they feel good
Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday
Made to feel the way that every child should
Sit and listen, sit and listen
Went to school and I was very nervous
No one knew me, no one knew me
Hello teacher tell me what's my lesson
Look right through me, look right through me

And I find it kinda funny
I find it kinda sad
The dreams in which I'm dying
Are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you
I find it hard to take
When people run in circles
It's a very, very mad world ... world
Enlarge your world
Mad world

BLOG NEGLECT 101

Yes, Yes. You should all get a free ice cream for my negligent blog slacking, but I have a good excuse.
Finals.
This semester was crazy, but it is nearly over. So, I will return to penning brilliant prose in a few short days.
My stress release has been watching CSI on my Tivo. I love all three shows, but am really drawn to Horatio on CSI: Miami. It is a well drawn character. Sadly, my other favorite character on that show, Alexx, the uber cool medical examiner, is leaving the show. Here is the clip:

The Story of Victoria

So, it is all over the news. A bunch of girls beat up 16 year old Tori Lindsay in Florida, and then posted the video on YouTube. The kids wanted to be famous, or so it seems, or wanted to settle some kind of score.

Now everyone cried foul and says "It is the internet's fault!"

Jeebus.

Let's examine this story. First, we have Tori. Tori used her MySpace account to get in a cyber scuttle over something or other with her friends. So, they pass virtual notes and meet. In the olden days, we would have passed a piece of paper saying "meet me at the school yard at 3:15" and everyone would chant FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT! But, some wise person, usually the principle, would come, take everyone away, call the parents, and suspend the kids. But, in some cases, it was one kid on 50 in the school yard.

So, this isn't really a new situation. What makes this different is that it is taped. And it isn't taped by some innocent bystander shooting footage of rare Floridian birds; it is the attackers documenting their "victory" by sharing a camera and laughing as the girl is beaten down.

Now, I don't give one crap about the use of MySpace here. This could have happened on paper and in any school in the nation. It doesn't matter that these girls appear to be from the "backwoods" as rich kids can get in the same kind of scuffles.

I am entirely tempted to place some of the blame on the parents. One mother says Tori is to blame and a gaggle of others said, "no no, these are trumped up charges; my Susie is a good little psycho path." I mean, really. No kid, no matter how bad, deserves to be beat down by a gang of her peers. And no parent should justify it. Period. And, what are the parents teaching these kids? Ah, yes, don't take responsibility for your actions; it is always someone else's fault.

How about this...

Let's imagine these are teenagers who have done something REALLY bad and stupid. Let's coddle them and say, oooooh, you poor thing, you are from a lower middle class family, and you have had no upbringing, and, oh my, you poor little thing...all that violence on TV has made you loony, and Myspace is Satan, and YouTube is its bride, and omg if we get rid of that, all of our problems as a society will dissipate!

OR

Let's image that these are teenagers who have done something really bad and stupid. Let's make them apologize to Victoria. Let's make them work at breaking rocks at half of minimum wage until they pay every cent of her medical bills. While they are doing that, lets require them to wear house arrest belts, eliminate their use of TV/Video/Games/Music/Internet. Let's force them to be homeschooled by visiting teachers that they have to pay (with money from rock chopping), and let's make them meet twice weekly with a therapist and an anger management counselor.

Let's do this for one solid year. This way, we can teach them that being part of society, a civilized one, requires that you act and behave in a way that is appropriate. Let's demonstrate that attending school, visiting friends, and using the phone are privileges in civilized society. But, most of all, let's demonstrate that we believe that people can change and rehabilitate with correct instruction.

Ah, but you see...in order for any of that to work...the parents have to help be an advocate for change, and, well, these parents aren't up to that challenge.

CMN 112 Video

Here is Hannah's Video for CMN 112:

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

CMN 112: Get the Vote Out!

I am sorry that my posting has been slacking; it is the end of the semester, and life is uber crazy!

Here is the first student video for the inworld "Hot Campaign Topics" challenge in CMN 112. These will all be available on LCCC island, and we will vote for the best one!

By Sunflower:

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The Importance of Spell Check!

Many thanks to Coach Brown for posting this video on his blog (warning: mature content).

Hell is BAAAAAAACK! (Dante's Inferno Returns to Second Life)

Dante's Inferno has returned to Second Life!!!

With MANY thanks to our anonymous donor, we were able to unpack and rebuild the Inferno. We have added a few new features, and are continuing to think of new and better ways to add content!







Ironically, the land arrived on Good Friday. If you know about the text, you know that Dante (the character) began his journey on Good Friday.




While we had hoped to have Hell opened by Easter, it takes a lot longer to build hell than we expected :-0 Visit it and make sure you have your ambient sounds, movies, music, and particles turned on.













Many thanks to Eloise Pasteur and Eloise Pasteur Educational Designs for building the Inferno (again), and we are always looking to add content!

To open the island, we are having a Build-a-Lucifer contest (kind of like build-a-bear, but not).

















To build him, you need to use the description of him here. The winner will receive our undying praise and 10,000 Linden Dollars.

Interesting Questions about My Second Life and Twitter Neglect

This is the COOLEST chair in Second Life.


There must be a gaggle of professors requiring interviews of SL educators. I must have done 5 or 6 interviews this week. Most of the questions are pretty standard...who are ya...whatcha doin...whya doin it...

One student asked: Where do you get your inspiration?

Well, truly, I am inspired by literature. I love a good story. I love a bad story written well. Literature is full of great stories. Think about it...isn't is interesting that Grendel just took over a whole big hall and a bunch of guys sat around and said, "oh yeah...that is our resident monster dude over there, but we, valiant warriors, are too lazy to get off our duffs to do anything about it..." until Beowulf shows up and says "DUDES! Why on EARTH are you eating out here when you got that big ole bad hall over there???" See...it is all about language. Making it fun for students. At some point, SOMEONE loved Beowulf (and not just stuffy academics). It was a bedtime story. Little kids and giggling teenagers sat around listening to Dad tell that tale AGAIN to the guests.

In an email today, someone pestered me about my lack of twittering. I READ my twitter log; I just don't write on it much (I am a busy girl, ya know).

Honestly, I love the concept of Twitter. I think it is a great tool for learning. I don't use it in the classroom because I have 50000 other tools that I do use. And, to be honest, there is SOMETHING to be said for privacy. I don't need to know what all my friends are doing every moment of the day. Hell, you really don't WANT TO know what I do all day (wash dishes, more dishes, more dishes, then some more dishes). It isn't that I don't love all my dear friends; I just don't need to be attached to them all the live long day.

Now, some people use Twitter to post interesting links to articles they are reading. Others use it to say, "Ooops! Dropped the Soap!" Really? Oh, that is fasssscinating. Ugh.

I am not much of a phone person either. Ask Mark. He calls all the time: Whatcha doin? Nuttin. How about now? Still nuthin...getting ready to wash dishes. Again? Yup, again.

I really am not that interesting. I could maybe drum up something interesting, but it would be bupkus. My life is relatively boring. I am infinitely jealous of the twitterers with these exotic exciting lives...they MUST have maids or dishwashers or SOMETHING!

I have friends that twitter from their mobile phones...documenting every second of their lives (getting on the plane...got to my seat) and (plane has landed...I can Twitter again!). ARGGgggg. I hate my cell phone, and I do not use it for ANYTHING except calling cabs and my husband (on rare occasion...like car accident kind of occasions). Trust me...you do not want to talk to me when I am in the grocery store with Mustache Man thrashing about on the floor demanding Spiderman Cookies or when I am in the middle of chasing Sharpie Boy down the street as he chases a cat that LOOKS like Mikey-our-cat but isn't Mikey-our-cat. You DEFINITELY do not wanna interrupt my loud singing in the car, and you don't want to talk to me when I am working out at the gym (truly, I could only huff at you and maybe snort). So, your best bet? Email.

My Twitter friends think I am being old fashioned. Nope. I celebrate the use of Twitter in the classroom. I celebrate your right to post your most mundane details. I celebrate the documentation of every moment of life for all of the world to enjoy. But, I am not inspired by it; I am inspired by a GOOD story or a BAD story written well :-)

The American Project in Second Life

Life is cooking in my virtual world. Three sets of students are now inworld. One group is testing their American values (DeSales), one group is studying feral cats (LCCC), and the last group is building Spoon River (LCCC) for literature class. In total, there are 123 students in SL this semester. So, yeah, I am fairly busy :0

The students at DeSales are full swing into their immersion/survivor activity, "The American Project." We have lots of drama going on; please visit our faculty voice thread where Eloise and I (and our student assistant, Daliah) comment on the challenges and twists in plot.



Here is a small little video, as well, about the project:

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Philip Rosedale Linden Leaving Linden Lab

Apparently, in the world of hot start up companies, the CEO lifts off and leaves after the honeymoon period. As the blogosphere will tell you, Philip Rosedale Linden is no different...he is just following the prescribed path.

The flood of articles range from "OMG! The Sky is Falling! Run Now!!!" to "Yup - this is what happens" to "You'll see...it will be BETTER now."

Seeing as I don't know the future, and I have no way to predict how this will go, I can only read the articles of reputable publications. The problem is...many of them hated Second Life to begin with...so they are doing the whole "told ya so" dance. The Wall Street Journal, for example, says that businesses have scaled back because of "pranksters." Um...maybe they scaled back because they missed the WHOLE point of virtual worlds? Maybe they realized that people wouldn't just pop over to virtual space to read URLs out to web space?? Ack. Don't get me started...

Look. Second Life ain't dead.

Jeremy Kemp, in a great post to the educator listerserve, listed all the reasons why education isn't gonna die any time soon in SL. In fact, it may just pick up...many of us wrote grants that are JUST coming in now...so we have commitments for at least 2 years. In many ways, educators are really suited for this type of change in helm, as we often experience change of administrators in our daily lives. Our colleges have not yet closed, and we change chiefs a LOT.

But, there are more than businesses and educators to worry about here. What about the residents? They do, in fact, make up the rest of the world. Anshe Chung, the amazing woman behind the millions, is not going to pack it in because Philip is stepping down. She will continue to make money because new people will still want their own slice of the land pie.

Additionally, there will always be people in Second Life that make it what it is...a great social space. Prokovy Neva, also a land holder, is the King of Drama in SL. His blog is, whether you love him or hate him, one of the best out there. He coined phrases like "fettered inner core" or "FIC" to refer to the people who, evidently, attend SL Views or get special preferential treatment by Linden Lab employees (note to self...I attended SL Views, and I don't get special treatment...in fact, I am fairly confident I am not even on the radar to receive even a free tee shirt). Anywho. Prok has invested a lot into his SL work (as a writer, as a gossip hack, as a land owner), so I don't see him leaving either.

Will things change? Well...sure. The changing of the guard always means...um...change. But, it may be BETTER. Maybe someone will come in and say "fix the damn lag." I am not sure it is possible with the bajillions of UUIDs floating in the space, but, hey, you never know.

So, am I jumping ship? Will Literature Alive! step down?

Not a chance.

For starters, my best friends in the entire world live in virtual space. While I can certainly IM Eloise Pasteur in GChat, I would not be able to build Dante's Paradiso with her there. or go to the Job exhibit at Sea Turtle Island. Daliah Carter and I would not be able to go Lucky Chair hopping in real life. I would never have met any of the people that I hold near and dear...Brainwave, PipSqueak, Hiro, Horace, Lorelei, Intellagirl, LauraMaria, Adrian, Bryan, Jeremy, Butch, CDB, Larry, Fleet, HappyHolly, Marius, Crash, Gus, and the list goes on and on and on....

And... students and I could certainly NOT have a watermelon massacre in real life.

Secondly, students LEARN better in virtual worlds. The students building Spoon River hate me and Second Life right about now (their projects being due in less than 26 hours). But, if I call them in 10 years, the chances that they remember something about Spoon River will be significantly higher than if I just gave them some paper to write.

Finally, there is much to be done. Now that we have all figured out that we shouldn't just build what exists in real life (one article called it "a boring place to be"), there is much to do! I am STILL looking for a full sim to place Dante's Inferno (and Purgatorio and Paradiso). Walden Farm is just being built! The World of Wartime Journalism Project will take place this summer...and there is rumor that there might even be a home for the Underground Railroad/Tribute to African American authors build. Eloise, Daliah, and I are VERY busy - no matter WHO takes the helm at LL.

Second Life has never been about the employees at LL. Second Life has always been about us...the content creators. Whether we are educators building that interactive Testes...or land owners like Anshe...or writers like Prok....WE, the collective, have made the place great. Since WE haven't resigned, we have nothing to worry about!

IMAGE SOURCE

Reflections and Predictions

Literature Alive! recently celebrated its first birthday. Literature Alive! was created because I simply could not find anything literary in SL, and I needed something of substance to offer students.

The first build was on a rental property in Knightsbridge; it was the first British Literature classroom. In these pre-Eloise days, I did all of my own building and scripting with the help of Adrian and Ligeia Westwick. Back then, it was a beautiful house with lots of things to click, but there was nothing to do other than read.

At first, we used the British Literature classroom for everything, but then gave birth to Literature Alive! We established a headquarters at Lukekini Island, and interest in literary projects caught on at the SL Insider (w Massively) where Eloise was a columnist. During her interview, she asked where LA was heading, and I explained all that I wanted to to do but recognized that my basic building skills and lack of funding would prevent any forward movement. Eloise took pity on me, and started to build interactive displays while I went out a-beggin for land grants. My thought was that people would donate land before they would donate Linden, and they would welcome builds that would help establish their own presence within SL.

Fast forward one year.



We have hosted over 30 builds in Second Life devoted to literature. We have held 52 workshops for faculty. We have been home to over 250 college students using SL to learn about literature. Through the very generous land donations of our colleagues and the volunteer efforts of Eloise, Literature Alive! has grown in leaps and bounds.

Where next?

Our main hope is to continue building environments. This summer, students will be working on WW2 and Journalism, and we hope to build a full sim Dante exhibit (inferno, purgatorio, and paradiso).

We also hope to return to offering free workshops for faculty using SL to teach. This is the best part of what LA has done in the past, and it is something that ebbs and flows with student presence.

As we look over the past year, we are amazed by what we have been able to put together with no budget. We - literally - grew out of a dream.

As we celebrate this first birthday, please let me take just one second to thank the people who have made it possible to exist and thrive.

1. Without the help of Eloise Pasteur, Literature Alive! would still be at Lukekini hoping to do something MORE in SL. While she makes her living by building and scripting in SL, she has volunteered her time, talent, and treasure to help us grow. Without her, we would not be where we are right now.
2. Daliah Carter is the assistant everyone dreams of having. She shops for props, she helps students get dressed, and she takes excellent notes.
3. Our sponsors: There are so many of them, but we are eternally thankful to Finger Lakes Community College, Monroe Community College, Montclair CHSS, Georgia Southern SCU, Education UK, SLCN.TV, Cattle Puppy, the Foundation for Rich Content, The V3 Group, Liz Fherenghetti Landscaping, EduIsland II, NMC, FireSabre Consulting, MillionsOfUs, Eloise Pasteur Educational Designs, Alliance Library, Caledon Libraries, VIT World Group, Nature Island, and Drexel University.
4. Our Friends: We have so many friends on the grid that it is impossible to list them all. However, there are a few that have been truly special to us and we want to be sure to thank them as well: Butch Dae, Marcius Dowding, Crash Thibauld, Larry Pixel, CDB Barkely, Intellagirl Tully, Bryan Mnemonic, AJ Brooks, LauraMaria Onomatopeia, Claudia Linden, Blue Linden, Glenn Linden, Sambuca Carter, Lorelei Jonot, PipSqueak Fiddlesticks, Audio Zenith, Max Chatnoir, Horace Moody, Troy McLuhan, Fleet Goldberg, Fred Fuchs, and FlipperPA.

The Boss's First Video

My husband, Spiff, made his first movie:

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Animoto v OneTrueMedia

So, I want to see which one I like best. Truthfully, I like them both. But, I thought I would toss the vote out to my faithful readers. Which output format do you like better? Please vote in the COMMENTS tab below! Artwork in videos is by my colleague Ron Blue; check out his gallery.

OneTrueMedia

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Animoto

Open Notebook Science

My friend and colleague at Drexel, Jean-Claude Bradley, is an Associate Professor of Chemistry. His revolutionary work in Open Notebook Science challenges the "old way" of communicating science.

Check out his latest video talk on what ONS is and how it will impact the world.

Summer Lovin

This summer, I will be teaching in a learning community connecting students in Journalism I at LCCC with students in WW2 History at Penn State.

Here is one of our joint resources that can be played inworld with the new HTML on a prim concept!

Addicted to OneTrueMedia

Another One...

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Teaching in Virtual Worlds

I just returned home from Denver...and have about 1000 RSS posts to read. Ack.

Anywho, I presented at the League for Innovation on teaching in Second Life. Here is the wiki, and here are the slides:

| View | Upload your own

A Family Video

I have fallen in love with OneTrueMedia:

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Please Watch!

Please watch this video about feral cats. My students are working with Dr. Nancy Trun at Duquesne on a feral cat science and communication project, and Alley Cat Allies has been REALLY helpful!!! Please let them meet their goal of education people on the benefits of spaying and neutering.

Science Rocks in SL

Wow. I am sooooo humbled by the science community in SL. Every time I turn around, they are doing something so entirely amazing, it makes me proud to know them.

These people are awe inspiring. If you think NOAA rocks...if you think ISM is the Bee's Knees...if the you think the Genome Project is the Cat's Meow....you MUST go see DrDoug Pernnell's (RL Doug Danforth, Ohio State) "The Tour of the Testis." Wow...how often do you get say, "I toured a Testis...TWICE!"

Dr.Doug did an INCREDIBLE job on this tour. While you sit in the little car thingy, you go through the exhibit and actually learn about the whole sperm production process. Now, before this tour, I could write what I know about all things sperm related on the head of a pin. At the end of the tour, I took the quiz, and OMG I learned something!!!! In fact, I learned all sorts of new facts about chromosomes and such.

You must, must, must got see this tour; it is up there with ISM, NOAA, Genome, and the rest.

But, if you get bored, pop over the amazingly new American Chemical Society Island being created by Hiro Sheridan (the amazing man behind the open source molecule rezzer) and Horace Moody (the amazing cat behind Open Notebook Science).

And, if you get bored with THAT, go on over to the SL Healthy wiki created by the lovely Perplexity Peccable, Prijian Toland and Skaidrite Norse. Once you are there, you can pop inworld to find real information about RL health! Health Info Island is simply an amazing resource.

If there were a competition between science and the humanities, science would win - hands down. While there are lots of people doing great stuff in literature and history, it isn't as much as we would like to see. For example, the folks at Seton Hall have done an amazing rendition of Hawthorne's House of the Seven Gables. Bryan Carter has created a Harlem Renaissance Sim. There are a few places to study creative writing, journalism, and poetry. Literature Alive! creates about 89% of the literature content available on the grid.

As far as history goes, the only sims that are truly educational (and not commercial in scope and nature) are Caledon (which is not owned by an educator) and the new Land of Lincoln (created and run by the amazing Lorelei Junot). While places like the Renaissance Sim are lovely living history places, the focus isn't really on education; they are more focused on reeneacting. The Ren Sim is nice though, as they do try, more than other social sims, to be period correct and educational in various events. So, they are a true mix, where places like Paris and New York are completely commercial. You will find the buildings, but you will learn nothing about the culture or content.

Image Source

Special Thanks to Eloise Pasteur for helping me collect the SLurls for this post!!!

Sing a Song for Change

The glorious Vicki Davis wrote (yet another) inspiring post about Cute Cupcakes and Choruses for Change.

In her post, she includes this song from Les Mis. So, here is my challenge to you. If you think the world is ripe for change, post the song on your blog, too. Obviously, posting a song won't change the world, but if enough of us sing it (in the words of the infamous Arlo Guthrie), they will think there is a movement.

Makeover Madness

I had a blast today! Bryan Carter needed some avatars modeled for his awesome Harlem Renaissance build...and he immed and asked if I had time to decorate three avatars!!!

YAY!!!!!


So here, are some shots...they all looked like the normal newbie here, and transformed into these three ladies...Georgia, Vivian, and Jessie.

The Newest Love of My Life: Windlight

Larry Pixel (RL: Larry Johnson) introduced me to Windlight - a new viewer for SL that provides the most incredible (INCREDIBLE) lighting and environment views. The only thing that was super annoying was that it said that I didnt have the right graphics card when I installed it, but, lo, it was wrong. It works just fine in my machine. Here are various pics of Windlight....

Techno Lust or Techno Lazy?

What is technolust? According to an article in the Washington Post, it is the reason why all that wicked bright technology goes unused in our schools.

Teachers interviewed for the article claim that teachers that use technology are lazy and THAT laziness is the motivation for the techno lust sweeping the educational floor boards.

I donno. I have met a lot of these technolustful teachers (Vicki Davis, Kevin Jarrett, Kathy Schrock). Not one of them is lazy, and not one of them uses technology to make life easier for them...it is to make learning RICH for students.

Frankly, the ones not using the technology are the lazy ones. They refuse to be taught anything new, and want everyone to applaud their stoicism. Horse Hockey.

The problem ISN'T buying the stuff (as the article suggests), it is that the Gen X and Boomer teachers refuse to LEARN it...

Wicked Sentence Maze!

Need something to do that is FUN and challenging???

Try out this sentence creation maze at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Cookie/183/86/23

The creator, Tooter Claxton, did an amazing job!!!!

Many thanks to Thinkerer Melville for the tour. Check out his awesome machinima on YouTube.

Collaboration in Second Life: A World of Possibilities

I apologize for slacking off here, but I have been busy presenting, teaching, and doing all sorts of RL things. My hectic schedule is a wonderful tribute to the wonderfully chaotic nature of working in SL.

I belong to many groups in SL, and I would belong to about 65 more if they would allow such a thing. Obviously, Literature Alive! is my most active group (245 participants so far!). But here are some other groups that I love:

1. Real Life Educators - this is the official SL group for educators started by Pathfinder Linden. It is the most comprehensive list of educators inworld.

2. The Educators Coop - this is a group that I belong to by virtue of my membership in the Coop. It is quite active, and members like Grandma Bates (pictured) make it interesting and worthwhile.

3. ISTE - They offer a lot of great workshops and speakers.

4. Elven - They offer a lot of great resources geared to K-12 educators.

5. NMC Guests - NMC offers a lot of great programming (arts and education related).

6. SLDev - this is a group for developers in SL and is the one place where you can go with a technical question.

Now, I wish we could have more groups because I would totally add to my list of favorite shopping places. Lots of people ask about my favorites, so here they are:

For Hair - ETD, Calla, Panache

For Clothes - DE Designs, Crave, and Pixel Dolls


This is a pic of my super secret home :-)

Lane's List - Literature Alive!

Literature Alive! is proud to make Lane's List! Check out the article!

Also, coming soon.....we are EXPANDING the School Store! There will be MORE freebies and educational vendors.

If you want to sell your stuff, and it is suitable for educators and students, you may use space at the School Store. Literature Alive! does not require a percentage of the sales (though donations are appreciated).

Check it out!!!

Fast Food Nation and Family Farming

So...I watched the movie Fast Food Nation last week. Even though the book came out in 2001 and the movie a few years later....it is sooooooo worth it to KNOW where your food is coming from!!!!

OMG

As much as I used to love sliding through the drive thru for my Whopper with Cheese no onion, I made the decision not to ever ever ever eat at Fast Food Places again. In fact, I gave up eating meat entirely.

I have made it a whole week, and, jeebus louibus, I have not missed the fast food OR the meat.

I completely recommend the movie and the book by the same name. And, please - please - please - support your local farms!!!!!