DISQUS

Hello - thanks so much for this post! Thought-provoking... hopefully we can have virtual tea sometime and chat more!

Hello Lowell - I'm sorry I haven't had a chance to listen to your podcast yet, but thanks so much for you kind words about my book and for mentioning the SL5B event! Hopefully I'll catch you inworld sometime (my avie name is Tom Bukowski). All the best, Tom

I'm still in too much shock to say much. Soj was one of the most amazing people in Second Life that I've ever had the privilege to know. I first met her in November 2004 and it was a joy to watch her make her dream come true, a dream that basically involved making the lives of others better.

Soj was an extraordinarily generous, thoughtful, and kind person. Her family and friends - in the actual world and in Second Life too - are in my thoughts.

She will be terribly missed.

A great post, Gwyn. I'm going to return to this and read through it again.

jimbo just doesn't get it. First, as someone who lives near the proposed site of the park, it would definitely get used. This area of Long Beach has the lowest ratio of parks to population and there are few other parks close by. There are different kinds of parks—this one would not be a park for a quiet stroll but it would serve many, many uses for folks around here. Second, it's wrong for jimbo to assume that Brian would have some financial interest in the park happening. It would take so long for the park to happen that such an assumption doesn't make sense. It’s sad that in this day and age people rush to try and find some underlying rationale beside that of simply trying to improve our city. I look forward to seeing jimbo’s concrete suggestions for improving the city and the work he will do in his spare time to try and make them happen--I will take those suggestions seriously and not impugn his motives. Third, one thing I do like about the park is that it would act as a kind of gateway for the downtown (and would be great for MoLAA too). To not have a park there makes a statement, namely “we think of 7th street as a giant offramp for the 405/710 freeways” and “we don’t care about downtown Long Beach.” I once heard Councilmember Suja Lowenthal emphasize very correctly that a prosperous downtown benefits everyone in the city, and this would be one small step in that continuing effort. Fourth, anyone who doesn’t like this idea must justify the current situation, a crazy, ugly interchange that has a very high number of accidents. Taxpayers pay for all those accidents with the city services used to clean them up. Reducing those accidents could very well pay for the park within a decade or so. And the lives damaged or lost because of those accidents, as well as damage to cars and property, must factor in to the cost of *not* making this park happen.

Not up on Amalthea's list yet - on Wed June 27, from 4-5 pm, I'll be hosting a "Digital Cultures" chat. The topic will be "trust" and the blurb is taken verbatim from the first-ever Digital Cultures chat back in early 2005. The Digital Cultures build is in SL2PG. Hope to see folks there!