Open community holiday decorating

[Female Winslet]

Last year, I bought a piece of the Sansara Snowlands overlooking Lake Zermat. I took a big chunk of it and dedicated it as a holiday display. And I opened it up to anyone to rez or to build anything that was meaningful to them for any of the holiday seasons--Kwanza, the solstice, Christmas, Saturnalia, and Hannukah all welcomed and everyone invited to contribute whatever was meaningful to them in honor of those seasons. It was a pre-Bellisseria attempt to build community and to embrace people who feel lonely at this time of year feel a little less alone.

Quite honestly, I thought people would think I was too cheap or unskilled to do my own land decorations. But what actually ended up happening was that people said they found it very meaningful. So I'm getting ready to do it again.

So here's why this is in the Linden home forum. We have Bellisseria now and a lot of community has formed around it. I'm wondering whether it would be possible to do something like this in Bellisseria? This could be something organized through Linden Lab and the Moles (let me know how I can help and I will pitch in so it's not just a resident asking you all to do stuff!). Failing that, perhaps some residents would like to join me with me in offering up home space for the purpose?

Anticipating the usual worries about griefers, I am posting the text of last year's invite below. It was also advertised in the SL press, it was right next to the conclusion of the winter swaginator hunt, and the number of griefers was . . . zero.

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Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Happy Saturnalia, and Happy Kwanza. !

However you celebrate it, this is the season of friendship and love. 

I have purchased a snowy land parcel to setup a holiday display. I can think of no better way to celebrate this season of friendship and love than by inviting my friends to be a part of this display so that it will truly be a product of friendship and love.

So I am inviting you to join in by adding your unique contribution to the display! And this is how:
(1) Go here: 􀀀
(2) Join the group Season of Love & Friendship so you can rez things. Don't worry. You can leave the group as soon as you are done.
(3) Rez a holiday decoration that you enjoy. It can be anything. The holidays of all faiths and secular people from this time of year are welcome.

After New Year's Day, I will go and return all items to their owner, so your contribution will return to you. Please do not give decorations to me because I won't be able to keep track of who I need to give things back to. 

If you know someone who might like to participate, please invite them by giving them this notecard. If I do not know them, they are welcome too.

If you are a DJ/performer, and you would be interested in volunteering to perform at a party on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, I'd like to hear from you. I don't know if that will happen. But I hope this will cause an outpouring of friendship and love that shows all those who are lonely on the holidays that perhaps they are not so lonely after all. And a party like that might just be a way to show it even more.

Please contact me with any questions.

Lia (female.winslet)
 

 

 

Edited November 24, 2019 by Female Winslet

[Mirah Vieria]

I wonder if you could book the Fairgrounds for a few days like maybe midweek when there's not a lot going on and figure out a way to do something like this there as well? Might be tough to get all the people added to the fairgrounds rez group though. Hmm. I really liked participating in the one on your land. Its such a lovely community building idea. 

[Saphyre Cyberstar]

where is the lm for this venture, i would like to take a look an perhaps participate 

(1) Go here: 􀀀 ?
(2) Join the group Season of Love & Friendship so you can rez things. Don't worry. You can leave the group as soon as you are done.

[Female Winslet]

On 12/2/2019 at 11:51 PM, Mirah Vieria said:

I wonder if you could book the Fairgrounds for a few days like maybe midweek when there's not a lot going on and figure out a way to do something like this there as well? Might be tough to get all the people added to the fairgrounds rez group though. Hmm. I really liked participating in the one on your land. Its such a lovely community building idea. 

I thought about doing something like this as you can see from my post about it that you're responding to. 🙂 It looks like it won't happen, at least not this year. But I think it is a good thing to do to build community, so I'd love to invite the entire Bellisseria community to participate if only the rules of the various community groups did not prohibit my doing so given the reality that it will be located outside of Bellisseria. With that said, I don't see the Fairground for a few days as a viable solution because I just don't think this would work well as an event lasting only a few days. I'm trying to set a place where people can participate or just come walk around for the holiday season. And it would just disappear too soon if it were just a few days long. 

But the more I think about it, the more I'm also kind of conflicted because I value, appreciate, and love Bellisseria for its sense of community, but I'm not about spreading a sense of community just in Bellisseria. I'm trying to do it for all of Second Life. I understand there are reasons for the rules and so on, but I also find myself wondering if I'd be consistent with my own goals and values if I setup a second event doing the same thing just because a particular segment of the population has set up obstacles to their own participation in something setup for the benefit of the whole grid. That's not intended as dissing anyone and, like I said, I do understand the rules are setup the way they are for reasons. But I hope it explains a bit of cognitive tension I feel about the idea of setting up this community event for the whole grid . . . then setting up something separate just for Bellisseria. 

On 12/3/2019 at 3:47 PM, Saphyre Cyberstar said:

where is the lm for this venture, i would like to take a look an perhaps participate 

(1) Go here: 􀀀 ?
(2) Join the group Season of Love & Friendship so you can rez things. Don't worry. You can leave the group as soon as you are done.

Sorry about that. I've been out due to moving in real life, getting hurt in the process, and, frankly, just plain getting distracted by other things. Here is the SLurl for this year's edition.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Koss/77/77/117

Edited December 15, 2019 by Female Winslet