The Town of Willowdale: Child Avatars and Mathematicians

Hello everyone.  I have found myself with a great deal of writing energy and am including a second entry for the day.  Can you handle it?  Hmm.

Kya Muircastle

A week and a half ago I met Kya (pronounced Kaya) Muircastle.  I mentioned her in an earlier entry.  She is responsible for helping design and construct Willowdale, a town in the PG region of Old Willowdale which specifically caters to child avatars and their families.  The sim celebrated it's grand opening yesterday with a variety of activities, including a live DJ and lots of dancing.

Personally, I had no idea there was a community of child avatars in Second Life.  These are individuals who enjoy role playing as children and are adopted by in-world adult avatars.  These are in-world families!

I met a small visitor at the Learning Tree

In fact there is a large and supportive community of Second Life children.  To learn more about this community visit the Second Life Children blog, or you can go to the Second Life Children Learning Tree in Second Life.

The members of Willowdale are courteous and friendly.  Among the avatars I met were Erica Core, a child who graciously answered my questions and gave me a tour of the town, and Corey Somme, a cat who only speaks with children.

Corey and Erica relaxing

The town of Willowdale has everything any small community needs, including a fire house, library, shopping mall, medical center, and school.  Classes are held at the school every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  Appointments can be made to see a doctor or dentist at the medical center.  If you like wholesome, smallville family life then check it out.

What drew me to Willowdale was the Mathematics Museum.  I was touring SL, looking for mathematics related locations, when I found it.  It is still a work in progress, but if what Kya Muircastle has already done is an indication of what the museum will offer when it is complete then this will be a wonderful place to experience the world of mathematics.

An example of Kya's wonderful interactive exhibits

One of the exhibits will be a hall of biographies.  Kya had a contest for individuals to write short biographies on mathematicians.  I gave her an entry and earned second place in the contest.  To be fair, I don't know how many entries there were (Kya said she received far fewer than she wanted), but I am not about to ask!  Unfortunately Kya will not finish this part of the museum until more biographies are ready.

Visit the town of Willowdale and see what the Second Life Children community is like.  Maybe it will turn out to be something you had no idea you would enjoy.

As always, comments are greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,

Pluton Karas