Be A Work of Art and Buy a Work of Art: Relay Wizards Plan an Event

By DrFran Babcock

The slogan of the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life is: Celebrate, Fight Back, Remember. Each year the residents of Second Life™ expend time, love and energy to do just those things, in an effort to conquer the many diseases that make up cancer.

 The Relay Wizards for Spunky are together again as a team for the seventh time. Their core membership is solid under the leadership of Team Captain Shawna Montgomery, and co-captains Anhayla Lycia, HALEY Salomon and SpUnKy Young (our survivor), but they are always ready to welcome new members as they did for me and Catboy Qunhua last year, and for Blue Myanamotu, Taralyn Gravois, and Explorer Dastardly this year. The team has been meeting regularly to plan their camp and the events that they hold every year, such as the Dunk the Emperor, in which Tiny Empires creator, Ultralite Soliel, valiantly goes into the drink with good spirits, and lots of laughs.

At one of our planning meetings Explorer suggested that we do an art auction, and we thought that would be a solid idea, as long as Explorer was willing to organize it, and organize it she did.

It is my fervent belief that when something is meant to happen, it happens. That is exactly how the pieces of the auction came together. Taralyn Gravois, probably one of the largest art collectors in the metaverse, offered up her Art Castle as a venue for the event. Over the last few months Explorer has assertively approached SL artists, asking for art donations, canvassed all the members of the Relay Wizards to see if they knew any artists, and continued to meet with us to give us updates. She even held mini-meetings with many of us while we enjoyed our weekly dose of comedy at Lauren’s Place on Tuesday nights.

Little by little the pieces fell together, the event got bigger and bigger, and we all got really excited, because of plans for the opening day. The opening will be a huge costume ball, and you are being asked to come as your favorite work of art, or favorite artist. Veteran Relay Wizards for SpUnKy team member Thickbrick Sleaford has constructed a super-secret dance floor and party area for the opening event.

I have my costume all ready for the big day, and I can hardly wait to see what other people will do. All of this is very, very secret…you just have to come and see. We will have works of art for auction from some of the coolest names in the SL art world including:  Alcibides Zemenis, Bobbi LaSalle (bobbilaval), Bryn Oh, Crap Mariner, Explorer Dastardly, Feathers Boa, Graye Ashbourne, my friend and creative idol: Kake Broek, Lisa Figeuroa, Littleone Arles, Sweet Susanowa, and Van Caerndow (Phil Strang).

Come to the opening for fun, dancing, costumes, famous names in art. Come to gape in wonder at the amazing build for the dance floor. Come to look around Taralyn’s Art Castle to see one of the most varied and inclusive collections of avatar art in the virtual world. Most of all come to support the Relay for Life in combatting the scourge of cancer.

Here are the details for the Relay Wizards for SpUnKy Art Auction:

                                                                        Date- June 21, 2014

                                                                        Time- @ 1:00 – 3:00 PM SLT

                                                                        Place- The Art Castle

                                                                        Theme- Dress as Art or as an Artist

                                                                        Slurl: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Cor%20unum/199/181/3764

Bidding will run for a week and then close on June 28, 2014

(names for pic of team meeting LtoR): Thickbrick Sleaford, Catboy Qunhua, DrFran Babcock, Explorer Dastardly, Anhayla Lycoia, and HALEY Sal 

DrFran Babcock

Relay Wizards' "Dunk the Emperor"

By DrFran Babcock

There are a few things that you need to know in order for this article to make any sense to you. We will make things easier by explaining:

Relay for Life in Second Life™

Relay for Life in Second Life™ (RFLinSL) began in 2005, headed by Jade Lily, with one team of 315 avatars participating in the event across six sims. Last year, under the leadership of Nikki Mathieson and Co-Chairs: Dwen Dooley and Serina Juran, 200 teams walked 40 sims to raise a whopping $393,000 real dollars for the American Cancer Society. The 2014 Relay is already underway and culminates in the actual 24 hour walk on July 19^th-20^th. (http://relayforlifeofsecondlife.org )

Tiny Empires

Many consider this HUD-based in-world game to be a scourge, but just as many are entranced by the idea of rising up from a wanderer to a king or queen, and collecting gold, acres, and other prizes. The interesting thing about Tiny Empires is how many people have made friends and found social outlet in this game.

The game is the scripting coup of Ultralite Soliel, the self-appointed Emperor of the Tiny Empire. He is a witty and delightful scripter, and a very good sport, as you shall see. (http://tinyempires.com )

Dunk The Empy!

The Relay Wizards for Spunky are celebrating their seventh year of participation in RFLinSL. Teams hold events in world to raise Lindens for the cause. Captain, Shawna Montgomery is not only a fierce advocate of fundraising for cancer support, but is a Queen of the Kingdom of Avalon in Second Life™. She has played Tiny Empires since its earliest days, and is on a first name basis with Emperor Soleil. One of her co-captain, HALEY Salomon, is the Queen of another Kingdom, Green Acres, and gave money to many of her peers to moisten the Emperor, because her aim was not that true. She did consent to being dunked after it was all over, demonstrating her good nature.

Thus, she was able to convince Emperor Soleil to volunteer for being dunked in a dunk tank by anyone who paid a Relay for Life official vendor for three balls and three chances to throw the Empy in the drink.

Residents were invited to the event that was held in the Kingdom of Avalon. One of the beautiful things about Second Life™ is the sense of community exhibited by so many people. We come together for a common cause without competition and ill will. Members of competing Tiny Empires kingdoms showed up to take a shot at the confident and overly haughty Emperor. The Emperor scoffed at all attempts of dunking him, until he ended up soaked a few times.

Most attendees winced as Ultralite Soleil’s royal robes had to come off, because they were soaked, and then his banana hammock bathing suit was revealed. Some went as far as becoming horrified at the sight. The Empy took it all in stride, and vowed to give gold bars to all who succeeded in dunking him.

Residents danced, threw balls at the Emperor, and laughed and had a very good time. Best of all the event raised almost 15, 000 Lindens for Relay and the American Cancer Society.

All’s Well That Ends Well

It’s hard not to get emotional about this simple, yet complex coming together of people to raise money for the worthy cause of cancer research. The power of groups to change the world is a small miracle.

If you are interested in becoming part of this ever-growing movement to beat back cancer, then perhaps you want to join a team, form a team, or just drop some Lindens in a Relay for Life donation kiosk.

The Relay Wizards for Spunky team will be holding more events up until the big walk/run. Watch for an amazing art auction containing works from the likes of Bryn Oh and Littleone Aries.

Go Relay!

DrFran Babcock