Message-ID: <alpine.NEB.2.20.1603172119170.23204@panix3.panix.com>
From: Alan Sondheim <sondheim@panix.com>
To: Cyb <cybermind@listserv.wvu.edu>, Wryting-L <WRYTING-L@listserv.wvu.edu>
Subject: Whom Are Julu Twine
Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2016 21:20:40 -0400 (EDT)
Whom Are Julu Twine http://www.alansondheim.org/whom5.png http://www.alansondheim.org/whom.mp4 http://www.alansondheim.org/whom3.png http://www.alansondheim.org/whom3.png http://www.alansondheim.org/whom2.png http://www.alansondheim.org/whom1.png Julu Twine transformed from my encounter, inhabiting Julu Twine. S/he, my 2nd avatar, had extensive alpha transparencies; now when I returned as hir, I found hir with a new outfit and body, which I didn't create or use or even see before. It's unnerving; what sort of intercession has this been, between one session and the next? What has been done to hir? And what, if anything, does this say about race in America? Black Lives Matter in virtual worlds as well; I'm torn between promulgation on my part, and violation on someone else's, perhaps myself? Did I violate myself? Did I somehow inherit this body, this outfit, as a gift or grief from another participant in Second Life? Did I accept this? Did I assume these contents as confluent with my own avatar, Julu Twine? Does Julu Twine run me? Do I run Julu Twine? Am I deeply forgetful here? Is that possible? Perhaps I accepted the transformation gladly, transformed hir myself? The image/ imaginary is uncanny, does not respond to my animations (technically, it locks them out, unless they're attached to object scripts). I don't know who did this; was it myself, was it meant as a prank, deep gift, was I aware of what I am not aware of, now? But it is in fact, a package, the first in a choose an avatar panel, a commercial construct; I can only conclude, that when the Second Life browser updated, it removed the attributes I assigned to Julu Twine (including attachments, illuminations, activations, texture mappings, transparencies, scripts, and alphas, all my creations) in favor of a packaged imaginary of race and sexuality, which becomes even more problematic. On the other hand, I have no proof that the updating, read Linden Labs, did this; it might well have been an intruder. At least I realize now, it hasn't been my own depressive conscience at work - when anomaly appears in the world, look towards capital as at least one of the underlying causes.