The Benicia Hill Community Center website is up and running. Have a look!

The every-energetic Aki Clutterbuck has informed me of a wonderful event you should know about right now! Sorry for the short notice — my fault, not Aki’s!

TODAY from 3-6pm SLT, there will be a Skate-A-Thon. This is a fundraising event for San Francisco’s Friends of the Urban Forest, so come have a blast and benefit a great non-profit.

This is part of a series of Earth Day events designed to “spread the word about environmental non-profits and groups in SL and raise enough money to plant a real tree in San Francisco.” Good times for a good cause, so what are you waiting for?

But you want even more fun? Well, you’re in luck. There’s an after party from 5-9pm SLT.

For more information about these and other Earth Day events, IM Aki Clutterbuck.

Today at 2:00pm slt, Celedon Kakapo is hosting a discussion titled “What do you tell people about your Second Life?” This is a splendid topic and should be a great discussion. Be advised that the discussion will be recorded and may be used as part of a research project. From the blurb:

“An exploration of what people tell their friends and family about SL – if anything. Do you hide your SL activity? Is admitting to SL shameful or your dirty secret? What this is about?”

These are the regularly occurring discussion events around Second Life of which I’m aware. If you know of one that I have not included, please contact me in-world. If you notice an innaccuracy or if your event’s schedule has changed, please let me know that as well. –Bieneff Bruder

All times below are SLT.

Sundays

• 3:00PM – SL Humanism discussion meetings. Contact Torin Golding.

Wednesdays

• 8:00PM – Wednesday Night Chat at The Benicia Hill Community Center. Topic announced in advance. Contact Bieneff Bruder.

• 6:00PM – Every first and third wednesday of each month – Rubyists of Second Life.

Fridays

• 7:00PM – SL Humanism discussion meetings. Contact Torin Golding.

I host discussion events in Second Life so I meet a lot of people who like to discuss, debate, and generally share ideas. A common complaint I hear about SL from these folks is that while it’s all but impossible NOT to find gambling and strip clubs, it’s decidedly more challenging to find events that are more substantial and compelling. The goal of this blog, SLake, is to bridge that gap and to provide a reliable source of information about events and projects that appeal to the mind and/or spirit. Second Life beyond the poseballs, so to speak.

Second Life is as varied as Real Life. Maybe more so, given the freedom from certain RL constraints. (Flown over a building under your own power lately in RL? Slapped together a castle in an afternoon, perhaps? Waltzed with a dragon?) The range of activities in world are marvelously broad: everything from the silly to the sublime to the sexual to the serious… Now, Slake doesn’t look down on silliness or Slingo or sexual experimentation or gambling or the club circuit — it’s just that, when scanning the bounty of our virtual feast, it’s so easy to find the sweets and difficult to find the meats. Er, so to speak. I mean meaty things like: interesting discussions, book clubs, special interest group meetings, community-oriented activities, collaborative projects, and so on.

If you are interested in such things, we invite you to visit often or to subscribe to our syndication feeds and to comment freely.

If you host events that would interest us, or just know about them, IM Bieneff Bruder in world or send me an email at bieneff dot bruder at gmail dot com. (Properly formatted, of course.) I will post about them here, and if you want to promote your ideas regularly, please inquire about a guest editing position. Invitations for cross-linking are encouraged as well.

Second Life is exciting in part because of its potential to build community.

Let’s do it.