Exploring Second Life and OpenSim worlds
Today mourners gathered all day at Second Life’s 911 WTC Memorial site to pay respects to the 3,000 people who died on September 11, 2001. The ten pictures belown were all taken at the memorial site today.
Second Life members can teleport to the site,
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Eight years ago, America awoke to an assault. Today, people around the world remember. Here are some events in Second Life to commemorate September 11, 2001. All times are Pacific (SLT). be sure to consult the Second Life events schedule for last minute changes. Also, note that Memorial Blue Angels and Memorial Live Performance are both scheduled for the same location 6pm-7pm. Second Life membes can teleport to the links provided for each event. If you’re not a Second Life member, you can join for free.
The following is a partial list of memorial events in Second Life on the eighth anniversary of September 11, 2001. All times are Pacific (SLT). Be sure to consult the Second Life events schedule for last minute changes. Second Life members can teleport to the links provided for each event. If you’re not a Second Life member, you can join for free.
Starting 9am: Memorial at WTC in NYC sim: streaming video of Sept 11, 2001 all day. slurl.com/secondlife/NYC/87/134/24
9am – 11am: Memorial Blue Angels – Live music. slurl.com/secondlife/Salt%20Creek/20/74/22
Noon – 1pm: Memorial Blue Angels – Live music slurl.com/secondlife/Saddle%20Canyon/32/161/23
1pm – midnight: Memorial Blue Angels – Live music slurl.com/secondlife/Salt%20Creek/20/74/22
2pm – 3pm: Memorial Live Performance slurl.com/secondlife/Salt%20Creek/190/81/22
3pm-7pm: Poetry and music remembering 911 slurl.com/secondlife/Alajuela/181/76/22
6pm – 7pm: Memorial Live Performance slurl.com/secondlife/Salt%20Creek/20/74/22
6pm – 8pm: Club P4 Dance slurl.com/secondlife/Tian%20Di/89/115/42
6pm – 9pm: Sit and talk with others. slurl.com/secondlife/Cottonwood/251/203/103
7pm – 10pm: Coyote Country Saloon – music and onstage performances slurl.com/secondlife/Salt%20Creek/190/81/22
7pm – midnight: Memorial Live Performance slurl.com/secondlife/Salt%20Creek/190/81/22
Additionally, people will be gathering all day at the WTC memorial site slurl.com/secondlife/dAlliez%20Land%20Headquarters/108/148/26
Friday is the anniversary of the September 11 attacks. If it’s not convenient for you to honor those killed on that day by traveling to the memorials and sites where people died, you can visit a memorial in Second Life.
The Second Life Memorial consists of four polished grey slabs arranged in a square surrounding a pool, with names of the victims on all four walls. Names are grouped by where people died, the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, American Airline flights 11 and 77, and United Airlines flights 93 and 175. In a hallway behind one corner of the memorial, photographs of the victims line two walls.
As you walk around, rain falls gently and thunder rumbles overhead.
It’s impossible not to be overwhelmed with feeling for the enormity of what happened on that day. Each one of these nearly 3,000 victims was a person, with a life, a family, friends, and a future that was snuffed out in a flash. Walking around the memorial, seeing name after name, drives home the loss that so many suffered, the potential of so many that will never be reached.
The memorial is owned by Second Life’s Silicon Island group, founded by avatar Liam Kanno, who in real life is O. Liam Wright, who according to an article in 3PointD.com was at Ground Zero during the attack.
Second Life members can teleport to the memorial at slurl.com/secondlife/dAlliez%20Land%20Headquarters/108/149/26.
You might also want to visit the Ground Zero Museum Workshop website, groundzeromuseumworkshop.com.
While Michael Jackson’s friends and family gathered in California for his burial service, his Second Life fans gathered in Second Life to eulogize the performer and to celebrate his life.
The Second Life service may have lacked the well known names of mourners such as Reverend Al Sharpton and Elizabeth Taylor, but made up for it in the passion of its mourners, with frequent sobs and shouts of "I love you Michael!". It also had a mixed reality component that the California service did not: while their avatars sat in the Second Life service, many of the people behind the avatars simultaneously watched the California service on CNN.
The Second Life service opened with host MichaelJacksonWasA Wonder reading from "Magical Child’", written by Michael Jacksong and a prayer led by Genghis Roux
One speaker at the service, Morgane Batista, a native French speaker and resident of Quebec, spoke of learning to walk listening to Michael Jackson’s music and learning English watching his family movies. "His music made me laugh, smile, tease, cry, his music soothed a lot of pain in my life," she said, "Helped me go through my life. His heart is true and was felt. He was stronger that any person I know, I can’t imagine what it would’ve been to walk in his shoes, to see all what through he had to go through, the pain, struggles, the pure joy…"
.Another speaker, Elite Runner, spoke of the powerfully mixed emotions he felt when, on his daughter’s birthday, he learned of Michael Jackson’s death and he switched between BBC, CNN, YouTube, MySpace, Twitter, and Facebook trying to learn more.
The service ended with a celebration of Michael Jackson’s life as avatars of his Second Life fans danced to the music of DJSaitin Ansome.
The service is over, but the Michael Jackson Memorial location in Second Life remains. Second Life members can visit it by teleporting to slurl.com/secondlife/Sweety Paradise/139/238/21.
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