The Alphaville Herald

Emily Dickinson Comes to Life

by Alphaville Herald on 21/01/05 at 2:34 pm

by Miravoir Psaltery

Over in Montemarte, they are currently having a grand build contest in honor of Emily Dickinson. Danny Degroot took a bit of time out of his busy schedule to tell me a bit about the details.

Montemarte was designed to be a place where artists could collaborate on various projects. With buildings designed in the French Countryside style, it is quite quaint and lovely. When Danny became associated with Montmartre, he began casting about for ideas which would contribute to the island’s reputation as a haven and promotion center for artists and artisans. He suggested the Odes contest as a possible idea, and it was warmly received by the group.

He’s seen some amazingly inspired builds in game, and met a number of players who seem ready to meet any challenge head on. So, the idea of a “difficult” build contest -one which required a bit of thought and interpretation, and which offered correspondingly high rewards,seemed to him a potential draw.

He chose Emily Dickinson because she was one of his mother’s favorite poets. His mother loved to read aloud to her kids, and would entertain them with Bach at the family piano, with poetry, with whatever she could to make our summers more interesting. It is so nice to see a mother take an interest in the cultural development in herchildren, something that is not as common in this day and age.

Although Danny appreciated Dickinson’s poetry a bit growing up, he paid no particular attention to it until his mother, devastated by a series of personal setbacks and illnesses, began living as a recluse.

As you well know, academics have built entire careers around analyses of Dickinson’s poetry, but the principal fascination for Danny is the basic mystery of Dickinson’s perceptiveness – how someone so cut off from the world could still touch so many of its great themes with her writings. That mystery became more important to him as he saw his mother’s social circle shrinking. She herself developed a peculiar empathy for the “outside” world which seemed to intensify even as she withdrew from it.

Danny is not a judge in the contest, but he is anxious to see what other can spot in Emily’s poetry. He chose Emily, also, because her poetry is somewhat difficult and obscure. That made her work kind of a level playing field for the builders. He does wonder if he should have chosen someone more accessible for a first run contest, but it will be interesting to see what happens. The kickoff week of the contest came during a tumultuous time in SL, so it is with great hope that this article drums up some interest.

Danny would like to encourage interested folks to drop into the Montmartre telehub and look to their immediate left. There’s a picture of Emily on the lawn, which will dispense the necessary materials for anyone who’d like a late start at one of the prizes.

To recap, this month’s first place will take $5,000L, second will take $3,500L, and third will take $1,500L. Prizes in future months may vary. Danny hopes to alternate male and female poets throughout the year, and He is always open to suggestions. He does have a couple of surprises in mind, which he hopes will open the event to some who are unwilling to publicly tackle the “serious” side of poetry.