Shyla the Super Gecko
The HAC Presenters Series 2
Meet Shyla the Super Gecko. Yes, you heard that right. Shyla is the name of a Second Life resident who’s chosen to appear as a bug-eyed, joint smoking, blue-and-purple gecko in Second Life (SL). There, she’s known as a poet, lover of music, and advocate for the medicinal use of cannabis.
Though Shyla doesn’t claim to know a lot about aging, she does make a connection between the pain many adults experience as they age and the pain caused by her own chronic, degenerative, and progressive condition. “It’s so easy to become angry,” Shyla says. “But you have to keep trying.“
The pain Shyla is referring to is not just physical. It involves coming to emotional terms with how your life is impacted by physical changes. “It is hard at first. There is a lot of grieving, but at the end there must be a transformation,” Shyla says. “I spent years finding acceptance of my situation, learning how to love myself again.“
One of the biggest challenges Shyla faced as a result of her physical limitations was isolation. “It is very common for folks to become isolated,” she says. “Friends disappear and caretakers may be the primary, if not the only, contact they have. ”This is where becoming an avatar and building a community in Second Life has been life changing for Shyla.
It all began 12 years ago when she started attending a meeting once a week at a university sim in Second Life. “After a year of attending each week, and watching other avatars change their appearance, someone asked why I had not changed mine,” Shyla says. “I wasn’t sure how to do it, so they took me to a freebie store with floor after floor of items. I was completely liberated and my life in SL began.”
Unlike her first life, where she must sit in a specially designed chair she calls “the welded behemoth,” she is able to take part in all kinds of physical activities in Second Life - snowboarding, driving a car, sailing, playing board games, hiking, and even flying. “SL is pretty much most of my life,” she says.
But why a gecko? The simple answer is that it just “felt right,” but when pressed Shyla will add, “Most people think it is cute, which I suppose it is. Some people feel a little strange about my title, ‘Super’ but I really felt I needed to hear how Super I am. The gecko is the embodiment of who I am, which feels good.”
With more than 12 years in SL under her belt, Shyla is both well-known and beloved across the grid. She is known for her poetry, activism, support of music and the arts, skill as a workshop facilitator and presenter, and for her work on the SL Book club where she does research for its founder, Draxtor Depres. “Second Life helps me deal with my situation much better than if I was without it,” Shyla says. “I’m not bored, I am often not focused on my pain. It is an amazing experience.”
Shyla will be presenting with Cattie Rosca (Death Cafe) about how avatars can create living wills. They will be talking about how to create awareness of how a person’s avatar and their work can live on even after they pass on. They will be asking and helping participants answer the question, “If something happened to you, how would your folks in Second Life know?” and sharing a template for how to connect “regular/physical” life and Second Life. - Jena Ball (Jenaia Morane)
Date: Wednesday, May 17th
Time: 12:00 pm (SLT
3:00 pm (EDT)
7:00 pm (GMT)
Location: The WBH Life and Memory Garden
https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Inspiration%20Island/142/229/38
Learn More About Shyla the Super Gecko
The story of how and why Shyla came to Second Life is best told by Shyla herself. Her journey, and that of others in Second Life’s disabled community, is chronicled in the award-winning film by Bernhard Drax (Draxtor Depres) entitled, “Our Digital Selves: My Avatar is Me.” The film is based on research conducted by Tom Boellstorff and Donna Davis and funded by the National Science Foundation. The film chronicles and explores the experiences of people with disabilities in Second Life. View the film by clicking on the image below.
How to Find Shyla in Second Life
There are lots of places, including Ethnographia Island, where people can find Shyla in Second Life. She hosts live performers at the Hotel Chelsea twice a week, does research for and attends the SL Book Club, and is the poet in residence at the Glinka Gallery. Below are a few of the links where the gecko hangs out.
Glinka Gallery: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Seaforth/81/173/59
The Writer’s Table: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Inspiration%20Island/246/245/701
Ethnographia Island: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Ethnographia/213/166/23
Virtual Hotel Chelsea: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Lanestris/128/183/104
Second Life Book Club: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/BookClub%20Island/132/126/24
Gecko Poetry Group: secondlife:///app/group/b34fe99d-aace-a450-c150-5cd90d05ed95/about
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