A lot of people ask what Dreams is. The answer is simple on one hand and complicated on the other. Simple in concept. It is what you want it to be. It is a place to learn so that your dreams can be fulfilled. It is a place to Be where you are safe and yet can share your ideas and questions. It is a place to spin your dreams in words and reality. It is a place to share your dreams.
The complicated side has to do with how it came about and what it involves. A lot has to do with who Soj is and her experiences in Second Life. Soj (The Sojourner) came into Second Life through Brigadoon, created by John Lester from BrainTalk, an internet support forum for people with neurological difficulties. Brigadoon was formed as a safe haven for people who have Asperger Syndrome and those who are in another way connected with someone who has AS. John provided us with a place to grow as friends and a community and a place to be before, while, and after exploring the mainland. She feels this is so important to the SL experience.
About a month after joining Brigadoon, Soj joined the group at Montemartre. This group of people were SO creative and SO sharing. Ideas and acceptance flowed freely. There was a place for everyone who wanted one. Things happened, as sometimes they do, and the old Montemartre dissolved so she moved on.
Soj wanted to share what she had learned at Brigadoon and Montemartre and as a multiple-stroke survivor. She felt that the experiences she had had at Brigadoon and Montemartre plus through interactions with Jamie Otis, Zapoteth Zais and Khamon Fate, that Second Life would be a wonderful place for stroke survivors to establish a second life. People encountering stroke lose so much and their lives after stroke is rarely what it was pre-stroke. So, she undertook a project called ShockProof to build a community of stroke survivors on Lane. ShockProof found a home thanks to the generosity first of Coos Yellowknife. Soj soon realized that a strong activity base and knowledge network was needed to support members of ShockProof. She was only 3 months into SL at this point. The germ of Dreams was begun.
In March, 2005, Dreams took up residence on Manua and Soj became heavily involved with Touchstone. Touchstone, created by Jase Byrne, started as a wandering group of teachers. The motto: "It is learned by teaching." (Seneca), is very much in the underpinnings of Dreams. Learning can come in so many ways, through instruction, by doing, and finally, through teaching. It stretches you. So, Dreams is about all three... learning, doing, teaching.
On July 17, 2005, Luo became the hub of Dreams and in November, 2005, we purchased enough land to again host ShockProof and the Brigadoon Explorers (a mainland branch of Brigadoon).
Dreams is now on there very own Island which was donated to us by the BrainTalk Community and serves as a place for teaching (tutorials and interactive), learning, playing in the small sandbox, events big and small, sharing, and....... most of all..... Dreaming.
