Joe Essid directs the Writing Center at the University of Richmond, where he teaches courses in writing and literature. He is a Richmond native who attended the University of Virginia and earned a Master's and PhD at Indiana University. His research interests include technology in the classroom and Southern literary humor. His academic writing has appeared in Computers and Humanities, The Writing Lab Newsletter, and anthologies about technology and writing. He is a contributor to Style Weekly and has appeared in Eighty One and RVA. Ignatius Onomatopoeia is the "avatar" who represents Joe in the game-world Second Life. Ignatius will be wandering the virtual terrain of Second Life while his creator writes here about what may be either "the next big thing" for the Internet or the latest darling of the cyber-hip... the reader can decide.
E-mail contact: jessid@mac.com | Web address: writing2.richmond.edu/jessid

Location: Any number of Steampunk Regions

Student Seraphine Larkham spent a good deal of time in Caldedon, Solarya, and other regions of Second Life® dedicated to Steampunk, a subgenre of science-fiction based on Victorian futurism and sheer fantasy.  Now that the New York Times has reported on the emergence of a real-life Steampunk urban subculture, the term may enter common parlance as “Punk” and “Goth did decades back.  Partly out of pure fun, mad inventors are creating wildly original devices to do everyday things (imagine oak-and-brass computer keyboards). To get a sense of this, see The Steampunk Workshop Web Site.

In Second Life, one need not blow glass and turn brass for the desired effect, and as a result the creations wild indeed.

Seraphine wrote about the philosophy and aesthetics of Steampunk:

In modern times, technological showiness tends to come in the form of sleekness, a smoothing away of mechanics. Steampunk, on the other hand, often glories in mechanics. Inner workings are sometimes only partly concealed or even, on occasion, left entirely exposed. . . .This glory in complexity, mechanics, and parts is one of the hallmarks of steampunk technology.

Seraphine’s entire wiki project for me is worth a look. Begin with her “Link to Seraphine’s Wiki“ page and enjoy!

Be sure to check the “In a Strange Land” Archive for old posts