November 2014 Issue #41
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WELCOME to the forty-first issue of the Bay City Post! - Keeping you updated on the best city on the grid.
Warmth
We're deep in Autumn now, and heading towards the winter months (and winter events, eek!). Traditionally, this is when those of us in the States look towards Thanksgiving dinner and family get-togethers for Hanukkah, Christmas, or other winter holidays.
With that in mind, I want to encourage you to reach out to your own Bay City family, too. Let's let the holidays be a time when we will have a place to call home, and people to call neighbors. I'll also be the first to say thank you to all who make Bay City one of the friendliest bergs on the virtual roads of Second Life!
Here's to the warmth we can all share in Bay City
Sunny Salutations \o/
Marianne McCann, Interim Editor
IN THIS ISSUE
All that... and all the bird cage lining you've come to expect from Bay City's finest paper
*****
BREAKING BREAKING BREAKING
Hallowe'en Hay Maze ends in disaster.
Who knew it was so flammable?
*****
A touching Memorial to Ever Dreamscape by Dee Darwin
Beautiful Work, Dee!
*****
GUEST EDITORIAL by Cheree Shippe
Bay City: City of the the 21st Century and Beyond
(Editorial note: while I may not necessarily agree with the below -- this is a reaction to my own editorial last issue -- I offer it, unedited beyond grammar and formatting.)
As in most things in Second Life, there tend to be two different camps that each think something different about the same thing...and Bay City is no different.
Vintage... the Bay City Time Period, or the echos of Bay City’s past.
Bay City is not a static entity, something that once created never changes: it is a living, breathing, changing, and evolving ecosystem filled with hundreds of people each seeking to put their own little mark on the landscape we all so love.
There are many in the Bay City Alliance who cling to the original scope of a “1950s American City” and claim it to be the gospel to which all things Bay City should comply, that the lords of the mountain (the Lindens) have decried that the first Commandment of Bay City is “Thou Shalt Not Leave the 1950s Theme” and that anyone deviating from that commandment should be stoned… Ok, not stoned but there are often sighs of disappointment and little comments made when any visible member of the community chooses to disregard that commandment.
On the other side of the fence there are people who have realized, long ago, that the concept of a themed 1950’s environmental died out as an unsustainable goal not long after the city itself went public for land purchases almost a decade ago. There are those in this camp that will even argue that the Lindens themselves have abandoned the 1950s to bring some updates and improvements to Bay City themselves, sacrilege according to the others.
The question is, of course, which of these viewpoints is right? Is there a right and wrong answer to this? Well, no, there isn’t. You will never convince the Retroites that it is the 21st century and that Bay City, as an entity, has also evolved and entered the modern era with the rest of Second Life. It is even harder yet to convince them that this is not a bad thing and that it doesn’t spell the doom of class and sophistication in Bay City.
When you drive through Bay City, either in your slow retro rat-rod or in your luxurious 2015 SZYM Intruder, I invite you to take a look around and draw the conclusions for yourself, see what your eyes tell you and what your heart tells you based on that information. What I am going to do here is, for web content viewers (and links in the notecard I’m sure) go through Bay City and point out evidence of both points of view and explain why, it is my opinion, that Bay City has left the Flying Forties and the Nifty Fifties and entered the Digital Decades of the 21st Century.
“And so... it begins.” - Ambassador Kosh, Babylon 5
Channel Island Mental Hospital / Hotel Falmouth
This building could be classified, easily, as the ‘Gateway to Bay City’ as it’s the first stop on Route 66 once you cross into the City Limits. Retroites will immediately state that the building’s classic appearance speaks volumes to the Linden’s desire for the first view of Bay City to be a “vintage’ one, and they are right that the building is very vintage. The building is so vintage infact that it’s haunted by ghosts, infested by rats, filled with dirty blood spattered walls that would indicate to your average individual that this building is closed and abandoned.
Now the Hotel Falmouth: again, much of the same, another abandoned old building that symbolizes decay and age in Bay City.
These buildings make an undeniable case for being a piece of the vintage past that has been abandoned in favor of moving to more modern accommodations. While writing this piece, a resident exploring the Channel Island Mental Hospital was asked if they felt this building was a “1950s in use hospital” or an “Abandoned structure that hasn’t been torn down,” and their answer was, not surprisingly, the second.
Road Signs and Markings
One can’t help but also immediately notice the road signs and markings present in Bay City, at least all the ones placed by the Lindens.
Stop signs are Red with White Lettering and Borders, these designs didn’t come into play until the later parts of the 1950s in the United States, prior to that all Stop signs were Yellow with Black Text. This is an immediate notice that the Lindens intended to advance Bay City outside of its original scope AT THE MOMENT OF CREATION.
Route 66 contains a center lane marked with a Diamond Symbol. This is a modern day sign for “High Occupancy Vehicle” or “Carpooling” lanes on the freeways of most major West Coast cities. The Lindens use this lane as a “Flying” lane, however, this symbol was not historically used until the late 1970s in traffic control systems in the United States reflecting this fashion or use.
Speed Limit Signs are posted White with Black Text, the modern day style, unlike the theme era which would have been Black signs with White text.
All signs in Bay City are of the modern era format, road markings match that which you’d see in each and every urban United States city if you walked outside today. The Lindens, in their construction have not brought forward “the past” into Bay City here, but instead they have built and updated Bay City into the modern era for motorists everywhere.
Trolley / Water Trolley
Recently, the Lindens (and their Mole henchmen. No offense to moles, I love you guys just sounded better than employees.) have set about updating the aging Bay City transit systems to something a bit more “with the times” script wise, and with that have also come new designs for both forms of Mass Transit in Bay City.
When one stops to appreciate them, you can not help but notice the sleek lines, modernized colors, and overall the much more “updated” and 21st century feel of these new items. Admittedly this is much more present on the Water Trolley than the ground one, however, you can see and feel it on both.
This change has even been seen by the Retroites who have publicly mentioned how they look much newer than the rest of the city, perhaps they are starting to see the truth?
Resident Builds
Now, for the most obvious and irrefutable proof that Bay City has moved beyond the 50s and into the Modern Era, one can’t help but look at what makes Bay City what it is today: the builds that its residents put down.
If you tour each and every Bay City Sim, which I did in the interest of science, you will find that a staggering 90%+ average of the builds are designed and built around the present day and not the 1950s as the Retroites would have you buy into. Flat Panel TVs adorn the walls of houses and flats, modern day BMWs and Porches (even though those 911s could be from the 50s, they haven’t changed design in about 300 years) rest in the driveways, and other items not even dreamt about flood the senses in undeniable quantity. Buildings are built in urban modern or chic style containing design cues and materials not used in mass quantity in 1950, buildings that are occupied and operated by people wearing modern clothes talking on Cell Phones and wearing Nike shoes.
Conclusion
Bay City is indeed in 2014, not 1950. It’s time to let the 1950s rest and become the period everyone breaks out during parades and events, just as we do in the real world now, as the facts are irrefutable that Bay City has indeed entered the 21st century.
Does this mean it’s time to throw away your 1 or 2 period cars and race out to buy something new? Of course not, just like in the real world there are still people out there who like to drive the classics, even daily. Does this mean it’s time to update your wardrobe and lose the horn rimmed glasses and poodle skirts? No, not at all. In fact retro is the style right now isn’t it?
So what does this mean? This means that it’s time to put the “everything must be Retro” mantra that the Retroites continue to push on everyone and accept the fact that they are a vocal minority...but no matter what that they are gravely out numbered by the people who view and see Bay City as a thriving, Modern, city with a great community unlike any other on the grid. A thriving community that should not be divided over something as stupid as pretending that progress doesn’t happen around them. The Bay City Community needs to see that Bay City can still be the amazing place it is once they accept into their hearts that there is, and will continue to be a growing number of, people who respect their decisions to drive around in 60 year old cars in poodle skirts, but are still people who find this Retroite way cute and quaint much in the way of older people who try to fight and hide from the advancements of technology in the real world.
The comments about asking people to switch to (aside from one or two builders) let's face it people, crappy, generically scripted vehicles (not yours Anthony, I rather like your Leadburners), and pastel colors from their much more common and sophisticated clothing, vehicles, and builds.
Welcome to Bay City, 2014: embrace it.
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