AM Radio Announced the Closing of Two of His Sims

AM Radio announced in April that two of his much loved sims, "The Quiet" and "The Far Away", will be closing in 6 months. I waited a while to post this partly because every other SL blogger in the world had it covered in April, and partly just because these are two sims I didn't want to even think about being closed, especially "The Far Away", which I think is really not so far away. But feeling somewhat sentimental again tonight about how sims, friends, and things come and go so easily in SL, I found it is the time for me to record these sims for my own safe keeping.

(AM Radio's "The Far Away" photo by Kara Trapdoor)

From the snowy Quiet to the Far Away fields, I wonder just how many visitors have been through the sims time and again like myself, and how many photos are out there of them? The sims are like from a simpler way of life although I was never sure why a table, chairs and hutch would be in the middle of a wheat field, or disappearing chairs hang in the sky, and why violins as a common prop lay about including on an icy puddle, but I do think it's possible to find a rusty old train settled in some field somewhere in the country. Well I can't ponder the sims much longer and perhaps I should just research any special meanings of these things through other blogs or AM Radio himself who happens to be on my friends list and is surprisingly very approachable and friendly considering how busy and popular he is.

Below is AM's official notice.
"The Quiet and The Far Away"
Dear Friends,

I know there are folks who visit my sims daily, weekly, or monthly and that these spaces have become a part of their experience in Second Life. I am announcing the closing of my spaces 6 months in advance so that it won’t come as a surprise, drama, or rumor.

It is merely the end of a series of artworks. I continue to paint, sketch, photograph and write about my time here on this little rock collection that’s spinning and hurtling through space.

IDIA Labs of Ball State University has been gracious to host my work without demand or requirement. The sunsetting of the IDIA Lab sim is the result of positive and thoughtful input from IDIA, myself, and many of you.

I have archived the work already, and I appreciate the impulse to want to save the work.

The work though was as social as any avatar in SL, making friends with many of you and enabling so many positive experiences many of you have let me know about. ALL OF YOU are what the artwork really was. It isn’t in the prims, the textures, or scripts. It was in your willingness to explore and experience the world in a way I tried to share it. My time in SL has been like having hundreds of people analyzing my dreams every morning. I have learned so much about many of you, but truly learned so much about myself.

Please feel free to continue to visit. Please encourage anyone you know who will miss the spaces to visit them with you. See my picks in my profile for landmarks.The extent of my estate is a foothold by the water. All are welcome to the infinite within it.

Sincerely,
AM Radio"


(AM Radio's The Quiet, photo by: Kara Trapdoor)


As I sat at the table in "The Far Away", thinking about how much the wheat fields and windmill and grain silos reminded me of my somewhat recently deceased grandfather's farm here in Kansas where I live, I looked down at the book with sketch on the table and when I clicked it read,
" ::: I never stopped sketching you.
::: The smooth flesh on your cheek,
::: the gentle wave in your hair
::: dictating calculations of graphite onto paper.
::: The blurry trees behind you
::: drawn like baby's breath
::: in a wreath around your portrait
::: growing like vines
::: in stop motion animation
::: until you're gone.
::: The memory is left behind,
::: imprinted with a chemical mix
::: in a grand collection
::: of landscapes upon a life
::: of sketches as memories
::: looking to incorporate the next.
::: -- AM Radio (- AM Radio)"

....in stop motion animation, until you are gone. The memory is left behind.....
Yes the memories are left behind and so ends an era.. but as I looked over the photos I took and see myself looking beyond the barbed wire fence and I began to wonder what lies beyond the fence? Perhaps AM's next project? I hope so.

__________________________________________________________________________________
Find the sims here for now:
The Far Away: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Dreamworld%20North/200/164/22 or direct link here: TheFarAwayHere.
The Quiet: http://slurl.com/secondlife/IDIA%20Laboratories/147/87/23 or direct link here: TheQuietHere.

The Far Away can in parts be purchased as a donation program to the Heifer International Charity. Check it out when you visit.