No 10 - May 7th 1998

Back issues: 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 Bille: bille@online.no Phantom NJ: njdave@ix.netcom.com

Pink Point is the bi-monthly newsletter for citizens & friends of the gay & lesbian AW community Pink Village. PP's editorial office can be visited at the corner of Maze Str/Trans Rd, 2nd floor. Contact us if you like to join the editorial crew:)

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What's New?

Citizens May 5th: 29 PV citizens 8 PV friends PV's Cy-party Check out the report from the Cy-party May 16th! New citizens 7 new PV citizens/friends are registered since March 5th: Jerome McDonough, Russ40, TomC37, blur, RHPS, Xyzzz and RainDhan - welcome all:) PV intro in NWT In the New World Times' March edition Pink Village was introduced to readers all over the AW universe. Maze riddle solved The Amazing Maze features two different riddles, the Red Torch Hunt and the Pole hunt. The red torch has been revealed by severals, but the pole hunt seemed to be more tricky. Now, nearly a year after it's creation, the pole riddle was solved by PV citizen Blur, who's name has been added to the sign at the maze's entrance. The reward is an advertising board in front of the Town Hall for a month. Congratulations!:) PV Museum opened PV Historical Museum was officialy opened April 4th. 7 ppl joined the event, watching old pictures, PV posters, objects etc. PV Historical Museum's opening New faces Some of you have changed avatar since the picture was taken for the PV citizens & friends webpage. Please check that your current avatar picture is correct. If you have chosen a new avatar simply re-post the form including your nick and avatar only.

Calendar

(Note: All times refers to VRT) The PV calendar is updated weekly - check back! If you want to initiate a gathering notify PV Council. July 4th, 14:00/22:00 PV gay gathering at Queer Square, 2222s 2222e. July 10th Pink Point edition #11. Dead-line is July 5th. July 11th, 14:00 PV gay gathering at Queer Square, 2222s 2222e. July llth, 22:00 The Prince Albert Pub is opening! Click board at Queer Square, 2222s 2222e, to get there. Read about the pub in Pink Point #11. July 18th, 14:00/22:00 PV gay gathering at Queer Square, 2222s 2222e. Worldwide Pride calendar!

Real World News

Gays demand rights at Americas summit Latin American homosexuals, bisexuals, and transsexuals on Thursday demanded an end to discrimination and vowed to put pressure on leaders of the Americas conference this weekend in Chile. "The specific aim of this initiative is to denounce the neglect of human rights of sexual minorities in the Americas and to draw up a proposal to confront this," said Arturo Diez, spokesman for the AIDS awareness group Letra S. Diez said a petition had been drafted by more than 50 gay and lesbian groups in Latin America to demand equal rights as the Americas celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Their demands include recognition of same-sex marriages and inheritance rights as well as official programs to combat homophobia. The petition noted that homosexuality is still illegal in Chile, Nicaragua, and Puerto Rico and that gays are subject to official harassment in other countries where same-sex relations are technically legal. (Source: The Advocate)

Announcements

Name Contest Simon T invites you all to suggest a name for his new British Pub! At the moment it is not clear what the prize will be, or when the contest closes. More info will be added here in a few days. Go there to check out the nearly done construction, and telegram or e-mail your suggestion to Simon T! Committee members PV Charter Club will be providing charter tours within Active Worlds 3-4 times a year. Anyone interesting in helping to plan future tours can join the club's arrangements committee. Bille. PV hosting pics! Geocities, that is hosting PV's webpages, has doubled the homesteaders' server capasity. This means that PV currently is in charge of 6 mb. If you want to make a jpg file showing your nice home or other constructions you have made, or maybe post a real life picture for the PV citizens & friends webpage, PV can now offer you to host the files.

This issue: [PV honored in the Transcend] [PV survey] [Create a little Joy] [Join a Charter Tour] [Interactive PV Map] PV honored in the Transcend By Bille May 2nd I was invited to the Transcend to receive the Cy Award on behalf of Pink Village. Even though I was happily surprised by PV being nominated, I didn't at all expect it to be such a big moment emotionally. My avatar can't shed a tear, but it's The Cy Award no secret that my whole RL face was one big smile that night:). Some says that AW is not like real life, but I think it's getting pretty close to, at least when it comes to involvement. As long as you can get touched emotionally the clear limits seem to fade. The Cy Award is a recently initiated prize given by Circle of Fire Studios Inc. and the Active Worlds Community. The awards cover several categories including technical innovations, artistic endeavours, and social/cultural activities, and many AW users were honored by getting the Cy Award this night. PV was nominated for Excellence in Community Initiative for Community Leadership/Participation. The grand gala hosted by CoF started at 21:00 vrt, and ENZO and Chloe opened the event by thanking everyone who have made Active Worlds the place it is today. Chloe pointed that the Cy Award nominations is a way to show the AW community members the recognition they deserve for taking the extra step to enhance our virtual environment. Bille on stage accepting the award (Photo by Jerome McDonugh) The jury found that PV as a community has "enriched the Active Worlds experience". Click the picture to watch a larger version, or read the announce- ment and my short speech. This was indeed a historical day for PV, and we should all be proud of reaching this far. The "Golden Cy statue" will be placed somewhere near the Town Hall, and there will be a local celebration to be announced later on. Even though prizes are nice, we will not forget that PV is about the small gatherings, the gay interest and the community where we can make friends and perhaps even give moral support to gay and lesbian people with one leg in their closet. That's something to be proud of, too:) PV survey By Phantom NJ As you all know, I recently mailed out a short e-mail survey to find out some things about the current usage of Pink Village citizens and what public services, people would like to see most in PV. The following are the answers to the survey. Thanks to all of you who responded. Question 1: How often do you currently visit Pink Village? a) 1-3 per week b) 4-6 per week c) 7-10 per week d) more than 10 per week The percentage rates of people responding to the survey are as follows. 50% visit 1-3 per week 28.5% visit 4-6 per week 21.5% visit 7-10 per week 0% visit more than 10 per week Question 2: Are there any public services (buildings, webpage links, etc) you would like to see in PV? If so, what kind? The following are some of the answers recieved and are in no particular order. Weblinks strictly for lesbians More interactive post office building with RL pics of citizens Links for other gay cities in AW Links for other gay cities in other worlds House of Worship Links to online gay news websites, such as The Advocate, etc. Links to resources for gay friendly religious organizations More events in PV to meet the citizens Links to RW gay places Thanks again to all those who responded to the survey, I'm sure this information will be useful to the PV council and citizens when considering future building in Pink Village. Create a little Joy By Bille Most people becoming familiar with their computer will sooner or later create graphics or even manipulate a photo. Gallerie 2222 now invites you to contribute in it's next exhibition "Joy", opening June 6th. From the opening of "Emotions" Gallerie 2222 has this far hosted 8 different exhibitions, and a year ago we could watch pictures made by PV citizens mainly. Let's make this an annual event! If you concider yourself an amateur, don't worry - most of us do. A simple jpg is still a picture, and even if it won't garantee you any fame, have fun mixing colors and testing the software's capabilities!:) Hit the keyboard and make sure your contribution is mailed to Bille before May 30th. This invitation is also valid for non-citizens. While you wait to get your picture on the wall, check out the current exhibition, "Emotions", featuring male art created by PV citizen Eljay. Join a Charter Tour By Bille PV Teleport Agency now introduces the PV Charter Club which invites you to join the group to visit foreign worlds or larger AW locations. Gay related or not. Each travel will be thoroughly organised: We meet in Pink Village getting seated in the teleport bus. At the destination the group will be guided by a local person showing us the main attractions, and telling us the ideas and stories behind the location - stuff you'd probably miss if you visited on your own. Of course a group photo will be taken, and hopefully we'll end up being served some refreshments before we split. . If this concept works out there might be 3-4 tours a year. To join a tour you will need to sign up in advance as the project might involve several people, and it would be waisting too many persons' time including prepearings if a tour gets cancelled the very last minute. The PV Charter Club is yet much in it's start. A few things need to be sorted out before the very first tour will be announced - hopefully end of May. Anyone who wants to help planning this all out can telegram Bille or just get in touch by chat. The Charter Club has now got it's own homepage announcing the tours and showing pictures from previous tours etc. World owners, builders and globetrotters: Suggestions for destinations are appreciated!:) Interactive PV map By Bille Did you know that the interactive map in front of the PV Town Hall is interactive? By left-clicking the map a html page will download, and this page features a clickable map.jpg. After clicking the area you want to visit, you will be teleported (click "open file" to get through). . The interactive map was introduced by Eljay in April 97 and can be found at every major PV square, in Eljay's garden and elsewhere. Eljay is still updating the map, and reminds you all to check out whether your lot is included with the correct coords. E-mail Eljay to submit any corrections! Any comments or contributions to Pink Point, especially gay/lesbian- and Pink Village related stuff, are highly appreciated! © Bille 1998, Netscape 4.04