The Old Men's Club at LEA: Linden Endowment For The Arts and The Cage

This is a story intended to amuse:
I am telling it here for one reason: to illustrate how the virtual world of Second Life is still plagued by archaic closed-mindedness and very predictable male egos, who love to throw those egos around in what I term the 'middle management' level of SL.

Some time ago, while I was on the board at LEA (Linden Endowment For The Arts), one of the many things I did (and was never thanked for, of course) was the project to get the LEA a proper Landing Point, and then have it listed in the Second Life Destination Guide. It had been rather ludicrous that LEA had neither an actual LP or Destination Guide listing since it formed, and in actuality, this amazing oversight indicates exactly how 'out of touch' the organisation was.

In any case, I spent countless hours working with the board and participating artists to create an open-air style radial platform with links to every aspect and area of LEA. This was designed to eventually tie into the LEA website (should it ever come to exist). The image at top should show the style of openess and welcomeness I was planning. (it may be hard to see the sightlines from the photo, but it was very open and had a lot of links and accessible content) The LEA had so many departments and ongoing projects that there were dozens of possible links, so I planned for growth.

When a very small minority of the board decided to discriminate and manipulate in order to have me fired, these members of what I will term the 'Old Men's Club' made certain I was gone and never once thanked for any of my contributions. Typical of that form of arrogance.

As always, I must state that the vast majority of LEA participants and board members are wonderful and loving, hard-working and caring people who deserve every success. And most of the men I deal with in SL are fabulous, kind and enjoyable in every way. It is, sadly, a slim minority of very bad apples that ruin the pie. This minority perpetuates the ancient ways of arrogance. Hundreds of years out of date.

But here is the amusing part....
Before the door had even closed behind me, my Landing Point was replaced.
Look at this image:

I affectionately call it the LEA Cage. When you teleport to LEA now, you are literally surrounded on all sides by prison-like bars, reaching up and collapsing into the sky so there is no escape. This is the perfect metaphor for the mentality of the oppressive Old Mens Club. Gone are the sightlines and welcoming content: now you are imprisoned in a forboding funnel.

This should not surprise anyone who is remotely familiar with the LEA's resident architect, the one who has made an SL career out of building very very very tall and grotesque, skinny, oppressive objects. Werner Kurosawa is one of those Old Men from the Club who create ominous structures that might impress adolescent boys, but seem designed with no consideration that people may actually be inhabiting the buildings! These un-ergonomic designs enforce claustrophobia and are forboding, cold statements that stab into the sky.

Take a look at the other works of Werner Kurosawa and see the common elements:

Large, lumpy, perhaps, but mostly impossibly large and/or tall.

I think it is very funny (and a bit obvious) that Werner Kurosawa creates a giant phallus each time. One of his LEA buildings, for example, is so phallic and so tall, it is unphotographicable. 

I think it is funny (and pathetic) that all of my work was replaced by yet another Werner Kurosawa phallus. I have no love for this man, as his behavior during my time at LEA was akin to that of child. I really don't work with children in SL.His communication-style I would describe as 'non-existent'. But, really, it's his phallic architecture that stands out the most.

The little man couldn't wait even one day to erect his phallic cage.
A metaphor for the Old Men's Club?
Is this what we have left of the old ways?
The dinosaurs?

This is a story intended to amuse. See the Cage and Laugh. These dinosaurs are not going to be around much longer.