Once upon a time Sophrosyne Stenvaag offered me a place at a revolutionary project, called Extropia, and I rejected it. I even said it was a bad idea, since her objective was going to make it a family thing and I think it is very dangerous to mix love and business.
Now Soph is gone. Was I right? Not at all.
Up to where I know Soph’s live has been meaningful and full of love. In her last post she declares that the absence of part of her SL family is an important side of her decision, but we know the wear and tear of SL and, again up to where I know, they had less ups and downs that most of us, and their work only strengthened their relation.
We drifted away long ago (my fault, as usual) so now I am not really losing any contact with her. Now Extropia is a reality, a thriving community, I am not sad I didn’t join it. Let’s admit it, I stink at communities.
But she was a comunnity builder and, even if her vision stays, our lives become a bit smaller without her. Of course, that saddens me.
She bows away with some lines from The Tempest, which leave us wondering if we should hope her a sweet sleep, or stand and clap for an encore.
Since Soph turned off comments on her blog, I’ll reply here since I’m sure she’s reading this as well.
I tried very hard to be close to Soph and the rest of her family. It hurts deeply that she’s gone, but on some level I’m numb because there was so much distance that had built up between us. I’m just now starting to feel it and fully understand the loss as I write this.
It’s selfish to say, but I have, personally, lost so much… so many people over the last few years (in RL) that it’s almost as bad when someone I care about leaves SL. I sit here on the verge of tears because I know there will be no more salons, no more cutting edge discussions with Soph’s wit being the leading edge. She had an inspired sense of justice… something SL sorely needs. Soph was an inspiration to me.
In contradiction to what she said in her blog… we, some of us, are not velveteen rabbits. Some of us are more resilient. I have always found that the way to make it through even the hardest times in life is to change and adapt with them… even when it hurts. I reinvented myself a few times before I found London. I’ve learned the hard way that life is painful because we are constantly in the process of going from one state to another… so, in a way, we’re in a constant state of re-birth. Change hurts, but it’s something that has to be dealt with.
I’m not sure what I would have done in her shoes because I can’t pretend to judge, nor can I even begin to understand fully some of the reasons why she felt it necessary to leave. I only know what she says on her blog. I can imagine that the strain of running Extropia, dealing with her atomic self, and the additional stresses of Agent and Vidal’s “extended leave” took their toll as she described.
In the end all I can say is… Soph, we miss you… we love you… remember us and come back to us, if you can.
Yours always, Natsumi Yue