DukeVan Acker's Page

My tai chi practice on the beach was disturbed by rumbling deep underground. I froze. Maybe just a small earthquake, but more likely this was a taste of things to come. Dakini was reclaiming its privacy, whether I was ready or not. I packed my yukata into a small backpack and headed east along the coast.

Soon I came across the Guild's gazebo, flickering images of active Companions illuminating the interior. I glanced at my own intensely goofy portrait (alongside the exotic…

I opened my eyes. For a minute, I'm confused. The stone ceiling of my room in Iqisray Khait is gone. The ceiling resembles tatami, only larger, and a sprinkle of dirt is falling down on me, tickling my nose. I sit up straight, my eyes adjusting to the dim light. At least my potted plant Bob is still there by my feet. Hi Bob.

Why was I here again, at the Dakini Land retreat? I rubbed my head, and pulled on the pants crumpled at the foot of my cot. I had slept in the shirt I'd worn on…

Well, my (first) presentation on the Guild went off without a serious hitch at the International Scientific Conference on Cultural Group Behaviour : Historical Re-Enactment, Contemporary Paganism and Fantasy-Based Movements in Kaunas, Lithuania this week.  The presentation itself was nothing special (how much can you go over in a little more than 15 minutes?). However, it was the first time for me to present at a sociology conference (though I mainly focused on the educational aspects of the…

A friend in SL recently told me that the most obsessively f*cked up relationship she had had in SL started with these words:



"You will never know whether or not what I am telling you is the truth."

In a sense, this is the ultimate dom-gone-mad cop out; honesty is not a given in our relationship, because you are simply not worthy of it.

I use it to introduce Duke's acolyte blog in another sense. Blogs represent a struggle with meaning at a certain…