Avatars ... Oh My

Ever feel like someone is trying to tell you something? I recently learned about avatars. I don't even know enough about them as virtual personalities to write much of them, but I'm hearing avatar everywhere... even my mother, a retired dental hygeniest brought it up in conversation this week. She actually told me a rather amusing (if scandolous) story about a friend and her avatar. So... I'm thinking, how could I use avatars and Second Life in a high school? Safely and cleanly of course--surely those are issues ed-techies are talking about. How could I connect it to my service learning classes? or use it with an English class duirng a thematic unit? Hmmm... certainly it would be fun to set up a novel's virtual world. A kind of Atwellian, who would you invite to dinner (virutally) from some of your favorite books or content areas. How cool would that be? Hmm... I'll have to explore and learn more.