History of Gapla/Lesson 2

Gaplan Restoration (2018–2019)

2.1     The Role-Playing Era

Rediscovering Gapla-Phoenix     In 2018, Wyatt Baek moved to attend the APAAS program at Cypress Village Elementary School. While packing, he rediscovered a Gapla-Phoenixian ID card he had created as well as his Gapla-Phoenixian spy notebook. Feeling nostalgic as he was moving away from the first school he attended, he took both items with him as he moved.

Gapla and Snake     Shortly after starting the APAAS program at Deerfield Elementary School, Wyatt befriended classmate Shaun Madillo and introduced him to the notebook, telling him stories of Gapla-Phoenix. Wyatt eventually revived "Republic of Gapla" of Gapla-Phoenix as an independent imaginary country, and Shaun established the (also imaginary) "Republic of Snake." The two role-played as national leaders during recess and created documents in the library. The remaining pages of Wyatt's former Gapla-Phoenixian spy notebook were used by the revived republics of Gapla and Snake until it was replaced by another notebook.

Comparison with Gapla-Phoenix     Compared to Gapla-Phoenix, both the revived republics of Gapla and Snake were taken considerably less seriously by their founders. Their leaders did not expand the imaginary countries beyond themselves.

2.2     Totoro and the Credits Shop

A Classroom Marketplace     In 2018, Wyatt started the Credits Shop, a classroom marketplace where his classmates could buy and sell items using the credits currency. The Credits Shop was housed in a shoe box, and popular items included origami, slime, and small toys such as Rubik's cubes. The credit was pegged to the U.S. dollar at a rate of 100 credits per dollar, and members could exchange credits for U.S. dollars and vice versa. His earlier Totoro project from Cypress Village Elementary School—which allowed classmates to create subsidiary companies—was revived to allow the credit currency to expand beyond the Credits Shop.

Competition     Wyatt's classmate, Avanish Srinivasan, created an competitor to the Credits Shop following a personal conflict with Wyatt. While he also called his marketplace the Credits Shop, it was commonly known as the HowToGAMI Credits Shop because Avanish was known for the HowToGAMI origami business he had started outside of Wyatt's Totoro infrastructure. Eventually, an agreement was reached between Wyatt and Avanish and HowToGAMI was joined the Totoro and the Credits Shop infrastructure, and Avanish would become one of the most important leaders of the newly united Credits Shop.

"There shouldn't be an exchange rate [to the U.S. dollar]."
— an unknown Deerfield Elementary School official (likely the then-assistant principal), regarding the credit

Administrative Challenges     As shown in the quote above, the Credits Shop was challenged and banned several times throughout its history by both the school administration and Michael Hubbard (more about him in Lesson 4). Wyatt refused to cooperate, claiming that the administration's challenges violated free expression and free market rights. In one notable challenge, a substitute teacher attempted to seize the credits list—the Credits Shop's daily transaction record—but Wyatt refused unless he was able to take photos.

"Do you remember Gapla? The Credits Shop?"
— Emma Bunnell, in her 2023 letter to the teacher Kathleen Larson, whose classroom the Credits Shop was founded in

Cultural Influence     Totoro and the Credits Shop were not isolated to a group of friends. At its height, every member of the APAAS class had accounts in the Credits Shop, and over half had started Totoro subsidiaries. As shown in the above excerpt from Emma's letter to Mrs. Larson, the Credits Shop became an important part of the APAAS class's culture.

2.3     The Principality of Gapla

Inspiration from Sealand     When Wyatt was assigned an essay on making the world a better place, he chose to write on resolving political disputes between countries. Searching for "disputed countries" on Google, he discovered the Principality of Sealand, a micronation on an abandoned World War II fort. Despite being interested, he noticed that Sealand did not welcome contributions and focused only on selling titles of nobility. Doing more research on micronations, he discovered that anyone could create their own country, as countries exercised a monopoly on the legitimate use of force and therefore could not be regulated.

A New Project     On 28 February 2019, Wyatt told Shaun about what he found and they decided to restore the inactive republics of Gapla and Snake as the Principality of Gapla and the Principality of Snake. Despite both states having kings as monarchs, they were officially known as principalities as the Principality of Sealand was their primary inspiration. Later that day, Wyatt announced the Principality of Gapla to the APAAS class, which attracted popular attention as he was the founder of Totoro and the Credits Shop, two other successful projects. Classmates most involved in the Credits Shop became the first Gaplan citizens.

Credits for Lesson 2

This lesson was authored by Wyatt Baek.

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