Saturday night, June 11th, 2022, was one of the most
fun times on roller skates, to the alchemic music of DJ Danny Krivit, (aka Mr.K)the icon, who
brought many of us back to the opening night of Roxy in New York, (among other venues), with dear
friends, many who lit a smile on faces that is still shining out from this heart.
DJ Danny Klivit, Suzanne Maxx and Cheryl
It was more than the collective
steady grove we were getting on here, it was the community with some core
skaters and friends whose bonds live beyond our collective slower heartbeats-- now
renewed with the skating coming back around again.
AK Akemi and Cheryl
And there are breaths of life that
move us through dimensions of time and space- balancing between the past,
present and Rollin’ it out into the future ’round the world.
Excitement extends
for the skate movement beyond venue, beyond names, the souls that were elevated
“looking up”—beyond Rockefeller Center, above “The Rainbow Room” in memorial of
those who have crossed (a few people relevant here).
Those souls who might have been looking down beyond the top of 30
Rockefeller Plaza last Saturday Night—as we were live from New York Saturday Night!So many memories flooding. On wheels, feet
grooving to the music, appreciating Rockefeller Center, around the wheel that
brought us together again.Yes, even
with some of the beginning years with World Team and broadcaster meeting here.There was also the years being at the filming
of Saturday Night Live. In College we were able to be part of some core SNL
years with friend fiancé’s job being the show, so it was our Saturday Night “Date
Night” too.
A few Saturday's ago, I wanted to stay until
the end for a whole group photo, but skating in place on the marble floor
beside the water flow of Golden Prometheus fountain and statue, did not reverse
the years that spring back which freed in my heart and soul, leaving my body to
catch-up behind.
My mind replayed memories galore
from performing, and years here during Christmas time in this very spot, on a cold winter’s day
with the smell of chestnuts from the street vendors open fire.As we sang along with the lyrics of Searching,
and launched into a spin singing “Searching , searching…”
I was suddenly in 7th
grade filing on to stand in cap and robe on the tiered choral bleachers when we
sang out with Simon Baruch Madrigal Societies & Beauty Shop Octet
performing -- decades blurred, warped time, the buildings appeared the same
there yet our worlds have changed.Singing along, repeating the lyrics I knew by heart-- until I could be
rung out with moisture, sound, mind running, movement twirling, pivoting,
backwards, “Searching , Searching..…”
I was suddenly back at Roxy…515 W. 18th street my skate home between 1979-2007. I sing along with the
lyrics for Love
Injection Injection, “Now you're here and, oh yeah, it’s so much fun”
Love injection
Love can take me high
Higher than I've ever been before
(love injection always on my mind)
It's the only thing that takes me
high
Higher than the stars up in the sky
(higher than the stars up in the sky)
Love injection, love can take me
high
Higher than I've ever been before
(love injection always on my mind)
It's the only thing that gets me
high (oh yeah)
Sweet reflections
Flashbacks in the night
Resurrection
Bring me back to life
Start all over (start all over,
start all over)
Ah, timing with FB, social media
and the collective posting, which has yet to, live up to envisioning real-time
stream captured footage while simultaneously being present in action calling on
a much-needed Superheroes…
To start all over with media. Start-all over with community action in the developed world,
for more than one island, or merely the global ocean atmosphere nexus.
Thank you are two words that do not
go far enough to communication the gratitude of where we are now with the
chance for transformation once again, and the wheel does come around and moves
beyond past, beyond where we were before, thankfully.
The respect for nature grows with each breath on the World Team journey. I
continue to learn from dolphins, even when self-isolating in this large home,
on this small island off of Tarpon Springs, Florida, USA.
My writer’s retreat was meant to go into the early months of 2020. This
retreat, now hermitage, or imposed self-isolation, began when I couldn’t return
to Fiji. I wasn’t able to make the flight from California to Fiji because
of my lung’s ability to heal— to take a deep breath from the smoke of fires in
CA 2019.
Henrietta, a regular visitor
How surreal it is like the world, the collective consciousness, that is the
WE, US, have joined together in having to go within, stay home, reprioritize,
renew our life’s patterns and systems, and for many of us, take a deeper
breath. A breath to review and renew what is important. Yes, I was incredibly challenged to breathe, for what seemed like an
eternity, but was only about 30-40 hrs. All I focused on was conscious
breathing and each moment striving to take a deeper breath. I used every
breathing technique I knew from over the years of taking on my pulmonary
function and respiratory system, which had been in the past impaired. I
tried to recall what I learned from Nei Kung to Conscious Breathwork. Each new breath, birthed an infinite light
within, unattached to a presence in form, as I let go on the exhale.
I’ve yet to be certain what took me down and at the beginning of COVID19,
the State of Florida was late to have the testing. Did I have a cold? Was
it pneumonia, bronchitis, or COVID19? Whatever I had, it was a challenge
that lasted a month, ultimately with most all of the COVID19 symptoms.
As a visitor to the State of Florida, I called the Department of Health
(DoH) to finally venture out to get the test and received instead an order to
“self-isolate,” as they didn’t have the needed antibody test. I learned
from the DoH that it was too great of a risk to both my health and the health
of others to leave the property.
The “Stay Home” mantra, began to challenge me coming into week
four. I remember in being human we are each unique, we each sometimes
respond differently to the same thing based on our immune systems. But we do
have our breath in common, and this home, as mentioned in World Team’s Universal
Declaration. After all of the years of swimming with the dolphins in the wild in Malibu,
Hawaii, Fiji, even New York, New Jersey, and Rhode Island the dolphins continue
to teach and enlighten.
One dolphin actually came to me, during this
recovery time, when I couldn’t go into the water. I had just begun to go
outside to walk on the private property out on to the dock that extends from
the home yard to the water for a “self-isolated” communion with nature.
Swimming with dolphins in the wild in different parts of the world for
decades the name, “The Dolphin Lady” became an alias. I feel most at home
floating in the ocean, and often when I float the dolphins come, as if “called”.
Can you image the heartfelt joy I experienced coming into this Holiday tide
when a single dolphin (perhaps pregnant and about to give birth), swam
underneath the dock as I walked above? I notice the dolphin’s breathing— the
importance of the breath has a deeper meaning now, amidst this COVID19 Public
Health Crisis, not only for me personally but perhaps for us all?
There are learning and deep observation from the grace of bio-mimicry medicine
offered out for all to consider from the dolphin’s breathing.
We can learn a lot from dolphins. Dolphins stay underwater, and just
when one wonders where they will rise— surprise! The dolphin breaks the surface
from the depths, breaching up to move in new ways. Did you know dolphins breathing is conscious? For a dolphin, every single
breath is an active choice. Breathing is not automatic for dolphins, unlike
humans. In other words, dolphins can’t go into deep unconscious sleep and still
breathe as far as we know. Dolphins float and reach a meditative state where
they are not totally unconscious. Dolphins use one half of the brain to rest,
remaining semiconscious. This cat-napping state is often referred to as
“logging” as the dolphin will float horizontally or vertically like a log. A
dolphin’s conscious breath heals and reminds us all how to consciously breathe
deeper!
Nei Kung is the single most important element I do now related to
breath. Tai Chi offers this fundamental principle with exercises unlike
any other form of movement from my experience, as it is conscious. The
importance of weights for the bones and muscular skeleton, Nei Kung is
fundamental to understanding the energy of the body (Chi) with breath (as is
singing)! And how the Chi can be used for self-healing, which may be the
highest form of self-defense, immunity!
Visiting the Ocean before Retreat
Breath and conscious breathing are key for us all now, understanding the
importance of each breath can be a matter of life or death. Coming to learn to
move our brain to higher frequencies of consciousness through meditation and
prayer. Or even floating may allow us also to turn part of our brain off and
realize a higher consciousness through our breath. Realizing the healing
power of nature with respect may also be a matter of life or death for human
beings, and our world as we live in this common home. Will we give nature time
to breathe to recover from humanity’s priorities?
I wish we could just “Pass Over” and skip the global #Pandemic #COVID19
#CycloneHarold #Catagory5 aka #TCHarold #LocustsEastAfrica
#GlobalCacophony #EconomicCollaspse #GeoPoliticalConflict #TradeWars
#5GControversy #ConspiracyTheories and fast forward to collective systems’
transformation to the part where we all rise together? What is the
role of the UN, the SDGs the global goals? And US, the people around the world?
The present realities require us all to give our all— to collectively
embrace the elephant in the room, related to what many call the #ClimateCrisis,
but really it is a collective inquiry— how does humanity live in balance with
nature, including our own human nature for the future we want, together with
systems ready for transformation?
Mangroves Save the Island
These times of crisis can bring us true communion with nature, and our
global diversity of humanity may indeed come together, perhaps a deeper
realization of Pentecost this year? Will we have the arch of
illumination, to awakening to that light of Buddha to birth with the spring
flowers of Hana Matsuri Blossoming, birthing with Buddha’s Birthday celebrated
by the sprinkling of water celebrating or the Takayama Spring
Festival, in nature this year?
It’s a lifetime of learning in observing dolphins, their capacity to love,
to breathe and to teach. May we each prioritize both personal and collective
transformation until we can live in a better balance with nature and when it is
time, ALL RISE!
“Angels” remain prevalent, coming into this new year. In Fiji last year I received a hand made Angel made out of the coconut palm tree from a member of the family that has been "Angelic" with our World Team project. I’m in the air again as I write this in flight from Los Angeles, writing I look out above the wing. I contemplate blessings; from the experience at the "Angel Store Things From Heaven" in Ventura (where miracles are common), I acquired a wooden Angel hand made by artist Bill Jeralds, to the formation of the cerebrum in the ominous clouds.
Angelic presence is up-literally. Blessed are the days I awake with the ocean and get to fly in the sky. I laughed when I saw this daily reading. There are some people in my life, whose miraculous presence, offerings and actions have been nothing short of angelically heroic. People are showing up more in more in my reality as Angels, and with Divine acts that are amazing.
I’ve tried to leave Los Angeles for New York for several weeks, we had to change my flight more than a handful of times. I’m about to leave for the airport when I get this e-mail from a reality television series looking for roller-skaters for reality TV Series “The Angels”;
in Venice to film a hugely popular French reality show "The Angels" on Thursday, Feb. 16. The show features contestants trying out their skills (such as acting, singing, sports, etc.) in real markets/audiences in big cities like LA - a bit like a world-traveling "America's Got Talent" with that same mass appeal and a 1 million person viewership per day - plus millions of viewers on YouTube.
We would love to feature the skate dancers and maybe do something fun with our 4 cast members; for example they could get a skate dancing demonstration and a short lesson from the skate dancers. We are planning on renting them skates.
We'd like to do this on Thursday, Feb. 16, maybe in the afternoon - TBD. All of our cameras are handheld, we have no lights, tripods or anything stationary, we move around quick so we won't be in the way.
Small group:
Number of cast: 4
Number of crew: 4-5
Here is a trailer for the show, which is going strong in it's 9th season. All the previous seasons are on YouTube and have a huge viewership, and that's footage you can use for your group/website once it comes out.
But this one was meant to be shared with you all, my friends that are skaters.
I laughed as I flirted with staying in Los Angeles for the “The Angels” possibility. Once again, I remained with this decision to focus on World Team, and World Team Now's SOS-IS—the possibility of actually telling a vision for our common home with the trust of Angels’ presence, there with Divine Wisdom has us growing rapidly.
The challenge is the discernment through image and to reality. I decided to pass on the reality show. “Reality,” is it really real? And is this the reality to invest resources?
With “The Chants of Angels,” my eyes were now transfixed on the CD cover lying on the car's passenger seat, as I stared at what haphazardly ended up in a pile; a DVD copy of Sebastian Siegel’s film “Awakening World,” (just screened at Leigh and Carla’s Olandar), next to an Angel blank card intended for my Goddaughter who could use angelic support, after we dissected Walt Whitman’s “Who Goes There?” to strive to find her own words. -A distant sound echoed hearing the Gregorian chants of Angels, reminiscent of the sounds of my recent Hermitage at Saint Benedict's Monastery over the Holidays. I felt the Angels in my heart, as it inspired contemplative writing, coming into the New Year and now it was nothing short of seeming Divine. So I had to take a picture of what I was seeing.
In route to Los Angeles airport, driving on the 405 on the phone with someone from the production team of “The Angels” I thought; How hard it is at moments along the journey to stay true to our work, and the vision we each have.
Clearing security prior to the flight I see an e-mail from Angel Store’s co-owner and Author Keith Richardson, who adds another aspect of the Angelic with his writing and journey. In the e-mail Angel art is offered for our World Team Now, from the artist Bill Jeralds, thinking of his incredible story, I began wondering aboutAngels and alchemic properties in the realm of what is incomprehensible. I thought to myself, this is like living into Harry Potter, and I looked up to see this sign;
As World Team takes flight into production and dreams are being realized, the difference between opportunities and challenges are hard to see. Logic would say Malibu is green and warm outdoors (like June in NY), and it’s closer to the Pacific Islands where we have movement. Stay in CA for this time and write?
The World Team project is now dealing with financing and structuring too. My friend Albert continues to be a backbone of support and consistency, I want to support him where I can in NY now. Others are joining, as World Team grows it inspires me. I choose cold bleak February in New York, as movement, growth, and change are happening there at a rapid rate for us.
Feeling blessed to be at home on both coasts with friends and communities, and yes sometimes in the middle (Colorado) and the edges too (Hawaii and Florida). Excited we are have expanded our territory with World Team Now, to the Pacific Island region, and all appears to be taking flight.
Now in flight, a minor miracle these days, realizing not only was there no security line, but "PreCheck" finally allowed for being whisked through it all with grace and ease. This restored how it used to be when I grew up flying (with a TWA flight attendant as my Step-Mom). Blessed the plane was mostly empty.
Seated above the wings, we hit turbulence. I put on the Sirus Radio Studio 54 channel. A favorite song of mine as a young adult working at Studio 54 was up, It’s Raining Men” by The Weather Girl, I reached for the earphones coming alive remembering unlimited freedom and inspiration roller skating or dancing. The lyrics from youth tattooed on my heart:
"God bless mother nature, she's a single woman too
She took off to heaven and she did what she had to do
She taught every angel she rearranged the sky
So that each and every woman could find her perfect guy"
After the weather and flight conditions, the screen display read “It’s Raining Men” The Weather Girl-- but it was frozen there without any sound. I laugh out loud with this God wink. The station remained stuck on this song for the entire flight to NY with no sound (yes we tried multiple sets of earphones) and not just on the screen above my seat, all of the other vacant seats next to me too, like an episode of the Twilight Zone…Funny, Magical-- Life! I sang the song, to the music within and through me.
After the turbulence calmed I decided to get more grounded in the air with taking on Yoga in the isle on the nearly empty flight—doing “Tree” pose in the air and holding balance there opened another dimension of balance, and rooting--I thought of the beloved orchids and how they take root. Here is our Orchid Album.
May the Angels continue to guide and protect us all. Yes, this week made it through a home fire. “Fire,” yes, literally with flames smoke and all-- a close call all were safe and as rescued by an Angel in human form. Fortunately what matters is how quickly it can be cleaned up, and we moved from trauma to success and peaceful balance. Blessed all is well that ends well. Grateful to be gifted the angelic presence of entities living and beyond.
In times where truth is stranger than fiction, I pray we all continue to be more than touched by Angels-- that we discover the Angelic within and among us all through a Divine purpose that is unique to just you.
Publishing this today, the first day of the Chinese New Year of the Rooster: May your crowing start off, not just this day, but this year-- with your song.
The review I
wrote that was published in the Malibu Chronicle in 1998 on “What Dreams May
Come,” the movie starring Robin Williams, that gets
its title from a line inHamlet's "To
be, or not to be"soliloquy deserves
deeper contemplation in context with Robin Williams crossing, and the
incredible life he shared with us all.
When I reflect on the body of
work that Robin Williams has contributed to our world, his compassion,
humor, and zany child-like innocence that beckoned to choose roles in films
that dealt with the core issues of being human, focused on life and death, either
profoundly deep, or with the simplicity we all find relative. Robin certainly lived
more than most in one life time. Of
course we are all thankful for the laughter, his incredible imagination, and
his Zeitgeist for being Zany and outside-the-box.
Personal memories of roller skating as a
youth at special events and parties at Roxy Roller Rink with both Christopher
Reeve and Robin—fueled my young imagination, causing a school girl to blur the boundaries
between fantasy and reality, as we rolled around the circle to music, with
laughter ingraining that life is indeed a big circle, where anything was
possible…Both of these iconic acquaintances’ crossing hit a primal nerve that
is quite profound in evaluating the body of their work with the roles they chose
to play reflecting within the context of their lives and deaths.
Wishing the loved ones Robin left behind
that they don’t have to go through the journey Robin Williams did in the role of Dr. Chris Nielsen in "What Dream May
Come," to cross beyond life into the realms beyond Earth, Heaven and Hell--to realise the ultimate mystery of unconditional love. Yet the power of unconditional love is the message, and
surely love can transcend, even a life lived as a work of art.
Robin’s works
and the plethora of humanity he embraced with his person evokes the wonder
about the phenomena of when art transcends or becomes life, and life transcends
or becomes art? Is there validity to the concepts, theory and premise lived
out in What Dream May Come? If so, Robin’s
crossing is merely the second act of the three Act play that becomes or
transcends the cycle of life, and yet remains eternal. Again, to those who live on with his personal love
inside, the deepest sympathy for the journey love causes us to undertake to transcend the pain of loss and change of form.
Here is what I wrote for
The Malibu Chronicle published in 1998
(Review
Essay)
Movies
to the Maxx
What
Dreams May Come.... Beyond the time, space, continuum...
Every once in a
while comes a film that breaks the standard genres and enters a new dimension
of entertainment. For those willing to enter into another paradigm of
possibilities and explore existential questions, you will be crying with joy at
the opportunity to dance in the abyss of experiencing a most special journey,
into the real world- where the continuum of time and space occurs like a dream,
in What Dreams May Come, directed by Vincent Ward.
Just the way
life reflects art and art reflects life, this movie will challenge your core
beliefs about life, death and love and God.
What Dreams May Come is a romantic drama that experiments with
the idea that soul mates, and soul connections really exist beyond what is
seen. It beautifully demonstrates the
possibility of cause and effect and how everything in your life “Is,” because
you cause it to Be- in alignment with something higher...God?
After Chris
Neilson (Robin Williams) dies, his heaven is actually, a beautifully painted
world. As explained to Chris Neilson in
the film; “We all paint our surroundings here, but you’re the only one who’s
chosen real paint.” The relationships
of the soul extends past the present time as demonstrated by the commitments
kept in life with family and friends that extend into eternity. Chris Nielson’s love for his wife and family,
transcends time and he is willing to go beyond the duality of Heaven and Hell
to fulfill his soul’s connection with his mate.
Coloring What
Dreams May Come is a very talented cast.
Robin Williams demonstrates his flexibility and multidimensional skills
that balance his powerful serious side, with his natural gift for humor and
play. Annabelle Sciorra authentically
deals with the aging and shifts of time the film explores. Max Von Sidow brings a depth of consciousness
into his character, who once again is reminiscent of life and death with other-
world- like accuracy. Cuba Gooding, Jr.
takes on the physicality of being a child in a man’s body with ease.
What Dreams May
Come
demonstrates the power of thought as it creates our perception of reality and
time. “Thought is real, and physical is the illusion,” as expressed in the
film. Awake our perspective of the
dream state diminishes, compared to dreaming, where the dream feels like
reality. We see our physical worlds as
we choose to see them. If reality lies
in perception and one doesn’t believe in the possibility of dreams coming true,
than in reality-- their dreams die.
If reality is
malleable than how is it that we, as human beings, come to choose dark instead
of light? Each person’s Heaven and Hell
is their own creation. “Everybody’s Hell
is different, the real hell is your life gone wrong,” as explained in the film.
The concept of Heaven and Hell and the personification of the internal world,
thus becoming the external reality, is executed quite adeptly. What Dreams May Come takes us into a world to
explore these questions on a journey where the fear that lives in the mind, can
do visual battle with the soul’s higher purpose.
What Dreams May
Come
causes reflection as to what is real and what is a dream? These questions are presented with authority
coming from the novelist Richard Matheson who brought you Somewhere In Time
and Incredible Shrinking Man. Can
we expect anything lighter from Academy Award winning, screen writer Ron Bass (Rainman)
who adapted the novel? What Dreams...
explores what is beyond the physical body, the mind, and how the Soul is
challenged to blend this trinity of energies into one.
“For those who
dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find
that was vanity, but the dreamers of the day are dangerous for they may act
their dreams with open eyes and make it possible”...
-T.E. Lawrence--
Like the
dreamers of the day, What Dreams May Come is a transformational film in
that, it deals with the premise that
just like the dream of the night is to the day, our lives as we understand them
to be, are small in the scale of eternal life... Should we chose to become
aware and dream in the eternal realm, then there are no limits.
Through the
reflection of the journey Robin William’s character makes the question as to
whether everything in life is connected; through a purpose, a grand design,
beyond time and space and the material world as we know it to be or exist, is
raised. Do we choose our parents and
thus the psychological dynamics we grow up in, to provide the structure and
familiar patterns to help bring us to our soul mate, where we can work out the
karma of the past with love, play in the future and create a new possibility
beyond our mind’s ideas?
We all have
experienced the feeling of meeting someone for the first time and having an
automatic response to that person that transcends the reality of the present
introduction. We recognize this person
from what feels like the past, there is something familiar about them. The challenge is to find out where this
person fits in your present life. These
soul connections are the makings of notions such as, “love at first
sight”. Is there just one soul mate for
each being? What feels like your soul
“mate” may be a soul connection.
What Dreams May
Come
plays with these relations in a profound way, and answers these questions with
a possibility of life that is quite refreshingly new, yet perhaps is quite
appropriate for this “New Age” as we come into the millennium. The movie brings
the audience on a journey of faith without confronting the fundamental
principles that usually divide religions.
Early in the film Chris Neilson asks, “Where is God in all of
this?” The answer is brushed off with, “He’s
up there, somewhere...” Yet God’s works
are presented, especially at the end, where there is Divine Intervention
regarding the rules and paradigms of Heaven and Hell. Time does not exist, as
this movie expresses. What Dreams May Come artistically blends the laws
of karma from non -western philosophy, with Christian believes of heaven and
hell, painting different possibilities taken from world religions, and the
theories recently demonstrated in quantum physics, from people such as Stephen
Hawking.
What Dreams May
Come
artistically creates a collage of the complexity of life that is dramatically
compelling and engages the senses to embark on journey where each breath
captures the beauty of life in language and through vision. That old cliché about life being a “blank
canvas,” is demonstrated and layered throughout What Dreams May Come,
both literally and figuratively. The
movie dances between the actual and the metaphorical gracefully probing the
mind to question what “Is?”
The lines in Ron
Bass’s script may leave you in introspection, or the powerful language could
cause you to go in the opposite direction.
In this regard What Dreams May Come’s premise is quite
interactive with the ultimate mysteries of life. Lines like, “Never give up, never give
up...”.and “At least you are willing to see yourself.” And contemplating, “What do you mean by
you?” And also, “You see your body
because you like seeing one, you chose to see what you chose to see.” Cutting
to the core is; “Sometimes when you win you lose, sometimes when you lose you
win.” This dialogue moves us beyond duality, and identity, showing how it’s all
relative to perspective...
This movie
exposes the cyclical pattern of life in an extraordinary way in multiple
dimensions, and with unprecedented effects.
If you are not ready to confront this primal inquiry of beliefs that are
usually reserved for the dream state, than at the least this film, frame by
frame, will reveal a work of visually entertaining art. What Dreams May Come is where
past, present and future occur in no
time, or the same time, just as life does with death, it’s all cyclical, it’s
all related, it means everything and Nothing at the same time, beyond time.
-Suzanne Maxx is a
Writer/ Producer/ Actress/ Athlete/ Instructor/ Public Speaker who is presently
working to develop the World Team project.
Her other business, Sports to the
Maxx trains people to go beyond what they believe to be possible, balancing the
physical techniques with a psychological inquiry and fundamental spirituality
while training in; In Line and Roller Skating, Down Hill Skiing and Horseback
Riding. Suzanne has spoken
internationally on topics such as “Zen and the Art of Extreme Sports” and
“Media and Planetary Transformation”.
Suzanne is based in Malibu, California.
Larry left a message on my cell phone the day before we were to meet for another event where he played the real life role of “Honorary President” of our non-profit charity, World Team Now. Some knew him as “Master” in I Dream of Jeanie, others as “JR” in Dallas but we knew Larry Hagman, as the Honorary President/Chairman of our organization and a strong advocate.. Larry was an innovator and inspiration for many, with his use of renewable energy! We loved his appreciation for nature and humanity— and his spirit! The spirit that lived through Larry’s voice even on a message remains memorable. Larry had a big heart, not just for our charity, but for the world at large. He was dedicated to our mutual vision and goals to demonstrate the use of renewable energy— and to ‘play to transform our world’. We shared a mutual inquiry of how to live in better balance with ourselves, one another and our global resources. World Team Now redefined the value of resources through the acronym of T.ime, E.nery, A.ction, and M.oney with the key being in the balance, and using our own lives as experiments. Larry very much lived into that. When I first met Larry as journalist covering the Solar Expo where he was a keynote speaker, I was surprised to learn he had the largest collection of personal solar power in use in our country and arguably, our world. His Ojai Ranch produced a surplus of energy, energy independence would be, "Heaven". When he showered the audience at the expo with his paper money— bills larger than the government printed, he demonstrated the spirit of “possibility,” that many of his characters mastered: to go beyond what was fathomable, reasonable or even possible. This act demonstrated his ideal that ALL people were to be included in abundance. It is in this spirit that he would become my friend and supporter of the dream with our World Team Now. I also learned Larry had been friends with my cousin Suzanne Pleshette.He understood the big picture view of world systems and what motivated our world to action, and saw a need for change, and began that change. He also really understood what it was to be human, to embrace change and attempt to make use of the duality of the human condition— to learn from what didn't work, to create what does work.
Larry stayed with us over the years through many changes, one of them was the name change— originally we were Team World Corps— to World Team Now. Larry was at our first event in 2007 at The Sunset Restaurant with SolarWorld. I will always remember that after the fashion show, when the sun was about to set, Larry had us all hold hand as he led the countdown, “Ten, nine, eight….” He was waiting for the mysterious green flash— when it came time, he hoisted our hands up in the air exclaiming, “Bong-Dong!” This was at the SolarWorld event, and it made my heart shine to know Larry later would end up being a spokesman for solar energy through SolarWorld. He leaves the legacy of reminding us all to "Shine Baby, Shine"... and we are happy to see that energy shine out to our world.
Over the years, from 2007 to 2012, Larry supported projects and events. This past year, the event was to do an upgrade and installation of new electric vehicle chargers at the City of Malibu, which World Team Now cajoled the city to take action for this project. This time, we brought a team of celebrities, some media and new electric vehicles from Hertz, like Nissan’s Leaf, and the Tesla Roadster, and we all participated in the ribbon cutting ceremony, and driving of vehicles. Larry loved that he could sit in the driver’s seat of the Leaf with plenty of room to wear his iconic hat. Larry was eager to get his all electric vehicle, and ready to charge it to solar or wind energy. He was an innovator. We still have to edit the footage from this event. It is most challenging when people die and there are projects incomplete, thus is the case with Larry’s passing.
I decided to re-save and not delete Larry’s old message many times, as I would again the day before he died. After learning that Larry crossed, I listened to his message and on it was a voice I could hear eternally. I returned the call, hearing his voice message brought tears, “ You've reached Heaven South,” had new meaning. Larry kept me laughing, after life… Spell “evil” backwards, and what do you get? Live. He has gifted many people the ability to live a better life. “Evil Does Good” is a great name for his new foundation; please honor Larry with a gift. He lived ‘Life to the Maxx,’ and he will live on through us all! In gratitude we offer this Universal Prayer!
World Team Now/ Team World Corps' 1st event, from left; Max Gail, Brother Bill Short, Larry Hagman, Suzanne Maxx,, Leigh Mc Closekey, and Carter Larson
