Today's
Better World Team story fragment, reflection or sketch...

BetterWorld Roadtrip Journal:
New Orleans, Day 8

Today was amazing. Definitely the best day on the Roadtrip so far!

New Orleans is a blast. I got some great background footage and I shot at least half a dozen clips of Maya interviewing some really interesting characters we met. She's really getting good at feeling out the moment and coming up with just the right questions that coax out some really profound insights. Definitely stuff we can use for the vlog and maybe even for the documentary.

The interviews were so inspiring that we thought of some really good skit ideas on the ride back to the motel this afternoon. There might be a scene we can shoot tomorrow if we get a chance to flesh it out a bit more tonight, but it's kind of late as we just got back from the show.

The show was awesome! Maya blew them away. They loved her! She's really got The Better World Girl-schtick down now - I think we've come up with the perfect balance of mixing the set with her old music and the new Better World Girl-persona blend of stand-up comedy and humorous songs. The new song we wrote on Monday -- Water You Waiting For? -- really went over well tonight. I think the footage I got was really good enough to use by itself for a music video, but I'll see if we want to mix it with clips we'll get from the next few performances. We'll be back in Austin on Saturday and she'll definitely be shining in front of her home crowd.

Maybe it was just because these were college kids here, and because it was the first show we did hosted by one of the Better World Clubs, but they really got into our whole concept of music and humor to raise awareness about serious issues. A whole bunch of kids came up to Maya, bubbling over with ideas she'd inspired them to think about to do for World Water Day next week. Glad I had the camera running and got some of it.

I just thought of the perfect clip to throw up on the Roadtrip website vlog …

Traffic on the site is definitely picking up, by the way. Far from viral, but growing … 20,000 hits yesterday on our shoestring roadtrip. Not bad for barely a week in … Just wait until we wrap up the first real Roadtrip Webisode. That's when our guerilla- youtube campaign will really begin and we can get serious about driving traffic to the site.

After today, we're both even more excited about this Roadtrip bringing us the exposure we need to raise funding to launch our next pet project: The Better World Show: The Reality Show That Will Change Reality. But we don't want to get ahead of ourselves. That's a distant stage two in our plan to change the world. Besides, as far as I'm concerned, the reality show can wait, because we're having a blast right now.

I'm not sure I should bring this up here, but, well, I'll come out and just say it. When I was looking through the camera lens filming Maya up on stage tonight, I really felt … well, whole again. I know I only even met her just two months ago, and we're definitely different people with different lives and experiences, but this collaboration has really helped me to move forward and be, well, who I've been trying to be. I can't think of anything else that I'd rather be doing, or anyone else I'd rather be doing it with.

Anyway, after the show, after everyone else had showered her with affection and praise about how she'd deeply moved them, well, I couldn't help myself and I told Maya I love her.

You know what, she smiled and before she even said the words, I knew she felt it too.

I am just so happy to be alive.

© 2015 Robert Alan Silverstein
from Better World Roadtrip

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The Better World Show
The Reality Show That Will Change Reality