Live The Dream

Atlas Shrugged: What If Ayn Rand Had Made Her Characters As Poly as She Was?
2024-08-17 11:00 - 16:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Live and on Zoom, 8515 Penfield Ave, Winnetka, CA, 91306, United States
Ayn Rand married Frank O’Connor in 1929. In 1954, she began a passionate relationship with Nathaniel Branden. It is widely reported that both Any Rand’s husband and Nathaniel Brandon’s wife approved of this affair; thus, it would now be considered a polyamorous relationship.
In Ayn Rand’s book Atlas Shrugged, Dagny Taggart deeply loved three men in her life–great men who could live up to her greatness. Francisco was her first teen love, whom she adored with a passion and who shared with her the knowledge that sexual love was something to be gloried in without shame or guilt; something which it was right for these two free-spirited youths (with world-changing destinies) to learn from each other.
Francisco loved Dagny his whole life long, though he spent many years apart from her pretending to be a playboy for purposes having nothing to do with romance and everything to do with Brains on Strike. She thought her relationship with him was over for many years and had found no other man worthy of her attention during that time.
Already in her 30s, her love was again IGNITED with top Industrialist Hank Rearden, a married man whose wife did not share with him nor support his devotion to his Steel business nor approve of his shameful need for sex with her. It was Dagny who helped him realize he had a right to delight in his sexuality and that his choice of her as his Lady was in complete alignment with the other excellent values that made him the Business Man she so respected.
Finally, there was John Galt, the brilliant inventor of a motor that could gift the world with limitless energy–at the price of respect for the mind that created it. It was to him she finally gave her heart and her body to the exclusion of Hank and Francisco who continued to love her and were compassionately understanding of this Highest choice of the man both of them loved and followed. A beautiful story… of ENTIRELY NEEDLESS sacrifices by characters who supposedly had learned not to make sacrifices, created by an author who knew better!
Dagny Taggart could have found John Galt, then realized that Francisco had behaved honorably in all the years they were apart, holding his love for her as a sacred fire within himself. Since Francisco loved and was deeply committed to John already, a triad between the three of them could have worked out perfectly. When Francisco found her miraculously alive in the Valley after believing she had died in a plane crash, she could have told him all that she felt with complete honesty, letting him know that there was room for both him and John to be her primary partners. Later, Hank could have been added either as a live-in lover for Dagny or as a beloved non-residential secondary partner always welcome in their home. No one gets hurt.
There was certainly enough of Dagny living, breathing, and willing to satisfy the desires of men who had lived mostly with only their fantasies of her to sustain them for many years. The love and respect all the men involved had for each other would make jealousy unlikely and (if it did come up) something to be dealt with like any other emotional illness rather than something to base one’s life on. Had John and Francisco offered her this option, she might have been too happily engaged in carrying it out that she would have stayed in the Valley her first time there rather than choosing to go back to a rapidly disintegrating world of looters who had taken charge of the US government, and who would not permit her to do what was needed to keep her railroad physically safe to ride upon for passengers as well as financially viable for herself and those who invested capital into it.
Dagny could even have had a child by John and then by each of the others if they wanted one. Additionally, John, Francisco, and Hank might want to consider spreading their excellent genetic materials (and their unbridled affections) to other fine Ladies who were available in John’s Gulch…
Think about it; limits on wealth and production were unacceptable, but limits on Love were unexamined and unchallenged. The very people who did not take what the Experts said to be so as a given in their businesses and their political lives had swallowed hook, line, and sinker the looting of that most precious aspect of living–romantic Love and Joy.
How many unexamined ass-umptions are you carrying around to mess up your life?

Southern California Poly Meetup
2024-09-07 17:30 - 20:00 | Pitfire Pizza, 5211 Lankershim Blvd, North Hollywood, CA, 91601, United States
www.meetup.com/socal-polyamory
Monthly meetup that happens on the first Saturday of each month, from 5:30 to 8:30 pm PDT located at Pitfire Pizza 5211 Lankershim Blvd. NoHo, led by Jim Bratcher. Join us for informal socializing with kindred spirits in the Poly community! Call Jim at 626-818-8021 for more info.

From Family Synergy to Live the Dream: Carrying the Torch
2024-09-21 11:00 - 16:00 | Live and on Zoom, 8515 Penfield Ave, Winnetka, CA, 91306, United States
Live the Dream
Founded in 1987 by Terry Brussel and Brian Gitt
Based on the philosophy of Family Synergy,
Founded 1971 by Hy Levy and Pat LaFollette
THE BEGINNINGS OF SYNERGY:
Multiply Committed Relationships, Group Living and Group Marriage
Excerpt from Fifty Years of Polyamory In America: A Guided Tour of a Growing Movement
by Glen Olson and Terry Brussel-Rogers
Synergy-Noun: the interaction or cooperation of two or more organizations, substances or other agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects. (combined: Free Merriam-Webster online/Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, 1978)
Hy Levy and his wife Joyce were looking for something different. An engineer in his thirties, he recalls he and his wife were not looking to join a commune to make a political statement about planetary resources or create a model for co-operative living ‒ things that others were looking for. He was actually inspired by the utopian novels of Robert Rimmer (The Harrad Experiment, Proposition 31), an author who proposed that group marriage, built of couples finding other couples and marrying them, could work and be a powerful and joyful lifestyle.
He recalls that in the late 1960’s, early 1970’s, many utopian groups were trying to form, some advocating every form of sexual freedom, but after attending meetings put on by numerous groups, he and his wife realized they were looking for something else. They already had two small children and they were not teenagers trying to change the world, they were people looking to enrich their lives and the lives of others they cared about.
“It was very hard to meet people,” he says, “the only way to contact other like-minded people was to put an ad in the LA Free Press and wait for someone to answer it, or answer someone else’s ad.”
Eventually, after answering a large number of ads and putting in one of their own, they met Pat and Ann LaFollette. Hy remembers, “We met each other, we liked each other, in fact Pat and I got along fabulously well.” The LaFollettes had also read Robert Rimmer and were looking for the same things the Levys were.
A deep friendship developed. It became clear that the two couples, though looking for the same thing, were not quite the right mix to build a marriage together, so they went as a foursome to a number of discussion groups on communes.
About that adventure Hy states, “We blew people away because all they wanted to talk about is who takes out the garbage, or how to decide who takes out the garbage ‒ and we wanted to talk about being in a place where people cared about each other. The reason for being there was not political or economic, it was to live with someone you cared for… We ended up getting attacked a lot, because our views were so dissimilar to those of the rest of the room.”
The men were so dismayed at the reception they were getting they decided to put in an ad of their own, advertising a meeting to discuss the philosophies of Robert Rimmer. The meeting drew a group of about a dozen people and was supposed to be about three hours long.
But the idea caught fire. At the end of the discussion period no one was ready to leave so they adjured to a local restaurant for dinner and returned to continue the discussion.
Sometime late in the evening they decided that they should do more than just talk about the ideas of Robert Rimmer, it was time to do something about it. So they formed a steering committee, composed of everyone who was at the meeting, and resolved to go forward. Of course, the group had no name, a problem which would need a solution sooner than they realized.
One of the new steering committee members mentioned that Robert Rimmer would be in town the following month, giving a talk at a convention. He proposed they attend the convention to hear Rimmer speak ‒ and to advertise their existence to any like-minded people.
Now came the problem: they had a group, what to call it? In trying to define what they were looking for Pat LaFollette and Hy Levy had often stated they were looking to build a “synergy” in their lives, create stronger, vital relationships based on their marriages, and to provide a stronger family experience for the adults AND the children.
It hit Hy, and perhaps Pat also at the same time, that they were talking about Family. Obviously, the organization should be called Family Synergy. Later they would invent the term “expanded family” (like the extended family of Grandma, Grandpa, Mom, Dad, their kids and maybe some Aunts and Uncles with their kids) to denote those adults and children that you spent a lot of time with and did family activities with, who were family, but who did not happen to be related to you by blood.
The Levys and the LaFollettes attended that convention the following month and met Robert Rimmer. They remember finding a way to get invited up on stage with him and made their announcement. Pat recalls, “At that time I was an artist and had a huge artists loft in the skid row area of Los Angeles. It was four or five thousand feet. We held the next meeting there just in case we got a good turnout.”
In fact, fifty or sixty people showed up, and Family Synergy was in business.
In 1987, Live the Dream was formed as a spin-off of the Family Synergy special interest group Explore, Come Live with Us. The organizations were apart and then together again until Family Synergy’s 40th Anniversary Reunion, at which point Terry Brussel-Rogers declared her intent to continue Family Synergy as Live the Dream. How did that happen and how is Live the Dream continuing to carry out the original vision of the founders of Family Synergy?

2150 AD by Thea Alexander: Key to a Poly Future?
2024-10-19 11:00 - 16:00 | Live and on Zoom, 8515 Penfield Ave, Winnetka, CA, 91306, United States
Led by Rick Davilla—based on knowing the author
We’ll discuss Thea Alexander’s story of time travel, group living, sexual/spiritual
delights and past life soul mate connections. How can we use her findings in our
own relationships? Note: according to several usually reliable sources, this book is
not just fiction!
1pm Pot Luck Lunch-bring something healthy and delicious to share
2:00-3:45 Afternoon activity: Jacuzzi and Exercises for developing intimacy– empathic
communication to enhance your love life and friendships.
4:00-5:45 pm Socializing in Clothing Optional Jacuzzi or Watch a Poly Movie playing in the living
room.
Pot Luck Dinner, All Hallows Eve Ritual led by High Priestess Lilith and Halloween Party follow at
6 pm. If you want to present anything perhaps relating to the costume (or body paint} you choose
to wear, do let us know.

How to Love & Grow Closer with Your Poly Mates & Their Mates
2024-11-16 11:00 - 16:00 | Live and on Zoom, 8515 Penfield Ave, Winnetka, CA, 91306, United States
LIVE: 11 AM – 4 PM PST Zoom: 1–1 PST
11-1 Poly Discussion, 1pm Pot Luck Lunch, 2-4 pm Growing Closer Exercises and
Socializing in Clothing Optional Jacuzzi
If you have been in this lifestyle for a while, you may have a lover, committed partner or spouse living with you, a lover or two visiting regularly, and kitchen table metamours as well. Perhaps you are fortunate enough to be in a live-in triad or quad. How do you make time in your life for all these important people in your life? What is the flavor of each relationship and what kind of time is involved? What is best done as together time and what is separate time for you and your most committed partner or partners? Let’s dig into all this through discussion. You can also access my article Time Enough for Love on LivetheDream.org or by calling me at 818-886-0069. I have even created a special Poly Time Management Sheet… just ask for it.

LOSCON 50, the 50th annual Los Angeles Science Regional Fiction and Fantasy Convention
2024-12-01 10:00 - 11:15 | Loscon at the LAX Hilton Hotel, 5711 W Century Blvd, Los Angeles, CA, 90045, United States
We would like to direct your attention to the panel Social Conventions in Heinlein: Families, Finances, and Systems of Government, which is scheduled to start at 10 AM PST on Sunday, December 1st. Join Glen Olson and Terry Brussel-Rogers, co-authors of Fifty Years of Polyamory in America: A Guided Tour of a Growing Movement, and other panelists) for this exciting discussion!
Were you inspired by the multi-generational Line Marriage from The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, warmed by the Nest in Stranger in a Strange Land, fascinated by the group marriage and other relationship possibilities presented in Time Enough for Love through To Sail Beyond the Sunset? We’ll talk about how these concepts can enhance our real lives in Love… and in Freedom!

Group Marriage/Group Living SF Samples
2024-12-21 11:00 - 16:00 | Live and on Zoom, 8515 Penfield Ave, Winnetka, CA, 91306, United States
Saturday December 21, 2024 Live: 11 AM – 4 PM PST Zoom: 11-1 PST
Group Marriage/Group Living SF Samples: Robert A. Heinlein (Future History), Spider Robinson (Callahan books) & S. M. Sterling’s Novels of the Change:Fantasy or reality? What aspects of these do we want in our own lives & how can we create them?

Winter Solstice Ritual and Holiday Party
2024-12-21 18:00 - 23:00 | Live the Dream Center, 8515 Penfield Ave., Winnetka, CA, 91306, United States
6 PM: Pot Luck Dinner7:30 PM: Winter Solstice Ritual led by High Priestess Lillith
Latkes (provided by Live the Dream, along with Apple Sauce and Sour Cream), songs about the Maccabees, dreidels, lighted up Christmas miniature houses, and a Winter Solstice ritual. Although Hanukkah doesn’t start until December 25th this year, we will still light a candle in a menorah in celebration.
Did we forget a ritual important to you? Tell us and we’ll add it. Bring stories/songs/poetry to share. There will be live and recorded music of various holiday flavors… and Karaoke!
Bring: Your favorite holiday dish for pot luck supper—(big enough for 10 to share). There will be a GIFT EXCHANGE at 7 PM: Bring a wrapped science fiction, erotic (tasteful please!), fantasy, or magikal gift item ($10-$15) if you want to participate.
Sharing our holidays is part of what weaves the bonds of Family in a group like ours. Understanding what is important to each of us during this festive season and how we celebrate it is a way to grow closer and delight in our diversity.
Clothing optional Jacuzzi (with holiday music playing inside it!) available all afternoon and evening–bring sandals and towels.
(Crash space available by arrangement when you RSVP.)
Good Yule!

Polyamory and Swinging : Black and White or Shades of Gray?
2025-01-18 11:00 - 16:00 | Live and on Zoom, 8515 Penfield Ave, Winnetka, CA, 91306, United States
When does “swinging” become deep and caring enough to be called Polyamory?Led by Paul Gibbons.
Paul and Terry did Live the Dream presentations at the Lifestyles Convention for several years, and also led Evening of Caressive Intimacy, one of that convention’s main events. It included sensual massage and guided meditation for deeper connection with the partner you came with as well as those special others they may draw into their lives.
While some of the parties at this convention were hard swinging (NOT ones we chose to attend) in which two people might have sex without even exchanging names, it also included presentations by those who had long term group marriages.
The Lifestyles Convention was organized by a Hospitality Committee who handled everything from music and refreshments to decisions on ejecting those who offered inappropriate advances to ladies (or gentlemen) who had said NO. The members of this committee frequently stayed with it for several years. They attended the bar/bat mitzvahsand birthday celebrations of each other’s kids, participated in each other’s wedding parties, and were there for each other during life’s losses. When they made love at a party, was that Swinging, Polyamory, or some shade of gray in between?
Bring your questions, personal experiences, and what Wisdom you care to share…
1 pm Pot Luck lunch—Bring something healthy and delicious to share!
2-4 pm Socializing in clothing optional jacuzzi—Bring sandals and a towel.

Happy Valentines Day! Finding Poly Partners for Singles, Couples, Triads, and Moreads
2025-02-15 11:00 - 16:00 | Live and on Zoom, 8515 Penfield Ave, Winnetka, CA, 91306, United States
Happy Valentines Day!
Finding Poly Partners for Singles, Couples, Triads, and Moreads.
Led by 4 th Generation Matchmaker Terry Brussel-Rogers.
Terry wrote Choosing, Finding and Attracting Your Life Mate in 1992, with its most recent 2020 edition introduced at Conscious Life Expo in February of 2020. This will be given as a gift to whoever attends this event, live or on Zoom, as an e-book and with the guided meditation recording Attract Your Special Someone(s). Terry ran her family’s matchmaking service, Marriage Minded Introductions, for forty years while doing hypnotherapy and poly relationship coaching. Everyone attending will be given the poly supplement to her book. The 11 am – 1 pm portion of this meeting climaxes in a Guided Meditation Love Magnet to draw your Mate(s) into your life!
How was your Valentine’s Day? Did you celebrate it with someone you love?
Whether you are a single looking for the right partner for a primary relationship, a couple seeking a third to make a triad, a couple looking to pair with another couple or any of these, or looking for a group house or intimate network to join, this is the meeting to find out how… in person or online!
There are MANY ways to get into the relationship(s) you desire. We will talk about some of those ways as well as how to maintain and bring more Joy to any ongoing romantic relationship… help them evolve into a live-in situation if they haven’t gotten there yet and that is what you want. Whatever it is you want, it can be accomplished by knowing how to make it happen. Guided meditation for Attracting Your Special Someone(s) climaxes the Zoom portion of this event. It is also available on our web store at acesuccess.com
If you are local, do join us in person. Hugs and hot tubs are better in person…
1 pm: Pot Luck lunch—Bring something healthy and delicious …something you might
want to share with someone you love.
2-4 pm: Socializing in clothing optional jacuzzi—Bring sandals and a towel.
6 pm: Pot luck dinner. Bring something healthy and delicious.
7-10ish pm: Filk (folk songs of Science Fiction) live and on Zoom (same meeting ID)
From the outrageously funny Banned from Argo Star Trek spoof to the Ballad of Apollo 13 and other more serious songs of the space age. Ask for a Harry Potter song or something on group marriage by Heinlein and you are likely to get it!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Celtic Polyamory – Real and in SF
2025-03-15 11:00 - 16:00 | Live and on Zoom, 8515 Penfield Ave, Winnetka, CA, 91306, United States
Handfasting has its roots in Celtic tradition, the most common being the Year and A Day commitment ceremony. Originally, this was a time for couples to get to know each other by living together and deciding if they wanted to spend their lives together. If a pregnancy resulted from it, the handfasting became a legal marriage.
Today we have ways to prevent an unintended pregnancy and not everyone doing this is of an age where such a thing would even be possible. Still, it is something more committed than just “living together” or even being engaged without living together. The custom is very common among Pagans, many of whom are poly.
We will also discuss handfasting as one method of making a commitment to someone you are adding to your marriage in a serious way. Such a relationship may look like an open committed legal marriage between two people or a plural marriage by contract with similar rights and responsibilities to a legal marriage. SF books such as The Avatar by Poul Anderson and Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Darkover novels are full of Celtic delights.
We will enjoy corn beef and cabbage for our potluck lunch and Irish music in our clothing-optional hot tub.

LIVE THE DREAM PASSOVER SEDER
2025-04-12 19:00 - 23:00 | Live the Dream Center, 8515 Penfield Ave., Winnetka, CA, 91306, United States
LEAD BY ROB MILANDER
Call Terry at (818) 886-0069 to RSVP before April 8, 2025, to arrange what to bring for the Seder
or to attend without a food contribution. We need time to plan things and shop for supplies.
This is Celebration of Freedom!
This holiday commemorates the first time one People (the Jews) freed itself from bondage
to another People (the Egyptians). We’ll do this with plenty of group participation! You don’t
have to read Hebrew for this or even be Jewish. Whether you want to learn more about your
own heritage, just share this special holiday with those you care about, or discover a
cultural experience new to you, you are welcome! This is coordinated pot luck since it
requires special foods.
This event is FREE to one clean up coordinator and a single or
couple who volunteer to bring 5 pounds of lamb or 10 pounds of chicken.
Cost: $8.00 with arranged food contribution and one bottle of kosher wine for each adult in
your party, one bottle of grape juice for each child. $18 each without food contribution +
bring beverage. Children under thirteen free with food, $5 without.
You can arrive 6-7 pm to socialize and help with preparations. Seder itself starts at 7 pm.

The Meaning of Beltane: Pagan and Poly, Led by Diana Morningstar, Priestess of Church of All Worlds and Caretaker of Annwfn, CAW's Sacred Land
2025-04-19 11:00 - 13:00 | Live and on Zoom, 8515 Penfield Ave, Winnetka, CA, 91306, United States
Diana will discuss traditional Beltane rituals, their historic roots and what they mean for today’s Poly community. Having participated in and led many such rituals, she will also share her most memorable Beltane experiences and how she plans on making the one coming up first week end in May a most memorable Festival for all of us!

Beltane at Annwfn
2025-05-02 - 2025-05-04 | Live and on Zoom, 8515 Penfield Ave, Winnetka, CA, 91306, United States
We are bringing back the Beltane festival at Annwfn! May 2-4, 2025, on our sacred land at Annwfn. Featuring May Games, bardic circle, potluck feasts, bonfire, Maypole dance, silent auction, and more! $25 to $50 sliding scale, no one turned away for lack of funds.
Bring camping gear, layers for possible weather, a contribution for a bardic circle, food to
share, extra water, and altar offerings. Annwfn will provide kitchen gear and a main course for the Saturday feast. Please contact Diana Morningstar at diana@miragearts.com for more info or details. Click here to register!
Work trade is available for volunteer kitchen work, vehicle shuttle, and preparation work at the work parties.

Renaissance Pleasure Faire Live the Dream Outing
2025-05-10 10:00 - 17:00 | Renaissance Pleasure Faire at the Santa Fe Dam Recreation Area, 15501 E, Arrow Highway, Irwindale, CA, 91706, United States
We will visit the Renaissance Pleasure Faire of Southern California on Saturday, May 10, 2025, from 10 AM to 5 PM (roughly). Please join us on this outing! We’ll see you at the Faire!
Call the Live The Dream hotline, 818-886-0069, to coordinate. For more information about the Faire, visit the Faire’s website!

Renaissance Pleasure Faire Poly Connections
2025-05-17 10:00 - 13:00 | Live and on Zoom, 8515 Penfield Ave, Winnetka, CA, 91306, United States
The Renaissance Pleasure Faire of Southern California was founded by Phyllis and Ron Patterson in 1963. Between that time and this couples have met at the Faire, married in its Wedding Garden, and brought their children back to enjoy it. Some of them have been in Guilds which feature role play Families which can become very real for the 6-12 weekends of Faire and preparing for Faire each year… perhaps for decades.
The children may regard Faire family as Aunts, Uncles and perhaps cousins by Choice. There are couples who having met at Faire and formed romantic relationships there, have legal marriages separate from Faire. In some cases, spouses who do not go to Faire or choose put in the time and commitment necessary to be part of one of these Guilds know about these romantic connections which have perhaps gone on for many years before they knew or married their husband or wife and have consented to them.
If they meet and form friendships with such people, it can lead to kitchen table polyamory or even group marriage. Or they may just accept that for the weekends of Faire, this relationship will continue separately from the marriage.
Some of this may depend on whether the other partner lives close enough to spend time together separate from Faire. I believe that as long as the non-Faire spouse knows and willingly consents to the arrangement, it is poly. If they do not know or do not willing consent to it, that is just garden variety cheating. What do you think?

Building an Intimate Network of Friends and Lovers at Any Age
2025-06-21 11:00 - 13:00 | Live and on Zoom, 8515 Penfield Ave, Winnetka, CA, 91306, United States
What is is like to be 72? I once thought it meant sitting by the fire in a rocking chair, wrinkled, tired, and remembering better days. Reporting from the front lines, it ain’t so. I
have an active love life, both with my romantic husband and our lovers who bring us delight in our bed which is big enough for four to sleep and cuddle in. Five can fit for… other activities.
My husband and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary April 28 (a bit early) in Hawaii!
Many of my friends and lovers have been in my life for decades. The co-author of our book, Fifty Years of Polyamory in America, Glen Olson has been my best friend since we were in high school.
At age 15, we were part of a sensitivity group which featured weekly evening meetings for doing verbal and sensual exercises, ranging from sharing our discovery of how opposite (and delightful) the opposite sex could be, to exploring each other’s faces with curious, gentle fingers. We had birthday parties and kidnap breakfasts, too. The difference between this and most teen gatherings was that at any moment the mood could shift and if one of us needed to TALK about something, get advice or blow off steam, we could.
Glen and I read Robert Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land when we were 15 and Shared Water as written in the book. This creates Family by Choice, which can be at least as close as Family by blood. Others in our group Shared Water with each other and some with us. The two Nests became One when at age 18 I I grew close enough with a girl in the other Nest to want her as water kin.
Today we have a Nest of 12 who get together pretty regularly in various configurations. Most of these have joined us along the way in our adult lives, such as my second husband Paul and his wife Athena.
Others are further out in our orbit geographically, such as the leader of our sensitivity group in high school, Art. My husband Craig and I visit him in Northern California when we go to The Great Dickens Christmas Faire, at which he plays a dear friend of Charles Dickens himself. The connection when we do get together is as close as it was when he and I were teenagers.
It is wonderful to share old memories and create new ones. We visit Kathy and Dean in that area, too. Our water kin (since 1987) Dave and Eileen sometimes join our LTD meetings on Zoom from the state of Washington, and we visit them in their cooperative living community every year or three.
Oberon and Rhianon Zell were in town here before their Tennessee wedding in May of 2024, at which I handled the guest book. Oberon (founder and primate of Church of All Worlds) conducted a meeting of most of those in our LA Nest at that time. It was very special for all of us. Guess that is pushing 22 geographical barriers aside.
What does it take to develop that kind of intimate network? Hint: you DON’T have to start it in high school. This meeting is about exactly how you can make it happen in your life. Whether you are 18 or 70 you can create the joy of CONNECTION in your life starting NOW! Join us by Zoom or in person for this meeting to find out how! Hugs and hot tubs are better in person if you are local…
After lunch, there will be a summer solstice ritual led by Terry and Craig.

Is It Heart-Safe for People with Poly Life Histories and People With Monogamous Life Histories to Date? To Marry?
2025-07-19 11:00 - 16:00 | Live the Dream Center, 8515 Penfield Ave., Winnetka, CA, 91306, United States
Is it possible to become poly after living monogamous or celibate for most of your adult life? The answer is yes.

The Harrad Experiment: Learning to be Poly in College
2025-08-16 11:00 - 16:00 | Live and on Zoom, 8515 Penfield Ave, Winnetka, CA, 91306, United States
Will Jarvis attended Goddard College, an experimental college in Vermont. Robert Rimmer lived nearby in Massachusetts, and is thought to have used Goddard College as a foundation when he wrote The Harrad Experiment. The one in the book featured coed dorms in which young men and women were encouraged to form relationships ranging from friendship to sexual love connections. How much of the real life school was reflected in the book? We’ll find out!
Led by Will Jarvis.

Darkover Novels by Marion Zimmer Bradley and Filk!
2025-09-20 11:00 - 13:00 | Live and on Zoom, 8515 Penfield Ave, Winnetka, CA, 91306, United States
We’ll discuss fascinating novels based on the concept of a world on which a few hundred Terrans were marooned in crashed space ships hundreds of years ago and were forced to build a viable community from this limited gene pool. Many women found themselves unable to bear children on the new world. This resulted in a society where a fertile woman having more than one child by the same man was considered a kind of selfishness. Group marriage became the norm and ties of fosterage frequently stronger than ties of blood.
Many new writers as well as successful professional writers have chosen to create stories in the Darkover universe dealing with the alternative lifestyle of multiply committed relationships. We’ll focus on Marion’s own Spell Sword and Forbidden Tower, two novels based on a real life two couple group marriage which lasted 16 years!
1 pm Pot Luck lunch—bring something healthy and delicious to share
2-4 Socializing in clothing optional hot tub.
We may watch a Poly Movie or do verbal/nonverbal sensitivity exercises between the meeting and the Filk as the group decides.
6 Pot Luck dinner – bring something healthy and delicious to share.
Filk Sing follows at 6:30 on Zoom and in person—music of science fiction and the Space Age from the Ballad of Appollo 13 to the hilarious Star Trek based Banned from Argo in all its many forms. We have all kinds of Poly Filk, too, including selections from Kathy Mar’s Living the Dream album and Craig Brussel Roger’s Half of Me. You should see what he does with The Tennessee Waltz!

Building a Faire Family/Intentional Community: Koroneburg
2025-10-18 10:00 - 23:00 | Live and on Zoom, 8515 Penfield Ave, Winnetka, CA, 91306, United States
Twenty-Nine Years of the Koroneburg Renaissance Festival
with Baron Henirich von Laufer
Presented by the Baron Himself, Chuck Spitler
For 29 years, Chuck Spitler has been the Baron. Played him as an actor? Maybe at first, but after a generation or two of children have grown up spending 6 weekends of summer with this Uncle by choice and are now bringing their children to see the Faire, be in jousts for the Baron’s entertainment, and just EXPERIENCE it, the Baron in many ways is the Reality. This is not like the Renaissance Pleasure Faire of Southern California, where the Queen is just an actress playing a role. I have seen the owners of this Faire wisely taking council with the Baron on many things, from promotion to the activities being offered to who should be in them.
The buildings were real and stood all year round, creating a feeling of traveling through Time to be there.
In August of 2025, dark news came that Koroneburg was to be closed down after Riverside County Parks decided not to offer the Festival a renewed lease. All those beloved buildings, knocked down and gone!
Is there a way that Koroneburg could be brought back to Life? Perhaps. Chuck is in the process of writing a book about the Koroneburg Renaissance Festival – its history and how to build something like this wherever you are. That will keep it alive for those who come after.
11 to 1 Poly discussion live and on zoom. Live only after that.
1 Pot Luck lunch – bring something healthy and delicious to share.
2 to 3:45 Afternoon activity: Exercises for developing intimacy – empathic communication to enhance your love life and friendships. Clothing-optional jacuzzi available.
4 to 5:45 Socializing in the shaded, clothing-optional hot tub or watch a Poly movie in the living room.
6 Pot Luck dinner – bring your favorite Halloween-themed dish to share with 10 people.
7:15 All Hallows Eve Samhain Ritual led by Terry and Craig Brussel Rogers.
8 to 11 Halloween Party. If you want to present anything perhaps relating to the costume (or body paint) you choose to wear, do let us know. We may play the Rocky Horror Picture Show. It’s traditional, after all!

Breaking Up Is Hard to Do ‒ How to Keep Your Poly Relationship(s) Joyous!
2025-11-15 11:00 - 16:00 | Live and on Zoom, 8515 Penfield Ave, Winnetka, CA, 91306, United States
We will discuss some ways to avoid a breakup or (perhaps) mend it.
Some breakups are permanent situations in which you will likely never see that person, couple or ? again. Unlikely in the poly community unless they live in another state. Perhaps not even then if you attend same science fiction conferences, poly conventions, Live the Dream meetings etc.
Some breakups involve seeing the other person or people frequently if you share children, grand kids, close friends/water kin and other personal or business connections.
Poly relationships are less breakable if they bend.
A transition may be better than an end.

Loscon 51, Thanksgiving Weekend at LAX Hilton
2025-11-30 10:00 - 23:00 | Loscon at the LAX Hilton Hotel, 5711 W Century Blvd, Los Angeles, CA, 90045, United States
Catch Glen Olson and Terry Brussel-Rogers, co-authors of Fifty Years of Polyamory in America: A Guided Tour of a Growing Movement, at Glen’s fan table at various times throughout Loscon 51. See Glen’s SF novels on display there!
Scence Fiction Entry into Polyamory
You are welcome to join us Sunday morning November 30, 2025, at 10 am for Poly Discussion over bagels, cream cheese and fruit in room _____ (TBD, call 818-388-5612 Friday, Saturday, or Sunday).
Were you inspired by the Line Marriage from The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress? Warmed by the Nest in Stranger In A Strange Land? Fascinated by the even more unusual group marriages/empathic groupings in Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Darkover Novels or Spider Robinson’s Star Dance and Callahan stories? Or have you been reading more current writers such as Ryk E. Spoor, Wen Spencer, or Todd McCaffery ,or the even more specifically Poly writings of Todd’s sister Gigi McCaffrey? All of these authors write Poly inclusive stories.
Dreams can come true… people like us do not exist only in SF books! Come meet some kindred spirits. We’ll share our experiences in real triads, group houses, open marriages, etc. and help you figure out which alternative would help you live your dream!

Poly SF Sampler Discussion, Winter Solstice Ritual, Hanukkah and Winter Holiday Party
2025-12-20 11:00 - 23:00 | Live and on Zoom, 8515 Penfield Ave, Winnetka, CA, 91306, United States
Discuss the Poly content in stories by Robert A Heinlein, Spider Robinson, S. M. Stirling, and others. Enjoy a potluck lunch. Laze about in the hot tub, discussing polyamory, science fiction, and other topics. Enjoy a potluck dinner. Celebrate the winter solstice in a ritual lead by High Priestess Lilith. Exchange gifts. Play and listen to music. Sing a bit. Have a good time.

Room Available at Live the Dream’s Group House near Northridge, CA
2026-01-02 - 2026-02-01 | Penfield Houe, 8515 Penfield Ave, Winnetka, CA, 91306-1403, United States
Room Available at Live the Dream’s Group House near Northridge, CA
8515 Penfield Ave., Winnetka, CA 91306
ROOM with private FULL BATH, its own large closet and book case for an avid reader.
AVAILABLE IN A GROUP HOUSE IN WEST SAN FERNANDO VALLEY – CALIFORNIA
$1200 includes rent, utilities and internet. Couple $1400
Optional: $85 a week per person includes food + use of washer/dryer including laundry
detergent, etc.
$100 per person a month for use of washer/dryer including laundry detergent, etc., without food.
Home of Terry Lee Brussel-Rogers, (founder and organizer of Live the Dream) and her husband Craig Brussel Rogers + 1 other lady (a retired nurse with us since 2015) and 3 gentlemen one of whom is a poly writer who was with us when we bought the house in 2003.
Many of our concepts on relationships come from Robert Heinlein’s stories Stranger in a Strange Land and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. Our home is a beautiful one in a nice neighborhood of the west San Fernando Valley. It has two fireplaces, a high ceilinged grand living room, dining area, and big country kitchen. Washer and dryer are available. We have a clothing optional hot tub. We share good conversation, holidays, outings, special occasions,
hugs… and household chores.
Imagine coming home to a beautiful house, a well kept yard filled with flowers and trees. Space for a garden if you have a green thumb. The fire place may be lit if it is winter. You come home to the smell of something delicious being cooked by one of your housemates. Or perhaps you are the housemate doing that cooking—that nurturing. You share a good dinner with whoever is at home tonight. Afterward, you might enjoy the massage chair, go to the privacy of your room,
soak in the hot tub with good friends, join a lively discussion in the living room or cuddle by the fire.
Sound good? MAKE YOUR FANTASY A REALITY… If you have an interest in living in a lovely home with warm, caring, like minded people. Call (818) 886-0069 for more information.

Memorial for Leslie Fish
2026-01-17 11:00 - 23:00 | Live and on Zoom, 8515 Penfield Ave, Winnetka, CA, 91306, United States
Live the Dream will host a memorial day for Leslie Fish, Poly anarchist and prolific filk writer/performer.
Joining us for this Memorial to speak about Leslie and share their personal experiences with her:

Oberon Zell, founder of Church of All Worlds, the first officially recognized Neopagan religion in the US.

Paul Gibbons, Political Activist/Libertarian/Anarchist and Water Brother to Leslie Fish.

Elaine Anderson, Deputy Lady in Waiting to the Queen of Caid in the SCA for 2025.

Terry Brussel-Rogers, Founder of Live the Dream and Leslie’s Water Brother will share her knowledge of some of Leslie’s Poly experiences.

Additional speakers may be announced in the future.
The day includes a potluck lunch and a potluck dinner. There is afternoon time for discussion, socializing, etc.
In the evening, Live the Dream will host the monthly LAFA (Los Angeles Filkers Anonymous) filksing, focusing on Leslie and her music.
The Live the Dream meeting will be Live and On Zoom 11am – 1 pm PT.
The LAFA filk will be Live and On Zoom 6 – 11 pm PT; the first hour will be a live and virtual dinner, with music commencing at 7 pm PT.

Happy Valentine's Day Poly Style!
2026-02-14 11:00 - 16:00 | Live and on Zoom, 8515 Penfield Ave, Winnetka, CA, 91306, United States
2nd Saturday this month only due to Conscious Life Expo falling on the 3rd Saturday with Terry presenting that day (+ Terry being a 4th generation matchmaker).
Whether you are a single looking for a primary partner or partners, or a couple looking for a single or another couple, etc, there are MANY ways to get into the relationship you desire. We will talk about some of those ways as well as how to maintain and bring more Joy to ongoing romantic relationship… help them evolve into a live in situation if they haven’t gotten there yet and that is what you want.
If it is marriage you seek, that may look like an open committed legal marriage between two people or a plural marriage by contract with similar rights and responsibilities to a legal marriage. Whatever it is you want, it can be accomplished by knowing how to make it happen.
Terry wrote Choosing, Finding and Attracting Your Lifemate in 1992. Its most recent edition was introduced at Conscious Life Expo in February of 2020. That edition (with a newly updated Poly Supplement included) will be e-mailed as a gift to whoever attends this event on Zoom with a hard copy autographed edition given to whoever attends in person. A guided meditation for Attracting Your Special Someone(s) will climax the Zoom portion of this event.
Want some help with finding your Right One(s)? Call Terry Brussel-Rogers at 800-Life Mates. That’s 800-543-5628.

Fifty Years of Polyamory in America Made the Bold Authors Curated Reading List
2026-03-21 10:00 - 16:00 | Live and on Zoom, 8515 Penfield Ave, Winnetka, CA, 91306, United States
Fifty Years of Polyamory in America: A Guided Tour of a Growing Movement, by Glen W. Olsen and Terry Lee Brussel-Rogers, made the Bold Authors curated reading list Listicle #2, titled Looking Ahead to 2026: Cultural & Social Perspectives That Matter. Glen Olsen will join us for our March 21, 2026, Live The Dream meeting to tell us all about it.

Live The Dream Annual Passover Seder
2026-04-01 18:00 - 22:00 | Penfield Houe, 8515 Penfield Ave, Winnetka, CA, 91306-1403, United States
This holiday commemorates the first time one People (the Jews) freed itself from bondage to another People (the Egyptians).
We’ll do this with plenty of group participation! You don’t have to read Hebrew for this or even be Jewish. Whether you want to learn more about your own heritage, just share this special
holiday with those you care about, or discover a cultural experience new to you, you are welcome!
This is coordinated pot luck since it requires special foods. This event is FREE to one clean up coordinator and a single or couple who volunteer to bring 5 pounds of lamb or 10
pounds of chicken.

Cost: $8.00 with arranged food contribution and one bottle of kosher wine for each adult in
your party, one bottle of grape juice for each child.
$18 each without food contribution + bring beverage.
Children under thirteen free with food, $5 without.

You can arrive 6-7 pm to socialize and help with preparations. Seder itself starts at 7:00 pm.
Led by Rob Milander.

Poly Intersection: Renaissance Pleasure Faire, Society for Creative Anachronism, and Dungeons & Dragons.
2026-04-18 11:00 - 16:00 | Live and on Zoom, 8515 Penfield Ave, Winnetka, CA, 91306, United States
Led by Elaine Anderson.
Elaine has been a member of Queen’s Court in SCA several times, participated in Renaissance Pleasure Faire, and been active in Dungeons & Dragon activities for many years.
The Renaissance Pleasure Faire of Southern California was founded by Phyllis and Ron Patterson in 1963. In 1966, a group of friends (including the writers Diaba Paxson, Marion
Zimmer Bradley, Poul Anderson, and Karen Kruse Anderson) interested in historical reenactment and science fiction/fantasy founded the Society for Creative Anachronism at an
event now known as First Tournament in Berkeley, California.
Between that time and this couples have met at Faire or SCA, married in the Faire Wedding Garden and brought their children back to enjoy it. Some of them have been in Guilds which
feature role play Families which can become very real for the 6-12 weekends of Faire and preparing for Faire each year..perhaps for decades. This is even more true with SCA events
which occur several times a year and can involve staying on site for whole weekends or more for the Wars.
