grateful

Tiffanie

today i reclaim my name: it's Tiffanie.

it's spelled with a capital "T", and it's long, and was chosen and spelled by my Dad, who, i imagine, believed it to be a beautiful name, to characterize his new 10-fingers-and-10-toes Baby Daughter.
when i was a kid, i loved my name and was proud of it, and proud of its unusualness (in that time and place), and un-usual spelling.
as i grew older, i felt like that name didn't fit me. it made me think of a delicate prissy poodle. maybe it did characterize me, but this image did not resonate with me.
i always wanted a nickname, but one never stuck.
the best-sticking nickname i ever received (which i love very much), was given to me by my beloved dancing sisters at Mecca in Lexington, KY. it is tiftif. spelled that way, and pronounced alltogether, with hardly a pause inbetween the two tifs.


when i moved out to big-ol C-A, i wanted to Start Over, Everything New and Fresh. i searched for a nickname, a New Name to characterize my New Self, and i simply stuck with "tif", with a lower-case "t". i have an artful (in my opinion) way of writing it. and most people whom i have met since moving out here know me as "tif" (perhaps they don't know that it's with a lower-case "t", but it's implied, in my mind.).
then my glory-full friend MaKayLaH and i happened on a gathering of great folks at a home that is also a healing center (in San Francisco). the energy there was good and light. as MaKayLaH introduced me to the group, one man (who was very bright and smiley himself) misunderstood when she introduced me as "tif", so i explained by saying, "it's short for Tiffanie." and he said (with that big smile), "what a lovely name! it reminds me of 'Epiphany'! i think i'll go directly to the source and call you 'Epiphany'!"
and that's when i re-remembered that that's what my name means. it means that already. in the Christian tradition, Tiffanie means, "Manifestation of God." when i was a child, i liked that especially. as i grew older, and away from the Church, i didn't like that my name was a product of that religion (even though nobody knew but me.. ).
as i get to know my self more and better and deeper and gentler, as i come to be more Me everyday, i have come to understand that we are All God, and Goddess, we are, each one us, "Tiffanie" ~ manifestations of the One, that magnificent incomprehensible Light Love Energy. and as i strive to re-member my divinity, to live the mirror that i am to my fellow Divine Light Beings, i am ready to retake my name.

my name is Tiffanie.

and i am a unique, powerful, delicate and strong, sensitive beautiful and fascinating goofy silly opinionated and particular stubborn, sometimes bitchy and weepy, multi-faceted spectral shining brilliant being ~ similar to that diamond that is known by the same name (at least phonetically ;).

i'm ready:

my name is Tiffanie.


photo:
Tiffanie at sunset with Woo and Sealion at Anza Barego in the desert near San Diego.
the Goddess: while she is majestic and elegant, she also laughs and oftentimes scrunches her nose when she smiles with dear loved-ones.
soundtrack: "East to the West" by that Michael Franti, once again.

"Everything you need you already have. You are complete right now, you are a whole, total person, not an apprentice person on the way to someplace else. Your completeness must be understood by you and experienced in your thoughts as your own personal reality."
Wayne Dyer

the future of food: manifestation three

empowering, hopeful news!
the proposition that i told you about (in, "the future of food: take two), the one for which i, and hundreds of others, attended the hearing in the Capitol (right here in lovely, tree-lined downtown Sacramento) months ago ~ it failed!
the committee who heard it the first go-round thought it a no-brainer to proceed with this bill ~ one thinly-veiled to give CA counties no legal way to ban together against GMO infestation of their local genetic pond. however, once it got to the floor, the legislators heard so much flack from their local consituents that they were pressed to vote it down!! how about mindful rallying and democracy in action there!!



an editorial.. an invitation.. a prayer:
http://www.libertypost.org/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=158954
http://www.eatwild.com/news.html
other recent news items relating to food are an urgent invitation:
let's reconnect with our food supply.
let's once again join faces and places with what we put in our mouths.
even as we seek to live healthier more mindful lives ~ let's wake up even more.
let's remember we are borne of this earth.
let's remember we're all connected.


book at the top of my must-read list:
_The_Omnivore's_Dilemma_, by Michael Pollan
http://www.michaelpollan.com/omnivore.php

"There is no way to peace. Peace is the way." ~ A.J. Muste

"There is no way to peace; Peace is the Way. There is no way to happiness; Happiness is the Way. There is no way to love; Love is the Way." ~ Dan Millman

Ad-VER-tissment

(i always thought the English pronunciation was so exotic.)

might i direct your attention to "my other blog" ("my other blog is a broomstick!" actually, it's more like a cookbook, right now. )

food-a-file = www.food-a-file.blogspot.com

where you can hear (read) me "talk food," post-Bauman College Natural Chef training.
i have shared a coupla recent recipes that are purdy darn tasty.

enjoy!!
and if you follow any of the recipes, drop me a line and lemme know how you liked it, or what fun additions/changes you made! :-D

happy birthday, Misha!!

in whatever realm you reside,


i hope you are shakin' your booty


to music that moves ya!




thank you for your blessings.

~your sister, Tiffanie

re entry

soundtrack: Michael Franti's "Bomb the World"

the skin from my playa-eaten fingertips, rehydrated, is peeling, painfully. i have a couple full, deep nights of sleep under my eyes, and only a few resilient specks of gold glitter. but most solidly i knew i had returned from Home when a (most likely meth-flamed) fight erupted from a car that happened to screech to a halt right in front of our house yesterday afternoon. i had been blissed-out on the front porch with Michael Franti. he still sang from my computer as i gawked in awe at the scene unfolding through the front window and called 911 for the first time in my life. "Power to the Peaceful!! Love to the Peaceful!!" i felt silly and helpless.
the night before, we had our first Family Dinner, post-burn. Mackindaddy and Gyrlene were sharing their first-timers' experiences, and Sealion and i expounded on our return trip. Mackindaddy turned to me and asked, "so what was the most amazing thing you saw out there?" the first thing i noticed about his question is that it struck me as from an outsider looking in, when i feel most-at-home there than anywhere else in my existence. it also helped me frame in my mind that: although there is much to see there, the best collection of mind-blowing, stimulating artwork in the most elegant gallery (both day and night), what effects me most in Black Rock City is not the art; it's the society. and as i have been popped out of that utopian bubble into the stratosphere, i do notice that there is a void of art (everything *could* be produced artfully, it just isn't .. would be better for the soul, for the creator and for the user-viewer, if it were). what i hurt for very deep deep down is the social interaction. i am looking around me out here and trying very hard to see the beauty in the dysphoria. where there is openness, respect, common-ground, and friendliness there, there contrasts closed-off, distrusting, sharp, and at-best-distractedness here. i look around me here and everyone seems hurting. and unable to reach out. i feel unsafe. and sad.
and so. i did not come here to complain at you, or to dwell in the muck. i came to ask what the wise and insightful Brer (newly self-named, Gemini Cricket [!!] )asked at the end of his christening week in Black Rock City: "what do i do with this?" now that we're back from the desert, de-playafying our belongings as best we can (or would), returning to our "waking lives", in the day-to-day, how do we bring the desert home? i don't want the playa to be a one-week-out-of-my-year "vacation"; there are 350 (something.. ) days left that are thirsty for that love and beauty even more.
~ all the love that happens in Black Rock City comes from the outer world. the desert does provide rugged natural beauty and love, but the society is imported. how to find it? to keep it going and growing and encouraged to bloom? and more importantly: how to SPREAD it?? the world is (literally) dying for the kind of understanding, visibility, and nurturance (is that a word?) that exists in a single drum-circle in Black Rock City. how to radiate that?
for now, i will continuing funneling concentrated doses of love through the food i prepare. *and* this weekend, my food-girlie chicas and i are meeting at Golden Gate Park to attend the Power to the Peaceful Festival (with Michael Franti himself!). ( powertothepeaceful.org )

that is a good start, but i am still sending out the question, and i know it comes with a hefty reply, for sure:

Dear Universe, please show me: how do i spread the love?





more and more and more glory-ful photos to come!!!!