Liberatory Imagination with Tiffany

In the past seven days, I feel more grounded compared to the previous two weeks that felt like I was a gaping wound exposed to the open air. Per usual, I’m picking apart and analyzing the f**k out of it. Why and how and what does it mean… Being a recovering feelings intellectualizer, I can’t help it! liberatory imagining is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work,...

This past tuesday, my neck and shoulder flared up. The first time I consciously noticed the correlation of my body pain and spiritual pain was when my boss of that time said something that empathized with the pig that shot Laquan McDonald. Something like how hard it must be for him and his family. I felt this cold drip extend from my spine upwards into my right shoulder and then to my neck. The ne...

It’s too easy to simplify the things that asks us to see as multidimensional, and it’s too easy to over complicate the things that are pretty simple. How I define truth has been swirling around in my system for the past few weeks. Idealistically, truth is what lines up best with reality and facts…but I’ve been challenging myself to lean into nuance a little more. Tiffany’s Substack is a reader-sup...

I feel weepy from deep sadness and gratefulness. This year feels very different. I usually spend the few days leading up to my birthday reflecting on the past 12 months - I would read through my journal entries and sit with it. And then I will set up intentions for the next year. It’s been a good mid year rhythm because I have the same ritual at the end/beginning of the year. But this year feels s...

Today is August 8, 2024. Yesterday I was looking at mia mingus’ instagram and saw that her last post was in 2023, and for a long minute I was completely confused at what year it is. The disorientation hasn’t let up. I started writing through substack earlier this spring and I keep writing about how I’m not ok. And I still don’t feel ok. I haven’t felt ok since october of last year. Whatever “ok” i...

Since 2013 I’ve been painting and making visual art alongside my writing. I haven’t picked up a paintbrush since last year besides for a few collaged pieces I made for a market. Recently, I’ve been exploring what’s in the way besides for being depressed and overwhelmed. It feels like the medium of painting seems to fall short of the impact I hope to invoke. Tiffany’s Substack is a reader-supported...

Simple tasks aren’t simple anymore. Emails, texts, groceries, cleaning, relaxing, resting, socializing, cooking, eating, catching up with friends…rarely comes with ease anymore. I was remembering what last summer was like. It sounds ridiculous, but I felt happy(?). It was post breakup from a horrible relationship. The air was full of possibilities, everything was magical, I felt smoking HOT, my en...

Over the span of my lifetime, I have been invited little by little to question . Question if what I’m taught is true. Question the facts. Question the source of the facts. Question authority. Question assumptions. Thanks to my parents (and maybe to their dismay) I’ve double guessed almost everything. Tiffany’s Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, co...

Last December, I watched a clip of a podcast interview featuring Michelle Kim , a fellow Asian activist based in the Bay, talking about her childhood wounds when it comes to being triggered by people who don’t stand up against injustice. She put into language something that felt too familiar and resonant. Here is the transcript for that clip: …understanding why other people’s silence activates me...

I’ve been putting off writing these thoughts out, because there’s this layer of shame…or maybe fear of judgement. In the past decade, I’ve heard myself say many times that part of the way to get free is to build my own businesses and support other Black/brown businesses. I don’t think that it’s all untrue, but the more that the veil is lifted, the more I see the lie of capitalism. There’s this tro...

I have this thing where if I let a practice of mine whether it’s writing or posting on instagram sit for a bit too long, it takes much longer for me to approach it again. That’s what happened here on substack! But I’m here and proud that I inched myself over the hump. As usual, my challenge for myself arriving on substack is to show up in the messiness. If you’re in for riding my stream of conscio...

My friend and fellow comrade Emma shared with me a journal prompt they used recently, and one of those prompts were “How do I decide who’s trustworthy?” In a time where I’m building new relationships with folks I think are aligned with my values, that question resonated in a confronting way. It made me think about circles and communities of people I have invested in - poured myself into - and foll...

On the waves of Liberatory Mania, I’m on the down slope. Processing, digesting, feeling, and processing some more. This is a note to self: liberatory literature is a powerful support in grounding - try to be more consistent! After every non-fiction book I read, I go through my underlined portions and notes. “Practicing New Worlds” by Andrea J Ritchie had a blatant theme to what resonated with me....

In this moment, I feel 80% human and 20% alien, which is a HUGE improvement! I’ve been resting for the past 3 days. Physical energy-wise, I’m almost caught up. There was a moment after coming home from the encampment where something was triggered in me, and my neck trauma response was kicked on. It might be a delayed reaction, but my gut is telling me that it was something personal I need to liste...

Transcript: Hello, it's Tiffany. It is Saturday night. It's around 9:15 p. m. and I kind of want to try a new thing. So usually I write on Substack and then I basically read it aloud. But I'm going to try tonight to just speak out my stream of consciousness and then maybe annotate it back. I'm not sure. We'll see, but let's go. I want to talk about more about liberatory mania and what it feels lik...

When it’s so clear about what matters, everything comes into focus. Every emotion and interaction is heightened from that lens. Leaning into that clarity in my body has driven me to a place of Liberatory Mania, which is inspired by ismatu gwendolyn’s iconic essay There is No Revolution without Madness . This morning I was thinking about how I feel like I’ve been unmasking so much recently. I’ve al...

This has been top of mind recently! Where to start…for me, everything is seen through the question: How can I integrate what I want to believe into my real human life? I say that I want to dismantle supremacy and deeply conditioned + internalized colonialism - so how do I practice that every day in every way? We are all taught to compartmentalize every part of our lives. Our love lives. Work lives...

I’ve been saying to myself “nothing matters except for what matters” over and over again to myself. It feels so true in my body. The drive I used to have for stuff and career and achievements that were present not too long ago have vanished. I don’t even mean it in a depressive way (which is also present). I mean it in a way that feels so clear. It is so clear what matters and what doesn’t matter....

Historically, I’ve been a pretty consistent morning routine person. After the usual (brush my teeth, skin routine, coffee, making the bed), I would sit down on my couch and pull out my bullet journal, normal journal, and two books. First, I would list out all my to-do’s in my bullet journal and then assign tasks to the hour blocks. Then, I would free write in my journal until it feels complete - u...

I just read the chapter titled “Tending the Acre” by Shawn Taylor from the book “Practicing New Worlds” by Andrea J. Ritchie . When I started reading the chapter, I didn’t realize it was a fictional piece. The way my heart jolted when I read “The tide was too big and too powerful. Prison abolition was no longer a thought experiment of over-eager activists. It was real. It was happening. Hell, it h...

Let’s do a quick recap of the past month and a half. I got back from my rest “break” mid February - took two full weeks to acclimate back. Top of March, I jumped right into my “manic” state of doing EVERYTHING. I said yes to it all. It was an incredible high. This past week I felt the energy slowly drop as my pms was striking. I still was active being involved in projects and organizing, but not a...

Under capitalism, I’ve lived most of my life out of consent with myself and certainly in relationship with other people. The conditioning of being raised as a good Christian girl who is the first born daughter of immigrants is intense. Don’t get me wrong - I was a smart mouth and subtly defiant from birth. But survival instincts run deeper. Surviving my childhood home emotionally intact (barely) w...

I just attended this webinar featuring Mariame Kaba and Kelly Hayes , and I’m still buzzing from feeling so heart full from it. It was exactly what I needed tonight. So many juicy things that came up! But first, I want to report about coming down from my 2-3 weeks of non stop direct actions, meetings, and high energy activity. The PMS has set in, the depression is creeping up, the body exhaustion...

This will not be the post to educate about model minority myth. Note to self: this space isn’t to educate anyone. It is to explore liberatory imagination and flow with my stream of consciousness about liberation and art. Ok now that that’s out of the way. The foundation of model minority myth is creating division between asian and Black communities by furthering anti-Blackness in the asian communi...

Officially mid 30’s. My favorite thing is to describe multiple things that happen at the same time. So two things: 1. I feel this deep grief about life in this timeline and 2. I’m so thankful to be this free in my mind in this timeline. I escaped the cult of fundamental Christianity. I escaped the claws of cis heteronormativity. I escaped being in relationship with a man who will exploit me withou...