Well, Slap Me With a Trout

This is not a serious post, feel free to ignore, but if you're gonna hang around, I'm glad you're here

I’ve been meaning to do a proper “reveal” post and I was sort of waiting around until my Substackiversary (which is coming up on Halloween!) but an odd thing happened and I woke up to an email heavy on subs to both this blog and my YouTube channel which is as bare of content as my fridge since my twins turned eleven. So, first things first: Welcome new fellow travelers, I am looking forward to your insights! And to folks who have been with me for awhile, and who have supported me financially and spiritually, I am humbled and grateful. When I started Substack I didn’t imagine I’d find the community here so rewarding, bold, and intellectually curious. What a delight this adventure has been so far!

I had hoped, that on my one year anniversary, and on every Halloween thereafter, I would write a bit about my intention behind putting my thoughts out there and it’ll act as a way to track my perspective as I (hopefully) evolve. In my mind’s eye, I even thought I’d do a stylized Halloween photoshoot and post a costumed photo of me. Like this old one here from my theatre days:

I get nostalgic now when I say “my theatre days”, because part of me still thinks that they are not completely behind me, but I also can’t, in good conscience, participate in whatever the theatre craft has become. I have written a very long post about this but I’m still afraid to put it out. Maybe my courage will come when it feels like the time is right. But since I’ve joined the covid narrative dissenter crowd, no fictional story can take away my attention from the high stake reality that we are steeping in anyway. I’ve met the most brilliant and brave people in this movement who have proven their integrity in a way I haven’t experienced before and frankly, it’s so damn refreshing.

But it wasn’t until about a year ago when I joined Mathew Crawford’s Operation Uplift team that I felt the kind of camaraderie I had been longing for, especially since my reality whiplash. I know some of you have been in this game for awhile and I take my tinfoil hat off in respect. I’m a newbie and recognize I stand shoulder to shoulder with giants. So OU is packed to the gills with smarts and empathy and actually, quite a bit of humour. And a few days ago, in lifting up the spirits, we toyed with the idea of recording some songs and out came that SADS video and fellow stacker Josh Guetzkow posted it and from there Gary F boosted it on his Rumble and this morning it ended up on Jeff Childers’ Coffee and Covid and now I feel like someone slapped me with a trout. Immense thanks to all of you for all that sharing.

Since the positive feedback loop is so encouraging, I think I’ll start playing around with more video content and see where that leads. Hope y’all keep me honest and tell it like it is.

In the meantime, I want to express two prongs: Firstly, I want to state my intention for having a Substack is to expand my consciousness and to usher in a reality that serves humanity better than the one we are living in now. I explore this path through whatever creative forces drive me at the time and although I lean into performance since that has been my bread and butter, lately, I’m finding it cathartic to just straight up write. I don’t have a large audience, but I don’t think we need large megaphones to make a difference. I believe that the micro of our individual experiences is amplified into the macro of the meta experience of the world and I’m noticing the tide of things turning. So, behind all of this madness, I find unapologetic hope.

Secondly, I want to explain the footer that I’m attaching to the end of my stacks regarding subscriptions and contributions. I adapted the ‘Gift Economy’ model concept from Charles Eisenstein because it spoke to me. I recognize we all have gifts to share with the world. Some of us are healers, some of us are entertainers, some of us are builders. My gift is finding opportunities where we can connect with ourselves, with each other, and with nature to experience an aesthetic aliveness that reminds us of our shared humanity. In this vain, I want to offer content with no paywall and ask you to contribute whatever amount feels good to you. Whatever you chose, all content is fully available and there is nothing ‘extra’ for paid subscribers except for knowing you are supporting me and my family. Gifting is never an obligatory exercise and I hope mine will serve and be beneficial to someone somewhere.

Besides that, I’m not quite sure what else to ‘reveal’ that matters. My actual name is Tonika. I dip my toes in many oceans: writing, producing, directing, acting, singing, curating, teaching, meditating, alchemizing, experimenting, gardening, traveling, filming, live streaming, people connecting, gentle parenting, autonomous learning, and life navigating. I believe that adhering to one label can be limiting and instead I choose to pursue various avenues to express my philosophy and approach to life. I believe that we are living through one of the biggest shifts in human evolution and I am truly inspired to be the change that I want to see. What a time to be alive! Thank you for being a part of this journey.