Returning from the Dead

Hey hey! Long time no see!

Sorry I've been away for so long. I've been distracted by life and haven't been keeping you updated. I just found my friend Mary's new blog and she lit the spark and got me going again! You should definitely check it out: www.stalecheerios.com

Anywho, life's been a whirlwind as of late. I went home for Christmas and decided to drop out of my internship program, changed my mind, returned to Berkeley, decided to become a Montessori teacher in Dallas, dropped out of Bike and Build, changed my mind about Montessori, extended my stay at TAP, briefly considered applying to film school and am now in the running to work at a stunning summer camp right here in the Bay Area! That's the overview.

Ok, so now that we're all caught up let's move on to more pressing matters like what's been holding my interest lately and getting me fired up about life.

#1 I have a powerful new obsession with Bones, an hour-long drama that merges the best parts of CSI and Law and Order: SVU with a side of AMAZING! Bones is currently in it's 4 Season which means Grace and I had a lot of catching up to do. We've made it into Season 3 and it just keeps getting better. You should check it out here: Watch Bones

#2 Don't Shoot the Dog by: Karen Pryor is by far the most exciting and engaging book I've read in years. It was a magically perfect gift from the above-mentioned friend Mary and I am completely enamored with the possibilities! Karen Pryor explores behavioral training methods and positive reinforcement in teaching. I'm am now so well-trained you wouldn't believe it ;) Check her out here: www.clickertraining.com

#3 Steve and Kate's Camp is the mind-blowing summer program I am hoping to be a part of starting in June. I interviewed the last week of February and I should here back soon. Check it out here: www.steveandkatescamp.com

#4 Rachel Maddow is my new hero for all things news. Until recently I have had zero understanding of the economic catastrophe or issues with our healthcare system. That is, until I came across Maddow's interview on Leno and she broke it down for us normal folks. She's a power hitter and she makes sense to me. Check her out: www.rachelmaddow.com

#5 Prop 8 went to the Supreme Court yesterday in California and the Bay Area is humming with the energy of a discontented minority group. My fingers are crossed that the candle light vigil and rallies in San Francisco, attended by thousands, planted the idea of change in the hearts of the uninformed and unconvinced. We'll know their decision in 90 days. I have faith in the natural tendency within our nation to evolve. As Mary talks about on her blog:

"My mother has been reading David Freeman Hawke’s Everyday Life in Early America. Here’s a quote she shared with me:

Spoons were the essential utensil at the table. Knives, if they turned up, were pointed and used to spear food from the common serving dish. Forks did not appear until the eighteenth century. There were those who held that forks were “a diabolical luxury,” and that “God would not have given us fingers if He had wished us to use such an instrument.”

It’s funny how resistant people are to change, even to something beneficial and fairly harmless like a fork. Instead, people often resort to defending the status quo as being better (whether or not it actually is) or evoking a deity to defend their position (even if this leads to fairly preposterous ad hoc arguments."

Well said miss Mary. I couldn't agree more. I firmly believe that in the end opponents of Gay Marriage will find themselves mightily embarrassed and out-of-date if they don't change their ways. It's just a matter of time.

Much more to come about life on the west coast and things that keep me thinking! Work is becoming a very different animal now that I'm past my indentured servitude and into my chosen adventure. Promise to tell you more about it soon.

In the meantime I miss you all and wish you'd road trip your butts out here so we can share in this adventure.

Love,
Liz

An Aftertaste...

Hey All,

I know it's been awhile but things have been CRAZY here. For those of you who don't know, the Tibetan Aid Project's major benefit dinner and auction was this past Friday so it's been crunch-time in the office for the past couple of weeks. So where to begin...

Work Updates-
We are cleaning up after the most amazing fundraising event I've ever attended. TAP has two fundraising dinners a year and this one, Taste and Tribute San Francisco, went off without a hitch. On Thursday we ran around the office like chickens with our heads cut off preparing and doing inventory on EVERYTHING we were taking down to the ribbons and tape needed for set-up. After a few hectic hours we got all the beautifully labeled and color coded boxes loaded into our cute little UHAUL truck and headed to the Four Seasons Hotel in San Francisco. The place is a maze of hallways and elevators. It was quite the adventure getting everything unloaded and up to the Ballroom staging area. We had about 8 flatbed dolleys full of stuff that we navigated to the 2nd floor, through the kitchen (because someone designed the building so that the loading dock elevator takes you directly to the kitchen), around the army of cooks giving us dirty looks, and into the staging room. After unloading we headed back to the Institute for an early bedtime.
Friday Morning at 8:30 AM the adventure began! We all crowded into two cars with our Dillards garment bags and boxes of tasty treats and headed over the Bay Bridge during rush hour and into the city. On arrival the insanity began and I made my way to the ballroom to pin embroidered runners and chevrons to the 11 chef stations. This invloved some epic pinning magic and the collection of some lovely war wounds. There were also hundreds of votive candles to unload and distribute between the tables, endless flowers to disperse (one petal at a time) along each dinning table, and some gifts, dinner programs and placecards to set delicately at all 220 seats. At some point during the afternoon, after downing a couple spare truffles and some yummy breakfast cheeses, I set about packaging the chef gifts for distribution. 24 chefs with 4 items each to be bagged and tagged for placement was a bit tedious but surprisingly cathartic after the madness of decor. Our event planners Jessika and Jill are total rockstars and took an instant liking to me for some reason. It may have had something to do with my sugar and caffeine-inspired energy and wild impromptu performances throughout the day. I think I've been socially deprived for weeks so the chance for interaction and the energy of the event was the biggest high ever! According to Jessika, I would make quite the event manager so who knows, maybe I've found my calling :)
I don't want to bore you with every tedious detail but the event came together beautifully. The auction items were displayed, the ballroom looked breathtaking and the gifts (my area of focus) blended in beautifully with the 5 wine glasses, 4 spoons, three forks, two knives and one plate that they befriended while waiting for guests to arrive. As evening approached the chefs begin to arrive in their shiny sportscars with their army of assistants and sui chefs. To give you a picture, there were eleven tables each with two chefs at a station nearby. Every chef had at least one assistant and the pair of chefs together prepared a 4-course meal for their table of 20 guests, complete with wine pairings. It's quite the show. In the meantime, several speakers explained the heart of our organization's mission. As wine disappeared and heart strings were plucked the guests prepared to open their wallets and start bidding on our epic live auction. At this point in the evening, I got to enter the ballroom (all gussied up) and run the Live Auction Powerpoint I'd been working on for weeks. As the bidding started I got so excited I was standing/kneeling on my chair and helping the auctioneer with my own suggested bidding increases. When one item broke the $2000 mark my heart started to race and when we began pulling in numbers in the $5000 and $10000 area I started to tear up. The energy and generosity of this magical scene we'd been working on for months was finally upon me and I was so moved it took my breath away. What an event. The people were beautiful. The sights, smells and sounds of the room completely transcended any previous experience I've come across in this wild West Coast adventure. I'm so ready for the next one! If only I could capture that energy in a bottle and infuse every day with it, now that would be powerful.
In the end we raised upwards of $150,000 all of which will go directly to our book preservation and distribution project. Ticket sales covered all expenses and the gravy of our auctions, especially during this rough economic period, was really surprising. Many non-profits in the region are reporting %50 drops in earnings but we experienced a measly %5 decrease and cultivated some new connections that will continue to carry our mission forward. As for personal connections, I earned the friendship and respect of both our event manager and her boss who suggested that I speak with them about a possible position in Event Management! I also came across some old friends from our donor retreat at Ratna Ling (our Sonoma County rural retreat center) and felt some love. It's official, I'm a people person and I'm ready for a SOCIAL adventure. We were at the Four Seasons until 12:30 AM but we couldn't have been happier. When I said that the event went off without a hitch I meant it. Our staff of 7 women, 5 of who are under 25 and recent college grads, pulled off this huge event seamlessly. Our event planner was in tears when she complimented us on this impressive feat. In other words, we rocked it! And as the guests stumbled blinking into the lobby and things came to a close they were all smiles and tipsy praises. I had the pleasure of handing them some last minute goodies and I got some serious love. We have the best supporters in the world!
As I fell into bed around 2AM I reveled, briefly, in the power of connection through passion for change. Even with all the hardships our country's been facing economically, Taste & Tribute was a sold out event that earned hundreds of thousands for strangers. I'm ready to go at it again!

I'll post some personal updates next time, including the details of my next adventure (Bike and Build NUS 2009!!!) and all that's been happening with the family and friends while I've been away :) But for now, I hope that this little Aftertaste gives you a colorful picture of my work here.

Huge hugs and love to all of you for understanding the insanity that is my life here in Berkeley and I will post pictures as soon as our photographers get back to me.

Liz

Blah in Berkeley

Hey All,

It's been awhile. I haven't written much about my adventures lately because I haven't been having any. For those of you who don't know, I've been home twice in the past month for funerals. Needless to say, it's been a rough few weeks and my body just couldn't keep up. The flu has struck and I am officially blah in Berkeley. Don't get me wrong, it's definitely not a shabby place in which to be blah with herbal remedies out the wazoo and every kind of tea and soup you can imagine. I still wish I had a big couch and a TV to curl up in front of while the healing process gets under way. We don't have access to a television here at the Institute so Grace and I took our sick selves down the hill to a pizza place and watched Sunday afternoon football for a few hours. It was a nice way to get out of the institute (where I'd been holed up for two days) while still taking it slow and easy. I carried around an entire box of kleenex in order to have one on hand at every moment.

Speaking of Grace, she got officially accepted into the 6-month work study program on Friday and I am thrilled. She fits right in and everyone loves her around the office. We got a new room, this one facing the bay instead of the prayer garden and the view is breathtaking. It's going to be quite the adventure having her around. As for other updates...TAPs major event is closing in on us. Taste & Tribute is on Nov. 21st and we can already feel it breathing down our necks here at the office. I have been gone so much that I am completely out of touch with what progress we've made and several of my projects had to be finished by co-workers. It's been rough to be so out of the loop and then to get sick and miss two days of work didn't help. I'm slowly but surely plugging myself back in and getting into the swing of things. It helps to have Grace around to keep me posted about what I've missed. She's more in the loop that me right now.

In other news...We got invited up to Ratna Ling again. Ratna Ling is the gorgeous country retreat center in Sonoma County that I wrote about in a previous post. Basically, their major book shipment goes out soon and they need our help getting everything ready. We're going to finish up our event, get things tied up around the office, have a couple of days off for Thanksgiving and then head out there. I'm so excited. I love it there!

That's all I've got for you now. Next time I'll write about my Halloween adventures, my drum classes, and my dad's visit (he comes out on Sunday). Love and miss you all!

Liz

an impressive email signature...

Hey All!

just wanted to check in. I was assigned a new project last week. Guess what? I'm writing the Tibetan Aid Project's official blog posts. Of course they have to be much shorter and more focused on specific subjects but they're lots of fun and you should check them out. The link is: http://tibetanaidproject.org/tapblog/

I'm also back in the fundraising business. I was taken off proposal writing but since Meagan, the one who is heading up that project, leaves at the end of the year I am going to take over for her. That means I am now the Executive Assistant and Marketing/Fundraising Coordinator. Say that 10 times fast! It makes for an impressive email signature :)

All's well on my side of the country. Work is hopping along. It's a bit less social than I'm used to but I'm adjusting. We just started the fall quarter which means my course load has picked up. I like what I'm taking so far. Here's the schedule:

Monday: Working with Emotions
Tuesday: Compassion in Action
Buddhist Studies Tutorial: Sustaining Bodhicitta
Wednesday: Beginning Kum Nye
Devotional Chanting with Sacred Art
Thursday: Compassion in Action
Beginning Tibetan, Level 1 (maybe)

So far I've been to Working with Emotions, Compassion in Action, and Devotional Chanting with Sacred Art. I love love love all three of them. The Working with Emotions class is actually taught by a Psychiatrist who specializes in the study of emotions and the incorporation of mindfulness therapy into her work. She's been a long time student at the Institute and her interests perfectly correspond with what I wrote about for my thesis. We're going to exchange notes sometime in the next week! Those of you that know my student side know that I'm totally geeking out about this :)

On a personal note: Grace got a room in a really amazing house on the border between Berkeley and Albany (north of Berkeley) and it's perfect. She will have three roommates in a really nice neighborhood right on the bus route and she's walking distance from the grocery store and this adorable little English pub that was hand-made for miss Amy Elkins. We had drinks there the other night after she "interviewed" for the room. She moves in Monday which I'm sure is a huge relief after her extended stay as a temporary volunteer here at the Institute. We're doing our major mailer right now so she gets to stuff, sort, and seal mail for hours. She's been great though! Everyone loves her here at TAP and doesn't want her to go.

All in all, I still love it here in Berkeley. The euphoria has worn off and the day-to-day routine has set in but I just become more comfortable and content with the work and the practices which are better than I could've asked for. I'm starting to see the chinks in the walls but they're endearing and wise instead of irksome and frustrating. I'm adjusting and adapting to this new world but I do miss the magical energy of working with kids or the warmth and passion of my friends back home. You guys are such a great support to me and I miss you. I love that we still talk regularly and you still provide that voice of wisdom in my ear but I wish it could be shared over coffee or tea and waffles because those days make me smile.

Love You!

Berkeley how I love thee...

so I have no officially been here for a month. I think it's time for some quality adventure stories from the past four weeks here in Berkeley.

Adventure Story 1, The Tree Sitters:

I don't know how many of you follow the news in Berkeley but things have been crazy around here the past couple of weeks and this is primarily due to some tree huggin locals who just won't quit. About 21 months ago some folks in the area got wind of a plan to cut down an oak and redwood grove on the Berkeley campus. So what did they do? You guessed it...they climbed into the trees, planted their roots and stayed awhile. Now when I say a while I am referring to a little less than 2 years of hanging around. These folks built epic tree houses, created supply lines and spent their days playing the guitar while perched in the highest branches of some beautiful leafy giants. When mom and I got here the grove was still intact and the sitters would wave and pose for pictures. But, by this point a fence and wall of police officers had been posted to prevent the sitters from coming down and to keep supplies from going up. Over the next few weeks the situation intensified until the final showdown a week and a half ago. My roommate and I walked down to tree sitter central on a chilly Tuesday night and were privy to a mild-mannered display of local support for the 4 remaining sitters. Folks gathered in the streets and spoke words of encouragement and hope about the sitters and the cause. As we stood listening, I couldn't help but get caught up in the nature of the gathering. I mean what is Buddhism about if not caring for and sharing this planet with our fellow beings. Anyway, I gathered up a "save the oaks" sign and stood amongst the surprisingly articulate and only slightly musky bunch of supporters sending their love up into the boughs.

The next morning, my roommate Meagan and I headed out early to stand in support of the four remaining tree sitters as an epic confrontation of Berkeley proportions unfolded. Hippies chanted, Native Americans danced, rednecks heckled, cops sweated, the media descended and tree sitters sat. I saw police wrestle with and arrest peaceful protesters, I saw tie-dye wearing supporters smoke joints and bang drums, I saw arbolists build 15 stories of scaffolding in order to surround and remove the tree sitters. I drank coffee and watched. I chatted with reporters and watched. I listened to interviews over walkee talkies with the men in trees and watched. I watched for 5 hours as the police chief and her crew rode up in a basket dangling from a crane and attempted to bargain with the sitters while, from below, construction workers steadily climbed towards the sitters. Finally, after several arrests, lots of tension and a growing crowd (now up to 500), the police chief and her nemesis reached an agreement and the tree sitters came down, guitars and all. I was standing next to a reporter when the call came in via walkee talkee from the tree sitters. I got to listen in and get the exclusive scoop on the tree sitters' motives for coming down. In their understanding, the university agreed to create a land use committee that would consist of community members and environmentalists as well as students, faculty and staff so that all future decisions could be made mindfully and with the general support of the community. A solid agreement but one that was denied immediately upon the descent of the four sitters. Heartbreaking but not surprising. They changed my relationship to trees with their display and they made headline news for over a year and a half. They raised awareness and they touched lives. Way to go tree sitters!

Adventure Story 2: Rockclimbing with TAP Donors

Few non-profits have the kind of eclectic supporters and donors that the Tibetan Aid Project is honored to have. I met several of our core supporters last weekend on a TAP retreat in Sonoma County. Our retreat center, located in Cazadero, deep in wine country and surrounded by redwoods, is the most breathtaking place I can imagine. We drove up highway 1 along the coast and winded our way through Bodega Bay (where Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" was filmed) before veering east into this fairy tale land filled with mist and ferns, redwoods and four-leafed clovers. I felt like I was in Jurassic Park. Anyway, I spent the weekend schmoozing the donors and served as acting wine expert because, surprising as it may be, I was the most knowledgeable wine drinker on staff. We had meetings, went on mist-filled excursions, rode around in LED-sporting golf carts, slept in cottages with hardwood floors and jacuzzi bathtubs, drank delicious wines, prepared culinary masterpieces, and generally had a whale of a time with a side of Tibetan yoga and meditation. I love my job!

While on retreat, I met two donors in particular who proved to be an adventure in themselves. The Christiani's have been to the Himalaya's 4 times and this past time they climbed to advanced base camp on Mt. Everest (21,000 of Everest's monstrous 29,000 feet). Rick is an architect who designed the coolest rock climbing gym in San Francisco and on the day that I met him he proceeded to climb the retreat center's fireplace because "it was begging to be climbed." So after a weekend of bonding, Rick and his wife Linnea invited a few of us along for a climbing adventure last Friday. By then, Grace was in town and got to go along for the climb. We climbed and we climbed and we climbed. I have never climbed so much or so well in my life. All that yoga and meditation on transforming fear has really paid off. I'm no longer terrified to scale a 3 story wall and I can focus and breathe like no body's business. During previous climbing experiences I find myself half-way up the wall shaking and praying for my life. Not this time! I climbed a 5.10 (on a scale of 5.0-5.15) and gained a new nickname from Mr. Rick Christiani. You can all now call me Liz the Lizard, no 'buts' about it! Grace kicked butt and scaled some serious walls and as a group we are officially hooked. I've made great new friends and great new contacts in the Christiani's and I can't wait to get back on the wall. Come visit and you can play too!

I hope everyone is well. I miss having my friends and family close by to share these adventures.
Amy, you'd love the lazy days filled with tea and old book stores
Cait, you'd love it all, this is your kinda place
Grace, you know what you love here
Mary, you love everything but I have some office cats you'd be particularly fond of :)
Christine, you'd love the quirky people and the outdoor lifestyle, lots of frisbee-ers etc.
Forrest, you'd love the motorcycles and local breweries
Mom, you'd love the changing weather, the chill in the Berkeley air and the clear view of the bridges that still takes my breath away
Dad, you'd love the amazing tennis courts and bicycle culture now that I've got you riding again

Berkeley's got a piece for each of you and everyone else that's reading along. I'm definitely sold on the place but if you don't believe me take your own jaunt out this way. See you soon!

Liz

working away...

Goodmorning! It's a beautiful day in my new Berkeley neighborhood. The sun has been shining since the day that I got here and the temperature has been perfect! It entertains me immensely how hard it is on everyone here when it gets to be over 80!!! That's like a beautiful breezy relief back home. Anywho, today is the last day of my second week of work and my first week of classes. I am sitting at my desk right now taking a break from productivity to write about my most recent adventures. One of our resident Llamas is on the other side of the room fighting (peacefully) with the fax machine and the 4 ft tall spinning prayer wheels that fill the office are making a nice pleasant hum as I work. There are a total of 10 of them and they never stop spinning which is really very beautiful to experience. To my left is the door out into the garden which Meagan and I always keep open because the weather is so perfect outside. On my desk is the usual array of office supplies with the addition of some a large potted fern, some post cards of Tibet and some random sacred artwork that previous volunteers have collected over time. If I look over the top of my computer at the wall (which creates a window-like space for the prayer wheels) I see this long string of 15 prayer flags fluttering with the breeze from outside. According to any Buddhist, this is a very blessed place. Both the prayer flags and the prayer wheels are said to release prayers of compassion and peace into the world when they turn and flutter.

As for the work that I should be doing right now, I was just officially dubbed Marketing Specialist, Data Specialist AND Fundraising Coordinator. That's how it is in this magical place. We all do whatever needs to be done and if we don't know how then someone teaches us and we become a specialist. It's quite and adventure let me tell you. Yesterday I made calls to wineries all over northern California to solicit donations for our benefit banquet in November and then I input all of our benefit registration and auction information into a new database before rounding out the day by designing and implementing the layout for the email version of our annual campaign letter. All in a days work here at TAP :)

Classes are going wonderfully. I am absolutely in love with Kum Nye, a gentle form of Buddhist meditative practice that centers on slow, mindful, therapuetic movement. I came out of my Kum Nye class on Wednesday and was floating for hours. I'm also taking a class on Monday called Transforming Fear which is all about the Buddhist meditative approach to fear. In that class we worked on some basic meditation techniques that help you find balance and refuge in your own body so that when fear arises you can face the fear, go into the fear and see it for what it is, transient and harmless. The same is true for all emotions, positive and negative. We played with the arising and fading of our emotions for much of class. My other classes are on compassion and meditation. The first is more lecture-based and focuses on the idea of true and absolute selflessness which produces perfect empathy. If you haven't explored the Buddhist approach to true selflessness it's quite powerful. They believe that you can transcend your "self" so completely that empathy and compassion are the natural state in which you can reside. My final class is an introduction to meditation for healing which is all about the basics of meditative practice and flows quite nicely with my other, slightly more in-depth, meditative classes. We practice opening and balancing ourselves so that natural relaxation and healing can occur. Our minds are incredibly capable of healing themselves if given the time.

I am participating in the program from morning until night and yet I feel more relaxed and energized (yes I did use both in the same sentence...VERY Buddhist) than ever. The time that we take each day to bring our minds into a restful state is already something I can't imagine being without. We need to take a break from ourselves and reconnect with just being in the moment. I hope I can get better and better at allowing myself the time and space to just be.

I think I have a knack for monstrous posts so bear with me as I try to give you more rich tastes and less feasts in the future.

With Openness and Balance :)
Liz

Full Circle Wisdom is a film about the work that the Tibetan Aid Project is known for, so check it out!!!