Everyone needs an alter-ego animal personality that they chose. I was born in the year of the metal monkey - so naturally I am already a curious, urban, vivacious creature but I also have other sides of me that are not captured fully in my Monkey zodiac sign.
Tricia the Wolf as an altar ego is connected to my Chinese upbringing in America as a Taurean Metal Monkey. My Grandmother always encouraged me to like water - reflecting the Chinese culture of don’t rock the boat - don’t speak up - don’t bring attention to yourself - it’s better to remain visible than seen - don’t wear bright colors - don’t be loud——essentially - blend in! On one end this has served me well because my grandmother always emphasized that it was more important to focus on the work at hand or on others than on myself.
But I’m a metal monkey - and monkeys are jumpy, loud, playful and tricky. We metal monkeys are the jumpiest of all monkies! We are metal - we are stable - but we REACT! Look at my wolfish grin that started emerging when I was 4 years old - that’s tricia baby wolf.
Now I tried my grandma’s philosophy - be nice - be passive - blend in. But when we moved from the diverse SF Bay Area to the homogenous all white gated communities of Sacramento around age 11 - this whole “be quiet and blend in” philosophy didn’t work so well for me. I was getting beat up for being Chinese. Kids would make fun of me - telling me to go back to China - yelling at me for being a Communist.
Something switched in my after 4th grade because I think the Monkey in me realized that we weren’t returning to San Francisco and that I was officially stuck in racist-ville. SO in fifth grade I started beating kids up who would try to harass me. I think I enjoyed it. That was another step of Tricia Wolf.
At the same time I was getting the “be like water” philosophy from my grandma, my grandfather was telling that I should never trust anyone and that only after 10 years of knowing someone do you really come to find out if they have your back. So I grew up with this in my head- that essentially I was and still am very wary of people but at the same time I basically want to disppear in social situations.
So now that you understand the formative years of Tricia the Wolf -let me tell you how I came across Tricia the Wolf’s famous wolf hat!I found my wolf hat in Soho with Tymeisha. A woman was selling animal hats on the street and I found a wolf hat that fit me perfectly! I bought it and since then I’ve been wearing the hat! I brings out the don’t mess with me side of Tricia - and it’s also the side that says It’s ok that i don’t blend in - i wear this hat for myself, not for others.
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I posted lots of photos of me as Tricia the Wolf with my new hat. One day DogWelder found my photo on flickr and rendered this photo of me on Adobe illustrator. This rendering fully cemented Tricia the Wolf. Ever since then I’ve been drawing upon Tricia the Wolf as my altar ego. I loved seeing the picture of me as a fierce, red, cannibalistic, meat eating (i’m 99% vegetarian as a human except for when I eat duck and lamb at restaurants) fire producing WOLF - I just knew that the angels of buddhaland had brought dogwelder to me from lotus world. I have no idea who Dogwelder is - except that he’s my flickr contact (only after he made this), appears to be fierce and may live in Canda. He is a mysterious force that was brought into my life - thank you for seeing the real me DogWelder - it took a internets stranger to fully bring out my altar ego - with the hat and your artist work the Tricia Wolf transformation was cemented forever.
My red fire Ticia the Wolf photos declares to the world that blending in is boring, eating humans is more fun! it’s the side that says being nice is not being yourself, rather being wonderful and playful is being your true self. Tricia the Wolf challenges the culture that we are raised in to be drones in a capitalistic economy and to be another statistical input - Tricia the Wolf challenges the bureacratic ways that wear us down in everyday life. And by putting this up online - it shows that I have no shame in being playful.
Some people say - oh Tricia what if an employer finds your Tricia the wolf pictures? well DUH I have tagged them my name so they SHOULD find my pictures if they do a proper 30 second background check to confirm my identity. My point is that if a company discriminates against playfulness and fun - then I don’t belong there - no Wolfism please! I would like to add that I have a healthy resume and cv and never have had a problem with any employer questioning my wolf identity. If they can’t handle Tricia the Wolf as an altar ego then it’s not a place I should be hired. Same thing goes for putting up my Pussy Power manifesto - I twant it to be found and read. I want people to re-think how we talk about women because it manifests itself in how we treat women. Same thing goes for Tricia the wolf - how we talk about our altar egos or the concept of play among adults manifests itself in how we play and how we life. Having an animal totem is a wonderfully psychologically releasing act - it allows you to draw upon a source of energy that is not reinforced in our culture - the energy of pure, innocent fun - no drugs, no stimulation, no consumption - just simply your IMAGINATION. just find your way to be inspired by life - my way is to talk about Tricia the Wolf sometimes - you gonna judge me for that? if so then then run away for I shall eat you alive.-
In addition - the wolf draws on many important qualities of wolves that I actually identify with, such a having a metabolic rate
Wolves are very social. They live in packs. I live in a pack - I absolutely love my support network - I believe in having amazing girlfriends and guyfriends - I believe in weaving myself a strong social fabric - and most importantly I believe in my grandparents as my pack leaders.
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in addition - one of my favorite and most creative friends is also a woolf - Steve Woolf - the other half of Epic Fu the most amazing blog in the world! He is the only person I would marry in the world only so that I could take the last name - yah zadi I want your husband’s last name! :)
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I am a fashion loving obsessed creature. I document fashion titillations and titicacas. Well guess who else got on the Wolf train too late? Bergdoff Goodman! (thanks alaina brown for that tip!). YES! BERGDOFF loves wolves too - they featured the Wolf manniquins in their 2008 Winter window art display! So keep in mind I was a wolf before the fashion world declared it was haute couture.
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Oh and one of the most coolest stop frame videos is about a wolf and his piggy friend in Japan.
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Also one of the greatest geniuses of our time is a wolf - Stephen Wolfram - the founder of Mathematica and the brains behind the most super galactical computer software of our time - Wolframalpha! Stephen rocks because he named his most personal product after his last name - that is soo cool - and his name (wolf + ram) destined him to be a wolf of the computer software modeling/computation world and now Wolframalpha he’s just pure legacy beyond the business world - this truly is amazing. HAve you tried Wolframalpha - play with it! Here’s my previous post about it.
And can we acknolwedge please that one of the leaders of wireless technologies, Qualcomm, also draws on the power of the wolf for delivering wifi technologies around the world! They helped me find my relatives, the Wolf-Pigeon! Check out this video where they demonstarte how they implant wifi base stations into their wolf-pigeons - Qualcomm has fused animal genetic engineering and mobile technologies (this is not joke, believe what you see). Qualcomm I love you - this is why I study cellphone technologies - you get the power of the wolf!
and yes I do wear my wolf hat everywhere I go - it makes me happy. you will find me often on my foldable bike in my wolf hat. I eat pedestrians when I am riding.
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and you know what’s the best think about being a wolf? GEtting all my friends (of all ages) throughout the years to participate in my playful world - thank you - the wolf hats always brings out the best in everyone:
ps check out Shakira’s new song, She Wolf!
