Week 13: chimp warriors and giant cephalopods, etc.

What significance would you attribute to chimps "making tools"?

The observation of chimps making spears to hunt with is significant in that it shows us another link to our cousins, as well as a link in our evolution. I find it significant, also, that most often it is the females wearing the inventor's hat. It makes sense that they are the teacher since they are the primary caregivers, but I would have thought they'd be too busy and tired to create stuff. Looking at it from the perspective of efficiency clears up my misconception. Of course they wouldn't want to be chasing after prey, and then having to bash its head in, before bringing home dinner. Sitting outside a tree hollow, spearing for bush babies, maybe with one eye on the kids, would save energy. Maybe we should move back to a matriarchal society. Although, it did also seem a pretty violent way to "catch" dinner. Maybe not when you compare it to chase and bash, though.

Giant Toads and Colossal Squid, What next?

I loved 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Thinking of giant, pre-historic type creatures living in the deep ocean is exciting and terrifying. The unknown is usually scary, but it is nice to think that there are some creatures who have avoided contact with us and are doing just fine. I wonder if we will ever find a unicorn? Probably not pure enough for that...

Week 11

Laughter, the best medicine!

I believe it. Happiness and joy have to be great for you. Laughter rejuvenates the spirit, moves stagnation, allows the clear yang to rise, and calms the spirit when you're through. I'm adding it to my family's diet!

Carbon Offsets

These seem weird to me. So, you let someone keep polluting because someone else isn't? How do we decrease pollution, then? We don't want to maintain the place we are at now. I guess it's nice for the non-polluters because they can make some scrilla offsetting the baddies. This is definitely a short-term solution. The polluters need to reign it in.

The Global Crisis in Diet

I think hydrogenated oils should be outlawed, as well additives like MSG. I don't think companies that make unhealthy foods should be allowed to direct advertising towards children. Nor should they be allowed to sell those foods at schools.

Aura

wow, colors!

my overall color sign was green/yellow. Green is the color of healing and yellow is the color of the intellect. My closest planet is Mercury, whose vibration is analyzing and observing. I have a predominance of yin, though not by much.

green/yellow crown, third eye, right side (expression), and solar plexus: growth, change, healing, joy, intellect, warmth and sunshine, optimistic, thoughtful, practical, transformational process, spontaneous, playful

turquoise left side/future: communication, intuition, change, new learning, peaceful receptivity

gold throat: joyful expression, contagious/inspiring excitement, felt by others around me

yellow/green heart: balanced, compassionate, caring, desires the best for everyone, fun, charming, optimistic, humorous, powerful and commanding presence, proud heart, desire to be looked up to.


yellow sex, root: happiness, sense of humor, need fun and creativity, carefree, lucky

wow, i sound pretty good, don't i?

week 10: Bison and Breasts

How would I prioritize the reintroduction of the American Bison?

Well, the Mid-West sure would be more exciting if it were filled with bison. Of course, more tourism means more impact. It seems very important to give them a large area to roam free in. I could see the highway signs, now: CAUTION: Bison Crossing. A switch from beef to buffalo seems healthier; I just wouldn't want them to turn into another victim of factory farming.

Also, giving Native Americans an integral piece of their history back is important. Poverty and malnutrition are common hardships on reservations. Bison would provide income and food, as well as history, spiritualism and pride. Supporting these values and lifestyles may be important for teaching the rest of our community how to live with our environment sustainably.

"New Pill Promises to Reduce Breast Cancer Risk"

Not having a period is not natural. If there is one thing I've learned in this graduate program, it's that women need to have their periods. Having this cycle allows us to move out stagnation monthly. TCM views breast cancer as a form of Qi, Phlegm, and Blood stasis and stagnation. Stopping periods may alter the hormone axis, but will not help regulate our Qi and Blood. Better off having women get weekly acupuncture and practice Qi Gong. What is the big deal with getting your period, anyway?! I realize there is PMS, cramps, etc. But, TCM can help with all of that. Let's not have periods, then wonder why we have trouble getting pregnant, and then get the epidural or the c-section, etc. Let's disconnect from our bodies the way we have from the environment, our food, our communities, etc. Yes, great idea.

week 9: Deep Ecology's 8 point platform

yes, hallelujah! and because i believe, i need to keep acting and spread the word!

Week 9: The End Goals of Social Ecology

Social Ecology sees humankind's treatment of the environment as a direct result of our belief's about ourselves, our values, our laws, our ideas, and our technologies. The desire for world domination (mwaahahaha) and the drive to populate it, conflicts between races, countries, genders, the capitalistic drive for cash monies above all else, etc., all lead to our problems in the environment. The solution or end goal would be to have humankind have an epiphany and start treating each other with respect and love. By caring about one another, we would naturally also take care of our home.

Week 9: Ecosystems are both strong and fragile

The strength of an ecosystem, generally, comes from the many and varied elements that compose the system. It is the strength of a web. The fragility comes from the fact that each strand relies on its neighbors/co-workers. If one strand is out of balance, it puts a strain on the rest of the system. Sometimes that strain can be born until homeostasis returns. Other times, the structure must go through radical change, which can mean the destruction of many of its elements, as well as the possiblity of new ones.

week 8

Can TCM strengthen our immune system?

I think everyone knows the answer to that: yes, in many different ways. Acupuncture reduces stress and regulates qi and blood. Since stress suppresses our immune function, this is one way the system can be brought back up to do its job. Also, we can strengthen the Wei Qi/Protective Qi, with acupuncture and formulas such as Jade Windscreen/Yu Ping Feng San. I have helped several people with hay fever reduce their symptoms by more than half with this formula. Also by focusing on a person's constitutional weakness, or the root of their ailments, we can strengthen the overall system. One general way that is good for most people is direct moxa on either ST36 or LI4.

The Western Approach to HIV/AIDS

My feelings about the Western approach to HIV/AIDS is similar to my feelings about Western Medicine, generally. I think that there are people who are trying to figure this thing out, diagnostically and pharmaceutically, and there are people who want to make money from it. There are always going to be those doctors who don't recommend TCM or other alternative modalities, but more and more, we are seeing patients come to us for help. Sometimes, it's because of a doctor recommendation and sometimes they are seeking help through their own volition. I have a friend, as I said in class, who lived in a village in Botswana for two years doing outreach, prevention, and education about HIV/AIDS at a clinic, with the focus on women's health. She was trying to educate, but it sounds like mostly it was about handing out meds. I also have another friend who is finishing her training to be a (volunteer) test counselor for HIV/AIDS patients at a local clinic. The links she suggested:
http://www.thebody.com/
http://www.berkeleyfreeclinic.org/hivPrevention.html

Saving the Whales

This story reminds me of one I just read about in my Lonely Planet Laos book. In the village of Ban Na (600 people), the farmers switched from rice and vegetables to sugar cane (a more profitable crop). A herd of wild elephants came down from the mountains and started eating their tasty crops, along with the bananas and pineapples they found around Ban Na. The farmers went back to rice and vegetables, but the 30 or so elephants didn't leave. And their presence was negatively affecting the environment and finances of the village. Rather than shoot the elephants, the villagers decided to make them pay their way. Ecotourism. Tourists can take a guided trek to an observation tower near a favorite salt lick of the elephants and stay overnight in hopes of spotting the herd. Making animals pay their way, an interesting concept...

week 7: genes shaped by natural selection

Again, I think it is kind of silly and arrogant of humans to assume we've stopped evolving. We are far from perfect. Of course we are still being shaped by natural selection! I just wish I was wise enough to see the differences. I was thinking earlier about my family's general health issues: anxiety, addiction, seafood allergies. I was thinking, hey what if our line isn't going to make it? what if we are too anxious to deal with modern life? what if natural selection is slowly weeding us out? That's actually ok, i guess. As long as it's natural selection. The result of environment. Although, at the same time, I'd like something to live on. Our contemplative nature? Our love of butter? Perhaps one of the reasons it happens so slowly is so we don't know it's happening and get defensive.

week7: cancer

I don't think our understanding of cancer is very sophisticated. It is another disease where western medicine looks at pieces of the picture without really grasping the whole. We have an understanding of what goes wrong on the cellular level, but not why it goes wrong. Without understanding why cancer happens, we can't really prevent it effectively.

The TCM view of cancer is more complete within TCM theory, although still complicated. I think it is generally viewed as a type of qi and blood stagnation, possibly phlegm stagnation, often accompanied by deficiency. Therefore, prevention would probably be to keep qi and blood moving (excercise, healthy diet, emotional balance, rest). A life of balance and moderation. In Dr. Robinson's Biomedicine book, the personality type that is cancer prone is Type I: controlled, rational, non-emotional, stuffing feelings inside yet remaining calm on the outside. In a town of 14,000 people, 45 % of the residents with this personality died of cancer. The total cancer deaths of the other 3 personality types was 12.5%. In TCM, this person would likely have some serious Liver Qi Stagnation.

week 6: TCM gets respect in the West

TCM is getting more and more respect in the West, though the patients are bringing about this change in attitude more than the Western medical system. I do hear more and more people saying their physical therapist or MD suggested acupuncture for chronic pain or for help with getting pregnant. I think many people in the West have trouble buying into traditional Asian medicine because the terms (qi, energetic organs, the five elements, etc.) aren't part of our culture, many of our religions, or our philosophies. I think if we just keep helping people and educating them, it won't matter so much whether or not MD's believe in what we do.

week 6: the significance of the use of language and tools in chimps

I think that what is significant is that they didn't really want us to know about it. In the article, it made it seem as if the researchers were only able to observe the chimps using tools, because they weren't aware of the humans' presence. The language thing actually reminded me of a segment of The Baby Whisperer. This super nanny's book has a chart in it that explains the meaning of different baby sounds/cries. She describes hunger cries, uncomfortable cries, and pain cries, to name a few. Generally, we can't even understand our babies, so it's no surprise we have difficulty believing animals can communicate.

I think the use of language and tools by chimps is significant because it shows us where we started.

week 6: living vs. non-living systems

I'm one of those people who bump into a chair and apologize. Not to say that I would call a chair living, but sometimes I think of inanimate objects as things with feelings. Although those feelings may just be energetic stuff absorbed from their environment. The discussion about living "systems" has been very interesting to me. I like the idea that something that we don't think of as cognizant is cognizant because it interacts with its environment in order to sustain its "self." I enjoy having my horizons broadened and being able to fit a few more things into the living category.

week 5: I always eat my broccoli!

I have always loved broccoli. Especially when my mom covered it in cheese. Now, I prefer it with some extra virgin olive oil, lemon, salt, and pepper. I like when current research supports my dietary preferences. My daughter also likes broccoli. Her veggie circuit includes broccoli, peas, green beans, cauliflower, corn, carrots (raw only), and edamame. I'd really love to get some beets and yams into her, but it hasn't happened yet.

week 5: chicken or the egg?

I'm down with the theory that the egg must have come first. It makes sense that a non-chicken parent would lay an egg with a chicken in it. I wonder, though, what would be the difference between the non-chicken parent and the chicken offspring. Feathers? Beaks? Wings? More white meat? Either way, their both tasty.

week 5: can diversification save a species?

Diversification seems like the best way to save a species. As seen with bananas, having only one type makes the likelihood of a pest wiping out the crop more likely. If only one aspect of a species' environment changes, the impact is much greater with more negative consequences, than it would be for a very diverse species. With diversity, we assume at least a few of the variations will be able to survive a change or adapt to it. Yea diversity!

week 4: how do you think chimps and humans diverged as a species?

how does any species diverge? apparently, some offspring are different, but not so different as to be ousted. then maybe they find another different and mate. maybe they have a range of infants, some closer to grandparents and some a bit farther from parents. perhaps, there is still interbreeding. perhaps some of these "differents" move along to a new location. there, maybe they become a little more different. or meet different differents. eventually, somewhere along the line, there will be fewer a little different, but still fitting in's and more very different and not fitting in at all. the lines diverge. maybe?

week4: can we change our dopamine levels ourselves?

a healthy diet, qi gong, exercise, massage, all can help raise dopamine levels. getting someone to make these changes and wait for noticeable effects is the difficult part. i've been trying to get my brother to change for a while. he doesn't want meds, but yet he drinks coffee everyday, then at least 3 sodas, smokes cigarettes, and eats a lot of processed food. he finds it hard to believe that making those changes will do anything positive for him, and since he won't try, he won't find out.

week 4: is there a drug for everything?

there could be. as science advances and we learn more about the roots of various pathologies, more and more research will be done to find us a fix. the problem is that we very rarely understand the entire picture of a pathology. we find links to diseases, i.e. this gene, that virus, this diet, that gender. we try to cure the disease by altering that piece of the puzzle. sometimes it works. often with repercussions. sometimes i think we are like children playing with our parents stuff.

i heard something on npr, maybe a month ago, about how even though people taking meds for high cholesterol have better levels when on the meds, these numbers don't reflect better health, or a decreased risk of disease. it's just numbers. with side effects. wouldn't it be better to make lifestyle changes?

that being said, why is it so hard to make lifestyle changes?

week 3: Nasa Scientists Find Clues That Life Began in Deep Space

hmmmm. i enjoyed how the creation stories resembled the soup of life theories. i also found the possiblity that the ingredients are just out in space, constantly coming in contact with other planets, and in all probability have started life elsewhere. i liked the analagy of the cell walls to little houses.

i'm gonna need a little more help with the cypernetics stuff:)

week 3: “99.4% of the most critical DNA sites are identical in human and chimp genes”

as most of you have already said, this points to the interconnectedness of life.

what you also have to think about, though, is how such a very small difference creates a very different creature. when the fda states that cloned meat is "virtually indistinguishable" from regular meat, don't you wonder what percent is different? and what that percent means?

from chemistry perspective: carbon can bond one way and become a diamond, or another and become graphite. same ingredient, just put together differently, producing vastly different results.
so when the government/researchers downplay differences between man-made and nature-made, i'm going to think about chimps and humans, not to insult chimps...

week 3: Prokaryotes, Eukaryotes, & Viruses Tutorial

squirmy and weird. i'd forgotten so much about cell parts, but remembered more than i would have thought, too. it is strange that the evolution of cells came about because they were eating each other. and then the eaten took on a new form, with new functions and responsibilities. it makes you wonder more about what you eat....

how does darwinism matter to me?

"This skepticism about truth is also a direct consequence of Darwinism--so says the well-known deconstructionist Richard Rorty. Rorty devised his own philosophy by asking, what are the intellectual consequences of Darwinism? His answer was that ideas must be treated problem-solving tools that help us get ahead in the struggle for existence. In a New Republic article, he wrote that 'Keeping faith with Darwin' (notice the term there: "Keeping faith with Darwin"), means understanding that the human species is not oriented 'toward Truth' but only 'toward its own increased prosperity.'"

I find arguments against morality and ethics, pretty frightening. I see the possibility that if we view the world through a Darwinian perspective, humans are oriented towards their own prosperity. This is apparent in how countries deal with one another, how animals and the environment are treated, how individuals are out "to get theirs." So then, does this mean that those of us who are interested in the well-being of others, of animals, of the environment, etc., must not be "the fittest?" Scary thought. Or is this selfishness just the result of a less evolved mind? Is nature all their is? No Divine Being?

I find all of the various arguments put forth with the Darwinian label inconsistent. It seems anything can be argued with Darwinian proof. Rape. Infanticide. Atheism. The Divine.

I'm still working out how darwinism matters to me.

week 2 - evo devo

evolution. development. i find it all fascinating. i was kinda sad to hear we don't make these fantastic, sudden leaps of evolution, like they do in X-men. i really was hoping to gain a mutant talent. (the butterfly article gives me hope!) although, i guess i'm kind of old. ok, what about harry potter? can we become witches and wizards? all i need is a wand, i'm sure of it. at times aimc does seem like hogwarts: qi, herbology, defense of the dark arts...

but really, how will we change? is my daughter already different from me? and how will her children be different? taller, healthier, able to see auras? i think we are alive during a very key moment in our history. environmental change is occuring rapidly all around us. things are changing and what effects will these changes have on our lives, our health, our societies. will we start trading in clean water, rice, and vegetables, rather than with money/gold? what about population control? why are fertility rates dropping? will we start living side by side with another hominid, as neanderthal did? it's all so sci-fi!

Week 1 discussion

Do we really understand our biological selves?

This question makes me think of that ever-asked question: what is qi? We try to define it, make it concrete, something a person can grasp, but it's not. We may be coming close, but certain things are so complicated/simple or so large/small that it is difficult to get our brains around their meanings, structures, functions. Sometimes the more abstract concepts, such as the ones we use in Chinese medicine, are better at explaining life than the dissected terminology of western science. Are meridians just nerve pathways? Is jing (essence) our dna? etc. etc.

We see this a lot with nutrition fad. Studies say fat is bad. Wait, no carbs are bad. Umm, meat is good??? Ultimately, eating unprocessed food that is grown nearby is the best. Grass-fed beef. Raw milk. Living more in tune with nature, perhaps would give us a truer knowledge of our biological selves than reading the latest study would. Although, I have to admit, they are fun! Kind of like the quizes in women's magazines.

michelle's bio

I have a B.A. in English, with a specialization in creative writing from the University of Connecticut. After traveling around the country, I decided to settle in Seattle for a few years. I waited tables, rock climbed, snow boarded, and attempted to surf. After 3 years, I decided to move to Lake Tahoe with some friends. From there I met my daughter's father and moved in with him in San Francisco. We moved to Oakland. I gave birth to Oona, drug-free, in a birth center in San Francisco and became a stay-at-home mom. When her father opened a restaurant, I became the pastry cook (chef always sounds too snooty for someone with no prep cooks!). After my ex-husband and I separated and he left the restaurant, I started waiting tables two nights a week and attending AIMC part-time. It's been three and a half years and I am now a full-time student, only making desserts for fun. I will be going to Japan this summer for the Tokyo Seminar in Japanese-style Acupuncture, and then graduating in December.

michelle