Everybody go buy a copy of Utne Reader!!!
Posted June 17th, 2008 by Lisa Rohleder
The July/August issue has a lovely picture of Ellen and Philadelphia Community Acupuncture! Congratulations again to Pam Chang for her fabulous article, reprinted for an even wider audience! Seriously, everyone -- if you're having any trouble at all explaining what you're doing and why you're doing it, Pam's article plus the photo of PCA is the answer to your prayers. www.utne.com
A little more info
To flesh out Lisa's comment:
- The article is not yet available online. Not surprising since they probably want their subscribers to read things first.
- The article is a slightly edited down version of Pam Chang's Yes! magazine article. I haven't looked at both articles side by side but it appears that the part with Barbara Chapman is not in Utne. Boo. But at least there's an article and there's that picture of Ellen at work which is cool.
- There's also a boxed sidebar about "How to select an acupuncturist" that hacks off Lupine to no end. It doesn't fit with the article at all and you can read it as treating us acupunks as an alien species. (On the plus side watching and listening to a hacked-off Lupine is fun!)
So why did they add this? Here's my guess. First I'm pretty sure that Utne has never had an article on acupuncture before and I'm guessing that's because they always looked at it from a mainstream liberal point-of-view and that means that they view Acupuncture as woo-woo elitist medicine. Not quite a quackbuster point of view but not enthusiasm either. Why would they have this stance? Because Acupuncture is not well known in America. It's still decidedly no where near the mainstream- much further out there still than say Chiropractic. So they want to be careful when they finally write about our profession- and they are only writing about it because the CA movement is the only group of Acupunks who are trying to reach out to most of the public.
And that's the big charge for CA and CAN. As I've said before there's much whining about getting respect in our field by certain Punks but they do nothing to earn respect. True respect will only come when we actually are treating a good percentage of the US population. That will only happen when we are accessible to most of the country and we CAN folks are the only ones trying to do that. Our movement needs to keep growing and the more it grows the easier it will be for us to make a living since more and more people will understand what Acupuncture is all about.
respect
Riding my bike home from the clinic, I saw a big ad on the side of a bus....a smiling student proclaiming that he knows he "will get respect with a degree from Bastyr University". Interesting message from one of the leading institutions in alternative medicine.
One of my teachers once remarked that a magazine with a title like "Self" looks really interesting to a mind produced by the "ME" culture. But you don't see too many magazines with a title like "Giving", or "Others".
In this way, the core imbalances in our world get perpetuated.
May all beings be peaceful and happy.
I've picked up a copy or two of the article...
FYI - Barabara IS quoted in this version of the article.
sidebar shhhmide-bar
glad for the article, glad for the word getting out there, great picture of Ellen at play at PCA! buuut, that %$^& sidebar seems a little out of place. i understand about checking people's credentials, but the comment about "puncture your body with needles", seems reductionistic and very fear based to me, as if you are going to a circus side show and it's participatory. ( close your eyes folks as the Amazing Acupuncturist will now puncture your body with needles! oooo, aaaahh from the crowd... which actually was something i forgot to mention from the opening this week about needling while everyone was watching, no pressure there) Larry brought up a good point why couldn't it have been more a a sidebar on "how is community acup different from private room acupuncture?" or "what to expect?" or "how can acupuncture help you?" se la vie. gotta keep on keepin on.
May I suggest????
Someone (come on CAN folks!) should write a letter (or 20) to the editor regarding the sidebar....for three reasons:
- one, to actually correct the blech
- two, to continue the wonderful press Utne provides by keeping CAN's name in the mag
- three, because I'll send you a nice present for fighting back the demons of fear-based health care
Oh, just a thought. Any takers?
chocolate is
legitimate currency here in Wabi-Sabi land, good non dairy dark. i'll write to them and be nice too...
cheers,
-keith
Okay, you got it...
...just don't get chocolate all over the pages!
Amen to that last paragraph.
Amen to that last paragraph. So many acupuncturists accuse CAN of trying to ruin acupuncture by making it "cheap." We are the ones who will cause the use of acupuncture in the US to explode. Those of us who practice OM know it works, and can do wonders for peoples health, but people have to try it for it to work. Community acupuncture is enabling all working people to be able to try acupuncture, something many would never do at current private treatment prices. The good results keeps them coming back and telling their friends, doctors and well off employers who will want to see the private acupuncturist in their own fancy neighborhood.
As CAN grows going to the acupuncturist will simply become a normal occurrence. Acupuncture is like anything else, there will be a market for different types of treatments in different price ranges. The growth of community acupuncture is likely to spur a growth in expensive private treatments as well because are targeting different markets.
The Utne Reader showed up in
The Utne Reader showed up in my mailbox today, I was so excited. I think it's great, I loved that the various conditions and "tune up" were mentioned. I haven't read the Yes article in awhile, but I like how this version reads.
I didn't really feel upset by the sidebar. I took the "puncture your body with needles" as humorously to the point, I guess other people might read it differently. I'm always joking with my patients about sticking needles in them. I guess every reader will interpret it differently.
you're right
i see your point (no pun intended, really) , I may have
been a wee bit reactionary on the side bar shhhmide bar, it's the personal
perspective of the Utne staff coming thru there, i can appreciate
that, and it's just where they are at, and then my personal and sometimes reactionary nature. i just thought it would have been really super for Utne to cast
the sidebar in a different light to complement the article. my other
thought is that we all right now are way ahead of the curve and are
inside our CA bubble of thinking , CA is still new, - i have to remember that the rest of
the world really hasn't heard about this yet. Malcolm Gladwell might
say that we are the Early Adopters after the Innovators at WCA. in
some areas of the country we are seen as the Innovators because of the
newness of the CA model. Still to come are the Early and Late
Majorities, and the Laggards. just another perspective. thanks for your reflection and the reminder about keeping a sense of humor!
cheers, keith
I too would have loved to
I too would have loved to see a more related sidebar, but overall the article is a great help to our movement, it seems best to just focus on that.