korbenp's blog

I wonder how many of us know about the grassroots struggles of
Certified Professional Midwives in the country, or exactly who a CPM
is, and what they do. In terms of what CPMs provide to whom, and their
having to battle against an industry establishment who ought to be
championing them, the parallels to community acupuncture are pretty

A note on synchronicity: this post apparently written simultaneously with Jordan's preceeding one.

It's wintertime in the cold, rainy mid-Atlantic; and, a boy's fancy
turns to vacation, or travel. But, just as quickly, it turns to doubting that that
can really happen while running and growing a business.

When you're done reading this, please read the exchange between Benjamin Deirauf and Lisa Rohleder on The AAAOM website, which I think is a very good primer on the arguments for and against the FPD.

On election night last week, I found myself dancing with a few
hundred people in the middle of Baltimore Ave a couple blocks down
from the clinic. The thumping and clatter of a pots-and-pans drum
jam, the trolley drivers rhythmically honking their horns as if
through a dense and receding fog, the return of ecstatic displays of

Korben asked me to

Gather 'round the old Philco, folks; and turn it up. It's airing tonight! Just got a call from the writer, Joel Rose. He reminded us, by the way, that it's American Public Media that produces the show, not NPR. Nevertheless, it'll run on most NPR stations tonight, at 6:30 in most cities.

Here's a story about the effectiveness of community in one day of community acupuncture. It's also a reminder to all acupuncturists using recliner chairs treating woman in late stages of pregnancy. 

I like the focus on group qi. Here's another couple angles.

1)I
think our nature as humans is to be interconnected: emotionally, creatively, by
touch, and all sorts of other inexplicable ways. But, our daily lives
are largely set up to shut down these connections so that we can be
more productive, so that we consume more. We all try, though, all the
time, to restore these connections; and, every way that we do is a big
political act. If our natural connectedness was fully intact, it'd be
much harder for powers to wage wars in our name, flaunt contempt for
democracy and human rights, or deny us health care.

I set out to write a blog about loving my working class job, liking how the hard physical

work of doing CA connects me to more people, to my family, and to my own body, and just

to work itself. I will WORK on that entry. But, in starting that, I ended up writing something

that probably should be its own entry. Here it is.

This is inspired by Andy's post below. He refers to an article by Kevin Kelly.
Look it over if you haven't. As I was reading it, my wife walked by the computer and said "oh yeah, that's an awesome article." What I'd like to write about here is why she, an artist, and I, and acupunk, had both come across it, and why it's meaningful to both of us.

My wife, Amy Walsh, has totally changed her relationship to earning a living as an artist over the last year or so. These very conscious shifts have in no small way been informed by Lisa Rohleder's book about changing the business of acupuncture, and by helping me