Sticking Together, February 2021
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POCA Live - Join the Conversation
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POCA is currently undergoing a re-envisioning to create a more simple and sustainable co-op. On Thursday, February 25th at 12 pm EST, General Circle members who have been working on the nuts and bolts of this transition will be available to give an update and answer questions. To learn more about this transition and what changes are coming down the pipeline, register for this live event, and submit your questions for the panelists.
If you missed our last POCA/Live event: Community Acupuncture in Time of Instability & Division, you can watch it on POCA TV.
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February 17th from 10-12 p.m. (Mountain Time) NADA is hosting a 2-hour edition of their monthly Membership Cafe and they are opening it to the public. The focus is NADA's Role in Genuine Social Change. They hope to attract a younger audience and to help create more awareness of NADA with younger communities of providers and potential providers. The event is free. There is more information on their Instagram channel – @spiritofnada.
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POCA Member's Podcast Interviews
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POCA member Rachel Pagones interviews Tina Maschi about the concept of caring justice as laid out in her book “Aging Behind Prison Walls: Trauma and Resilience”. The book is not about acupuncture per se, but has a chapter on energetic therapies, resilience therapy and how they pertain to aging people in prison and those who want to help them. Rachel says the caring justice ethos is very much in line with that of POCA, and while Tina raises issues that are deeply troubling, her approach – and some of the people she profiles in the book – are inspiring.
Rachel’s podcast (scroll to the bottom) is on The New Books Network. She is one of many hosts who interview mainly academic authors about their recent books. There are numerous channels on different topics; her channel is the Medicine Channel which has interviews with authors for whom healthcare and healing are part of the larger picture of society and systemic inequities. One of her upcoming interviews is with Xiaoping Fang on his new book “China and the Cholera Pandemic: Restructuring Society under Mao.” He is also the author of a terrifically informative book on the barefoot doctors – “Barefoot Doctors and Western Medicine in China.”
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Louisville CA gets big shout-out in Vox article |
When Louisville Community Acupuncture put out their own statement on their social media condemning conspiracy theories, it ended up as the opening paragraph in an article on Vice that came out in December.
Louisville Community Acupuncture is quoted at the beginning of the article with a statement they put on social media that they “never imagined we’d have to write.”
Titled Conspirituality: Wellness meets Conspiracy Theory, it announced that the acupuncture business stood in solidarity with parts of the yoga community that were rejecting conspiracy theories, like QAnon, misinformation about COVID-19, and anti-vax ideologies. These conspiracy theories are currently “tearing through the wellness world,” they wrote.
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Talk about combating stigma -- not just surrounding people who use drugs, but the drugs themselves. Dr. Hart comes out of the closet about his personal recreational drug use and dispels many commonly-held myths about the harm of substances. Like the one about crystal meth turning people into instant addicts, like the one about the bath salt zombies, and more... It's part of human nature to want to alter our consciousness, he reminds us, and drugs can be used recreationally, safely, and often therapeutically to enhance our experience and enjoyment of life. He wants us to think instead about some of the real problems we're facing which are not about the drugs themselves: the war on drugs and mass incarceration, the inexcusable lack of drug safety-testing kits, and the stigma surrounding these substances and the adults who are able to use them without becoming addicted. Drug Use for Grown-ups is a page-turner and a quick, paradigm-shifting read. I highly recommend it.
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Black Panther Party A Graphic Novel History by David F Walker, Marcus Kwame Anderson
A review from Powell’s describes it as “A bold and fascinating graphic novel history of the revolutionary Black Panther Party, from an award-winning comic book writer. This gripping illustrated history explores the impact and legacy of the Panthers, from their social, educational, and healthcare programs that were designed to uplift the Black community to their battle against police brutality through citizen patrols and frequent clashes with the FBI, which targeted the Party from its outset.”
Know about a book that fellow co-op members would enjoy? Email newsletter@pocacoop.com and I'll run it in a future issue.
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"Dope is Death" is streaming for free. It is the story of a radical movement that sought to end heroin addiction in communities of color with acupuncture, led by Dr. Mutulu Shakur, the stepfather of Tupac.
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Don't forget to use your free online CEUs. POCA punk and clinic members are eligible for up to 8 FREE online CEUs per membership year.
Additional online CEUs are available at very reasonable prices. All POCA CEUs are approved by the NCCAOM, additional state approvals are listed with each individual course.
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