RAIN May/June 1984 Alert: No-Spray Forests Activist Meets 'New Age' Kirk Sale on Bioregions Volume X, Number 4 $2.50
Page 2 RAIN May/June 1984 RAIN Volume X, Number 4 May/June 1984 Editor Tanya Kucak Staff Rob Baird Cathy Baker Steve Johnson Sara LaBorde Alan Locklear Kris Nelson Jeff Strang Contributors Scott Androes Bruce Borquist Donald Cook Nancy Cosper John Dowlin Penny Fearon Collette Gardiner Anne Herbert Than James Mimi Maduro -» Carolyn McKay Mamie Muller . Michael Philips Mark Roseland Steve Rudman Kirkpatrick Sale Graphic Design Susan Applegate Comptroller Lee Lancaster Printing: Argus Printing Typesetting: Irish Setter Cover: Ancil Nance , ' . RAIN magazine publishes information that can help people lead simple and satisfying lives, make their communities and regions economically self-reliant, and build a society that is durable, just, amusing, and ecologically sound. RAIN is published six times a year by the Rain Umbrella, Inc., a nonprofit corporation located at 2270 NVV Irving, Portland, OR 97210; 503/227-5110. Subscriptions are $25/year for institutions, $15/year for individuals ($9.50 for persons with incomes under $6000 a year). For additional information on subscriptions and publications, see page 39. Writers' guidelines are available for a SASE. Editorial and advertising deadlines are two months prior to publication date. RAIN is indexed in the Alternative Press Index and New Periodicals Index. Members of the Rain Umbrella Board of Directors: Bruce Bliatout, Nancy Cosper, Jackie Dehner, Patti Jacobsen, Kim Mac- Coll, Mimi Maduro, Maggie Rogers, Steve Rudman, Sumner Sharpe, and Michael Wells. Copyright © 1984 Rain Umbrella, Inc, No part may be reprinted without written permission. ISSN 0739-621x. This issue ofRAIN is dedicated to Nancy Cosper. ARTICLES 6 Acupuncture: Balancing the Patterns—by Tanya Kucak □ Profile of Dr. Henry K.S. Wong—by Nancy Cosper □ When is Acupuncture Appropriate?—by Tanya Kucak 14 Dragons of Democracy (in Spain?): Lessons from the Mondragon Co-ops—by Scott Androes 18 A Timely Prescription for Healthy Forests—excerpt from The Forest Farmer's Handbook: A Guide to Natural Selection Forest Management 20 Notions of Community Skeptical Activist Explores Community Roots—by Steve Rudman Findhorn at 21—by Steve Rudman Culture, Land, and Education at Chinook—by Mimi Maduro ACCESS 4 Energy—Be Your Own Power Company □ New Energy Sources for Developing Areas □ Appropriate Techiwlogy Organizations 5 Food—Food for Health and Healing □ The Living Kitchen □ Natural Notes □ Good Food from a Japanese Temple □ The Motion-Minded Kitchen 10 Acupuncture—Celestial Lancets □ The Web That Has No Weaver □ Acupuncture 11 Peace—Bike for Peace □ Gandhi as a Political Strategist □ "Judy Garland and the Global Death Wish or. How to Stop Worrying and Love Stolichnaya" 12 Urban Neighborhoods—Street Signs Chicago □ City as Classroom □ New City-States 13 Environment and Learning—City of Hermits □ Settling Things □ Do It with the Sun 15 Cooperative Ownership—"Union Experiences with Worker . Ownership" □ National Center for Employee Ownership □ Association for Workplace Democracy □ Philadelphia Association for Cooperative Enterprises □ "Adventures of a Socialist Entrepreneur" □ Mondragon: An Economic Analysis □ "Lessons from the Mondragon Co-ops" □ "Mondragon: The Remarkable Achievement" □ The Socialization of Entrepreneurship 17 Sustainable Agriculture—Annals of Earth Steivardship □ Plenty □ Manna □ Hortldeas □ The Self-Sufficient Suburban Garden 26 Community—Chinook Learning Community □ Findhorn Foundation □ Earth Community □ EarthBank Association □ Community Dreams □ "Being a Planetary Villager" □ "Future Communities" □ Communities 27 Computers and Communication—Computer-Based Conferencing Systems for Developing Countries □ Benton Foundation □ Linkup □ New Technology Resource Center □ Telecommunications Cooperative Network 29 Touch & Go BIOREGIONS 28 A Bioregional Vision—by Kirkpatrick Sale 30 Voices of Reinhabitation: Southern Appalachia 32 Pacific Northwest Bioregion Report Red-legged Frog Cascades Frog FROM: A Field Guide to the Cascades and Olympics (see page 35)
May/June 1984 RAIN Page 3 RAINDROPS We've been receiving a steady stream of responses from the flyers we sent to every individual subscriber last time. Thanks to everyone who has sent in a list of 10 potential subscribers. Keep them coming! Several people called or wrote to tell us they'd received two copies of the March/April issue—before they'd found the explanation on the flyers inside. The best letter of the bunch was from a reader in Houston, Texas: "For reasons known but to god (and even she may be puzzled), I received two copies of Volume X, Number 3—which must be an expensive error for you. Hope this helps you get your records straight." A couple weeks later, she wrote back to say; "I fired off my note to you before I even opened the magazine, obviously. My reaction time was swift because a year ago a computer stuttered and I got 97 copies of Inquiry— an event which I think would spook anyone! I've sent the extra to a good friend who used to live in the Pacific Northwest. I really .value RAIN—every issue is interesting." (Thanks. We love to get letters and wish we'd get more.) Another of our low-cost promotion strategies is to trade our mailing list for someone else's. Since last July, we've traded lists (or parts thereof) with In Context, East-West Journal, Science for the People, Conserve Neighborhoods, Parabola, the Chinook Learning Community, and the University of California at Davis' Appropriate Technology Program. Please tell us if you'd rather not receive extras via your RAIN subscription, and we'll hide your name when we trade lists. Also, if you belong to a group of RAIN- minded people (a solar energy association, for example), find out if you can share your mailing list with us. We'll use the names for just one mailing—a brochure or a sample copy—and then they're all yours again. We'll take the names in any form, the neater the better, but of course we prefer typed names on sticky labels above all. Our new intern, Cathy Baker, has been a great help in getting out these mailings (and hundreds of other things, too). Cathy comes to us from Reed College in Portland, where she's majoring in anthropology. Summers in the Cascades have taught her the lore and lay of the land in the Northwest. The theme for the September/October 1984 issue of RAIN will be Art in Everyday Life. We'll be exploring at least two aspects of this theme: (1) what is it like to live in a society where art is not something separate, and there are no "artists" because everyone is an artist; and (2) what role do art and design play in our lives today as we strive to create a better world, and how can we integrate art into our daily lives. Send ideas and information to Tanya Kucak at RAIN. We're also looking for some up-to-date information on composting toilets. We haven't heard much about them in the past few years. Have you? Write to Cathy Baker at RAIN as soon as possible if you have information, leads, ideas, or personal experiences to share on composting toilets. Many of the items in this issue—as in past issues—strike the common chord of connectedness, of the patterns that bring unlike things together. I came upon these sentences by Roger H. Garrison in the February 10 issue of Maine Times: "The pernicious practice to be avoided is the piling up of general knowledge which has no connection to individual personal experience;. . . The only useful knowledge is connected knowledge." —TK LETTERS I am a Portlandite traveling in India studying health care programs here with a self-help/preventive care emphasis. It is frustrating, tiring, and difficult. So many problems—a rigid hierarchy by caste, severe oppression of women, limited resources.... A friend of mine who had been traveling with me, but returned to Portland in January, just sent me a copy of RAIN (January/February 1984). I read with tears in my eyes. There are positive things happening back home!! (The article on nuclear-free zones was especially good to hear about.) I feel hope, and I am anxious to go back to my community where I understand things and can work for change in a way that is meaningful. Until then, I continue here, learning and gaining some global perspective. Thank you for the piece of home. (By the way, I left the copy of RAIN in Goa, so maybe it will be picked up and spread around!) Monica Irons As long-time fans of RAIN (and former editors of Acorn—now gone under here in the good old Midwest), we were excited to see the "Exploring the Globe" article in the January/February 1984 issue of RAIN. In fact, I could hardly believe how similar our intents are. I think what got us going on our own project was the realization that the "earth from space" is probably the most popular commercial media image around today—and yet 70% of our population doesn't know where Miami is. Our study of the planetary grid system is an old one. We worked with a group of networkers we plugged into about a year and a half ago. They have an esprit de corps that reminds me of the best days of A.T. networking (for me) when there was much excitement and much open sharing of philosophy and technical discovery— before the days of U.S. DOE Washington meetings, CE)C, Western Sun, and the Appropriate Technology Small Grants Program. I can't believe how many of the people we correspond with are active solar/A.T. practitioners who are thinking about global communication and the future of what might be thought of as "Third World Science"—science that will combine ancient and modern science and religion/spiritualism/parapsychology. We are excited about our own possible ways to contribute to the research. In March we made our first big "leap" with the concept of the grid at our Third World Conference. We think that the grid can (if we believe the Russian researchers, who are trying so hard to communicate with American people) make an enormous contribution to the health, welfare, and future planning endeavors in Third World countries. As I said, I am happy to see RAIN make this step into global thinking. It is so important, and it seems to add a whole new future to the magazine. (Send any questions to me at 105 Wolpers Road, Park Forest, IL 60466.) Bethe Hagens Intercultural Studies in Global Mapping and Communication Governors State University Park Forest South, Illinois
. Page 4 RAIN May/June 1984 ACCESS: Energy Be Your Own Power Company, by David Morris, 1983, 326 pages, $9.95 from: Rodale Press 33 East Minor Street Emmaus, PA 18049 advantages and disadvantages of each of the renewable-energy-generating technologies. If you've started down the road to generating electricity from renewable resources and selling part or all of it to your local utility, you've probably got more questions than any book could answer. But this one can answer a lot of them, as well as answer questions you hadn't thought to ask but probably. should have. —Michael Philips Michael Philips is a Senior Energy Analyst for the City of Portland Energy Office. Previously, he worked for the Solar Lobby and the National League of Cities in Washington, DC. tion, in English and French, on the sponsoring group, original language (mostly English and French), research protocol, start and end dates of the project, financial sponsor, publications, and indexing information. In the back of the book, the author has organized the projects by new and renewable energy sources (solar energy, biomass), disciplines (chemistry, forestry), applications (production of electricity, water pumping), and activity sectors (household, tourism) and localization (mountain, coastal, and island). This is a good resource if you want a quick reference to representative renewable-energy research in Europe and selected developing countries. -^TK When the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act was passed in 1978, it effectively eliminated the legal monopoly electric utilities had over electric generation by requiring them to purchase at a fair price electricity generated by small, independent power producers. PURPA only applies if the small producers generate electricty via cogeneration or with renewable resources such as pho- tovoltaics, windpower, and hydropower. Author David Morris, codirector of the Institute for Local Self Reliance, explains how to generate and sell electricty to utility companies from backyard and small-scale systems. Although several books are available that explain, mainly from a Popular Science perspective, how to design wind turbines, micro-hydro generators, and the like, this is the only comprehensive guidebook on the financial and legal issues involved in interconnecting with the utility grid. The issues can be complex, but Morris dissects each one in an easy-to-understand fashion. One of the most crucial issues involves determining the price the utility should pay for a small producer's power. PURPA regulations require utilities to pay roughly the same price per kilowatt-hour that it costs them to add new baseload generating capacity, such as from a new coal or nuclear plant. This price can turn out to be high. The federal rules, however, are only guidelines, and the ultimate sale price a small producer gets is largely determined in individual negotiations with the local utility, which, in all probability, isn't anxious to hook up to a backyard windmill, jet alone pay a high rate for the electricity. Morris explains what considerations should go into calculating the actual sale price, and he takes readers through basic negotiating points and standard contracts. He also covers the New Energy Sources for Developing Areas, by Sandro Amaducci, 1984, 277 pp., $24 from: Sandro Amaducci 246 avenue Coghen, bte 2 B-1180 Brussels Belgium Applications of pedal power, microbial digestion of treated cereal strains in the rumen, the sea-clam wave energy conversion system, and holographic thin-film systems for multijunction solar cells are four of the 230 research projects indexed in this directory. The author surveyed over 1000 research centers or organizations that have an interest in energy research in the European Community or in ACP countries (63 countries in Africa, the Caribbean, or the Pacific, associated with the European Community) to collect this information. For the most part, the projects studied are intended to provide solutions to energy problems in developing countrios. Each one-page entry includes informaAppropriate Technology Organizations: A Worldwide Directory, compiled by the Center for Business Information, 1984, 149 pp., $29.95 from: McFarland and Company, Publishers Box 611 Jefferson, NC 28640 A comprehensive listing, by country, of the addresses of 1,977 appropriate technology organizations. The organizations are arranged by country (there are 16 A.T. organizations in Botswana, you can see at a glance), and there is an alphabetical index in the back of the book. I spotted a few typos in the addresses, and I wonder if some of the organizations are still in operation. In all, though, this is a good place to start looking if you want to find out about A.T. activity in any country (or U.S. state) you choose. It's good to see these kinds of guides are still being published, after the big flurry of A.T. activity of the 1970s. —TK Types of lids: porcelain-lined screw top, metal screw cap, self-sealing cap, and clamp-type lid FROM: The Living Kitchen
May/June 1984 RAIN Page 5 ACCESS: Food Foods for Health and Healing: Remedies and Recipes, by Yogi Bhajan, 1983,140 pp., $6.95 from: KRI PO Box 1550 Pomona, CA 91769 “Anti-smog pancakes?" "Yogi tea?" Yes, they're both here in this edition of Yogi Bhajan's teachings on the healing aspects of foods. I approached this book with a grain of skepticism, but soon became caught up with the Yogi's fresh, conversational style. He first presents various foods with their healing properties, then explores the best foods for common ailments. This leads into foods for positive health, separated into special chapters for men, women, and children. The book ends with intriguing recipes based on the synergistic effects of the foods used. Foods for Health and Healing makes for enjoyable and interesting reading. I drank large quantities of yogi tea during a recent long, hard bout with the flu, and although I can't vouch for its curative properties, I have to say it tasted great. ■My only complaint about this book is its emphasis on tropical foods—besides the political and economic reasons. I'm sure there are some health reasons for eating locally. A book like this for each bioregion would be interesting. —JS The Living Kitchen, by Sharon Cadwallader, 1983,127 pp., $7.95 from: Sierra Club Books 530 Bush Street San Francisco, CA 94108 Designing a new kitchen or remodeling an old one? Then don't overlook this book—it provides a wealth of ideas and items to consider while trying to answer that age-old designer's question: What exactly do I want? I like Cadwallader's sense of the kitchen as the central room of the home, as it was in times past, a truly living kitchen connected to all other activities in the home. Her three model kitchens are well chosen and are taken from actual homes, giving the book a nice down-to-earth feel. Other parts of the book, though, seem like a warmed-over hash of well-known gardening and food books such as The Complete Book of Edible Landscaping, The Book of Tofu, and Laurel's Kitchen. A couple of annoying references to "Frances Lappe Moore" made me feel like whacking Cadwallader with a hardcover Diet fora Small Planet. And I was surprised that this author of Whole Earth Cooking for the 80's makes no mention of bulk foods in her chapter on purchasing economically; instead, she dwells on how to shop at your local supermarket. This book is a useful guide for the amateur kitchen designer/remodeler, but don't expect much more. —JS Natural Notes, monthly, $10/year from: Natural Notes PO Box 299 Flint, MI 48501 The first issue of Natural Notes, "a monthly newsletter about healthy foods and simpler living," came out in late 1983. This issue features a section on the history, uses, and nutritional value of coriander and spinach, including recipes; an informative article on MSG; favorite recipes; a good article on paper recycling; and a Kid's Corner. Natural Notes is a homey, nicely done eight-pager, worth looking into. —JS Good Foodfrom a Japanese Temple, by Soei Yoneda, 1982, 224 pp., $16.95 cloth from: Kodansha International 10 East 53rd Street New York, NY 10022 A beautiful book on shojin ryori, a 600- year-old tradition of Japanese vegetarian cooking that has been preserved in a Zen nunnery in Kyoto. The 230 recipes for simple, elegant food are arranged by season. In shojin cookery, the cook balances the five methods (boiling, grilling, deep-frying, steaming, and serving raw) and the five colors (green, yellow, red, white, and black) to achieve seasonal variations. In each meal, the cook also balances the six tastes (bitter, sour, sweet, hot, salty, and "delicate") / and the three virtues (lightness and softness, cleanliness and freshness, and precision and care). The author includes descriptions of Japanese foods such as lily root and ginkgo nuts. A series of delicious color pictures of prepared foods, as well as line drawings sprinkled throughout the book, aid you in selection and preparation. An introduction to each recipe tells the history of or interesting information about the dish. Shojin cookery delights in innovation, and so in many cases the recipes use Western ingredients (such as zucchini, which was only introduced to Japan in the 1970s). You'll find sushi (Bamboo Sushi), tempura (Ginger Tempura), and miso dishes here, but let your senses delight in such uncommon dishes as Tangerine "tofu," an orange pudding that looks like tofu but is made with tangerines and potato starch. One caveat: Many recipes contain more salt (miso, seaweed, soy sauce) than most healthy- eating guides recommend. —TK The Motion-Minded Kitchen, by Sam Clark, 1983,146 pp., $9.95 from: Houghton Mifflin Company 2 Park Street Boston, MA 02107 I've lived with 10 kitchens in the past five years—none of them designed quite right—and what Clark says about kitchen design rings true. Clark recommends simplicity: "The motto of good design is 'omit needless details'... but the motto over the door of the dream kitchen reads, 'omit nothing.'" To design a kitchen that works, Clark suggests studying the individuals who will use the kitchen and their movements, in the tradition of the kitchen-research era (1930-1955). He details principles and examples that don't waste therbligs—the fundamental movements out of which any work is built. "Items used habitually should be retrieved and stored with a minimum of motion. Those used constantly should be accessible with a single motion." There's a good bit of common sense here. This isn't merely a book on design theory, however. It's a hands-on resource for people who want to remodel their kitchens. Clark gives good advice on estimating the time and cost of your project, and he provides plans for kitchen components that minimize therbligs. He's a big fan of open shelves, and the main part of the book consists of a guide for constructing them. I particularly like the idea of dish drainers located above the sink that also serve as storage space. According to Clark, "Open shelving leaves stored items more visible and accessible, and costs about half of what closed cupboards cost. Narrower shelving, 6 to 10 inches deep, impinges less on the room space, and casts less shadow over counters. It can be positioned lower, making the contents easier to reach." Furthermore, he argues, building the cabinets in place, instead of using manufactured, prebuilt boxes, saves time and money. The appendices give more information on tools needed and motionmindedness, and provide kitchen layout templates and forms for estimating costs. —TK
Page 6 RAIN May/June 1984 The lung channel, as depicted in the Lei Ching of 1624, has 11 points on each side of ^ the body. FROM; Celestial Lancets % £? A.-it Acupuncture: Balancing the Patterns by Tanya Kucak The concept of health, the value of traditional wisdom, and the theme of the interrelationships between things and ideas are three perspectives that surface again and again in RAIN. These three perspectives are also central to Chinese medicine. This article presents an overview of acupuncture, a system of medicine that is ofparticular interest because it is applicable to two pressing concerns in our increasingly polluted and stressful world: It serves as preventive medicine, and it can successfully treat chronic illnesses. There are correlations between the way we treat our bodies and the way we treat our planet. A system of medical treatment that was already 2000 years old when modern science was born, acupuncture consists of inserting fine needles at specific points on the body to treat various illnesses and malfunctions. Moxibustion, or moxa, a closely related therapy, uses the radiant heat from burning the herb Artemisia vulgaris (common mugwort), rather than needles, at the points. Moxa is often used in conjunction with needles on the same point at the same time. The oldest references to acupuncture occur around 600-700 B.C. By 100 B.C., acupuncture and moxibustion were in universal use throughout China. The development of the entire system was essentially complete by 300 A.D., according to Lu and Needham in Celestial Lancets (see access). Nevertheless, Chinese medicine is part of a living tradition; indeed, acupuncture analgesia was discovered just two decades ago, and doctors have used it in place of drug-induced anaesthesia for major surgery. Additionally, hundreds of new points have been discovered in the past 50 years, particularly on the ear. Acupuncture is part of a holistic tradition, and its philosophy is "medieval, albeit subtle and sophisticated": Its practitioners "never lost sight of the psychospiritual organism as a whole, and its grand design was the restoration of natural harmony," write Lu and Needham. In this sense, acupuncture takes a sort of ecological approach to health, wherein everything is in balance—dynamic equilibrium—and a break in the pattern has repercussions for the entire system. Disease is the pattern that disconnects. In ancient China the work of the physician was to maintain health rather than to treat sickness. Since signs of imbalance preceded any onset of symptoms, the physician could find, and correct, disharmonies and imbalances in the patient before they became manifest as disease. The practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine can detect potential problems with far more precision, and far sooner, than modern instruments can. In a similar vein, Felix Mann (see access) writes, "Many patients who have been treated by acupuncture notice a considerable improvement in their general health. This is because acupuncture can correct those minor disturbances in health which are undetected by other methods of diagnosis, and which if they remained untreated could in later years easily turn into a serious overt and easily recognized disease. The sensitivity of Chinese pulse diagnosis ... makes it possible to detect minor disturbances, enabling immediate treatment to be given
May/June 1984 RAIN Page 7 at an early stage." Indeed, an acupuncturist once told me that I should take some Chinese herbs to correct imbalances, or else symptoms might show up in 10 years. Acupuncture helps the body heal itself. "The general impression one gains from the literature [clinical studies]," write Lu and Needham, "is that acupuncture can bring about a marked increase in the body's own resistance and healing power, together with direct effects on the nervous system in the case of neurological abnormalities." For over 20 years, stress specialist Hans Selye has spoken in favor of acupuncture as a method of enhancing the body's resistance to stressors. Moxibustion, too, is preventive medicine. In medieval times, Chinese scholars would apply moxibustion to three or more points on the body after each 10-day period of good health, and travelers regarded mugwort as one of the most important components of their first- aid kits. Most practitioners regularly use only 70 to 150 points. There are 2000 points in all, and 361 major points, which are located along 12 primary bilateral channels (or tracts or meridians) and two channels that run along the front and back of the body. Moreover, the network of points is interconnected, forming a circuit, since each channel connects to the next. The classic analogy that the Chi^ nese use is a system of waterworks. Thus, the points are located along channels, and many of the Chinese words for the points indicate traffic, transmission, and bodies of water. The system of points is a microcosmic equivalent of the stars in the heavens, but it is fundamentally circulatory in nature. 'Acupuncture can bring about a marked increase in the body's own resistance and healing power, together with direct effects on the nervous system in the case of neurological abnormalities.' Two substances circulate in the body via the network of channels—ch'i and blood. According to O'Connor and Bensky (see access), ch'i "signifies a tendency, a movement, something on the order of energy"—a psychophysiological power. When acupuncture is used, the ch'i is said to be "obtained" and then manipulated. The channels form a web that joins the internal organs with the skin, flesh, ligaments, bones, and all other tissues, and integrates each part with the whole. Lu and Needham write, "The marvel is that the tracts were (and shll are) anatomically invisible, thought of always as crevices or impalpable channels for vital chhi, not obvious tubes like the blood-vessels and lymphatics; and perhaps in the end it may turn out that what they really • signify is a system of lines of equivalent physiological action." There is no matter/energy dichotomy in Chinese medicine. Chinese medicine does not regard the internal Arrowhead ^ Round p Pressure p Sharp p Roundsharp ----------------- Fine 1^^^—T ____________ Long ...'' ...........— Large .■.. III.IIII 1 1—I 1 1—^ > 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Units The nine needles FROM: Acupuncture: A Comprehensive Text organs as independent anatomical entities, but focuses on the functional and pathological interrelationships between the channel network and the organs. Thus, each of the 12 primary channels—lung, large intestine, stomach, spleen, heart, small intestine, bladder, kidney, pericardium, triple burner, gall bladder, and liver— bears the name of a vital organ. (Incidentally, the triple burner does not correspond to any particular organ, but rather to a function.) In practice, the acupuncturist commonly treats a particular organ through points on other channels as well as points on the connecting channel. Nobody knows precisely how acupuncture works, and Western science has always been skeptical of things it can't explain, so the West has been slow to accept acupuncture. Nevertheless, over 2000 years of clinical experience attest to the effectiveness of acupuncture: It would not have lasted this long if its effects were purely subjective and psychological. In fact, you don't have to believe in acupuncture for it to work, and it works on animals. The Chinese began using acupuncture on animals in the thirteenth century. Recently, a Boston acupuncturist has been wielding his needles on race horses, with the result that the horses can run faster and recover more quickly from a race. (See "Acupuncture Goes to the Races," by Peter Bates, East-West Journal, November 1983.) Acupuncture did enjoy popularity in Europe during the first half of the eighteenth century (Balzac mentioned acupuncture and moxa in one of his novels in 1828), but it fell from interest by the 1850s, and didn't have much influence in the West until the 1950s. By then, the Chinese themselves were beginning to make new discoveries about acupuncture—most notably, acupuncture analgesia. Chinese physicians found that patients could converse with the doctor or perform certain movements to assist the surgeon while feeling nothing of the scalpel, and afterwards, rarely experience the post-surgery nausea or complications that often accompany drug-induced anesthesia. Many doctors. Western and Chinese, are studying both Chinese medicine and Western medicine to determine what works best in a given condition. Often, Western medicine can treat diseases that Chinese medicine finds intractable, and vice versa—Western physicians visiting China have seen Chinese medicine used to
Page 8 RAIN May/June 1984 treat patients whose condition Western medicine considers terminal. (A contributing factor to the healing power of Chinese medicine is the use of herbs. Chinese herbs are even less known than acupuncture in the West, and yet many practitioners believe that herbal medicine is by far stronger than acupuncture. Herbs, like acupuncture, work to restore the body to balance, and are generally taken as tea in combinations suited to each patient.) The Chinese system looks for the break in the pattern, whereas the Western system looks for the broken part. Western science's study of acupuncture has revealed some interesting things. Researchers at a Toronto hospital have identified acupuncture points by measuring the electrical resistance of the skin. In double-blind experiments, the apparatus has identified the classical acupoints. Reportedly, Russian holographers have also stumbled upon acupuncture points while undertaking holographic studies of the human body. (Curiously, in the mid-1800s A. Weihe, a homeopathic physician from Stuttgart, independently discovered 195 points on the body that showed excessive sensitivity to pain when pressure was applied. About two-thirds of these coincide with Chinese acu-points.) The Chinese system of relating points along channels to a specific internal organ has some basis or parallel in modern Western medicine. Often, a malfunction or infection in an internal organ is manifested as pain near the surface of the body—not necessarily near that internal organ. Patients with heart disease, for example, show a consistent pattern of "trigger points," areas in the shoulder or chest where pressure can intensify pain. Points like these are so reliable that atlases of pain patterns exist. Researchers are studying the neurophysiological and neurochemical effects of acupuncture as well. Interest in acupuncture and Chinese medicine is growing at a time when faith in Western medicine is declining. Western medicine's stronger drugs and more sophisticated instruments are leading to more iatrogenic diseases and worse health, on the whole. Metaphoricah ly, the Chinese system looks for the break in the pattern, whereas the Western system looks for the broken part. Ted Kaptchuk (see access) foresees a synthesis of the two approaches, wherein the spirit of interrelatedness of Chinese medicine will inform the Western approach to create "a more exact paradigm of biological medicine," and the Western techniques will "move the methods of Chinese medicine to new heights of precision and efficiency." □ □ © 1984 Tanya Kucak Modern Western Medicine vs. Traditional Chinese Medicine events linear (A causes B) analysis: look for causal links interrelated, part ofa pattern synthesis: piece symptoms together until picture of whole person appears / , treatment centered on disease centered on person mind and body dichotomy continuum lifestyle emphasizes competition and confrontation emphasizes harmony attitudes towards disease diseases are due to causes that can he killed, cut out, or contained: treatment unsuccessful if this fails ideal of health is a positive, harmonious feeling of wellness disease viewed as disorder in the body; treatment directed toward properly ordering or "harmonizing" the body; can treat many debilitating and chronic conditions function vs. form great deal .ofemphasis on body's structure and how it changes during course ofa disease: physiology and pathology are linked with structure: function is a result of structure: disease is described by what it does to tissues involved emphasis placed almost entirely on function: the organs are the functions, and no mechanism explicable on a structural or morphological level is necessary; what happens is considered more important than what something looks like measurement precision of measurement and conceptualization is the ideal affinity for vagueness, due to an appreciation that in nature things are rarely cut and dried, but instead are blurred; empirical: theory can nei'er be divorced from practice Compiled from: Acupuncture: A Comprehensive Text (Introduction by O'Connor and Bensky)
May/June 1984 RAIN Page 9 Pulse-taking in Chinese medicine FROM; The ]Neb That Has No Weaver When is Acupuncture Appropriate? Many pain-control centers have an acupuncturist on the staff, because acupuncture is an excellent therapy for relieving or curing painful conditions (except the intractable pain of malignancy, which neither modern Western nor traditional Chinese medicine can effectively control). Often, chronic conditions respond better to acupuncture, and acute conditions respond better to the antibiotics or surgery of Western medicine. Current research in China and the U.S. is attempting to determine which therapies work best for which conditions. The chronic/acute division is general; usually, each patient's history and condition determines the treatment. Since acupuncture makes no distinction between physical and psychological causes, it can also treat psychological conditions (addiction to smoking or drugs, for example). Statistical studies undertaken in clinical settings have revealed that on the average, 70% to 75% of the cases treated with acupuncture respond well. A short list of conditions that acupuncture treatments have cured or helped includes allergies, migraines, arthritis, sinusitis, lumbago, sciatica, gastric ulcer, angina pectoris, skin diseases, appendicitis, asthma, colitis, neuralgia, rheumatism, poor circulation, nervousness, general fatigue, hepatitis, anxiety, and depression. As in any ecological situation, the variables are so numerous in health and sickness that each case must be judged individually. Acupuncturists are certified or registered by state licensing boards, in most states. — TK Profile of Dr. Henry K. S. Wong by Nancy Cosper "The cause of all disease is congestion," Dr. Henry Wong tells me. "Actually I do not cure disease. I am simply like a body mechanic. I tune up your body. Let your body take care to adjust itself." I came to Dr. Wong with very little knowledge about acupuncture, and with a lot of Western ideas about disease. Six months, 20 treatments, and many questions later, I am beginning to understand a little of the philosophy and the intricacies of Chinese healing techniques. Whereas Western medicine starts with a specific symptom and looks for a specific underlying cause for the disease, Chinese medicine takes into account the symptoms and all other general characteristics as well as the natural environment of the patient. The Chinese physician looks for a "pattern of disharmony." Any one factor is another part of the whole, and thus the patient is treated for his or her pattern of symptoms, not for the cause of those symptoms. As Dr. Wong diagnoses me, he takes my pulses. (There are three pulse points on each wrist, and deep and superficial pulses at each point, in Chinese medicine.) He looks at my tongue and eyes, and he assesses my general aura. He sees hundreds of patients a year who come to him from all over the world; no two have exactly the same diagnosis. "Acupuncture releases the congestion in the body," Dr. Wong says, "then the body can heal itself." In traditional acupuncture the doctor inserts a series of needles into points on the body. Stimulation of the points via acupuncture needles can positively affect the organs of the body. 'Actually I do not cure disease. I am simply like a body mechanic. I tune up your body. Let your body take care to adjust itself/ Dr. Wong says. There are currently over 2000 acupuncture points in use. A physician usually chooses about 5 to 15 points associated with the patient's particular disharmony. Very fine needles are inserted from one-fourth inch to three inches deep, depending on the point. Dr. Wong leaves the needles in from a few seconds to several minutes. (In a more standard practice, the needles stay in for 10 to 20 minutes, or in rare cases, for an hour or two.) "I do not practice acupuncture in the traditional way," Dr. Wong tells me. His skilled fingers move along the meridians of my body, confirming his pulse diagnosis. Sensing any congestion he already felt when reading the pulse. Dr. Wong inserts a needle and most often
Page 10 RAIN May/June 1984 immediately withdraws it, moving quickly to the next point. By the end of an hour-long treatment, he may have made 25 to 50 insertions. In addition. Dr. Wong uses moxibustion, a related technique that applies heat from herbs—principally mugwort—to those acupuncture points. Dr. Wong's manner is loving, concerned, reassuring. "I have a patient who said that her doctor frightened her," he tells me. "Now how can anyone be cured by someone who frightens them? There must be trust between doctors and their patients." Dr. Wong is 72 years old. ("Seventy-four in the Chinese way of calculation," he laughs). He learned acupuncture in China from his grandfather, and he had the opportunity to study in many different places. In addition to being a recognized master of the arts of herbal medicine and acupuncture—he served on the California Board of Acupuncture Examiners and was one of the first licensed acupuncturists in that state— Dr. Wong has practiced the ch'i arts (martial arts and t'ai chi), taught yoga in Hong Kong for 25 years, and is a Taoist priest. Going to him for acupuncture has been far more than a series of physical treatments. It has been a precious experience in learning about integration and balance in all aspects of life. □ □ ACCESS: Acupuncture Celestial Lancets: A History and Rationale ofAcupuncture and Moxa, by Lu Gwei-djen and Joseph Needham, 1980, 427 pp., $105 cloth from: Cambridge University Press 32 East 57th Street New York, NY 10022 Authoritative, scholarly, thorough. This book gives a cogent and reliable discussion of the history and working of acupuncture, but you'll need to have a medical dictionary at hand as you read. Celestial Lancets is part of the "Science and Civilization in China" series of volumes, a massive scholarly undertaking that encompasses the whole of the Chinese scientific tradition. As historians of science, Lu and Needham discuss what the Chinese acupuncturists thought they were doing and how they used theory to complement practice. Then, as scientists, they go on to discuss plausible explanations for acupuncture in terms of Western medicine. The authors exhibit a remarkable depth FROM: The Web That Has No Weaver and breadth of knowledge. They bring in cross-cultural examples to reveal parallels between Chinese science and Western science. Furthermore, their discussions of biological clocks—their place in the ancient Chinese corpus and their rediscovery in modern Western science—and of the neurophysiology of pain perception are fascinating. The bibliography, which runs to 60 pages, provides probably the most complete reference to both English and Chinese writings on acupuncture. —TK The Web That Has No Weaver: Understanding Chinese Medicine, by Ted Kaptchuk, 1983, 402 pp., $9.95 from: Congdon & Weed 298 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10001 The first premise of this book is that you cannot begin to understand Chinese medicine in the context of Western medicine. The two systems of healing exist simultaneously, each having grown from its own world views. They are utterly different. Each can be considered as what it is, and what it can do; how the two can in a larger sense complement and critique one another can be seen. But comparisons won't work here. Ted Kaptchuk is a Westerner who studied Chinese medicine in China. His introduction expresses some of the difficulty in explaining Chinese concepts with a Western vocabulary, but his chapters clearly explain the basics. Some of the discussion, well illustrated with examples, includes the fundamental substances, the organs, the meridians, examinations and diagnosis, and patterns of yin and yang. He also discusses herbalism. Detailed notes follow each chapter. The last 130 pages consist of appendices of tables and notes that supplement the chapter discussions, a selected bibliography, and an index. —Nancy Cosper Acupuncture: The Ancient Chinese Art of Healing and How It Works Scientifically, by Felix Mann, revised edition, 1971, 234 pp., $1.95 from: Random House 201 East 50th Street New York, NY 10022 A fairly reliable discussion of acupuncture. What sets this book apart is Mann's liberal use of case histories, taken from his practice, to illustrate his points. Mann's (half-dozen or so) books on acupuncture, along with works by Manfred Porkert (The Theoretical Foundations of Chinese Medicine, 1974, MIT Press; and a more recent book on Chinese diagnostics), comprise the most reliable popular works in English, besides the books by Kaptchuk and Lu and Needham reviewed above. For more detailed information, consult Chinese sources translated into English. Two notable texts are Essentials of Chinese Acupuncture (compiled by the Beijing College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanjing College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and The Acupuncture Institute of the Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 1980, 432 pp., $29.95 cloth from: Foreign Languages Press, 24 Baiwanzhuang Road, Beijing, China), and Acupuncture: A Comprehensive Text (by the Shanghai College of Traditional Medicine, translated and edited by John O'Connor and Dan Bensky, 1981, 741 pp., $55 cloth from: Eastland Press, PO Box 4910, Chicago, IL 60680). Both of these books have excellent introductions (particularly the latter), which explain Chinese medicine clearly and concisely. The American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine (2400 Geary Boulevard, San Francisco, CA 94115) publishes a quarterly journal on Chinese medicine. —TK
May/June 1984 RAIN Page 11 ACCESS: Peace Bike for Peace John Dowlin, Linda Knapp PO Box 8194 Philadelphia, PA 19101 215/222-1253 Bike for Peace '83 was a small, magical event involving American, Scandinavian, and Soviet bicyclists who pedaled 1200 miles through five countries, from Moscow to Washington, DC, in July 1983. The "peace champions," as they were called, averaged 55 miles a day for about four weeks, bicycling for an end to the arms race and for friendlier relations among nations. I was one of 10 North Americans who participated. None of us were prepared for the lifetime friendships that developed. Despite language barriers, we became an incredibly close family, determined to meet and ride again. Given the low ebb of U.S.-Soviet relations, the Norwegian organizers hope to initiate a Bike for Peace ride on an annual basis, involving as many participants as possible, particularly Americans and Soviets. Tore Naerland, the "biking Viking" largely responsible for the 1983 peaceride, is tentatively planning Bike for Peace '84, which would begin on May 11 in Malmo, Sweden, and proceed through East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Austria, and Italy, ending in Rome on June 13. Contact Tore c/o Bike for Peace Norway, Asdalsveien 3A, Oslo 11, Norway. We hope to have a Washington to Moscow return trip in 1985, and Bike for Peace USA has already met with the Soviet Peace Committee to discuss the route (via Toronto, Oslo, Berlin, and Minsk), as well as the planting of peace gardens in Washington, Oslo, and Moscow. Those interested in participating in Bike for Peace '85, as well as in the BFP '83 Slide Show, should contact me at the address above. ■Although Bike for Peace '83 made national television in all five countries and was written up in more than 300 newspapers and magazines, it was still not a "media event." For a sampling of articles, see the Fall 1983 Bicycling News Canada, the November ^983 American Wheelmen, the January 1984 Soviet Life, and the April-May 1984 Bike Report, available at most libraries, if not at your bike shop. —John Dowlin Gandhi as a Political Strategist: With Essays on Ethics and Politics, by Gene Sharp, 1979, 357 pp., $7.95 from: Porter Sargent Publishers 11 Beacon Street Boston, MA 02108 With interest in Gandhi and his creed of nonviolence sparked by the recent biographical movie and by the growing antinuclear movement, this is a timely book. Thirteen essays in two major groupings, plus an extensive appendix, make up this collection. There is much here: the history and theory of Gandhi's works, analyses of his influence, reviews of other scholarly works, recommendations for course usage, and a glossary. As a casual admirer of Gandhi and as one of many who daily struggle to make nonviolence an active part of life, I found these essays interesting and easy to read for background on the man and the movement. But there is much more. Sharp's thesis is that Gandhi was an extraordinary political strategist whose contributions to nonviolent social change need to be considered and taken seriously. He was not a saint, not a unique product of Hindu culture or religion, not a radical who was fortunate to be agitating under a benign colonial power, and not someone "ahead of his time." In fact, Coretta Scott King argues in the introduction that Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., were rare individuals not because they were ahead of but because they caught up with their times. This collection is significant because it deals with the hard questions and issues that surround principled nonviolence today. Both advocates and detractors of this movement fall into the same trap over and over again; One is either a hawk or a dove, an advocate of violence or of cowardice. Gandhi's response to the "pacifism/passivism" debate make members of the peace movement uncomfortable. He codified the principle of satyagraha, which had been used by principled resisters of violence before but had never been made into a movement. Implying "nonviolent direct action," "militant nonviolence," or "war without violence," satyagraha brings to nonviolence the same qualities of self-sacrifice, discipline, and personal bravery that we extol only in the armed services today. It is too easy to immunize ourselves against taking Gandhi seriously by making him either a saint or a naive dreamer. Sharp has given us the antidote in this book, and we in the peace movement need to take it. —Bruce Borquist Bruce Borquist works as a community coordinator for a small-busincss assistance center. "Judy Garland and the Global Death Wish or. How to Stop Worrying and Love Stolichnaya," by Tom Robbins, Felloivship, January/February 1984, $1.25 from; Fellowship of Reconciliation Box 271 Nyack, NY 10960 Let us then dispense with political differences, says Tom Robbins, because "technological advances have rendered our existing political, economic, and social institutions dangerously obsolete." There are delightful quirks in this piece (as you might guess from the title), wherein Robbins tells us to ignore the politicians and love the Russians, "and in so doing escape the pull of the puppet-masters, and quit contributing to their deadly game." What he says rings true. By the way, this entire issue of Fellowship focuses on U.S./USSR relations "in the hope that demythologizing the 'enemy' can strengthen the human connection and lead to reconciliation." As usual, the articles are insightful and convey a sense of how to practice peace in daily life. —TK
Page 12 RAIN May/June 1984 ACCESS: Urban Neighborhoods i ■. Street Signs Chicago; Neighborhood and Other Illusions ofBig City Life, by Charles Bowden and Lew Kreinberg, 1981,198 pp, $7.95 from: Chicago Review Press 820 North Franklin Chicago, IL 60610 Street Signs Chicago is a book you could give to your Uncle Bernie or your mom, and they'd enjoy reading it and find it hard to put down—quite an accomplishment for a book that holds up a mirror to the past so we can comprehend the present with sobriety. Studs Terkel said, "This book has the eloquence of a fine hot-to-the-touch novel." Every anecdote in this book is enlightening as well as entertaining. Centering on Chicago's history and present from an immigrant, working- class perspective, it takes the view of the underdog, and thus preaches without being prissy. It comes off as a gutsy exploration of what the truth of an American city is and what being an American city resident is. It talks about the myth of big-city neighborhoods and the reality of our mobility and commitment to self and upward mobility above commitment to place and community. The authors clearly outline how we got ourselves into this predicament called big-city life—without getting us depressed in the process. Better yet, they hint at a future we can live with, while poking fun at purveyors of Clivus Multrum toilets. —Carolyn McKay Carolyn McKay is a student ifhuman studies at Marylhurst College in Portland. City as Classroom; Understanding Language and Media, by Marshall McLuhan, Kathryn Hutchon, and Eric McLuhan, 1977,184 pp., inquire for price from: The Book Society of Canada Ltd. Box 200 Agincourt, Ontario MIS 3B6 Canada "To what extent has the community taken over the function of schools?" This question, among others in the book's introduction, begins the writers' unveiling of the community as learning center. The terms figure and ground, first described by Danish psychologist Edgar Rubin in 1915, are used throughout the book to visually define parts of a situation. Eigure is that which we consciously note, and ground is everything else. It is through the interaction of these two elements that we perceive our surroundings. Once we've mastered these analytical tools and have fine-tuned our perception, we notice that the set changes depending on whether the figure is the furniture and the ground is the backdrop, or vice versa. The subject and its circumstances are mutually dependent—they define each other. The authors ask provocative questions that encourage us to analyze language and media. Exercises follow to provide practice in perception training: figure and ground exchange roles or are eliminated so that we can study their effects on a particular medium. These exercises often appear voluminous and time- and equipment-intensive, and therefore serve best as guidelines for which you can devise your own abridged versions. The final set of exercises asks us to imagine life without telephones, automobiles, or money. Plastic money has all but replaced paper money; why not use the barter system to replace credit? This analysis is written to challenge students—-who have been raised on Walkman, Pac-Man, and "Wow, man!"— to examine their world; but if you need the morning paper to make it through breakfast, read this book! —Penny Fearon Penny Fearon, a former RAIN intern, is traveling in the South Seas. New City-States, by David Morris, 1982, 76 pp., $6.95 from: Institute for Local Self-Reliance 171718th Street, NW Washington, DC 20009 New City-States is a companion to Morris' Self-Reliant Cities. It is jam-packed with examples, models, and statistics, and it is probably the best political analysis since Neighborhood Power. It is, in fact, the next logical step—from neighborhood empowerment to city or urban empowerment. In a few easy-to-read pages, Morris has pulled together the basis for discussing one of the most difficult questions facing radical-agrarian-decentralist and centralist-conservative alike; how to live with cities, those immense social and physical systems that we have created with only partial attention to working details. Anyone interested in the role cities can play in forming reasonable public policy should read this book. —SJ S' 1 4^
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