Biochemistry - Week 1

"Biochemistry is a science that is concerned with the composition and changes in the formation of living species."
I chose this quote because it explained and helped me most with my understanding of what biochemistry means thus far. Also, it fell in line with the explanation of it that I saw on youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHJsaq2lNjU). Chemistry is more about the study of the elements and the molecules that make up the matter of the universe and how they react to each other, while biology is more about the study of life. Biochemistry links the two together and is the study of those minute components of what makes life happen on a physical level.

"Acupuncture is a healthcare system"
I think I enjoyed this article the most this week. I always like to hear about people making healing more accessible where it is desperately needed. It reminds me of one of my favorite articles I read that introduced me to Tupac Shakur's stepfather, Dr. Mutulu Shakur. Dr. Shakur made TCM more accessible to his marginalized community, while simultaneously helping to make it a more credible healing method in the US (https://everyones-place.com/2016/10/04/unusual-history-of-acupuncture-in-the-usa/). It makes me very happy that this effort to make sure the underserved have access to healers is continuing to spread!

It was also nice to hear Tara Manjiw's perspective and experience in TCM. I liked how she said that TCM can be a part of a "network of care". It had not dawned on me that a TCM practitioner could work with the patients' other healthcare providers. I don't think it's a regular thing here unless the TCM practitioner is in a facility that already links everyone together. I had assumed that, most of the time, if a TCM practitioner tries to reach out and work with another health care provider in the treatment of a mutual patient, that other health care provider may not be as cooperative and may not take the TCM practitioner seriously. But that was just an assumption, and if I'm wrong, I'd be happy to be corrected on this.