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conceived and written by MAS acu-punk Elizabeth Ropp, LAc

First I want to say that it’s good to be back to work at MAS. I hope everyone can tell that we are smiling at you under our masks. We appreciate how understanding everyone has been with our new social distancing systems.

Since we are living in the world of physical distancing, I am sharing a movie recommendation. Jewel’s Catch One is a biographical documentary about a legendary nightclub owner. Why am I telling you about this on the MAS blog? It’s l because later in life, she becomes an acupuncturist and founder of a non-profit clinic. What!?!?! Yes. My mind was blown. I didn’t see that coming.

I enjoy movies about nightclubs. Which is odd because I am a morning person. My husband can tell you that I easily nod off before ten o’clock at night. And yes, I like to dance...in my kitchen. Since MAS reopened this month, you can find me dancing at the clinic after hours when I give the clinic a thorough cleaning and disinfecting after my shift. I also like a good story about someone with sheer determination and perseverance. I found that in Jewel’s Catch One.

Jewel Thais-Williams opened the Los Angeles nightclub and kept it going for four decades, The Catch One. Identifying a need for an inclusive safe space, especially for the Black LQBTQ community. She bought a bar in 1973 for $1000. In 1975, when she purchased the old ballroom connected to her bar for $17,000. The Catch One was open to everyone, especially marginalized people who were often unwelcomed in other clubs and bars. Eventually, everyone partied at The Catch One, including celebrities like Whitney Houston, Luther Vandross, Madonna, and Sharon Stone.

In the 1970’s, Jewel’s inclusive dance club was targeted by the police. She faced discrimination on many levels as a Black Gay Woman. In 1985, an intentional arson destroyed The Catch. It took Jewel two years to re-open, facing pressure from local government agencies to sell the property.

The AIDS epidemic was particularly devastating. Jewel lost many club patrons to AIDS, many of whom were like family. She did everything she could to take care of her community. Jewel cited the need for services for the Black community in Los Angeles, affected by HIV and AIDS. She stepped up to fill the void in many ways including founding the Minority AIDS project (We have a chapter in Manchester that serves the Merrimack Valley). Jewel’s partner, Rue, founded Rue’s House to provide housing for Black women and Children with HIV/AIDS.

In the late 1990’s, Jewel found herself feeling complacent and needed a new project. Her therapist, Dr. Donald Kilhefner, suggested that she go to acupuncture school.

Due to COVID, all of my travel plans are indefinitely on hold. But, I am making my list of places I want to go and people that I want to meet in a post-pandemic world. I added LA to my list, just so I can make an appointment at The Village Health Foundation, like the club goers from around the world who planned their LA vacations just so they could dance at Catch One. Apparently, tourists even showed up at Jewel’s club straight from the airport with their suitcases in tow.

I watched Jewel’s Catch One twice this weekend and I listened to Jewel tell her story on a new podcast. I wish I could sit down with Jewel, Tariqa, Chung Hee, and Sun from The Village Health Foundation and ask questions. I want to know more about Jewel’s life as an acupuncturist at a non-profit clinic.

Below are the questions that I would ask in my fantasy interview:

Hi, Jewel, it’s such an honor to meet you and to be here in LA, at The Village Health Foundation. Where should I put my suitcase?

First of all, how are you and how is your community holding up during the pandemic?

When you first opened the Catch in the early 1970’s, there were laws that prohibited same sex dancing to make it harder for gay communities to create safe spaces to feel free. Do you think that there are acupuncture laws or regulations that make it harder for marginalized people to get acupuncture treatment or enter the profession?

3) What was your first experience with getting acupuncture?

4) How did you like acupuncture school? If you could add or change anything about your acupuncture program, what would it be?

6) Rep. Maxine Waters praised you for starting a clinic that makes healthcare affordable. She even mentions that it has been said you could be in Beverly Hills charging a lot of money for acupuncture. Why do you think it’s rare for acupuncturists to make treatments affordable and what do you think needs to change in order for affordable acupuncture to become more common?

8) The Village Health Foundation makes a point of practicing cultural competency. What advice can you give to white acupuncturists to become more culturally competent and able to connect with and serve patients with all different backgrounds.

9) How often do you get acupuncture? What else do you do to stay healthy? Basically, how can I be as energetic as you?

10) How often do you go out dancing?

11) What are some of your favorite songs that you think would be good for me to listen to while I am cleaning the clinic at the end of a shift?

Thank you so much for your time. It’s truly been an honor to speak with you. This clinic is beautiful and my acupuncture treatment was wonderful. I even brought you some maple candy, all the way from New Hampshire.

If I manage to connect with the Jewell and the staff of The Village Health Foundation, I will write more here at the MAS blog.

In the meantime, please check out Jewel’s Catch One on Netflix and listen to her interview on The QueerCore podcast.

See you at the clinic. I am smiling under my mask.

 A quick post here directing you, dear readers, to a couple of videos that walk us through what the shops in Manchester & Nashua feature, and are looking like as we prepare to open again tomorrow.

A quick post here directing you, dear readers, to a couple of videos that walk us through what the shops in Manchester & Nashua feature, and are looking like as we prepare to open again tomorrow.

If any questions come up for you after either viewing the videos - or after an in-person visit to a clinic - we always welcome you to pose them to us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

On that note, the Manchester walk-through and Nashua walk-through await you.

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Ahead of a visit to MAS clinics in person, please do give this web page a read, as it will prepare you with up-to-date how-tos and whys. Thank you.

Like many of you, this pandemic has given me plenty of time at home to try new recipes.  And since I limit how often I go grocery shopping to once a week or less, I’ve been stocking up on squash and sweet potatoes.  They don’t need to take up space in the fridge, and they can sit around for awhile if I don’t use them right away.  A sweet potato can sit on a shelf for 3-5 weeks, and a butternut squash is good for a month or more, as long as they are stored in a cool dry place. 

Last week, I stumbled across this recipe for Sweet Potato Tahini soup.  I made it over the weekend, and let’s just say, it’s a keeper. 

Cooking soup is like practicing acupuncture or playing jazz.  There is plenty of room for improvisation.  I had almost all of the ingredients listed in the recipe, but I had to make some substitutions.  I replaced the onion with a few scallions, a small carrot, a celery stick, and turnip.  I still ended up with a really good batch of soup.  I served it up with some steamed greens and flat bread on the side and a glass of white wine.  As Andy would say, DAH-licious.  

I plan to make this soup again later this week. This time, I will replace the sweet potatoes with a butternut squash.  

This is Lukas Volger’s Recipe from The Splendid Table:

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, sliced
• 1 tablespoon minced or grated ginger
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, divided
• 3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced into thin rounds or half-rounds (1 1/2 to 2 pounds)
• 2 tablespoons well-stirred tahini
• Fresh lemon juice
• Frizzled Shallots 

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, sliced
• 1 tablespoon minced or grated ginger
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, divided
• 3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced into thin rounds or half-rounds (1 1/2 to 2 pounds)
• 2 tablespoons well-stirred tahini
• Fresh lemon juice
• Frizzled Shallots (recipe follows; optional)

Directions

Warm the olive oil over medium heat in a soup pot or Dutch oven, then add the onion, garlic, ginger, coriander, cumin, and 1/2 teaspoon of the salt. Cook until the onion is soft and beginning to caramelize, 6 to 8 minutes. Add the sweet potatoes, raise the heat slightly, and stir until they’re glistening all over, another 3 to 4 minutes. Cover with 5 cups of water. Bring to a simmer and add the remaining 1 teaspoon salt. Cook for about 15 minutes, until the sweet potatoes are tender. Add the soup to a blender with the tahini, in batches if necessary, and puree. (You can also use an immersion blender, but be thorough to achieve a properly smooth consistency.) Return to the pot to rewarm, add lemon juice and additional salt to taste, and serve hot, with frizzled shallots, if you like.  

As a food therapy nerd, I want to dive into some of the benefits of this recipe:

Sweet potatoes (and squash) are high in vitamin A, they are food that benefit the spleen/pancrease and stomach which, like acupuncture, helps to move blood and body fluids.  

The onions, garlic, coriander, cumin, and ginger, are all pungent spices that enhance digestion and resolve phlegm or mucus in the lungs.

Tahini contains healthy fats and other trace minerals.  

Lemons are cleansing. They help to digest fat and proteins.  That is why lemon and tahini go so well together. 

Try this soup.  Let us know how you like it and what adaptation you made to make this recipe your own.

Here's the story and how you can lend a hand.

As many of you may have heard, last week the Governor gave the okay for acupuncture clinics to resume business in the Granite State starting on June 1st. On its face this is great news. However a significant, bewildering detail lay in the State re-opening guidelines.

It seems a last minute provision was included - essentially a restriction -  that limits acupuncture practitioners to treating no more than one patient at a time. As you may imagine, this is problematic for MAS on a number of levels.

Most notably this restriction would not allow MAS to meet its expenses. Nor would we be able to accommodate all of the folks who we know are looking forward to coming back for regular treatments. It also introduces the absurd scenario where only two people would be allowed inside of facilities that are 2000-3000 square feet in size!

MAS is built to provide lots of acupuncture for not a lot of money charged for each treatment. In fact, it's part of this organization's by-laws. So the notion of increasing fees to meet financial needs for a 1:1 practitioner/patient ratio is out of the question. So we remain closed until this provision is either changed or removed. And we're working really hard to make this happen sooner than later.

Incidentally, we know of no other state in the US who has included a similar provision in re-opening guidelines for acupuncture practices, nor are we aware of any other heath professionals in NH who have been restricted in this way.

Let it be known that we are immensely grateful for the time and effort that Governor Sununu, the Re-opening Task Force and the Health and Human Services Commissioner are putting in under extraordinary circumstances. Based on our years of experience, we feel that the decision to limit acupuncture practitioners to treating one patient at a time is based on a lack of information as to how greater-access, affordable acupuncture clinics and practices have (and can continue to) safely functioned for over a decade in New Hampshire and beyond. Perhaps if so, that restriction would not have been added.

At this point, are you wondering how you may be able to help?

That's great - thank you! Here are two ways:

1) If any of you dear readers happen to have a contact at NH Dept. of Health & Human Services or within the Governor's office, please consider putting me in touch. We'd love an opportunity to teach how the 1:1 provision has the unintended consequence of keeping thousands of people from relief of chronic pain, stress, anxiety, insomnia, etc. in acupuncture clinics across the state.

2) Have your say by signing this petition that we will make certain to send along to NH Heath & Human Services, the Re-Opening Task Force and the Governor's Office by June 5th .

Thanks for sticking with us and we look forward to an update on the re-opening of MAS clinics soon.

Via Andy at the MAS YouTube Channel.

Hello, folks. We hope this message finds you doing well and are safe. It has been an interesting couple of months since we closed our doors to help slow the spread of Covid-19. Over the past couple of weeks, we have received more than a few inquiries as to when and if MAS clinics will reopen.

The short answer is, yes, MAS will absolutely re-open.

What follows is the longer answer.

As a healthcare facility, MAS is subject to state and national guidelines in our profession that have instructed both our initial closure, as well as when we are allowed to re-open and what standards and practices need to be in place in order for that to happen. These guidelines are in accordance with the best practices set forth by local, state and national governing bodies.

There are many aspects of operations related to facilities in Manchester & Nashua that need to be updated in order for MAS to abide by the guidelines set by these oversight and regulatory agencies for the foreseeable future. They include: a reworking of the physical setup in our entire facility in order to maintain social/physical distancing guidelines; the use of personal protective equipment for both staff and patients; hygiene protocols for both staff and patients; implementation of illness screening for both staff and patients; implementing and maintaining infection controls, reworking the way we schedule appointments and establishing how many people we can have in the clinic at any given time and maintain appropriate standards.  

While all of this is a lot to manage, we aim to do so while maintaining the simple soulfulness we all have come to expect. 

We have always been a small operation, working within a modest budget, and are now charged with putting into place multiple new systems in order to best protect the health of our clinic community as well as our staff members and their families. We are eager to resume operations and reconnect with you all. It is just going to take us a bit more time to get there.

We are aiming - roughly speaking - for mid-late June for re-opening.  As we get closer, we will let you know when scheduling will resume. 

In the meantime, we look forward to seeing you and getting back to acupuncture. 

The Staff @ MAS