Pulse Editor
Jacquelyn Lewis
jacquelynlewis@dailyemerald.com
Tuesday, April 8,2003
- Oregon Daily Emerald
On Thursday
Music meets modern life
in the School of Music's
Music Today Festival
Contained
planting
for brown
thumbs
Nika
Carlson
D.I.Y. living
I am officially turning into my mother.
An acquaintance pointed it out last
month when she said she was shocked I
wrote about scrapbooks. While I fail td
see how gold picture comers and rock ‘n’
roll are intrinsically opposed, I can see
her point. Last month it was scrapbooks.
Over spring break, it was spring cleaning.
And on Friday, I eagerly browsed the gar
dening section at Smith Family Book
store. Those spades
are thrillas.
A friend of mine
recently planted a
tiny vegetable gar
den in a planter on
her postage-stamp
apartment deck.
With my column
deadline fast ap
proaching and no
ideas in sight, I stole
hers. Planting sea
son is starting, and
growing vegetables
seems very D.I.Y. in a Victory Garden
kind of way.
The more I thought about it, howev
er, the more excited I was at the
thought. I’m brown thumb all over the
place, as proved by many failed at
tempts at raising houseplants. Growing
food, however, is different. I have vivid
childhood memories of the sweet smell
of fresh dirt, the sun on my back while
sowing seeds, and snap peas fresh from
the backyard. Houseplants just sit
around looking green and pretty, but
fruits and vegetables are workhorses.
They produce something useful, some
thing to look forward to. Growing a gar
den is like growing a baby — except
then you eat it. I am confident my little
neonate will live through the summer.
And it will be little. I have a huge back
yard now, but I’ll be moving in July to an
apartment with limited space. I want to
be able to take my produce with me, so
I’m planting in containers. Container gar
dening is an easy way to grow in small
spaces with almost guaranteed success.
It is an “adventurous undertaking, com
plete with thrilling risks and extraordi
nary rewards,” Barbara Pleasant wrote in
the National Home Gardening Club’s
guide to container gardens. Stop laugh
ing, this is serious. Pleasant knows what’s
up. She is guiding me into a brave new
world of parsley, cherry tomatoes and
leafy greens.
After finding a few books for advice, I
set out to find some starter plants. Some
vegetables are slow growers, so it’s best to
buy starters instead of seeds. Herbs, es
pecially, should be bought as starters.
I wove my way through the patchouli
clouds and the muu muu booth at the first
Saturday Market. I picked up basil, parsley,
oregano and chive transplants, as well as
cherry tomato and snow pea plants and
lettuce. I’m growing carrots and onions
from seeds. Starters can be picked up at
any nursery, but I wanted to buy organic,
directly from a small, local farm.
Containers can also be bought at nurs
eries, but a more cost-effective and
Turn to Carlson, page 10
Needles and pins
Acupuncture, a millenia-old treatment,
has grown in popularity for alleviating
headaches and back pain
Ryan Bornheimer
Senior Pulse Reporter
The numbers speak for themselves. When licensed
acupuncturist Dina Harmon opened her clinic in 1997,
there were eight such establishments in Eugene. As of
today, there are nearly 40.
The ancient Chinese healing art might be a per
fect fit for alternative treatment-friendly Eugene.
However, the increased interest in acupuncture rep
resents a more widespread trend: People suffering |
from various levels of ailments are seeking to re
lieve the pain without drugs or the prospect of go
ing under the knife. Acupuncture has emerged
from this demand as a viable treatment without
side effects and with proven benefits.
Acupuncture has been traced back at least
2.000 years. However, some experts claim the Jiff
art has been practiced in China for as long as
4.000 years.
The treatment involves the insertion of fine
needles into the body at specific points for the re
lief of health problems. Depending on the nature
of the ailment, needles are usually placed be
tween a quarter-inch to an inch below the skin.
While modem Western medicine has failed to
explain how acupuncture works, traditional prac
tice is based on ancient Chinese theories of the
flow of Qi (energy) and Mood through pathways §
in the body. In general, acupuncture is believed |§|
to restore the energetic balance of the body.
Harmon said the most common treatment is
for neck and back pain. But acupuncture is im
plemented for relief of allergies, headaches, re
productive complications, high blood pressure —
even drug addiction and smoking.
Harmon recounted the story of a 40-year-old
woman with a knee-related ailment who was wheel
chair bound when she arrived for treatment. A se
ries of operations left her with little relief and “knees
the size of basketballs.”
“A year later, she was snowboarding,” Harmon said.
Stuart Greenleaf, resident practitioner at Acupunc
ture Alternatives, located at 1245 Charnelton St. #3, has
been practicing acupuncture for 22 years. He said Ore
gon was among the first states to license practitioners in
the early 1970s.
As widespread as the healing art has become, only two
schools remain, both in Portland, that offer comprehensive
acupuncture training.
Greenleaf said acupuncture is part of a larger practice of
natural health treatments, which include herbology, nutri
tional supplements, heat and massage therapy.
He specializes in electrical enhancement acupuncture, a
.
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Turn to Acupunture, page 10
photo illustration Adam Amato Emerald
Courtesy
The Misanthrope'opens on Friday at the Robinson Theatre.
Moliere’s ‘challenging’
comedy addresses
hypocrisy, deception
The Misanthrope’ revels itself
both as a stem comedy and as
a challenge for the cast and crew
Theater review'
Aaron Shakra
Pulse Reporter
The Robinson Theatre gets misan
thropic Friday, when it opens one of
Moltere’s most enduring plays, “The
Misanthrope.”
Director Jeffrey Mason said the main
concern of “The Misanthrope” is the is
sue of conformity. It revolves around Al
eeste, a disillusioned man who decides
to speak only the truth, no matter what
the offense or consequence. Alceste
eventually becomes enamored with
Celmiene, a coquette who embodies
everything Alceste claims to protest. Ma
son said the theater department chose
to mount the play because it was a chal
lenge for both students and those
Turn to Misanthrope, page 11