Life: Kakkonto, an oriental medicine, for early "chilly" cold

This past Saturday I woke up with sore throat and headache (yikes). Passing of a cold front and rainy cold weather was on forecast. I decided to stay put and warm for the weekend to fix my cold. No Halloween Parties.

For that I took some oriental medicine.

Oriental medicine uses somewhat different thinking for cold care from Western medicine that are good to kill symptoms. One notable difference is that oriental medicine try to customize the care and medications according to symptoms, type of the cold, and patient's body type.

A cold is not a cold. Beginning cold and full-on running cold are different. Chilly cold and high fever "hot" cold are different. A patient with "chubby and solid"-body type may receive different medication from a patient with "thin and pale" one.


I took a popular over-the-counter med called Kakkonto (Ge Gen Tang). The med is said to be good for early phase of cold and should be taken when you are feeling chilly, but not when having a fever.

Kakkonto is said to be a med that warms you up, which is helpful for you to ward off early cold by activating immune system. When you have a fever, it is a sign of your immune system working hard.

The herbal pill did have a warming up effect on me. I started sweating a little, like after having a spicy food. Interesting.

It worked great this time. The cold was gone by Monday.



Following oriental medicine approach, I choose my self-medication. For a high fever and inflammatory-type cold (like a flu), I'd pick Isatis root tea (Ban lan gen). They say it is anti-inflammatory and reduce fever.

Although not oriental medicine, Elderberry syrup is fine, too. 

I don't mind if my cold med is low-tech or high tech, as long as it works. I like things that work. That is the bottom line.

[Ge Gen Tang Wan (Kakkonto pill) found in US Amazon]

I have no financial relations to the med maker. A disclaimer just in case.

Dance: Thoughts on local dance "Community"

On Friday I went to Tango milonga. On Saturday I went to West Coast Swing dance party. 

I'm going to dance parties like going to gym. I usually get good dances in social parties. When I get good partners (i.e., technically efficient dancers), I get great dances.


Dancers are a type of musicians. They are a part of the music, with their bodies and their partners as instruments. Naturally, there are few Stradivarius and, well, many violins in the making.


On Saturday party, two professional ballroom dancers and a visiting fusion dance instructor from Dallas for workshops showed up. I enjoyed great dances with them. Lucky me and thank you.


Each of these professionals is owning (or belonging to) her studio. In other words, they are central figures for their dance in their cities and their dance "communities".


That led me think of what dance "community" is.

Following is some of my observation mainly in OKC from past 20 years.


Especially in small cities or towns, "building dance community" is listed as a central goal, or an ideal, by the people who is involved.

In OKC, West Coast Swing dance community was built mainly by then-director Paul and his volunteering students in OKC swing dance club since 80's. Paul retired and passed. Although I see "aging" in the community, which is concerning, there are still parties with good turnout.


Tango community in OKC has been small. International dance studio's Hazel started having regular classed around 2005, for which people came and went. Later, a group of people held their own house milonga for a while, rotating 3 host houses. It died down some years ago, due to passing of some people and due to losing hosts. 

Martha and David Wells came to the OKC Tango scene about 5 years ago. They are now based on south part of the city, holding their classes and working to increase the size of the community. 


(There are Salsa/party Latin communities and Ballroom communities, along with small group of Lindy dancers. I'll skip explanation here.)


Common to these "communities" is that they have (a) a central place (studio, house, university, etc), (b) a host, who is usually a teacher, and (c) regular parties to which community members can attend and enjoy the dance. Only then, you may see a group of people who dance the dance. In rare cases, (d) a sponsor (like college faculty with passion and some budget/time or art grant) may exist.

Most of the community members are not professionals. Each of them is at their own skill level. Even for "professionals", they come in many levels as a dancer. Just think if your "professionals" can dance on Broadway. Simply put, great majority of social dance-based communities are amateurs.

Few people, who host and/or teach, are usually the center of the community. When they are gone for whatever reason (passing, graduation, moving, loss of interest, etc), the community may dissolve.

Hosts are, primarily, teachers. They may not necessarily be show dancers or performers, although some are. From business standpoint, classes and party revenue are main income, which are usually meager for a budding community in a small city. 


Here is a little conflict of interests. From members' standpoint, classes may not hold as much importance as hosts/teachers want it to be. They want fun, and not all can draw fun from learning process. They may not prioritize classes and may not regularly show up.

(In truth, there are a few students of different type. Beginning students who will become good dancers will find place and materials to practice no matter what. Work outside of classes is actually a better indicator for how good they will be. ..I digress.)

From host/teachers' standpoint, large class attendance and big parties are great. Yet, students have their own reasons to attend or not to attend regular classes.


People come and go. If you see it as a school business, it is natural turnover. Hosts and teachers may need to have both a little dose of resignation and a lot of hope. Then pour your passion. You are irrigating a desert, with a vision and a hope of green field. Yet, sometimes you may need to define success in your own terms.


There are traveling teachers who can provide great demos and customized advice to individual student (private lesson). In my opinion, they are like doctors. You can use their help when you need it and when they are here. (Of course, you can take privates for experience purpose. Learning something from the best can be a memorable event.)

How much they can help in building community from ground up? ...I'm not sure. Their performances may be inspiring and their classes may be fun. Their visit can serve as planting seeds. Yet, if they can catalyze any immediate change,.....it is up to your preparation and luck, and probably not up to them.


Personally I am wot working hard to build a dance community at this moment. There should be other, more willing people. I'd be enjoying myself as an individual dancer for the rest of 2019 at least. I'll plan for next year later.

Science: "Major revision" for a manuscript

I did a research project this past summer, wrote up a review manuscript on the subject, and sent the manuscript to a journal late August.

The editorial office did not reject the manuscript outright (a success). They did send the manuscript to reviewers. Today together with reviewers' comments, I got editors' decision; "Major revision".


In my opinion, "major revision" is not bad at all. 

"Accepted" is great, but "major revision" or "minor revision" are fine. We are given an opportunity to improve the manuscript, and we can even borrow knowledge and wisdom from the reviewers to do so.

The reviewers' comments were quite constructive. Some comments really saw through our backstage. Although at a glance these comments may look like there is a lot of work for us to do, in fact they are quite workable. It is a little early for Thanksgiving, but I do appreciate such constructive comments. 

I am very happy to (or even excited to) work on the manuscript. I can discuss the contents after the improved manuscript is accepted.




For the great majority of people who do not work in science, here is the scientific publishing process in general;

We authors decide which journal to send our manuscript, considering many factors. When we send a manuscript to a journal, the journal's editors (usually scientists themselves) determine whether they send the manuscript to reviewers/referees, who are knowledgeable scientists working in the field. Based on the reviewers' comments, the editors decide whether they would reject the manuscript, request revision (major or minor) to authors, or accept the manuscript for publication.

Scientists in a field review their peer's works. That is scientific "peer review" system. Reviewers are anonymous, meaning we authors do not and cannot know the identity of the reviewers. That should help maintaining fairness and honesty, and reducing chances of someone holding grudges.

Reviewing is voluntary. Reviewers are not even paid to review a manuscript. Yet, to maintain integrity of this system, when reviewing is solicited, we try our best to provide constructive comments to improve quality of science.

In a broad sense, reviewing is reciprocal. Today someone reviewed my manuscript. Tomorrow I may be reviewing that someone's manuscript without knowing. We know the world is small.





Tomorrow I'll be giving a presentation, then we'll be collecting samples for a project at the collaborator's lab. There are a few collaborative projects going on in our institute this fall. Looking forward to see the results.

Dance: Upcoming in October in Tulsa (10/11-12), Dallas (10/25-27)

Checking calendar for this month of October 2019.

For dance events,

10/11-12 Tulsa: (West Coast Swing)


Tulsa Fall Fling with Taletha Jouzdani 2019

"West Coast Swing Workshop Weekend in Tulsa! 5+ workshops and 2 dances"

http://tulsafallfling.com/?fbclid=IwAR1Vzqd3P3Bxw5X59Mpi28ED0wDGQPEXb4xGd1NA1fT0c7QPq_RFN9dGh6o




10/25-27 Dallas: (Argentine Tango)


3rd. CELINA & HUGO TEN HOUR TANGO INTENSIVE 2019

https://www.facebook.com/events/640246309821656/
"We are already more than halfway through the year and we wanted to invite you to a special event we will be hosting the fourth weekend of October, 25th to 27th 2019. Our 3rd 10-Hour Tango Intensive of 2019!!

This event will comprise of a weekend long Argentine Tango Intensive. The intent of the ten hour weekend is to focus on our participants dance and technique needs. The content will be entirely dancer driven, with a fun and informative give and take between teacher and student! We have been approached by many people to put on events like this and we are happy to deliver. We are very excited to offer this intensive weekend showcasing this particular style of teaching!

In addition to classes, we will also host a Saturday night Milonga with a performance by us and with a special guest Dj, Phyllis Williams. We are honored to have the opportunity to continue to give back to the World Tango community through events like this.

Space is limited for up to 20 couples, and Celina and I think that this could be a great opportunity for you! We are extending this invitation and special pricing to our dedicated students throughout North America before opening it up to the public so take advantage, and don’t miss this opportunity. Individuals need not register as couples. Single followers/leaders will be paired up and/or asked to rotate throughout the weekend.

For those interested in taking private lessons, Celina and Hugo will be available the week prior to the intensive. Many out-of-town students are already taking advantage of this opportunity so be sure to reserve your space before they’re all gone!

Please see below for the full weekend schedule, pricing, and nearby hotel information for out-of-town participants. We hope to make everything from class registration to hotel booking suggestions, and the weekend itself, as convenient as possible as we want the focus to be on a fun experience. Please let us know if we can do anything towards this end.

We are so looking forward to sharing this weekend with you!

Besos,


Celina and Hugo

P.S. We will finish out the weekend with a celebratory dinner together at Amigos Restaurant Comida Casera on Sunday evening…just a few steps from the studio"

PS

Tulsa milonga and dinner at Casa Tango (9/29 Sun)

Quote: "Room For You. The Tulsa tango community is a small but very dedicated group of dancers. Some have been with us for a few weeks and others a few years. We dance at all levels from casual to dedicated improver. But tango is not our only skill. Our potluck skills are second to none (thanks to Faud and everyone that contributed)! " by Walt Warner