Acupunktrix: Acupuncture, Apothecary, Birth and Death Guide, 1800 Hertel Avenue, Buffalo, NY (2025)

12/06/2025

Life with no filter. It’s almost my 49th birthday.

On December 17, 2023, while settling in to watch tv, I had a sudden unexplained subarachnoid brain hemorrhage, a stroke in my language center, and a seizure so bad it dislocated my shoulders and caused part of my spine to shatter and my right shoulder to break in 3 places.

In December 2022, I had a stomach tumor removed with a long incision down the center of my body.

Clearly, the month of my birth has been historically rough for me.

Yet, here I stand, having fought my way back from being bed ridden or in a wheelchair, once unable to even dress or bathe myself, now functioning almost like before.

Almost. I am in pain 24 hours a day. I become easily fatigued. When I become too fatigued my brain goes blank and I lose the ability to communicate. No speech or slurring and stuttering.

But if I rest in between activities or patients, it can look as though I am just another healthy middle aged woman.

Yet, my function has been deeply curtailed and I have had to learn to adjust to and accept my limitations while simultaneously trying to expand what I can do and what is possible.

So, here I am a few days before my 49th birthday, no filter, aging without cosmetic procedures, more lines, more sagging, more spots, thinner hair…but proud of this face, because I earned it. In the nearly half century that I have been alive, I have birthed four children, fought hard against injustice, and continued to actively learn and grow and educate myself.

There is still so much I need to learn. So much I want to do.

I am grateful for my life. I am grateful for my work. I am grateful for healing. I am grateful to all those who have supported me and helped me to thrive.

Winter brings introspection and a strange vigor. We balance the robust chill and beauty of snow with the need to go inward, to nest, to gather with others for celebrations that remind us that light and warmth will return. And until then, we become the light and make the warmth ourself. Here’s to the hope this Dec will be generous and kind.

11/30/2025

If you are using AI to generate your words and ideas, you’re a liar and a thief.

I said what I said. When AI image generators first came out, I ignorantly played around with them and had fun with the ghost in the machine feeling they gave. But as I learned about how AI is unethically trained, the massive ecological impact, and the way it affects human artists, writers, workers, and even consumers as we lose our critical and creative thinking skills…I changed my tune.

Yesterday, someone proudly posted to an acupuncture group I’m in about using a new service for acupuncturists that generates your social media content, even creating talking points or scripts that scroll on your phone when you record a video, so that it looks as though you are authentically speaking your own words. The app even talks about building trust with your patients. 🤮

I find this DEEPLY troubling. How can you build trust when a computer is crafting the face you show to the world? We used to call this plagiarism and it was a fireable offense. Now we call it a clever use of technology.

AI makes mistakes all the time. This is especially dangerous when we are talking about medical information. Yes, you have the ability to vet and approve the posts, but if you’re busy and tired and something “sounds” ok, but turns out to be false information, you might not notice until someone ends up in the hospital.

These apps also literally learn from accounts like mine, and could be stealing my (or your) authentic words and ideas.

I was basically called a bully for bringing up how problematic this is. I was told that I need to “chill out.” I think, instead, people need to be way less chill about this.

Our use of AI started out by turning us into cute cartoons or generating weird poems. This was by design. It seemed like harmless fun and desensitized us to the serious threat and harm AI is causing. People are being replaced by algorithms. Jobs are being lost. The environment destroyed (Google the impact of ai). Our ability to discern real from fake is degrading.

We must reject this stealth assault on our basic humanity. I will never post AI generated content. People over machines. Always.

11/29/2025

I could have done a huge hullabaloo for small business Saturday. Lord knows I could use the cash. 😂🤷🏻‍♀️

Instead, I bundled up my youngest (now adult) human, made a last minute right instead of left, and went on over the border to escape this nightmare fuel government for just a little while.

We popped into my friend’s incredible used bookshop in Fort Erie, Ontario. Watched our friends set up an old Commodore computer, and then went walking on the snowy, fossil encrusted beach, looking back at buffalo across the Niagara.

When your adult kids call and ask for some quality time, you drop everything to share that time with them.

I don’t know how many days I’ll have on this earth, and the most important thing to me in this world right now is family.

Family, my patients, my community, and fighting tooth and nail for a country that just might be worth trying to save from the monsters who are trying to destroy it.

The rest is gravy.

Happy small business Saturday. I’ve got gift certificates (email and physical) available for holiday giving. And if you’re in Fort Erie, do stop into Bridgeburg Books…it’s a delight.

11/26/2025

Give your loved ones an experience that will increase their health and wellbeing this year!

Gift certificates to ACUPUNKTRIX can be purchased in any amount and are good towards acupuncture, cupping, doula services, herbs, and custom teas.

Shop local and small this year! Less stuff more experiences!

DM me or Text 716-427-4321 to purchase via Venmo, cash, Zelle, or Cash App.

Digital gift cards available and physical cards can be picked up at Acupunktrix (schedule a time to grab yours)!

#716

11/23/2025

ICE has been kidnapping our neighbors from the local Walmart parking lots. I was honored to spend a couple cold days with some amazing people this week distributing information in the Walmart parking lots on how to keep members of our community safe.

We peacefully handed out flyers, had important conversations, held banners and signs, and raised awareness.

Buffalo is rich in diversity and has a vibrant immigrant community. Folks from Sudan, Rwanda, Burma, China, Iraq, Somalia, Yemen, Syria, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Laos, Mexico, Central America and beyond are integral parts of this city.

The majority of neighbors I spoke to yesterday were immigrants. They were overwhelmingly touched and happy to receive info and numbers to call to help keep themselves and their loved ones safe. One East African man broke into such a wide grin when he read the flyer. He thanked me profusely and gave me the most heartfelt fist bump of my life.

Real people just like you and me are being disappeared, tortured, denied basic human dignity. Asylum seekers, refugees, people doing things “the right way”, and even many US citizens. They say they are coming for criminals, and less than 7% of detainees have violent criminal convictions. The right wing narrative is a LIE. ICE is behaving in obscenely racist ways, targeting people of color and ignoring white immigrants.

We cannot let ICE go unchecked and unanswered.

We must keep each other informed and empowered and help our beautiful neighbors stay safe.

Immigrants make America great.

Some tips:

Do what you can to help. Hunting human beings and violating rights is egregious. ICE are behaving in violent and criminal ways.

Never let them in without a warrant signed by a judge. Don’t talk to them unless it is to ask for that warrant (through the door), invoke your right to remain silent, and invoke your right to an attorney.

As a bystander, you have a right to record as long as you don’t physically interfere. You can ask for badge numbers, names, and if they have a signed warrant. Depending on the situation, if the person being detained is alone, you can ask for their name and a contact so you can help advocate and let their loved ones locate them. If there is concern that identification could further incriminate them, do not reveal that information. Focus recordings on the actions of the agents. Do not post the video to social media until after consulting with an attorney and getting permission from the person being detained.

To help out in Buffalo contact at 716-222-2190 .

11/21/2025

Decanted and bottled some ultra strong digestive bitters elixir today. 1/2-1 tsp before you eat. Just leave it on the dining table. All organic. Burdock, calamus, gentian, dandelion, turmeric, and ginger roots. Cinnamon, fennel, orange peel, chamomile, hibiscus, schizandra, and Reishi I harvested with my kiddos. Plus some raw local honey.

Food used to be a lot more naturally bitter, but we’ve bred a lot of the bitter flavor out of it. Digestive bitters help get digestive enzymes flowing so that your meal is more easily digested and the nutrition better utilized by the body.

The warming spices are especially helpful for cold bellies and cold season.

11/12/2025

reached out to me to ask if I’d do another trans acupuncture night for their Trans Corps and, of course, I was thrilled to do so.

What a gorgeous group of folks not only trying acupuncture for the first time, but coming together in community for mutual support and JOY.

Trans Joy trumps MAGA hate every time.

Last week the Supreme Court passed anti trans legislation undoing the right to use the gender marker that reflects your gender identity…even if you’ve already legally had your name and ID and birth certificate changed. It’s cruel and it singles out trans people for discrimination.

But in my parlour last night, there were smiles, laughter, meditation, tea and cookies, sharing, trust, hope, and beauty so profound it brought tears to my eyes.

Trans health matters. Trans safety matters. Trans hope matters. And Trans JOY is the root of resistance.

May this lovely, kind, intelligent, gorgeous group of humans be safe, blessed, and able to fulfill every dream they hold in their heart.

I love my job. I love our community. I love Buffalo. We are the city of good neighbors, and I am so happy to have met and served more of mine.

Reach out to Buffalo Friendship Club to find out more about their awesome programming that fosters connection for all folks in the greater Buffalo area.

11/08/2025

Rest in the gentleness of this creek, in the flow of water and time and the memory of every adventure and transformation this water has been on from raindrop to spring.

Breathe deep. Relax your jaw. You are held and loved.

11/08/2025

November has been brisk and brooding, with whipping winds and deep drenching rains, but today the sun shone gently through the rapidly shrinking tree cover, 🍁 like a peace offering before the first snow arrives this week.

The ground is thick with softly crunching leaves dressed in their finest crimson, nutmeg, vermilion, and gold. Ringless honey mushrooms crop up in clusters, rosettes of turkey tail mushrooms decorate dying logs, blue oysters cling to the trees, and conocybes sprout impishly from the forest floor.

The creek sounds like it has been hand tuned, charming, dreamy notes. It sings songs of the coming freeze and tells tall tales about its wild adventures and transformations, from rain drop to underwater spring.

The woods are still mossy in places, with fearless ferns looking as fresh as they did in May. It’s a striking contrast between the last gasps of the oaks, hickory, birch, and cottonwood and the shocking green of life.

I collect pockets full of acorns. For cakes. Or just to scatter on the table when I realize I haven’t got the energy to process acorn flour right now.

Chipmunks 🐿️ peek up from underground burrows and fat grey squirrels leap playfully through the leaves, burying nuts for the barren days ahead.

Here, scanning the ground for signs of chanterelles, I do not check my phone, I do not think about the latest gut wrenching disaster. For one hour, I am comforted by oaks said to be around four hundred years old. What these trees have seen…and still they stand, so proud, so wise, so completely unbothered by human drama.

Here is where I breathe. Where I nourish my spirit with intention so I can continue to watch for ICE, advocate for the dignity and safety of trans folks and immigrants, tell people about their rights, feed my neighbors, care for my family and patients, and otherwise rise up and fight these fu***ng fascists.

For one hour, I tend to my body, my health, my mind, my heart. This is fuel for the fight. Care for yourself in beautiful ways so that you have the energy and resources to contribute to your community. Care for yourself in beautiful ways because, you too, are precious and worthy of rest and joy.

11/07/2025

One of my favorite parts about my job is going on the journey alongside my amazing patients from fertility treatments to conception and beyond.

I helped this mama conceive and now it’s time to help her little one arrive earthside.

Acupuncture, moxibustion, massage, exercises, and herbs can help you prepare for an easier birth, manage stress and end of pregnancy discomfort, and even kick labor into gear when you’re past your “due date” and doctors are threatening you with an induction.

I’m a mother of four adult kids, and I’ve been working with pregnant women for almost 30 years as a doula, volunteer ambulance medic in Palestine working primarily with labor and birth, a midwife assistant, childbirth educator, and former La Leche League leader so I bring a lot of experience to my treatments that can be hard to find in routine acupuncture.

I also do a lot of work specifically with supporting LGBTQ+ families to become parents.

Acupuncture isn’t just great for conception and birth, but throughout pregnancy for nausea, aches and pains, and general wellness and calm. I’m even called upon to do acupuncture during labor for pain relief and relaxation, or to enhance a slow labor.

Acupuncture can also be deeply helpful to give space and care to the grieving process for those struggling with fertility or experiencing pregnancy loss.

Wherever you are in your fertility cycle, even if you’re in menopause or not planning to have babies, but want to regulate your cycles or treat PMS or menstrual pain, I’ve got you!

Acupuncture works. It’s a little bit science, a little bit magic, and a whole lot of love.

Wishing this mama, who came to see me yesterday, a wonderful birth and health for all.

11/06/2025

Stop pretending your racism is patriotism. Listen to this young man. If his plea doesn’t move you, you are a N**i sympathizer and need to have a deep look at your heart.

11/06/2025

Yesterday, ICE said that they are going to begin to specifically target CHILDREN.

This is outrageous. The hunting of hard working humans is vile. And ICE has detained over 150 U.S. Citizens!

In order to protect the safety of others and those most vulnerable, I haven’t posted about it here before, but I’ve been honored to be helping out with BIRD for a little while, mostly as an observer with medic gear.

If you’re interested in helping out, contact BIRD for training opportunities.

At the Nuremberg trails, N**i soldiers used the defense that they were “just following orders”. ICE agents say the same thing. Well, that defense didn’t fly at the trial and it doesn’t now. We have a moral obligation to disobey unjust laws. Slavery was legal, the Holocaust was legal, sending 5 year olds into coal mines for 10 hours a day was legal. Legal does not equal moral or just. We must stand up for what is RIGHT.

Help if you can. Learn what to do if you see ICE trying to detain someone. Learn your rights as an observer. Learn your rights if you are undocumented or detained.n lpst

Acupunktrix: Acupuncture, Apothecary, Birth and Death Guide

12/06/2025

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