Monthly Archives: November 2013

St. Augustine–Bumper Stickers

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Actual:

St. Augustine: A quaint little drinking village with a fishing problem.

Question Gender

COEXIST

Surfrider Foundation

I Dig 1565

Watch for Motorcycles

I Brake For Turtles

Music Matters

Pink Slip Rick

 

Potential:

St. Augustine: A quaint little philosophical village with a libertarian problem

St. Augustine–Founded by UFOs

St. Augustine: Love Your Local Vortex

I Brake For Lesbians

My Dog is a Vegetarian

Come Back Great Cosmic Happy Ass!

My Prius is Better Than Your Insight

Governor Rick–My Favorite Martian


If you live in Florida you understand the Rick thing. If you live in St. Augustine, you probably get the rest. There was a New Age book store in town in the 1990s called Dream Street whose owner moved to Asheville, North Carolina and started a business called the Great Cosmic Happy Ass. (What a great book store it was).

 

St. Augustine–Timeless Part II

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Of the many famous visitors to Florida and St. Augustine, one particularly famous one was Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of Uncle Tom's Cabin.

“The aspect of St. Augustine is quaint and strange, in harmony with its romantic history. It has no pretensions to architectural richness or beauty; and yet it is impressive from its unlikeness to any thing else in America. It is as if some little, old, dead-and-alive Spanish town, with its fort and gateway and Moorish bell towers, had broken loose, floated over here, and got stranded on a sand-bank. Here you see the shovel-hats and black gowns of priests; the convent, with gliding figures of nuns; and in the narrow, crooked streets meet dark-browed people with great Spanish eyes and coal-black hair. The current of life here has the indolent, dreamy stillness that characterizes life in Old Spain. In Spain, when you ask a man to do any thing, instead of answering as we do, “In a minute,” the invariable reply is, ” In an hour;” and the growth and progress of St. Augustine have been according. There it stands, alone, isolated, connected by no good roads or navigation with the busy, living world.”

Some things never change.

 

St. Augustine–A Timeless Place

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A tropical paradise. A quaint little village. A Bohemian crossroads. A writer's convention. The oldest European settlement in the United States, therefore “the oldest city” in America.

Musicians in the woodwork. Orchestra, choral, organ, opera, festivals. Bluegrass jazz. Folkies who never left. Rockers old, new, famous, infamous. No more hippies playing guitars on the street.

Archaeology. The city has its own archaeologist. An ancient Spanish fort. Indian burial grounds. Colonial quarters. French vs. Spanish vs. English.

Yoga-Yogis-Yoginis. You have to wade chest deep in them to cross the street there are so many.

Sailors. Sailors who are poets. Sailors who are drunkards. Sailors without ships, but still sailors. Sailors who sail around the world and still end up here.

LGBT: Not South Beach, not Liberace. PPP-people public and private living ther their lives. Like moths attracted to a tropical light. “Not your average barrista.”

Negative vibes, man: small, inbred, lot of cronies, politcally, financially. Bubba trucks bad for bicycles.

Tourists. Bikers, Daytonna 500. Mostly naked young people on the beach. Redskins downtown. T-shirt shops. Cigar bar, martini bar, wine bar, brew pub, French bistro.

Key West. St. Augustine. Artists, writers, musicians, healers, free thinkers, sailors, chefs, and…not as much drinking as Key West.

Quirks? Estuaries, scientists, dolphins, astronomy, astrology, ghosts, psychics, bridge, sunsets, water, actors, chiropractic, river, newspaper, peppers, breakfast, pizza.

Old Florida. Old tourism. Fried shrimp. In the 1990s a bit like Northern Exposure tv show. A balmy breeze, palm trees, sandals, a crescent moon, azure sky, a Spanish minaret.

 

Naturopathy–Licensing

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Naturopathy is “licensed” in a handful of states. That does not mean it is illegal in unlicensed states, simply that licenses are not issued in those jurisdictions. Why is this important? In previous posts about Naturopathy I mentioned that the Naturopathic profession is divided into two groups, Naturopathic Physicians and Naturopaths (also known as Traditional Naturopaths). They are both use the designation ND, which stands for Naturopathic Doctor or Doctor of Naturopathy. Naturopathic Physicians have sought to implement laws in different states that are prejudicial towards Traditional Naturopaths. NPs want to stop those that have not attended a sanctioned medical naturopathic school from having a license, or practicing natural healing. A state usually licenses a profession when it is deemed necessary to “protect the public,” and there is a call to regulate the minimum requirements of practice. The people who most often are asking for licensing of a profession are unfortunately groups who are trying to restrict its practice for economic or philosophical reasons. In other words, they are trying to quash the competition, and keep the marketplace to themselves.

According to various web sites there are 15-18 states that have Naturopathic licensure. “Regulation” might be a more appropriate since all these states do have some law about Naturopathic practice but the laws are not uniform. A number of states allow Naturopathic Physicians to prescribe drugs, do minor surgery, and order labs. Most Traditional Naturopaths believe this is not real Naturopathy. I agree. However, if those NDs who have the training to perform those regular medical practices wish to do so, I have no quarrel with them. It is the attempt to restrict the use of the term “Naturopath” to one class of practitioners, the NPs, and back it up by legal enforcement, that is deplorable.

This 2001 study by the USCF Center for Health Professions seems to be an unibaised report on Naturopathy and its practice. Since then California has passed what I think of as a fair law. It licenses Naturopathic Physicians but does not prohibit the practice of natural healing by Naturopaths, Naturopathic Practitioners, or Traditional Naturopaths. The California statue acknowledges there is more than one kind of Naturopath and that there are other groups of people who perfrom natural healing. This type of tiering is a practical solution for a number of alternative healing professions.

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