Acupunktrix: Acupuncture, Apothecary, Birth and Death Guide, 1800 Hertel Avenue, Buffalo, NY (2026)

02/10/2026

Our dearly beloved had their incredible community made ice art first forced to transform the U to a heart, and then last night a citizen thug destroyed it all.

Ten minutes later I was on my own property with food color and water paint in a spray bottle. It’s not sexy, and it’s not much, but the message is clear enough.

People are honking while driving by!

Let’s be loud. (Only if you have the privilege to do so, not everyone does! So those of us who do need to be even louder).

02/09/2026

Ok, I rarely drink anymore and I’ve had two glasses of Spanish wine, but I’m sobbing my damn eyes out.

El Pueblo Unido Jamás Será Vencido !

Look, I’m a Bills 🦬💙❤️fan, but I’m not a football fan. But I had a moral and ethical obligation to watch Green Day and Bad Bunny (and Gaga!).

Not disappointed. Holy cow.

That halftime performance was so powerful and so beautiful and so unapologetically BROWN.

America doesn’t want what’s happening. We are a continent not just a country. The world doesn’t want what’s happening. And the cracks are starting to show.

The people have the power.

So many times, I start to feel down, I start to despair…how can we fight the rich? We can and we will and we are.

The people are rising. We are resisting. Neighbor to neighbor, heart to heart, we are America.

I had to take a Lyft home from the hospital the other night because our car was damaged in the Hertel flood, and my driver was this beautiful Somali man whose mother had my name. We spoke heart to heart, not just Muslim to Jew, but human to human. We spoke love and compassion and kindness and resilience. He is just as much America as I am.

It is dark as f**k right now, but as Leonard Cohen said “ there is a crack in everything…that’s how the light gets in.” Don’t despair…we are rising. Justice will prevail.

02/08/2026

I started blacking out this morning while getting up from breakfast. Had to be on the ground awhile. Finally felt better, went up to bed, but started blacking out on the stairs. Eventually, I did make it to my bed and it hit me, there is a non-zero chance that with 2 neurological events in 2 parts of my brain, symptomatic empty silla syndrome, severe osteoporosis, chronically high d-dimer, pericardial effusion, etc, despite my best efforts…I may, at some point have an event bad enough, or enough small events, to permanently incapacitate me either physically or mentally.

As a and acupuncturist, I am keenly aware that being able bodied is temporary for most of us. I’ve had an advanced directive for many years.

But it’s good to revisit it from time to time. If I can’t communicate or move my own body: please, trim my nose hair. Nobody did it after my first big stroke and I’m not taking visitors looking like I belong in Super Mario Bros.

Please turn me a lot. I get sore and restless even after a few minutes in one position. I love natural light, as much as possible! But harsh cool white or fluorescent lights make me sad and cranky.

Please play me podcasts or YouTube videos about history, art, nature, herbalism, and weird cults. Let me listen to music I loved in the 80’s and 90’s, old sitcoms, vintage radio, and British television.

Massage me and scent the air with Peru balsam and rose geranium.

If I can see, let there be plants and living things in my line of vision.

Make sure the temperature is comfy and the fabrics are so soft. Protect me from the sounds of beeping machines!

Make sure body cream is applied on all my skin at least once a day. When my skin is dry, my sensory sensitivities get worse. Put lip balm on my lips…all day long. Play live music for me, and take me outside if you can. Touch leaves and bark to my skin. Let me feel the earth and bask in the presence of sky.

Describe to me your life. Let me live through your stories.

I am going to do my damndest to stay healthy. But none of us are guaranteed tomorrow. Write your wishes now. Get them notarized. Revisit them often. It is a gift to you and the ones you ❤️.

02/07/2026

I probably had another stroke.

I know people hate long videos, but if you’re interested in the details please watch. They also found some fluid around my lungs and heart. Not a lot, thankfully.

I am going to forge on as best I can, but please let me know if I am slurring or my speech seems slow or I seem spaced out or my behavior is off, as I’m not always aware and I would need to go to the hospital.

I may need to step back from some responsibilities or lighten my load a bit. Know that that is the opposite of what I want, but I’m pretty freaked out and very scared that another event could cause more serious brain damage or affect my quality of life in a serious way and I need to minimize stress.

I will keep working as much as I can, but also do all the things available to me to help myself continue to recover and prevent further harm.

02/07/2026

I probably had another stroke.

I know people hate long videos, but if you’re interested in the details please watch. They also found some fluid around my lungs and heart. Not a lot, thankfully.

I am going to forge on as best I can, but please let me know if I am slurring or my speech seems slow or I seem spaced out or my behavior is off, as I’m not always aware and I would need to go to the hospital.

I may need to step back from some responsibilities or lighten my load a bit. Know that that is the opposite of what I want, but I’m pretty freaked out and very scared that another event could cause more serious brain damage or affect my quality of life in a serious way and I need to minimize stress.

I will keep working as much as I can, but also do all the things available to me to help myself continue to recover and prevent further harm.

02/03/2026

Last month, I shared about how the Black Panthers through Dr. Mutulu Shakur popularized acupuncture in the U.S. and created the first community style acupuncture clinics.

Today, I’m thinking about a woman who deeply inspired my own journey. Jewel Thais-Williams, was a powerhouse of legendary proportions. She created one of Los Angeles’s longest running discos, Jewel’s Catch One, a safe haven for Black le****ns and allies. Everyone in the q***r community and beyond knew that club.

After experiencing horrific treatment in the Western medical system, she went back to school and at 60 earned her Master’s of Science in Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. She used her knowledge to create a sliding scale clinic, Village Health Foundation, right near her disco, often using the funds from the club to cover medical care for those in need.

I know I have a picture of us somewhere, but I couldn’t find it, so a stolen internet photo will have to do.

I met Jewel in her brightly painted clinic while I was studying acupuncture. I’ve only spent a couple days in her presence, but I believe she left a mark on my heart and my practice. Her passion and commitment to empowering marginalized communities and helping them access their own health and strength was inspiring.

What she accomplished is a blue print for intersectionality, and how to foster and connect communities.

I remember feeling my body vibrate with excitement when I observed treatments in her clinic and her incredible power to transform needs and ideas into living, breathing solutions.

That she was able to do so much with so many cultural hurdles (plus a huge fire!) is an example to every one of us. There is even a documentary about her called “Jewel’s Catch One.”

Jewel died last July and both the long standing club and clinic are now gone. But her legacy lives on through each of us that were inspired by the integrity of her vision. May she rest in power.

02/02/2026

As a Jew in diaspora, and a Jew who grieves over the loss of Palestinian lives, my connection to land is always fraught with tension.

As a child, Tu B’Shevat, the birthday of trees, was connected to earth stewardship, but also to planting trees in Israel, about reclaiming the land of my ancestors, a land I’d never been to, but was told was mine.

As an adult, I walk an uneasy tightrope, trying to find a place that reflects, not only my ethnospiritual heritage, but my personal values…a place that feels like home, thousands of miles from Jerusalem.

There is Israel the modern nation state, but there is also Israel the people, whose very name means to question, to wrestle with G-d and big ideas. I am dubious of allegiance to any and all nation states, but my heart longs for Israel, the PEOPLE, who found homes in every corner of the globe. My heart longs for a community that says that they are Jews who question…gender roles, lineage, practice, and our relationship to land, community, and home.

Last night, I attended my first Tu B’Shevat Seder (ritual meal) with . The kabbalistic holiday reflects on 4 realms, 4 elements, four kinds of fruits with different natures, and we drink 4 cups of different kinds of that represent the thawing process of winter. We are invited to examine our relationship with nature, spirit, community, and ourselves.

We cried out for immigrants, for Palestinians, for trans folks. We asked for ❤️’s to thaw.

It was comfortably casual, yet deeply meaningful. Blue jeans and a heart cracked open. Potluck and Tikkun Olam (repairing the world).

On Tu B’Shevat we honor the first rising of sap in the trees. What are we nurturing? Planting? Growing? Where? If we foster community can we become Israel, the people, anywhere? Can we reach for the sun like desert date palms (the meaning of my name, Tamara)even in the Buffalo snow? I think we can. Jerusalem is a place in our hearts. Judaism is an evolving, embodied, living tradition and always has been. We create home wherever we are…like our ancestors before us. We grow trees of empathy and compassion and shared humanity. Amen.

02/01/2026

Yay! We are back to being open regular hours and accepting new patients!

I specialize in treating stress, anxiety, depression, OBGYN issues, fertility, LGBTQ supportive care, neurological disorders, birth, chronic illness, and end of life.

Acupuncture is so relaxing most of my patients fall asleep! 😴

All appointments are booked on my website.

Let me know if sessions are out of your price range, I also accept barter and work trade as well.

Sliding scale community group acupuncture will also be resuming soon. Watch this space for more information!

01/30/2026

This California girl went out to protest today and the “feels like” temp was -8 F.

I was out there for 45 minutes, in lots of layers, handed out some hand warmers, and just taking off my gloves for a minute caused my Reynaud’s to get really bad. Pain in my fingers by the time I got to my car was ten out of ten.

I was crying from pain, but also thinking about the folks in Minneapolis and how serious it must be when they are willing to brave even colder temps for hours. Day after day. It’s f**king heroic.

If you’re going out, remember to dress in layers because they trap warm air between them and keep you warmer. NEVER wear cotton next to your skin, or at all if you can help it.

Cotton kills. You need breathable synthetics and wool.

Make sure you cover your neck, wear a balaclava or something like it to cover your face, a good hat, good insulated gloves, and a couple pairs of good socks. Use chemical or electric warmers in your pockets, gloves, core, or boots…before you get too cold.

If your clothing gets wet, get out of the cold asap and remove it!

Soak cold, frost nipped or bitten limbs in warm, but not hot waters for 20-30 minutes.

Do not rub and do not use direct heat, like a heating pad.

Any blistering or peeling or discoloration that doesn’t rapidly resolve needs to be looked at by a medical professional immediately to avoid risk of losing the affected part.

Try to find local friendly establishments to warm up in and only go out for short comfortable bursts of time before going inside to get warm again. Stay hydrated and eat before you go out. But if you are frostnipped, wait to have heavy solid food until you warm up so your body doesn’t have to send energy away from your limbs to digest food.

Be safe out there!!! We need us all alive and healthy!!! We’re in it for the long haul!

01/29/2026

Once more with feeling!

If you can participate, please do. No war, no ICE, no attacks on POC, trans folks, women, the disabled, children, and the working class.

Our government only speaks money! Let’s bring the system to a screeching halt so that they understand what we are demanding!!!

If participating would cause more than just a little discomfort and really threaten your way to support yourself or your family or cause you to lose healthcare etc…find other ways to support those who are striking. From offering childcare to making phone calls to reps. Help where it makes sense for YOU.

But it’s time to get serious. We have the power to broadcast our outrage to the nation, IF WE ALL WORK TOGETHER.

There are more of us than there are of them.

Fight back.

01/28/2026

Having big feelings today, but I’ve got s**t to do. Let’s breathe together.

01/27/2026

Never again is now.

Acupunktrix: Acupuncture, Apothecary, Birth and Death Guide

02/10/2026

02/09/2026

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02/03/2026

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