Update: Brain Dump

I have been pretty scatterbrained recently and haven't been able to give enough attention to where I want this project/research to go. I feel like I am getting crushed by a homework mountain and I am pushing this aside in order to get other homework and studying done. I always do research on the weekends but I need to be doing stuff during the week as well as during the week. I am still trying to figure out when the best time for me to do EMC and still be able to complete all my other work within the limited time I have. I am sorry if I haven't been doing enough work for this class, but I just wanted to let you know that I am trying. I want to be able to complete work this class not just on the weekends, but we will see.

So as of right now, there are about three routes I could take this project: Eastern medicine, Native American/North American medicine, or controversial drugs/practices. The worst part about this is that I would like to research all of them. At home I have a lot of books of Cherokee medicine, acupuncture, Chinese medicine and more. However, I also like fighting against the stigma of certain topics and taking the unpopular opinion on topics.

Based on my dilemma, I have decided for now to divide up the first half of my school year into time periods where I devote my focus onto one of those few topics that I am interested in. Hopefully by midterms, I will be able to make a decision on what I would like to focus my energy on (or maybe I can find I way to combine all of them).

For October, I will be studying Eastern medicine. This will be common herbs and medicines used in Asia and hopefully I will be able to get my hands on some Chinese medicine so that i can investigate the common ingredients that they all seem to share.

For November, I will be focusing on North American medicine. I think it may be better to talk about substances that more of Americans would know about or can attain here in the U.S.

For December, I will be looking into controversial practices and substances. For instance, tobacco, natural oils (including CBD), acupuncture, fire cupping, and more. I want to see if I can prove the skeptics wrong.

I hope that this plan will work out and can set me off in the right direction for the rest of the year.