http://www.latimes.com/brandpublishing/healthplus/la-ss-innovations-holistic-dto-story.html

There are many things that strike me as important to the understanding of the Chicana/o family structure within the book “So Far from God” by Ana Castillo. One important aspect is the use of non western medicine and the focus on holistic healing. The La Times article by Mikaela Conley touches on this idea of holistic healing. I think it is important to emphasize that for too long our Chicana/o history of healing has been viewed by the dominate culture as witchery and hokum. The truth is that our medicine is, in a lot of ways, more traditional than western medicine, as our healing cures are passed down from generation to generation. I think it is amazing a beautiful that I can step out into my yard and find easy remedies that works illnesses ranging from a cough, to migraines. Above I posted a collage of just a few plants that are around my house that are what I consider to be intelligent design. There is a lot of thought that gets put into our houses and one key component is what plants are available in our gardens as Chicana/os. My family has a wide range of beautiful yet purposeful plants. In my family we have truly mastered the art of gardening by focusing on plants that are sustainable, convenient, and improve our lives. In the book, we see how Caridad really hones in this desire to know about Dona Felicia’s traditional medicine and how they both approach healing as a need address the physical as well as the spiritual. In my life as a Chicana I cannot count the times that I turned to traditional cures to alleviate my illnesses.  It is empowering to name it for what it is, traditional medicine, and slowly undo the damage of eurocentric beliefs that Western medicine is superior.