User:Nagamama

Hello!

I'm new to contributing to Wikipedia so correct me gently if I err or step on toes please.

Full disclosure: I'm trying to figure this part out. You see, I intend to do what I can to expand and edit pages relating to, amongst other things, traditional Thai medicine and massage. But I own a little Thai massage school, and am writing books on the subject, and I fret about people thinking I'm doing this for self promotion when I swear, I just want good and thorough information to be out there. Wikipedia tells me that disclosure of things like having a business related to the subject you write about here is reassuring to those who might think you are just being sneaky about seeking free advertising. Then again, if in the name of full disclosure I say exactly who I am, and my school, then isn't that a bit of free marketing in and of itself? Tell you what, I'm going to assume that this paragraph is enough for you to sass out my possible conflicts of interest, and hope that you will trust when I say that I am here to be helpful, not to self promote. Anyone who knows my school already will be able to figure out who I am, so no need to promote to those folks anyhow.

"I spent three days a week for 10 years educating myself in the public library, and it's better than college. People should educate themselves - you can get a complete education for no money." - Ray Bradbury

I have the above quote here because I'm basically a high school drop out who spent the next twenty something years (so far) studying health and alternative healing, with a focus on traditional Thai medicine/massage since about 1999. Other than about a year of massage school, none of it was any sort of formal training. I believe deeply in reading, research, and finding your own teachers; not as being better than institutionalized training, but as being potentially equal. I also believe deeply that being a lifelong student, with or without an ivory tower foundation, is a thing of beauty and joy. This has made me a bit of a research maven - so I'll probably mostly contribute to Thai healing arts articles, but I may pipe in on a variety of other things too.