Aldaron’s Walkabout
A journey along Humboldt Bay to see where the ocean might come in
Cover Story
Aldaron’s Walkabout
The South Bay gleamed dully at low tide, its exposed flats an expanse of greenish-brown mud. A watery blue, dendritic network of tidal channels, thick with eelgrass, cut across the faintly reeking ooze, as if an enormous, mythical tree made of heavy sky had fallen from above, landed deep and remained, capturing sea water and…
Supervisor Mark Lovelace – running for re-election
Third District Supervisor Mark Lovelace gathered supporters on the Arcata Plaza Thursday afternoon to announce that he’s running for re-election (see text of speech below), then discussed challenges ahead, among them holding onto the county’s tax money, rural school busing, marijuana policy and smart meters. The last 3 years have been very busy. I’ve…
Sewage Settlement
The city of Blue Lake has agreed to keep a closer eye on whether any of its treated sewage might be seeping into the Mad River. It will also spiff up its sewage treatment ponds, repairing dikes and adding more aerators to provide oxygen for crud-gobbling microbes. That’s all part of a settlement reached late…
Gone Fish
Go Fish and Chips Cafe, that long-dead restaurant on Waterfront Drive, has finally bleached into oblivion. That is, it’s been painted all over in white. Which means the feverishly bright mural on its face, of fishes and birds and other creatures, painted by Eureka artist Augustus Clark about five years ago, is gone. Gone, also,…
Party Totals
We’ve all heard of the horrors inflicted upon the Arcata Plaza during this past Halloween’s bacchanal. McKinley’s statue debauched. Grass embedded with broken glass and decorated in human fecal matter. Revelers jabbed with needles. Drunken revelers hauled off to the emergency room or jail. Planters and irrigation systems assaulted and plants killed. Storefront windows busted.…
Snow! In Eureka!
No, it did not snow last night. But it did snow on this day in history 105 years ago. Local postcard collector Steve Lazar dug out this photographic postcard record of the unusual weather event, although it took some history detective sleuthing to figure out exactly when and where the photo was taken. (View from…
Defense of Soldiers
Editor: Mr. Grunbaum, if you have not participated, you really weren’t there and have no solid footing to criticize (“Mailbox,” Dec. 29). It is the military industrial complex I believe you have a legitimate argument with. Not the cannon fodder our imperialistic culture sends forth to exercise control over the rest of the planet, for…
In the Can
Ever wander the Arcata Plaza and have to go? Really have to get to a bathroom quick? Maybe you high-tailed it to Jacoby’s Storehouse and sneaked into its facilities. Or if things were a little less pressing, perhaps you fast-stepped it to the Co-op, got the door code, and maybe waited behind a person or…
Winter Wonderful
No matter how lovely December was — all that sunshine — you knew it wasn’t likely to last. Soon, wet winter days will have you wanting to do nothing more than curl up by the woodstove with a good book or your laptop, mug of hot chocolate by your side. But wait! Just because…
Other Feet
If you’re livin’ right, during this past weekend’s New Year’s Eve you enthusiastically fulfilled your annual dance-the-night-away duties, effectively ushering in 2012 with your feet. Can you still feel it? If you did it right, those puppies should still be whimpering. However, that being the case, you’re totally exempt from having to get down this…
Gift Horse
Reviews WAR HORSE is a determined, almost defiant exercise in old-fashioned restraint by a director not especially known for it. I’ll give credit where credit is due: Steven Spielberg basically invented the summer blockbuster, and I love some of his early work (Duel, Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark), but his schmaltzy, maudlin middle-period coincided…
Fight the Lull
It’s the first Journal of the new year! Huzzah! Oh, wait. Unfortunately, that’s also an indicator that we are dab smack in the middle of Humboldt’s annual winter culture lull. With the extreme exception of New Year’s Eve dropped in the middle, the lull generally stretches from round ’bouts the time the university crowd bails…
New Year’s Resolutions
New Year’s Resolutions
‘Vindictive’ Reporting
Editor: In regard to your review of the top stories of 2011 (“Top 10 Stories,” Dec. 22), I am compelled to express my indignation at the omission of the word “allegedly” in your reference to me as an abusive husband. In doing so, writer Ryan Burns has presented the allegation as fact, while veiling the…
Wal-Mart’s Chutzpah
Editor: I would like to join in with the voices regarding Wal-Mart’s secret move into the Bayshore Mall (“Touchdown Wal-Mart,” Dec. 15). It takes a lot of chutzpah (and I mean that in the negative sense of the word) for the owners of Wal-Mart (and the others who were instrumental in making this happen) to…
Aphorisms
They come and go Like subatomic particles, Hinting…
Dear Field Notes…
Although it’s always a bit of a risk to include an email address in my byline, the rewards far exceed the odd solicitation or very occasional invitation to take my column back where it came from. Mostly, I get questions. For instance: How old is dirt? When some old geezer announces that he’s “as old…
Publish or Perish
My fatal flaw as a journalist was that I never cared if people read my work. That made me more artist than journalist, though talent-wise I was more journalist than artist. For a journalist, publication is everything; there is no point in the creation if it doesn’t get published. The artist takes pleasure in the…
Coffee Talk: The Stimulating Story of the World’s Most Popular Brew
Since a book on coffee is likely to be read mostly by coffee fanatics, there are several requirements. First, it must provide glowing detail about how wonderful coffee is, and how good it is for you. Fortunately, the latest health studies have been very positive, so that’s not the problem it used to be. Morton…
The Juice, the Jump and Curtis Otto
If you’ve ever cruised down E Street in Eureka, done a double-take at the house next to the Labor Temple at Ninth Street and wondered, “Are those really oil paintings crammed at the front door, leaning on the hedges and tumbling out onto the lawn?” … you would be correct. And if you took the…
Submarine, Incendies and The Red Chapel
Living behind the Redwood Curtain often means missing out on the majority of independent theatrical releases. With that in mind, we look back at a few overlooked 2011 films now available on DVD. Submarine. On the light and fluffy side we have a Welsh crowd-pleaser directed by Britcom star Richard Ayoade. Oliver Tate (Craig Roberts)…
