The Notebook of Alternate Juror No. 4
What it’s like to sit in judgment of an alleged child molester
Cover Story
The Notebook of Alternate Juror No. 4
I’ve been here a week and a half, sitting through jury selection, and I’ve learned a few new things about our justice system. For instance, I already knew the difference between direct and circumstantial evidence, but I didn’t know, as the judge patiently explained at least four or five times, that the two are equally…
Burgers for Earth Day?
This just in: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: KSLG’s afternoon radio personality, Dr. Syd wants to buy you breakfast on Earth Day, Tuesday, April 22 from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. at the northern Eureka Burger King. The catch is that Dr. Syd will only buy you breakfast if you carpool, “The importance of carpooling is finally being…
Living on the Water
Stephanie Silva directed her own modern dance company in New York City and is a student of American poet Diane di Prima. She teaches movement and writing. When I was 10 years old I came home with the rehearsed narration of a grown-up joke I had overheard. An impending flood of momentous proportions is about…
Designer Fruit
Preparing a bowl of fruit for lunch reminded me of the tremendous diversity existing within the Kingdom of Plants. The largest Phylum, Angiosperm (flowering plants), contains hundreds of thousands of species. Recall Kingdom-Phylum-Class-Order-Family-Genus-Species? I hereby offer four favorite flavors of fruit. The kiwi’s story is interesting: I thought it was native to New Zealand until…
First to Contact, First to Contract
Dave Meserve started thinking about the influence military recruiters exert on young people in the community a couple of years ago. He was sitting in a coffee shop one morning when a recruiter walked in with three high school-aged girls. “He bought them sweet coffee drinks,” the former Arcata City Councilmember recalled in an interview…
NOTHING IN LIFE
Nothing in life prepares you for this. She…
War and High Society
Opening 88 MINUTES.College prof moonlighting as FBI agent receives death threat stating he’s got only 88 minutes to live. Rated R. 107 m. At the Broadway. FORBIDDEN KINGDOM.American teen is transported back in kung fu time when he finds weapon of ancient warrior in pawn shop. Rated PG-13. 113 m. At the Broadway, Mill Creek…
Capturing the Birds
It’s easy to forget in this modern time full of bewildering and exotic grist for the artistic mill, that it was wild nature that first compelled human beings to put pen to paper. The wonder that we feel watching the birds in the sky or the colors of a sunset have inspired the artist in…
Yes, Coach!
Two weeks ago, I wrote about my meeting with Genevieve Schmidt, an Arcata garden coach. I’m the ultimate low-budget do-it-yourself gardener, and apart from hiring a guy with a truck to haul off uncompostable green waste from time to time, I didn’t really know much about working with horticultural professionals. Apparently I’m not the only…
The old wall of words
Harvey Jossem was born on April 15, 1930 — he would have turned 78 this Tuesday. But Jossem died, of natural causes, on Dec. 28, leaving behind his tiny, time-frayed little green house on an unnamed dirt street in northeast Eureka, four cats, a handful of friends and caregivers and stacks and stacks of personal…
Take back the day
All this week, Humboldt State has been hosting a series of Take Back the Night functions. You could silkscreen a T-shirt on Sunday, do some dance therapy on Monday afternoon then map out patriarchy in the evening, engage in a roundtable discussion about gender violence on Tuesday, partake of some end-the-violence-and-rape-culture theater on Wednesday, maybe…
Godzilla Plays the Tango
The note from Lisa B was straight to the point: "Performing at Jambalaya in Arcata on Thursday, April 17, is Yo Tango!, Humboldt’s new Tango band, from 7-9 p.m. $5 cover. Come dance the Tango or just enjoy the music." Being a tango fan, I was intrigued. I actually learned to tango, a little bit,…
Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
By Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Anti-/Mute Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!, the new release from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, is Cave’s pop record. Well, it’s his version of pop. Following on the heels of the elegant, stylistic, white gospel, two-disc epic Abaittoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheusand the cathartic dirge of his Grinderman side…
Terror’s Advocate
DVD, directed by Barbara Schroeder. Magnolia Home Entertainment Terror’s Advocate opens with a bucolic scene of the Cambodian countryside, followed by patient shots of a pastel-colored temple amidst the trees and carefree monks strolling barefoot down a dirt path. Cue the soft, tired voice of Pol Pot, the notorious leader of the Khmer Rouge, responsible…
Fall of the Great
The North Coast Railroad Authority and the Humboldt Bay District last week got the final big thumbs-down on their … ummm, creative scheme to juke the California Transportation Commission out of a cool $20 mil. The idea, you’ll remember, was that the railroad authority would snatch the cash to open up the dead tracks around…
