Gold in the Cracks
Conrad Calimpong draws a thumb along the gold seam running through his chestnut brown “Pillow Pot Vase” to where it meets three other metallic streaks, fusing a mottled river rock like a jewel or a heart at its center. Like the other pieces in his show Earthquake Trauma: My Path to Recovery in the Anderson…
Changing LivesThrough Medicine
Terre Donaldson has been a nurse anesthetist in a wide range of medical fields. After retirement, she began volunteering for California CareForce’s free health clinics, drawn to lending her skills by the astounding need for healthcare she has seen. She recalls one woman at the last CareForce clinic held in Humboldt two years ago who…
The Good Ones
When Assistant Editor Kimberly Wear reported on the death of convicted violent sexual predator Richard Stobaugh’s death last week (“‘Ski Mask Rapist’ Richard Stobaugh Dies,” Oct. 1), many women and girls released sighs of relief. State law nearly allowed Stobaugh to be housed in Manila in 2025 and he was appealing the eventual decision against…
A Nightmare on Main Street
If you ever find yourself wondering what being haunted or possessed feels like, think about a nightmare. Then wake up and try to move on. Think about a beautiful dream. Then wake up and once again try to get on with your life. If you have ever suffered from privation — a serious deficit of…
Redwood Coast Music Festival 2026
The 34th Redwood Coast Music Festival last weekend in Eureka attracted another huge crowd of attendees who faced the pleasant challenge of picking and choosing among 130 sets by amazing talent over four days at different venues. The event began back in 1990 with a traditional Dixieland jazz music genre targeting a somewhat aging audience.…
‘Digger’ Devastates
DIGGER. The truth is that I didn’t think I would enjoy Digger. Even more than that, I had assumed that it would disappoint me: a stickler for the psychological battery that characterizes the realist landscapes of Alejandro González Iñárritu’s pre-2010s catalogue. I saw the trailers and was quick to write the movie off as another…
Thales’ Eclipse and the Saros Cycle
“… just as the battle was growing warm, day was on a sudden changed into night. This event had been foretold by Thales, the Milesian, who forewarned the Ionians of it, fixing for it the very year in which it actually took place. The Medes and Lydians, when they observed the change, ceased fighting, and…
Looking for an Explanation
Editor: I am devastated by the recent logging next to Murray Road between McKinleyville and Fieldbrook. This stretch of road was once the most beautiful in McKinleyville, a lush tunnel of forest unspoiled by development — unlike the roadway approach from Central Avenue, where commercial timber harvesting and the clearing for the Beau Pre development…
Ghosted
Editor: I enjoyed the Journal’s Sept. 24 cover story on “Local Lit.” Humboldt County is home to a number of fine writers who have, per capita, produced troves of fun and important literature. One selection conspicuously absent from the Journal’s list is Greg King’s 2023 book, The Ghost Forest: Racists, Radicals, and Real Estate in…
