News

From Publisher Judy Hodgson:

Today Carrie Peyton Dahlberg takes over as editor of the North Coast Journal. I'll tell you a little more about Carrie below. But first I'd like to acknowledge and thank the entire Journal team for weathering the past several months of transition.

In particular, I'd like to single out acting editor Ryan Burns and staff writer Heidi Walters. The two have been functioning more or less as co-editors, all the while keeping up on their staff writer duties and blogging. Ryan has been chief traffic cop in the editorial department, coordinating story assignments for staff, freelancers and interns, in addition to responding to the public. (Ryan declined, by the way, to apply for the permanent position of editor, preferring to return to full-time reporting.) Heidi has been handling the letters to the editor, editing copy and acting as liaison to the production department. The third and fourth legs of the stool that kept the editorial department functioning smoothly, of course, are Bob Doran, the Journal's veteran arts and culture editor, and Andrew Goff, calendar editor, cartoonist, writer and more.

And now, about the Journal's new editor:

Carrie Peyton Dahlberg is a journalist and educator whose work has appeared in numerous newspapers, magazines and websites including Inside Science News Service, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and Yoga Journal. She worked for 23 years at the Sacramento Bee newspaper, where she won national and regional environmental and medical reporting awards and also was an assistant city editor and copy desk chief. Before joining the Bee, Peyton Dahlberg was a reporter or editor on newspapers in California, New York state and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as a researcher for a magazine in Germany. She has a master's degree in science journalism from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. Peyton Dahlberg has taught reporting and editing courses at California State University, Sacramento, and served as a writing coach at Columbia University. She is relocating to the Eureka area with her husband, their two cats, and as she said, "far too many books." See her Linkedin profile here.

-- Judy Hodgson

A note from the editor:

You're probably looking at this Web page because you expect to find something worthwhile here. Maybe it's calendar listings or columns. Maybe it's arts coverage or a deeper look at the news, explored in ways that give you something to think about. I'm not going to mess with that.

As the new editor of the North Coast Journal, I'm going to try to build on what already works, and bring another pair of hands, ears and eyes to writing about what matters here.

Because I'm new to Humboldt County, I can pretty much guarantee that I'll blunder now and then, misunderstanding the place or getting something screamingly wrong. Tell me. Let me know when the Journal delights you, when it infuriates you, and when it disappoints you. We won't always agree, but I will listen. Let me know if you've wondered about writing for the Journal. Arts and entertainment editor Bob Doran would like to hear from writers interested in the arts, and I'm looking for someone who wants to write about the outdoors. You can reach me at [email protected], or 442-1400, extension 321. Because I'm new here, you won't see my byline much at first. I need to learn a little more before I can write anything intelligent.

I've been visiting the North Coast a couple of times a year for the past decade. My husband and I have long planned to move here. We've stayed in Trinidad and McKinleyville, Eureka and Arcata. So while there's plenty I don't know yet, there are a few things I do know about Humboldt's coast. I know that the Arcata Bottoms, on a day when sun breaks through clouds, can take my breath away. I know that I can watch of flock of wheeling dunlins as if I were watching a ballet, transfixed by the patterns of light and dark. I know I love Loleta Cheese Factory's roasted garlic cheddar, Ramone's scones, Japhy's soups and just about everybody's microbrews. And that's a start.