1. Summer on the coast means fog (freaky weather patterns notwithstanding). Out here at the ocean, the seasons go like this: rainy, windy, foggy, glorious. Right now we’re heading into “June gloom,” which means by July, those of us ensconced on the coast will be climbing the walls — or more likely into our cars […]
Jennifer Savage
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Five Things To Know Before You Name Your Child or Dog
1. Porch test: Make a list of potential pup names. Open your front door. Step outside. Holler out the first one on the list. Holler it again. How’s that feel? Do it one more time. If you find yourself cringing that you just shouted “Mr. Scritchie!” at the neighborhood multiple times, cross it off the […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Five Things to Know Before You Despair of Goodness in the World
1. You’re probably watching too much news, listening to too much Democracy Now! — or both. While being informed is usually a good thing (digesting this North Coast Journal, for example, is an excellent choice), immersing yourself in sadness you can’t do anything about will just weigh you down with hopelessness. Take a break. If […]
Posted inNews
The Essentials
E&O Bowl 1417 Glendale Drive, (technically McKinleyville, but closer to Blue Lake) 825-9160 Hours: Noon till whenever they’re not busy enough. Cost: Monday through Thursday: $2.75 per person per game, Friday through Sunday: $3.75 per person per game. $2.50 for shoes. Open Bowling: All day Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturdays; until 6 p.m. on Sunday […]
Posted inNews
For the Love of Bowling
Co-opting blue collar culture in the name of irony is nothing new. Head up to Portland or over to Brooklyn and you’ll find numerous bowling alleys brimming with floppy-haired 20-somethings striking poses in carefully wound scarves and too-small cardigans. In these parts, things are — unsurprisingly — different. We laugh without inhibition. We are sincere […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Thronging to the Inaugural
People weren’t kidding about the cold or the crowds or the miles we’d walk. Get there early, they advised. I meant to, had planned on catching the Metro at 4 a.m., when the trains started running, but in my tiredness, I’d set the alarm for 3:15 p.m. instead of 3:15 a.m. I woke up sans […]
Posted inNews
CalFrustrated
Back in 2007, when Daniele Nelson was just 18 and struggling to get by on her own, a friend urged her to try to get on food stamps. “It was a pain going down there and supplying documents,” Nelson recalled. She had to get fingerprinted, and bring a photo ID, her Social Security card, […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
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 […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
More Better Biking
They’re everywhere. Decked out with enough gear to traverse the state. Pedaling in skirts to Farmers’ Market. Powering past you in the forest. That guy you’re passing on the highway, the one covered in so much bicycle gear you almost fail to notice his bulging calf muscles. (But you do!) That woman bouncing down the trail […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Quit Your Whining
Happy New Year! Perhaps in all the holiday madness, you failed to notice the Economic Policy Institute’s December report on the gap between rich and poor in the United States. The upshot? Said gap is at its largest since the survey began in 1962. Notably, the richest one percent of American households has 225 times […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People
At 304 pages, with a chapter on “fornicrafting” and several (fake) gruesome shots of crafting accidents, Amy Sedaris’ new book, Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People, is not for the fainthearted. Neither, despite its title, is the tome particularly useful for crafters or the financially challenged. What Simple Times does provide is reinforcement that Amy […]
Posted inNews
Solutions: John Matthews and Jen Savage Solve Your Problems!
Romantic entanglements? Financial woes? Weird fungus behind your knees? Roommate from hell? Children making you crazy? Bloodstains on the couch? Friends treating you badly? Or maybe you have no friends? Well, now you do! No matter what your problem, big or small, your new best friends John Matthews and Jen Savage (you know us from […]