The work of being a writer often feels both worthless and pointless. Literally worthless in a culture that does not want to pay for it, literally pointless when fewer and fewer people seem to have confidence that anything they read will tell them the truth. Because what is our — my — job, if not […]
Linda Stansberry
Linda Stansberry was a staff writer of the North Coast Journal from 2015 to 2018. She is a frequent contributor the the Journal and our other publications.
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Embracing Monsterpause
Are you between the ages of 42 and 55 and staring down the barrel of perimenopause/premenopause/menopause? Does each new quirk in your ever-slower, ever more confounding body send you directly to the internet to research whether you’re feeling the effects of your nosediving progesterone or simply old age? Was that a hot flash? Or a […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Lobster Girl Finds the Beat
For three glorious months in 2019, it seemed like it was finally going to happen for me. I was attending a dance fusion class at the Arcata HealthSport led by an amazing instructor named Jovonne. Once a week I’d stand at the back of the class with my friends and try to keep up. Never […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Tales from the CryptTok
Timestamp: Sept. 20, 2023 Location: Trinidad, CA Hey Grave Babies, it’s me, Shyla, your favorite tomb raider! I know it’s been a few weeks since I posted but I’ve been busy with a big surprise for you all! Remember how I told you St. Louis has some of the best archeo-foraging sites of all time? […]
Posted inNews (NCJ)
Graduation Day: A Fortuna Teacher Celebrates with her First Grade Class
Janell Hodges refers to the time between beginning her quest to become a teacher and her eventual triumph as one of life’s seasons. It was a season in which she became a mother, adopting her first son Samuel in 2006, and finding out he had special needs that required extra care and multiple surgeries. She […]
Posted inNews (NCJ)
UPDATE: Earthquake Damage to Grandstands Jeopardizes Fate of Humboldt County Fair
UPDATE: An emergency meeting of the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors is scheduled for 1 p.m. Thursday to discuss the earthquake-caused damage to the grandstands at the Humboldt County Fairgrounds and possible actions, including the county creating an agreement with a contractor and having them work directly with engineering firm KPFF, which conducted […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Heroine Withdrawal
HIGH DESERT. Maybe we don’t need another detective series. Maybe every red herring has been fileted by now and it’s time to call it a day. I have watched a lot of TV. It has all been done. Around the time a psychic detective solved a murder by seeing through the eyes of a haunted […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Without an Exclusive Second Week, Fair Racing Faces Competition
Horseracing at the 2023 Humboldt County Fair will once again overlap with races at Golden Gate Fields for the second week of the fair after four out of five California Horse Racing Board commissioners voted to keep the status quo. Jim Morgan, special counsel to the Humboldt County Fair, and others consider the competition for […]
Posted inNews (NCJ)
Duffy Tapped as Interim Fair GM
The Humboldt County Fair Association is under new — if temporary — leadership. The association board voted March 13 to approve the hire of retired Humboldt Waste Management Authority Executive Director and former county Fifth District Supervisor Jill Duffy as the association’s interim general manager. Duffy officially started the job March 15, succeeding Rich Silacci, […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Glass Onion‘s Layered Craftsmanship
GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY. What makes a movie a Christmas movie? I recently listened to a podcast in which a host floated the idea that the best holiday movies are ones that encourage reflection on the past year and prepare us for the year ahead. They were inspired by watching It’s a Wonderful […]
Posted inNews (NCJ)
Profit and Pain
On Monday, Sept. 25. California Gov. Gavin Newsom formally rejected Assembly Bill 2079. Authored by Assemblymember Jim Wood, the bill would have required skilled nursing facilities to spend a minimum of 85 percent of revenue received from MediCal and private payers on the direct care of residents. A.B. 2079 was a response to the rampant practice […]
Posted inNews (NCJ)
The Wall
Cpl. Crystal Landry has a cold. It’s just a sinus thing, she says, something she picked up from one of the other officers on last week’s shift. She blots her nose with a tissue and pecks at the keyboard of her computer, typing a Be On the Lookout for a stolen dirt bike. “They took […]