Marcy Burstiner

If any of you actually liked Ryan Burns’ cover story last month, the one titled “Hooked,” raise your hand. That’s what I thought. But then again, if you liked everything you read, we wouldn’t need a First Amendment. That’s the one that protects our right to speech, press, religion, assembly and petition. It is what […]

If you aren’t terrified to get up in front of a crowd of strangers and make a speech, I think you have a bit of the psychopath in you, which helps explain our political mess. To get up in front of a crowd of strangers in print is even scarier, because you can’t take back […]

I blurt things out at inopportune times. It is a disease I’ve had from birth, which I call footinmouthitis, also known as the Faux Pox. Some people who know me find this unnerving and avoid me. Others find it honest and refreshing. They say I tell it like it is. So I was glad that […]

The hardest decision for many journalists to make is whether to print something in the first place. It is also the most subjective. The decision is hardest for those who will break the news first. That’s when all repercussions fall in your hands. But that wasn’t the case with the pre-election news that candidate for […]

I should have written this column last year. That was when McKinleyville High School decided to eliminate the newspaper class which produced the Paw Prints student paper. So I now apologize to the hardworking Paw Prints staff. I slept on my watch. Their counterparts at Arcata High now face the same fate. To save money, […]

In Italy, politics and Silvio Berlusconi are inseparable. He owns the three largest television networks and dominates the book and magazine publishing business. Now that’s a conflict of interest. In comparison, Patrick Cleary’s run for Fifth District Supervisor while owning Humboldt County radio powerhouse KHUM/KSLG is small potatoes. But his Fifth District challenger Ryan Sundberg […]

Newspaper columns are funny things. I think sometimes that journalists only came up with the idea of objectivity because most of us are wimps — we like to avoid confrontation. The easiest way to do that is to withhold an opinion. When you only ask questions and don’t answer them, nothing can ever be your […]

In the movie Madagascar, Alex the Lion and Melman the giraffe loved their zoo. The crowds adored Alex and the animals had all needs taken care of with little effort. Who doesn’t love a zoo? That’s the question the Times-Standard should have asked before publishing its Feb. 14 editorial titled “Some things have to remain […]

On Jan. 31, my paycheck from HSU for the first time went straight into my checking account at Bank of America through direct deposit. After I finish this column, I will transfer much of it today to my Bank of America mortgage through electronic bill paying. I need to say that in the interest of […]

This time of year, reporters, editors and producers go back through their stories and submit the best for contests that recognize great journalism. But I’ll bet you don’t care about those awards. And you don’t even buy the newspaper for those great stories. The New York Times would go out of business if it weren’t […]

As a teenager I worked in a small deli my dad owned with my uncle. We served great food at good prices. That was all it took to make our customers happy. If someone complained that the potato salad had turned, dad gave him a fresh container or his money back. It is more difficult […]

In May 1990 I drove Interstate 44 from Albuquerque to Flagstaff with a U-Haul trailing my ’82 silver Civic sedan. The mesa surrounded me on both sides, the highway ran straight ahead to eternity, and out of the radio came voices I couldn’t understand. I drove through Navajo country listening to Navajo radio. Radio has […]