Editor: I often think about the fact that I’m the extremely unlikely product of an unbroken, four-billion-year-long chain of survival and reproduction. What are the odds? Sometimes I’m wracked with guilt by the fact that, partly by luck but mostly by choice, I’ve broken that chain. Mr. Evans (“The Lure of Immortality,” Nov. 20) points […]
Letters + Opinion
Gov. Newsom and Pres. Trump Tell the Same Inadequate Tale About Native America
Native American Heritage Month turns a spotlight on how we treat issues of importance to Indigenous peoples. Below: An assistant professor specializing in Indigenous people’s history describes how U.S. political leaders fail to respect Native American governments. Another view: A former museum curator describes how museums and universities neglect the remains of ancestors and artifacts […]
Sanctuary for Trans Individuals
Editor: Recently, several Eureka residents approached the city council requesting Eureka consider becoming a Trans Sanctuary City. The individuals came out of fear of being transgender in today’s America, but why is this? Certainly, Donald Trump plays a part. Immediately in office, he placed an executive order that mandated there no longer be federal recognition […]
Honoring Transgender Figures in a Difficult Time
When I walk to my classes in Founders Hall on the Cal Poly Humboldt campus, I pass by a poster that maps every transgender person who has been murdered in the United States in the past 10 years. Most of the time I’ll stop and bow, paying respect and honoring those who have come before […]
Fascism in the USA
Editor: Franklin Stover’s letter of Nov. 13 (“Stop Misusing the F Word”) claims Jennifer Fumiko Cahill is wrong to call Trump a dimwitted fascist, and offers some pretty weak arguments to prove it. Thus, he claims Trump’s regime can’t be called fascist because 1) things were worse in “Mussolini’s Italy,” and still are in North […]
The Censure and Punishment of Supervisor Bushnell
Editor: Excellent reporting by Kimberly Wear (“Chronicle of a Censure,” Nov. 13)! Just the facts … it certainly appears the county acted extrajudiciously in removing the supervisor from her chair position. Ryan Lee, Glendale
‘Our Cultural Heritage’
Editor: Justin Crellin’s eloquent article (“How rescinding the Public Lands Rule Harms Humboldt County,” Nov. 6) alerted us just in time to the threat posed to our nation’s public lands by the prospective rescission of the Public Lands Rule. Hopefully many people wrote comment letters. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) manages one-eighth of the […]
Blame Trump
After Tuesday’s elections, many pollsters cited two major reasons for the GOP’s dismal performance: Trump wasn’t on the ballot and the government shutdown. However, Trump was on the ballot. His poor job performance ratings hung like an albatross around GOP candidates’ necks. This was mostly due to Trump’s failure on promised lower prices and increased […]
Re: Protecting the Night
Editor: The Journal’s Oct. 16 cover story by Griffin Mancuso, “Protecting the Night,” included snippets from an interview with yours truly! After reading Doug Ingold’s letter (‘Disappointed,’ Oct. 30), I’m writing to provide more information on how we can all keep Humboldt’s night skies dark, why that’s important for people and wildlife, and where to […]
Stop Misusing the F Word
Editor: I fundamentally differ with Jennifer Fumiko Cahill’s characterization of fascism in her “This Paper is Anti-Fascist” (Oct. 23). I could pen a lengthy rebuttal to it, but that would be boring. The first problem with the article is that the sweeping generalizations aren’t supported by actual examples. In other words, explain how “individual rights […]
‘Space for Poetry’
Editor: Thank you for publishing poems in the NCJ. I am always disappointed with a “poemless” issue. The latest poem by Ryan Muenzer, “The January Wake Up,” (Oct. 30) is a seriously good prose poem. There are multiple layers of meaning, natural and political; not contrived or preachy. The reader joins in the personal and […]
How Rescinding the Public Lands Rule Harms Humboldt County
Little more than a year after celebrating a major step forward for the conservation of our public lands, we’re now faced with its likely repeal. On Sept. 11, the administration began the process of repealing the Public Lands Rule, a science-based, bipartisan and publicly popular policy designed to safeguard the health and the public’s access […]
