Last weekend marked the 33rd year of the Redwood Coast Music Festival in Eureka. The event evolved a long way from its original Dixieland jazz era into what organizer Mark Jansen describes as “a musician’s festival where players collaborate with each other and one that they all want to come to.” “The musical focus of […]
Life + Outdoors
Posted inSeriously?
The Cult of Ictharel Calls for the Media to Stop the Demonization of Ichtharel the Unclean, Bringer of Armageddon and Devourer of All, and his Supporters
Good evening, fellow cultists, Hell-born creatures of unfathomable evil and members of the media. First, apologies for the oppressive cloud of sulfur, the result of Our Mighty and Merciless Overlord Ictharel having incinerated the previous cult president only hours ago. Second, thank you for all the well wishes on my subsequent rise to cult president. […]
Posted inField Notes
Bridge of Spies
“[Gary Powers] performed his duty in a very dangerous mission and he performed it well, and I think I know more about that than some of his detractors and critics know ….” — CIA Director Allen Dulles Standing on a hill recently, overlooking the Glienicke Bridge near Potsdam, Germany, several thoughts came to mind. While the […]
Posted inHumboldt Nature
Burying the Dead
The approach of Halloween may bring to mind bats, crows, toads and spiders, but there is another creature that fits in with the holiday’s theme: the burying beetle, aka sexton beetle (Nicrophorus defodiens). It’s aptly named, as a sexton is a person who maintains a church’s buildings and churchyard, and whose duties once included digging […]
Posted inGet Out
North Country Fair Rising
“Rise Up!” was the theme for the free and family-friendly 51st annual North Country Fair on Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 20 and 21, at the Arcata Plaza. The fair’s organizers said the theme was a reminder “that as a community we can work together to celebrate and advocate for a healthy environment, a vibrant alternative […]
Posted inField Notes
Nefertiti, the Second Monotheist
Her life-sized bust rates a room of its own in the huge museum, sitting on a plinth within a 20-foot-high glass enclosure. Her discoverer, German Egyptologist Ludwig Borchardt, called her “the epitome of tranquility and harmony.” She was found (actually by an Egyptian workman under Borchardt’s supervision) on Dec. 6, 1912, in the ruins of […]
Posted inWashed Up
Magical Comb Jellies
When I was a kid, my babysitter was a witch. She was a typical pointy-hatted, spell-casting witch. But she was also a marine biology major at Humboldt State University, so she’d take me on her broom to the beach after school to look for washed-up stuff. One day she said, “Look, my lovely, the beach […]
Posted inSeriously?
Our Democracy is Crumbling Before My Eyes and Women Still Won’t Sleep with Me
First of all, let me just say this is not what I voted for. In 2024, many young American men like myself were primarily concerned with our economy, immigration, geopolitical conflict and not voting for a Black lady — that’s not a race thing, by the way, because I would not have voted for a […]
Posted inField Notes
Sketches from Humboldt’s Past
“There’s a working theory that within a year of residency, most newcomers are infected with a deep and abiding interest in this great place we call Humboldt.” So starts the introduction to Steve Lazar’s The Humboldt Project. Lazar’s passion is “deltiology,” the study and collecting of postcards. Over the past 15 years, thanks mostly to […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Causing Ferment in the Kitchen
While the cold spring weather this year delayed growth of the vegetable plants in my garden, I am finally getting enough cabbage, garlic and radish to start making kimchi. Like yogurt and kombucha, kimchi, a fermented vegetable dish and staple of the Korean diet, has been enthusiastically adopted in the U.S. and is commonly carried […]
