John Ross, a former resident of Arcata, has been the Mexico City correspondent for the San Francisco Bay Guardian for 22 years. He is the author of eight books on Mexican politics and has lectured extensively on Latin America on college campuses from Harvard to UC Berkeley. His book Murdered By Capitalism takes its title […]
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Last Cowboy Standing — A tale of rodeo culture in Humboldt County
For the rodeo cowboy, speed is everything. A couple of weeks ago, a handful of cowboys gathered at a private arena in Redcrest off the Avenue of the Giants, on a patch of land situated between a forest of tall redwoods and the Eel River. They were there to practice for the upcoming Orick rodeo. […]
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Saga of an Ape — The surprising true story of the late Bill the Chimp
When the Sequoia Park Zoo’s oldest and most popular animal rejected food and water and struggled to breathe for a second day, his caretakers made an announcement that riveted the Eureka community: Bill the Chimp was dying. The press release declaring that the 61-year-old chimpanzee was “gravely ill” got instant responses from reporters, and when […]
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Stick game — Is the Klamath River headed for disaster, again?
The water in the Klamath is just right for swimming. That is, unless you’re a salmon, in which case it may be the perfect temperature for another fish kill. At least that’s what Keith Parker of the Yurok Tribe is saying. Parker sent out an e-mail alert last week in which he reported that the […]
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I’m your thimbleberry: The life and times of Rubus parviflorus
“Ramone’s Bakery.” “Hi, may I talk to your baker?” Jon Norris, the daytime baking production manager at Ramone’s on Harrison in Eureka, gets on the phone. “Do you make thimbleberry pie? Or tarts, or scones, or cookies, or … ?” “I don’t know anybody who uses thimbleberries,” says Norris. “You couldn’t get enough of ’em […]
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Living the folk life: Behind the scenes at the Humboldt Folklife Festival
You might see them busking on the street in Old Town, picking and singing in cafés and clubs, at open mic nights, jamming on a back porch, in a garage or a living room or on some festival stage — musicians of a wide range of ages and caliber living the folk life in their […]
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The Klamath knot:
This summer is already proving to be another difficult one in the Klamath Basin, both on and off the river. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently issued a warning about dangerously high levels of toxic algae blooming on the Klamath River in Iron Gate and Copco reservoirs. And the Klamath Fish Health Assessment Team — […]
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The Squeeze: Why railroad dreamers will kill the Eureka-Arcata trail
A couple of weeks ago, one of the many small intergovernmental chat shops that hammer out Humboldt County public policy behind the scenes met for the final time. This particular working group had been meeting for over a year. Its goal was to study ways to build a hiking and biking trail between Eureka and […]
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Big Church
On Sundays you’re lucky to find a spot to park at the confluence of Rohnerville Road and Highway 36. Dozens of cars line the edges of highway and road, and a hundred or so more cram into the big dirt parking lot of the white, old-fashioned church on the southwest corner of the intersection. Which […]
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7 Days of Karaoke
If you’re like us, these questions plague you: What is it about karaoke — singing other people’s songs, often badly — that brings tons of people to bars every night all over the country? Who are these people, what exactly do they do and why do they do it? And most importantly, is it physically […]
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Cheap and green?
In more than two dozen California communities, city and county governments are seeking to take control of their local electricity systems under a new state public power law. Could it happen here? This weekend, Paul Fenn, the chief architect of the new public power strategy, will share his vision at a conference and open meeting. […]
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Grocers and lifestyles
H umboldt County is a “natural” sort of place. And we’re not just talking forests, rivers, seashores and mountains — when it comes to food, we’re ahead of the curve on the suddenly hip natural trend. We have fruit and vegetable farmers who have been completely organic for decades, dairies and cattle ranchers producing grass-fed […]