Backyard of Boats
In Humboldt Bay, stories lurk within the rusting beaters and gleaming glories
Cover Story
Backyard of Boats
Cody Hills leans back in the stern of the small boat owned by Humboldt Baykeeper, which is zipping north through the Eureka channel of Humboldt Bay. He looks as relaxed as if he were reclining on his living-room couch. Around him the water crinkles and winks, like smoothed-out foil gift wrap. Two frothy white tracks…
Marine Protected Areas to Go Active Next Week
The map above (click to enlarge) shows the location and dimensions of the new marine protected areas that will go into effect next Wednesday, Dec. 19. These “underwater parks” are the result of a long and at times contentious process, though stakeholders here on the north coast managed to reach consensus on where the protected…
The King Tide Rules (PHOTOS, UPDATED)
UPDATE 12/18: We updated our King Tide photos blog post with some non-King Tide comparative photos … like we should have done to begin with. Sigh. Live and learn. Thursday morning at 10:46 a.m., was when the North Coast was predicted to have its highest tide of 2012, i.e. THE KING TIDE. So the Journal…
Inmate Dies in Humboldt County Jail
There’s not much information in this press release about what might have caused the death of a 35-year-old inmate at the county jail this morning. The Sheriff’s Office simply says there is “no sign of foul play.” Here’s the press release: On 12-12-2012, approximately 6:40 am a Humboldt County Correctional Officer was notified by an…
Dia de la Virgen
Today, December 12 (12/12/12!), is the Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe, celebrating the day on which Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared in 1531 on Tepeyac hill (just north of Mexico City) to Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoazin. Although it’s not an official holiday in Mexico, it’s a special day for Catholics (who comprise 83% of the…
CHP to DA: Jogger’s Death Was Murder
The California Highway Patrol says Jason Anthony Warren murdered Suzie Seemann, the university professor who died when a Kia allegedly driven by Warren ran into her and two friends on the morning of Sept. 27 as they went for their morning jog on Old Arcata Road. Her friends, Jessica Hunt and Terri Vroman-Little, suffered major…
The Humboldt County of the Future Will Be Overrun By Killer Monkeys
At least that’s what director M. Night Shyamalan envisions. The trailer for his upcoming sci-fi blockbuster After Earth was released today and features quick shots of some of the footage the crew shot amongst our redwoods back in April. Also, monkeys. Enjoy. The film is scheduled to be released in June 2013.
Humboldt Goes Airline Courting … Again
Good news for locals who travel in the sky (or whose friends/family/customers do): A group of area businesses, tribes, governments and nonprofits has cobbled together $250,000, which will be added to the $750,000 federal grant we got in September to reach the cool million dollars required to attract a new airline carrier to our foggy,…
This Week on The Marijuana Follies…
For your amusement, we pass along this anecdote from a friend of the Journal, as recounted on Facebook:
Backsliding, Fondly
Editor: Your cover story of Nov. 22, “The Light on the Bluff,” deeply stirred my memories of my own 15 months as a “brother” with Gospel Outreach from July 1972 to October 1973. I delivered the Tri-City Advertiser, sold doughnuts door-to-door, and worked at the Carlotta grapestake mill, all as an expected testimony of…
No Escape
Show of hands. Who out there is fidgeting over the encroaching Dec. 21 end of the Mayan calendar? Anyone? Yeah. I didn’t think so. Now, who here is losing it thinking about how close we are to Dec. 25 calendar square. Uh huh. Thought so. People be nervous. The end of the world is…
A Knocking in the Night
Inside the Clarke Museum, registrar Art Barab bolted the main door. Office manager Carly Marino walked into another room and clacked off all of the lights. It was about 8 p.m. on Nov. 1. The day after Halloween. The day before All Souls Day. Outside, a full moon hung low over Old Town in Eureka;…
His Guitar Sings
Charlie Hunter is a guitar player and a composer of songs, but you’d never call him a singer/songwriter: His guitar sings, but he doesn’t. Instead he paints lyric pictures with improvised melodic lines, playing a custom seven-string guitar designed so he can play his own bass lines. Last time he came to town it…
Pitt of Despair
Reviews KILLING THEM SOFTLY. With this adaptation of George V. Higgins’ novel, writer/director Andrew Dominik (Chopper, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford) saved my weekend. The Collection put me in a pretty dark mood (see below), but then Dominik came along and shone a light — a cynical, somber and…
The Big Borrow
If the roof is rotting, the windows are rattling and the technology capabilities are prehistoric, just how badly will a school district want to upgrade? Badly enough to take $7 million right away with a promise to pay back $71.6 million later? Yes, that badly, McKinleyville Union School District trustees decided last year, although…
Appreciation of Capital
Appreciation of Capital
Another woman gave birth to my son
I was off doing other things. After fifteen years, I looped back around, leaned from the saddle, and slung him up behind me… Everything about him was new. He smelled violent and stubborn and refused to sleep. At home he was arrogant, the way people are when they know the balance of power tilts…
Brainy Metaphors
The brain has become a digital computer; yet we are still trying to make our machines intelligent. Should those machines be modeled on the brain, given that our models of the brain are performed on such machines? Rodney Brooks, Professor of Robotics, MIT We humans are adept at finding metaphors and analogies to help…
Orchard in a Bottle
Fruit trees? Cocktails? Of course! It’s bare root season, which is to say that you’re going to be digging around in a tub of dirt at the garden center pretty soon and pulling out gnarly masses of roots and twigs. They may not look glamorous, but trust me — bare root plants are both economical…
The End is Near!
Acclaimed artist Peter Santino is counting down. Visit his website and you’ll find large, red numerals ticking away the days, hours, minutes and seconds until, according to the Mayan Calendar, the end of the world on 12/21/2012. But instead of hoarding dry goods and ammunition, Santino has been busy creating conceptual artwork, paintings and…
Downtown Fortuna’s First Friday
Downtown Fortuna’s First Friday starts at 5 p.m. and runs until 8 p.m. during winter months featuring North Coast artists and local musicians. December’s edition is in conjunction with Redwood Village Al Gray Electric Lighted Parade and Fortuna Downtown Holiday Open House with businesses open late offering specials and discounts. BARTOW’S JEWELERS, 651…
The Poet
The poet Jane Hirshfield is what you’d called “esteemed.” A graduate of Princeton, she studied at the San Francisco Zen Center and received lay ordination in Soto Zen following years of monastic practice at the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center. She’s the author of seven award-winning poetry collections, most recently Come, Thief, published by Knopf…
