California Improved
Fiction Issue!
Cover Story
California Improved
Lobo woke about noon, or maybe a bit later, feeling as if he had spent the night inhaling poisonous gases. He checked his tobacco pouch. Nearly empty, just a dry pinch or two left to roll. He realized at some point he had vomited, but he couldn’t see it, so he didn’t worry about it.…
Jimmy’s In
No surprise — First District Supervisor Jimmy Smith announced today that he’ll be running for reelection this year. When first elected to serve, I made a commitment to get things done and treat people with respect. We have worked cooperatively with tribes, cities, the county, local organizations and state and federal agencies to achieve success.…
Be It Hereby Proclaimed: Rep. Mike is down with the weed
This just in: Proclamation “To be presented @ 11 AM today at Mike’s office on 3rd and D street in Eurkea (sic).” PROCLAMATION of Congressperson Mike Thompson’s Awareness and Support of Medical Cannabis. Whereas Americans for Safe Access is the nation’s largest organization of patients, medical professionals, scientists and concerned citizens promoting safe and legal…
Daily Dose of Weird
I couldn’t tell you what it means — probably nothing — but does anyone else find it odd that mikeforsupervisor.org is hosted on the same server as the City of Arcata’s official website ? They’re housemates over at 72.51.37.112, an address on Sustainable Hosting ‘s air-powered server farm. Small world.
Woolley Bows Out
Third District Supervisor John Woolley will not seek a fifth fourth term in office, according to a press released issued today. During the remainder of my term, I will continue to focus my efforts on the important issues facing our County. These include stabilizing services to meet the needs of the people of Humboldt County…
A Eck of a Sale!
According to the Sacramento Bee, the Van Eck Forest, which has sold carbon credits in the past to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, “logged” its largest sale to date recently. Natsource Asset Management LLC, a New York firm that deals in credits for greenhouse gas emissions reductions and…
Chron weighs in on Palco bankruptcy
The bright side of bankruptcy — from Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle editorial page: Redwood wrangle – It may be a new day for logging The fabled Pacific Lumber redwood company is teetering in a billion-dollar bankruptcy in a Texas courtroom, some 1,800 miles from its foggy stands of primeval trees near Humboldt Bay. It may…
A Standardized Test
Faced with dueling press conferences, yesterday we wondered — how many notables would attend the California Education Coalition’s emergency summit on the proposed $4.8 billion cuts to K-12 education? And how many would instead head over to Democratic Central Committee HQ for the Patty Berg-Wes Chesbro lovefest? Well, this reader-submitted photo tells the tale. At…
booyakasha!
Get out your calculators, y’all — it’s raining money ! Congress just signed on to the daft plan to cut a big fat check to everyone in the nation with earned income (sorry, Tad — 🙁 .) Looks like we’ll all be getting ours in May. We’re talking $600 per person, and $300 for each…
Blinded by the Bland
Previews Opening Friday, Feb. 8, is four-time Oscar-nominated The Diving Bell and the Butterfly(cinematography, directing, editing, adapted screenplay). Director Julian Schnabel (Basquiat; Before Night Falls) seems to specialize in biographical films and this one is no exception. Diving Bell, based on the best-selling book by the former editor of the fashion magazine Elle, Jean-Dominique Bauby,…
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Book by Sherman Alexie. Little, Brown Young Readers A diary is kept, usually in secret, as a means of disclosing one’s true feelings. To publish a diary during one’s lifetime is simply social suicide. Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,however,is meant to portray the fictitious observations and drawings of a boy,…
EMC
Live Jan. 27 at the Red Fox Tavern. Last week offered a stunning collection of hip hop shows — more touring legends than anyone could possibly see in seven days. The competition for fan dollars was stiff and many folks had to choose between conscious star Mr. Lif, Masta Ace’s new supergroup EMC and LA…
Distortion
CD by The Magnetic Fields. Nonesuch Records Distortion is supposed to be Stephen Merritt’s take on the Jesus and Mary Chain’s Psychocandy.This from Merritt himself, who’s been touting J&MC’s 1985 masterpiece as the last good pop album ever made in recent interviews. (Maybe he never heard Radiohead. Or Oasis. Or Nirvana. Or the Postal Service.…
Can You Predict Rain?
Yes, by simply learning how to interpret available data. The best window into tomorrow’s weather is a movie which compresses several hours of satellite-observations into a few seconds: Google "Eureka Weather" and click Current Conditions — East Pacific — Infrared — Loop. After some experience you will be able to reasonably forecast our weather by…
Be Clear
One day my not-quite-three-year-old daughter looked up at her father with big brown eyes, tugged at his shirt and said: "Daddy, what are you talking about?" That’s how I feel sometimes when I read newspapers, and not just the Times-Standard or Eureka Reporter. I often want to tug at the shirt of the San Francisco…
Bread & Circuses
Staring down at the Times-Standard Op-Ed pages over the last five years, it has often occurred to us that those columns could be vastly improved with the addition of a single exclamation point. Too often the guest opinions do not live up to the section header under which they run. The usual header — "My…
Sea Food Nation
Fish has always had one problem in American cuisine: Americans don’t much like it, except battered and fried. Prior to the Age Of Sushi, you pretty much had to go to a fish restaurant to get anything except fish and chips. Not counting shrimp, which we adore (the longest lines in Vegas buffets are for…
Agates and Myrtlewood
When you read about an artist as well known as David Groth, you find a lot of "artspeak." Being an art historian, I am, of course, familiar with artspeak and have a basic understanding of it, but it still puts me off. It put me off when I was in school, and I might have…
On Safari
I almost got my wish. A few weeks ago, I was jonesing for mojitos at midnight in Miami (even the alliteration is compelling) and suddenly there I was, stumbling down Fort Lauderdale’s seedy Beach Boulevard at 2 p.m. on a Thursday, mildly irritated by the gray sky and wind and prospect of a storm. For…
If I Had Taken the Ride
you offered I would have missed the sun…
In Pursuit of Happiness
He’s the master of the psychedelic funk he branded funkadelic, the spacey Captain of the Mothership. With James gone, you could say George Clinton is the funkiest man on Earth. The music he made with various iterations of his bands Parliament and Funkadelic was sampled left, right and sideways to become the basis of hip…
