Cover Story
Creature Comforts
On a wet Friday morning, Center Arts Director Roy Furshpan and Coordinator Michael Moore Jr. stood in an aisle of the brightly lit Van Duzer Theatre, empty except for small crews buzzing around, setting up sound equipment, instruments and lights. Furshpan and Moore were waiting on a supplier to come over the hill from Chico…
Revelry before Resolution
New Year’s Eve … it’s time for your last hurrah. Come Jan. 1, all your bad habits will be a thing of 2015, right? Riiiight. No really, right. You mean it this year. Here’s where you can tip your glass to Father Time and pinch Baby New Year on his little bottom for luck. And…
Albuquerque or Auburn? Eureka City Council Considers Different Models to Address Panhandling
At the Dec. 15 Eureka City Council meeting, City Manager Greg Sparks presented research on an idea from Albuquerque, New Mexico: employing panhandlers to participate in city beautification projects. In 2015, Albuquerque put $50,000 toward providing panhandlers with transportation to and from work and a midday meal before then connecting them with services such as…
Bugs in Winter
I got down to the river about 2:30 p.m. but my little dragonflies were nowhere to be seen. I saw one fly and a tiny spider and a baby centipede under a rock. That was it. All this raises the question, “Where do the bugs go in winter?” They are ectothermic (cold blooded) and in…
Share Trinidad
Editor: Vacation rentals in Trinidad, as in other coastal communities, are part of the response to the decline of traditional economic resources that contribute to the economic validly of the community (“For Rent,” Dec. 10). The city of Trinidad is working together as a community to find the right balance between vacation rentals and preserving…
Which Laws?
Editor: Terry Patterson’s criticism (“Mailbox,” Dec. 10) of Judy Hodgson’s editorial on gun control (“Tipping Point?” Dec. 3) pointed to more than 2,000 gun laws now on the books not enforced, apparently intended to demonstrate the futility of passing more gun control laws. I’ve seen the “thousands-of-gun-laws-are-unenforced” argument cited in the past by defenders of…
When the Shark Bites
Mention the words “great white” to average Humboldtians, and there’s a pretty good chance they conjure an image of foamy beer first, and hungry sharks second. (Nobody’s mind leaps directly to the hair metal band.) That association is thanks to the massive success of Lost Coast Brewery, which has made its citrusy light beer into…
Candleflame
If someone passes you a wavering candle flame in the darkness, remember not to hoard it, hiding the warmth of the flames greedily to your chest where no one can see it. As foolish as it may seem, you must pass on this lambent flame to others, others who will in turn do the same,…
Connect More
Allow me to take a quick moment here to thank Monica Topping for writing the Setlist these past two weeks while I was out of town. I am rarely out of town, and the few times that I am, I tend to bring work with me. So having some time off (a vacation I’ve heard…
‘Tis But a Trifle
The United States is one of the few ex-British colonies that never claimed the venerated holiday Boxing Day. Fools that we were! The day after Christmas is the perfect time for munching on leftovers, embarking on a massive jigsaw puzzle and enjoying a leisurely stroll in the park. True, we U.S. residents can still choose…
Merryjuana
‘Tis the season… to commercialize just about everything in the world. And, as we, as a state and a nation, collectively re-examine our pot laws, that includes marijuana, or as one savvy retailer recently rebranded it, “merryjuana.” In the umpteenth sign that marijuana has now fully crossed over into the United States’ cultural mainstream, scores…
Return to Youth
Reviews SISTERS. Sadly, too many people have yet to figure out that women are funny. I was dumbstruck when Bridesmaids (2011) became a “surprise” hit; were we not all on the same page about the talents of Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, et al? Apparently not. It’s this kind of exclusionary thinking that turns a movie…
Happy Trails
There is nothing more frustrating than bounding out to your garden in the morning to see your baby plants and discovering that they have been devoured by slugs and snails. A few simple tricks can help avoid these horrible moments. Trigger warning: In this article I advocate for the massacre of large numbers of plant-eating…
