Cover Story
Flash Fiction 2015
Really, in the age of 140-character tweets and 30-second elevator pitches, 99 words are plenty. (Nice try with those 100-word entries, by the way — oh, we see you.) In that space, the economical writer can do quite a bit: start an affair, skim rock bottom, destroy a planet, reveal a murder, construct a conspiracy…
New DHHS Director Bails Before 1st Day
Kristin Brinks, the county’s new director of Health and Human Services hired last month and slated to begin in January, has decided she doesn’t want the job. Brinks notified the board of supervisors Dec. 1 in a brief, awkwardly phrased letter that she would be declining the position just a couple of weeks after accepting it.…
HumBug: Bugs in Winter
I got down to the river about 2:30 p.m. I was too late; the angle of the sun didn’t light up the ground anywhere. My little dragonflies were nowhere in evidence. In fact, without the sun on the ground I saw one fly and a tiny spider and a baby centipede under a rock. That…
Jacks Defeated in Missouri
After a win over Augustana University to start the Humboldt State University football team’s first postseason since 1968, the Jacks were routed Saturday, 54-7, by the number one-ranked Northwestern Missouri State. Playing in Maryland, Missouri, the Jacks record-setting offense was all but stuffed, held to a single touchdown in the fourth quarter off a blocked…
Milling Around
Thanksgiving weekend is the start of holiday season traditions. Doing a little shopping. Stepping back in time to the good ol’ days when life was simpler, slower and centered on things that brought people together. Of course, we’re talking about the local tradition of visiting Blue Ox Millworks the weekend after Thanksgiving during its annual…
Humboldt’s Specialty
Humboldt County’s outdoor medical marijuana land use ordinance looks like it will meet its early December deadlines, though much remains to be done before it could hit the county books by the looming state-imposed deadline. The Humboldt County Planning Commission finalized its directions to county staff on Nov. 20, following dozens of hours of public…
What Is Wrong With Our Community?
The events leading up to becoming homeless are always traumatic and often related to violence in one’s childhood. About 90 percent of homeless women and about 50 percent of homeless men have been rape or incest victims, often as children, and often repeatedly. This, and other instances childhood violence, result in early onset post-traumatic stress…
Hum Plate Roundup
There will be a moment somewhere in this long holiday weekend, when, amid the sound of stacking dishes and the hum of a televised football game, you trace a trembling hand over your distended belly, unable to imagine wanting food ever again. It’s temporary. In fact, dollars to drumsticks you’ll be back in the game…
The Mizzou Myth
When you can take your selfie stick and zip videos of your protest to Instagram, who needs news photographers? In a world of self-publication, we don’t need press anymore. Do we? That’s the question I can’t get out of my head after watching videos of protests over racial issues at the University of Missouri last…
Time to Give Thanks
The idea of being grateful for all that we have daily is a nice one. Perhaps a naive one as well. Granted, it only takes a few seconds to reflect upon the innumerable wonders of our time, but the ridiculous modern lives we find ourselves in don’t often leave much time for our minds to…
‘One Big Headache’
Eureka City Schools is backing away from at least one of its controversial no-bid construction contracts. Back in September, the district decided to forgo the no-bid construction contract it had promised DCI Builders to renovate the Alice Birney Elementary School site, opting to put the process out to bid instead. But less than a month…
#WeAreMasala
About the time Loretta Hancock was heading out to grab something to eat on Nov. 21, a feeling of deep dread was settling firmly into the pit of Sequoia Park Zoo Manager Gretchen Ziegler’s stomach. It was about 9:30 p.m., roughly 70 hours since Masala — the zoo’s 16-month-old red panda — escaped her enclosure…
Long Goodbyes
Reviews HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY PART 2. With each successive installment, The Hunger Games movies have generated less excitement, more speechifying and a great and terrible mountain of revenue. This, the worst offender among them, is thankfully the last of it and, in an ironic twist, likely to be the most commercially successful. (This two-part finale…
Golden Age
As a story, It’s a Wonderful Life took an odd path to the near-iconographic status it now enjoys. Frank Capra’s 1946 film, while not really bombing, was greeted with middling reviews and less-than-boffo box office, and fell into the lesser ranks of Capra’s pictures. An expired copyright in the mid-’70s opened up the movie’s availability…
Ladies Dancing and Lords a-Leaping
There is something about the joy and vitality of dance that makes it perfectly suited for the holiday season. The stage aglow, we can cast aside any care and just revel in the pageantry and glamour. Luckily, whether you’re seeking a timeless classic like The Nutcracker or something never before seen, the local dance community…
Mulch Much?
It’s that wonderful time of the year when leaves are falling, plants are decomposing and moisture is in the air. A perfect time for mulching! There is never a bad time for mulch, but with so much surplus organic matter available, it makes sense to harness those resources and use them to warm and protect…
Coming Back and Slipping Away
Look What the Rains Brought As the seasons change, the macro invertebrate fauna (aka bugs) change. It’s November, and it finally rained at my house. At night I’m seeing my long awaited friends, the glow worms. Rapacious slug hunters, these little firefly relatives are usually found on the ground among conifer needle litter when it’s…
Snotty Portrait of the Artist
Editor: I was delighted to see the NCJ’s cover showing local artist Curtis Otto (“Curtis Otto Was a Painter,” Nov. 12). “A feature story! A tribute!” I thought. How mistaken I was! The very non-representative selection of paintings, including a messy storage room and a crusty pallet, and the treatise on Mr. Otto’s housekeeping skills…
Off to the Ordinance Wars
Editor: Many thanks to Grant Scott-Goforth for excellent and ongoing coverage of the Ordinance Wars (“Speedin’ for Weed,” Nov. 19). I don’t know whether to laugh or cry as I read about the endless bickering over square footage and permits. It seems to me the keyword in the state marijuana bills is “medical.” It’s hard…
Looking Ahead
Editor: I am very grateful to the citizens of the Fifth Division for re-electing me to the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District Commission, and to my supporters who made my re-election possible (“From NCJ Daily,” Nov. 12). My campaign team takes pride in having stayed positive while sharing our vision for the future…
Holy Craft!
This holiday season, you could cross every name off your gift list with something from a local artisan. Sure, you might spend a little more than you might with a click online or a trip to a big box store, but in the end, it’s better all around — better quality, better for the environment,…
