‘God Looking Back at You’
An unlikely trio looks to bridge divides, one trash bag at a time By Thadeus Greenson
Cover Story
‘God Looking Back at You’
It’s a typical Friday at the foot of First Road in McKinleyville, where the pothole-pocked street hits the unincorporated town’s easternmost point, cutoff by the swath of former timberland that is now the McKinleyville Community Forest’s southwestern corner. It’s overcast and Christine Flores-Cozza has a jacket over her daisy-patterned, light blue dress, and Bubba, her…
Norman Pasteris: 1947-2025
Norman Pasteris died on March 24, 2025, at Summerville Healthcare center in Santa Rosa, California, at the age of 77. Norm was born in July of 1947 in Wareham, Massachusetts. Shortly after his birth, Norm moved to the West Coast, and started calling Eureka home in the 1970s. Norm started a career in mechanical…
Kyle David Avelar: 1987-2025
Kyle David Avelar, 37, passed away on May 18, 2025, in McKinleyville, California, due to heart complications. Born on Oct. 31, 1987, in Eureka, California, Kyle brought light and laughter into the world from the very beginning — fittingly arriving on Halloween, his favorite holiday. A proud graduate of Arcata High School’s class of 2006,…
Ben Adan: 1934-2025
Our wonderful father, husband, grandfather, great grandfather and friend to many, Ben Adan passed away at the age of 90 years old on Jan. 25, 2025. Ben was born on April 15,1934, in Napa California to Ben and Frances Adan. He grew up in Napa attending Napa schools. Ben joined the U.S. Army on Aug.…
Movie Tonight: Wednesday, June 4
John Carpenter is one of my favorite directors, a man whose against-the-grain, gory and brilliant scattergun cinema poetry embedded itself into my young mind via the cult VHS days of my childhood. The Thing will always remain my favorite, but They Live is a great offering too, albeit more depressing because its alien threat seems…
Music Today: Sunday, June 1
The Redwood Interfaith Gospel Choir is presenting its spring concert just before the blooms go from vernal verdance to summer straw, nestled right between the Flower and the Strawberry moons. Which is just right, as far as I am concerned. This 2 p.m. matinee will be making the Arcata Playhouse thrum like a wooden diaphragm…
Music Tonight: Saturday, May 31
The Eureka Symphony presents the final night of its 2024/2025 season finale, appropriately titled “A Grand Finale.” The program features the Concerto for Piano and Orchestra by late Romantic period Polish composer Grazyna Bacewicz, with Cal Poly Humboldt professor Daniela Mineva on the keys, along with Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony, aka, “the dance one.” The string…
Music Tonight: Friday, May 30
First, some housekeeping and a mea culpa. I take a lot of notes for this column, but the handwriting from my crippled dominant hand produces a scrawl that looks like it comes from a doctor who’s been abusing his own medicine. It’s honestly a wonder I don’t mess things up more often. No excuses, just…
Music Tonight: Thursday, May 29
Some evenings around here certainly seem to rhyme. Tonight is one such example, as there are a couple of free beer garden/tasting room shows starting at 6 p.m., featuring two of our finest local talents. At Six Rivers Brewery, you will find Dale Cash & Friends. I grew up down the street from Mr. Cash…
Ron Slagle: 1953-2025
Ron was born in Eureka, California, on Sept. 17, 1953. He passed on Jan. 16, 2025, in Santa Rosa, California. Ron spent his early years in Blocksburg and Fortuna, California, with his parents Willard and Shirley Slagle, and siblings William (Bill) and Debra Slagle — AKA Loci Pluas. The last 30 years of his life,…
Music Tonight: Sunday, May 25
Say goodbye to the old ways of the spring season and scratch another academic cycle off the charts with a psychedelic dance party with heavy tropical tones. Brothers David and Rene Pacheco took the backyard sounds from their East L.A. childhood and created a beautiful monster of cumbia music wedded to punk and grunge called…
Rutabaga Ball Tonight at the Eureka Theater
“No Kings!” may be the mantra of 2025, but here in Humboldt, we love our Queens. Join the revelry at the 2025 Rutabaga Ball, dazzling the stage at the Eureka Theater on Saturday, May 24, starting at 7 p.m. ($20). Witness the coronation of the queen who’ll reign supreme over the legendary human-powered sculpture race,…
Music Tonight: Saturday, May 24
It’s the official beginning to the Kinetic weekend, which of course means that there’s a Rutabaga Ball happening somewhere around these parts. This year’s somewhere is the Eureka Theater, where for $20 at 7 p.m. you can join the happy hordes of racers and partiers. If you’re in the mood for another style of weirdness,…
A Glorious Weekend
The legendary Kinetic Grand Championship, happening May 24-26, is pedaling, floating and rolling its way through Humboldt for three days of pure, unadulterated imagination on wheels (free). The fun begins on Saturday, May 24, at noon on the Arcata Plaza where you can watch the innovative and colorful contraptions take a few laps before setting…
Eureka Fisher’s Market to Debut June 7
Eureka’s highly anticipated Fisher’s Market has an official opening date, June 7, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., at Madaket Plaza located on C Street in Eureka. As noted in the Journal’s March 6 cover story (“There’s a Fish Market Splashing into Eureka”), this will be the first ever fisher’s market in the county, and…
State Board Denies Humboldt County Fair Race Dates
For one of the only times in its 129-year history, the Humboldt County Fair will be held in August without horse racing, after a divided California Horse Racing Board again voted against allocating dates at its meeting earlier this month. “We have no chance at having racing during our fair,” Humboldt County Fair Association Board…
Speedway at Nazareth
A little preface is needed before this week’s column gets rolling. It’s Memorial Day weekend in our stretch of the entertainment beat, coming a week after graduation at Cal Poly Humboldt. Which means that the front end of this piece will be heavy with a variety of live offerings, while the caboose is scant to…
Smalls Brings Big Flavors
After five years dormant, the spot where Marcelli’s Italian Restaurant served its ravioli for 90 years is once again seating customers, now under the banner of Smalls, the new name carved into a redwood sign out front (1323 Fifth St., Eureka). The “fusion comfort” restaurant is open for lunch with plans to add dinner hours…
Lore and Gore
FINAL DESTINATION: BLOODLINES. Over the weekend, a horror-loving friend and I scooted to the center of the middle row at the Mill Creek Cinema in McKinleyville with a bag of popcorn between us just as the real previews began. Despite the name, the Final Destination movies could very well continue into perpetuity, assuming the AI…
Celebration and Healing at CR
As we celebrate the achievements of all graduates at College of the Redwoods this week, it is worth noting that the class valedictorians three of the past four years have been scholars in recovery from addictions. I write this to those who are still struggling. My hope is that all of you use these three…
‘Compelled to Respond’
Editor: Although I decry the Mailbox’s recent descent into yet another platform for diatribes on national politics, I feel compelled to respond to Dennis Scales’ latest nonsense (May 8). First, any linkage between the high cost of eggs and dark-skinned immigrants is misguided. On balance, immigrants, even undocumented ones, contribute greatly to our economy, as Mr. Scales…
‘Would Holler All Over’
Editor: I would holler all over the country to let people know the brilliance of Kathryn Donahue’s letter last week (Mailbox, May 15)! Never before have I read such a great, cohesive, intelligent explanation of the ingrained racism in the United States. Education is the only remedy for ignorance. Our country and government are full…
‘Apologies to John Fogerty’
‘Apologies to John Fogerty’ Editor: “Long in late November his reign was comin’ down. It seemed to catch us snorin’; how would we stop this clown? We knew there’d be phases and things that should be done. Yet I wonder, still I wonder who’ll stop his reign? “He stormed up Virginia seekin’ changes to the…
Don’t Eat the Sand Turkey
A mysterious man sold me an elixir he said would make my stringy beard as thick and silky as an otter’s pelt. However, he did not mention the side effects. I drank the stuff and went for my regular beach walk. It wasn’t the hallucinations that produced a perfectly roasted Thanksgiving turkey on the beach…
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I am so very glad that I am broken washed a thousand times beaten against the rocks of time cleansed of pride and foolish thoughts that I could be anything but sand Robin Jane Hodson
