Cover Story
Humbuggery in Humboldt, Part 2
In the 19th century, Americans’ fascination with the occult made fortune tellers and mediums common entertainment at fairs, lecture halls and private parties. Newspapers across the country carried stories of remarkable psychic predictions and spirit manifestations. Journalists also regularly exposed practitioners as frauds, but this did little to temper the faith of true believers. In…
Investing in Community
The Fortuna Theater, built in 1938, maintained its structural integrity after a magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck Humboldt County in December of 2022. However, the extensive damage inside the building — caused by a ruptured sprinkler system — left the theater closed with no timeline for reopening. Three and a half years later, its list of…
Bye Bye, Badman
I’m going to keep this brief because I am worn out. A little too much fun and sundown by the riverside over the weekend has caught up with me and I am tapped out. All work and no play might make one dull, but I’m not exactly feeling sharp at the moment either. There’s probably…
Schnabel’s Inferno
IN THE HAND OF DANTE. It can be reflexive — instinctive, even — when confronted with a grand-to-grandiose work, especially one that spans genres as quickly as it does centuries, to dismiss it as muddled, misguided or unaware of its own intentions. But this reaction dismisses the work’s substance, the meaning that compels the artist…
‘Nothing Good to Say’
Thank you for the excellent Views article on Amazon in Humboldt County (“Amazon’s Negative Impact by the Numbers,” July 9, 2026). To those who want the sourced data on Amazon’s impact to local communities, read this article. It provides the sources. There is nothing good to say about the impact to our community that Amazon…
Correction
Humboldt Crabs photos taken by Erik Frazer in the July 9 issue (“Tempers Flare, Benches Clear, Crabs Prevail”) were misattributed. The Journal regrets the error.
Pervasive Invasive
So much suffering pervades the world, bad newsinvades our mindstream. Searching for how to helpwe still need ways to gain some equanimity. My way: pack a water bottle, pen and paperin an old cloth bag to sit on later,set off for a slow-paced forest walk. Wild cucumber blooms along the pathtwinberry branches drape across the…
