‘On Siemens Hall Hill’
How an eight-day occupation at Cal Poly Humboldt divided campus
Cover Story
‘On Siemens Hall Hill’
When a group of several dozen protesters entered Siemens Hall on the Cal Poly Humboldt campus shortly before 5 p.m. on April 22, they say they had no intention of grinding the university’s operations to a halt. Standing on the campus quad, which was barricaded on all sides with makeshift blockades crafted out of segments…
Music Tonight: Friday, May 10
Bass-heavy electronic dance music comes with nearly as many subgenre titles as it does artists, and I’ve never been very interested in getting too far out there in terms of cataloging, preferring instead to go by my own impressions of the sounds pasted together with a little artist info gleaned from my research. Tsuruda and…
Music Tonight: Thursday, May 9
A.J. Lee & Blues Summit is fronted by singer, songwriter and mandolinist A.J. Lee, who was considered something of a teenage prodigy when she started her career a decade ago in her hometown of Santa Cruz. The intervening years have built her and her group a reputation as masterful modern bluegrass players capable of putting…
Man Shot by Deputy Last Month Dies
Kevin Jeffrey Burks, the 32-year-old man shot by a Humboldt County Sheriff’s deputy on April 25 in Cutten, died Friday, May 3, the Sheriff’s Office announced today. Burks, who is alleged to have shot and injured a 75-year-old woman on Fern Street before police were called to the scene, was transported to a local hospital…
Comedy Tonight: Wednesday, May 8
Savage Henry Comedy Club is debuting a new show tonight at 9 p.m. Senor Molina’s La Loteria Madness kind of says it all but, just to be clear, this is a comedy show hosted by Nando Molina where the comedic cues will all come from a deck of those delightful, Tarot-adjacent random chance cards so…
CPH University Senate Calls for Independent Investigation into Protest Response
Meeting at the Arcata Community Center because the Cal Poly Humboldt campus remained guarded by police under a hard closure, the University Senate voted overwhelmingly this afternoon to pass resolutions calling on the Humboldt County District Attorney to drop all charges against students and faculty involved in the pro-Palestinian protests that caused administration to shutter…
Music Tonight: Monday, May 6
Can’t complain about a cumbia night on a Monday, especially in May, when Humboldt starts to unfurl its evening petals in deference to the nicer weather. The Miniplex is the place to be, and this ticket is HOT. Too-good-to-be-real local masters Makenu are bringing their deliriously joyful party sound to the stage, along with punk/cumbia…
CPH Protests and Doing Good on Cinco de Mayo
We’re taking a look at how the protests and the clearing of Siemens Hall at Cal Poly Humboldt unfolded, as well as the administration’s choices and responses. We’ve also got a story about how local Mexican restaurants are raising funds on Cinco de Mayo for a nonprofit offering free ESL classes. Hit subscribe for weekly…
Music Tonight: Saturday, May 4
Two shows on tonight’s docket, both happening at roughly the same hour of 7 p.m. They are celebrating Arts Alive at Siren’s Song in Eureka with Oakland’s clean and bluesy garage band The Hell Tones, along with local guitar slingers Red Hot Shame. No word on the cover charge as of press time, so bring…
Music Tonight: Friday, May 3
Casper Allen is a traveling country and folk singer-songwriter who has pulled off the eternally eerie gift of possessing an old man’s voice and bearing in a young man’s body. Originally from Texas, he is a touring road dog of the first degree and worth an evening of your time, which you can enjoy at…
Music Tonight: Thursday, May 2
The Arcata Chamber of Commerce presents its First-Thursday mixer at 5:30 p.m., a free event open to the public at rotating venues. This month’s edition is happening at Herb & Market Humboldt, with live music provided by Oryan Peterson-Jones. Two hours later it’s pop-punk night at the Outer Space, with Crooked Teeth, Marble Jar and…
Failed Leadership
In the week leading up to the moment when hundreds of police officers from throughout the state descended on the Cal Poly Humboldt campus before dawn on April 30 to forcibly remove about two dozen protesters, we heard lots of voices. We heard from the protesters themselves, who said they felt compelled to take a…
Poetry Takes Maternity Leave
The African violet dies. Though I’ve moved it to a new window, given it the perfect light, it seems I did too late. It takes every ounce of creative energy to make a new life. This week the nail beds form, there will be no poetry. Last week: all those vertebrae, a cord as powerful…
Clarification
A story in the April 25, 2024, edition of the North Cast Journal headlined “Officials Weigh in on SCOTUS Case’s Local Implications” included possibly misleading information. It was Fortuna Police Chief Case Day who informed the council when it passed its anti-camping ordinance that his department would offer those camping illegally a ride to a…
Doubting Shakespeare, Part 2: Problems
“They’re both bonkers!” — Stanley Wells, Britain’s leading Shakespeare expert, on the opinion of preeminent Shakespearean actors Sirs Derek Jacobi and Mark Rylance, that the Stratford man didn’t write the Shakespeare canon. Last week, I noted that the traditional “Stratfordian” belief that a wool merchant from Stratford-on-Avon in England was the author of the Shakespeare…
North Coast Open Studios 2024
North Coast Open Studios is an annual showcase of local artists and their art in Humboldt County. See artists who are opening their studios (their “natural habitats,” if you will) to the public, allowing art lovers a glimpse into the creative process. Weekend 1 is June 1-2 and Weekend 2 is June 8-9. Studios are…
Mexican Restaurants Support English Express for Cinco de Mayo
Before Mary Ann Hytken found space to hold classes and establish the local nonprofit English Express, she says, she made do in Mexican markets. “I had a little folding chair and table, and I would give one-on-one English lessons.” She also taught ESL in the more conventional classrooms of College of the Redwoods. Then, she…
Desperados Under the Eaves
My serotonin levels are shot from reading too much of our local and national news, and, even worse, the responses in the comments section. The old adage “history is written by the winners” raises the obvious question, “Well then, what do the losers write?” As far as I can tell, the answer is comments, op-eds,…
First Saturday Night Arts Alive
SPECIAL EVENT: THIRD ANNUAL CHINATOWN STREET FAIR Clarke Plaza and E Street from First to Third streets. A celebration featuring artisan and food vendors, kids’ crafts, a DJ and cultural performances by Chinese lion dancers, Japanese Taiko drummers, Lao dancers and more. 4TH STREET MERCANTILE 215 Fourth St. Various artists, oil painting, acrylic painting, mixed…
Making change: Booze
Let’s talk about alcohol, creator of (sometimes toxic) relationships, (occasional over-) sharer of secrets, balm to some (destroyer of many). Welcome to the final installment of Making Change, a six-week series on the hows and whys of personal, social and political change. I type this from Ottawa, where I’m with people from frontline communities and…
Challengers Rises to the Challenge
CHALLENGERS. Although never a proper tennis fan, I would, in my younger, dumber years, have considered myself something of a casual appreciator. As country kids, old tennis rackets were useful indeed for seeing how high into the air one could drive small rocks. And a case of tennis balls might as well have been a…
‘In There for a Reason’
Editor: The NCJ sob story about inmate Patrick Harvey and For the People that feels sorry for convicted criminals makes me wonder why either of you want him back our streets? (“Seeking Salvation,” April 18.) Harvey has already had a chance at parole and failed. He will have other chances without this special intervention. Harvey…
‘All Due Respect’
Editor: With all due respect to Greg King (whom I both admire and respect for all of the excellent work he has done over the years, particularly on the Headwaters Forest campaign) there are so many things wrong with these three sentences right here. (“Why Deindustrialization (not Wind) Is the Answer,” April 25.) He says:…
‘Kidnapped’
Editor: I had just read Greg King’s excellent piece, “Why Deindustrialization (Not Wind) is the Answer,” when I encountered a wonderful quote from the Post Carbon Institute: “Modern humans have a Stockholm Syndrome relationship to technology, which has kidnapped us while convincing us it has our best interests in mind. But when one looks back…
‘Divisive Demonstrations’
Editor: The divisive demonstrations by some students on the Cal Poly Humboldt campus are very disconcerting and unnecessary (NCJ Daily, April 25). I encourage CPH students to investigate this long list of Israeli/Palestinian peace groups. These are ordinary people on both sides of the border working tirelessly in their communities and across divides to achieve peace…
‘Bringing Attention’
Editor: Thank you to the students for bringing attention to American complicity in the war on Gaza. It may have been flawed but it did the job. It seems that the CPH administration has overreacted to the student protests. The faculty I have spoken to have all said that closing the campus was unnecessary and…
