One School, Nine Students
This story was originally published by CalMatters. School closures are an incendiary issue in nearly every corner of California, as enrollment declines and expenses climb. The topic has sparked parent revolts, teacher strikes and school boards’ desperate attempts to keep districts financially afloat. And then there’s Orick. The picturesque town in northern Humboldt County has…
Trinidad Art Night
This town-wide walk includes a variety of art exhibits, live music, artist receptions, face painting, skate ramps, pop-up sales and oyster, cider or wine tastings. Call (707) 834-2479, or visit trinidadartnight.com. Presented by Forbes & Associates: Sarah Corliss, produced by Westhaven Center for the Arts. THE LIGHTHOUSE GRILL 355 Main St.“Images from Prairie Creek Redwoods…
Why Isn’t ‘Eleven’ ‘One-teen?
And why isn’t twelve “two-teen”? Why do bagels come in dozens? Why are there two sets of 12 hours in a day? And why 12 inches to the foot? Like much of northern Europe, England once had a hybrid system of counting based on both 10 (decimal) and 12 (duodecimal). Today, almost all our daily…
Never, Forever
Something interesting about the springtime is the contradiction embedded between the old sensations that stir with the rising virgin growth of the newborn season. The vitality that comes with the turgid sap-flow and exploding blooms busting out colors and scents everywhere is shaded with a heavy atmosphere of the past, a twilight zone of dead…
Beneath the Surface
NORMAL boasts more than enough bona fides to excite a certain kind of audience (me): a script by creator of John Wick (2014) Derek Kolstad, again collaborating with star Bob Odenkirk (Nobody, 2021); Ben Wheatley directing; the promise of small-town, Main Street gunplay. Any one of which should be sufficient to assure a good time…
Woke NASA is Neat
If you are like me, you think space is neat. As a child, I devoured documentaries about Apollo. Everyone knows, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” (Neil Armstrong wrote that. What a badass), but to be honest, I have always been much more moved by the thing Neil said before…
‘Brava, Zia!’
Editor: Kudos to Zia Gabriel Coburn, the sixth grader whose poem, “Beginning,” is in this week’s North Coast Journal (Mailbox, April 16). I shared it in the Friday Poets group, and it was especially pertinent, as our prompt was “colors.” We all were amazed at the images she uses in her poem, and feel she…
More Cahill
Editor: OK, JFC’s take on AI (“AI for the Planet,” April 16) is not only her usual creative version using cultural markers like no one else can. She even avoids the expected gendering of a person who’s seduced by a Latino interloper — automatic inclusivity! And yes, however much energy it would take, the transformation…
Mary Burke for Fifth District Supervisor
Throughout various professional and civic roles, Mary Burke has shown that she knows how to bring people together to improve our environment and our communities. One of her recent accomplishments in McKinleyville is the Baduwa’t Project at the end of School Road, which improved salmon habitat along the river while adding a new public trail…
Winter Was
Winter was the blackest nightAnd the gray of dayLady Fern grew ghostly whiteThe woods stayed red and fey Winter was a barren bushFrost on raven wingsThe lonesome brrrr of varied thrushA wren who’s seldom seen Winter was a snow-capped mountPlumes of horses’ breath Fluffy foxes, frozen fountsAlders miming death Winter was a flooded marshWhale calves on…
