Cover Story
Project Censored
This year’s annual Project Censored list of the most underreported news stories includes the widening wealth gap, the trial of Bradley Manning and President Obama’s war on whistleblowers — all stories that actually received considerable news coverage. So how exactly were they “censored,” and what does that say of this venerable media watchdog project? Project…
Johanna Rodoni Was at County Fair Board Meeting the Night of Her DUI Arrest
Johanna Rodoni, a local cattle rancher, executive director of the Buckeye Conservancy and a former county supervisor, attended a meeting of the Humboldt County Fair Association Monday evening before getting arrested for allegedly driving under the influence. Rodoni is a longtime member of the fair association’s board of directors. The board meeting adjourned at about 8:30…
Best Of: The Making of
Your picks for the Best Of 2013 are all over this week’s Journal, which is on stands today (and online tomorrow). If you grabbed the paper already, you saw Journalista and boss artist Lynn Jones’ magnificent hand-carved redwood frame adorning the cover. Check out this video of Lynn designing and creating the frame, with tunes…
From the Hum: Saturween!
Who cares about Halloween proper when a whole weekend awaits? Consider costumes strongly encouraged. All following shows happen on Saturday and are 21-and-over unless noted. Brooklyn band The Shondes are “too wild to ignore,” according to Rolling Stone’s review of the band’s latest effort, The Garden. Oft-described as a mix of riot grrrl, orchestral indie,…
Ah-wooooo!
Put down that waxy Halloween candy. It’s for the children. Which does not mean you shouldn’t get treats. Look at what happened at Ramone’s! Tiny werewolf teeth snarling at you from a chocolate cupcake! And Old Town Coffee and Chocolates has homemade pumpkin fudge that has all the spicy yumminess of pumpkin pie without the…
Buzzed
Is the whole disappearing bees thing keeping you up at night? Did that M. Night Shyamalan movie make it worse? Arm yourself with knowledge. Busybodies from the Humboldt Beekeepers Association and the Natural History Museum in Arcata have teamed up with local beekeepers for Bee Friendly Days today through Sunday at Eureka Natural Foods from…
These People Are Picking HSU’s Next President
A guild of university trustees, faculty bigwigs and community members — including one student rep — has assembled to choose Humboldt State University’s next president. Rollin Richmond, who has held the position since 2002, will leave at the end of the coming spring semester. The “Committee for the Selection of the President” — tasked with…
Arcata’s $4.5 Million Payment Plan
The Arcata City Council approved a plan this morning to pay back $4.5 million to the state in misappropriated redevelopment funds. Hank Sims at the LoCO did a good job of recapping the issue yesterday, which has also been covered by the Arcata Eye and Journal. The city’s plan: Pay the state Department of Finance…
Primates: The Fearless Science of Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey and Biruté Galdikas
The connection between Tarzan and Jane Goodall never occurred to me until Page 2 of Primates, when a young Goodall daydreams of swinging on vines, jealous of Tarzan’s other Jane. Primates, a graphic novel written by Jim Ottaviani and drawn by Maris Wicks, tells the story of three icons in the field of primate studies:…
In a World Without Humans
I’ve been intrigued by the tiny primates we call “tarsiers” ever since reading, long ago, a speculative essay in the now-defunct popular science magazine Omni that posed the question, “If humans hadn’t evolved, what other animal might have taken our ‘lords of the Earth’ top billing?” After considering the usual suspects — dolphins, bonobos, octopi…
Failed Escape
Reviews ESCAPE PLAN. I cut my teeth on big bloody action stuff like First Blood (1982) and Commando (1985), then followed Stallone and Schwarzenegger on to the mid-career weirdness of Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot (1992) and Junior (1994), respectively. Steeped as I am in the questionable cultural currency of their movies, chances are…
Beyond the Scandal
Voter enthusiasm for school board elections is typically pretty low — unless your board happens to have a raging plagiarism scandal. Such is the case in the Northern Humboldt Union High School District, where board members have spent the past four months dealing with fallout from fellow trustee Dan Johnson’s plagiarized speech at Arcata High…
Building on Faith
Every day but Sunday, pickup trucks congregate outside Fieldbrook’s Volunteer Fire Department. Workers hang from the firehouse roof, demolish walls, climb scaffolding and mix concrete. It’s like a barn raising — a testament to what can be accomplished when a community works together. The project has been a long time coming. Firefighter and contractor Gene Callahan…
So Much Music
Here at The Hum, we focus mainly on nighttime haps, but this week, I want to talk to you about breakfast, the best meal of the day. Breakfast helps you stay smart, svelte and — importantly — ready to take on your next night of partying. To that end, we offer some morning-after suggestions. Adjust…
HumPlate
Recommending food is a little like matchmaking — oh, the smug joy when it goes right. You’ve got to introduce someone to the right dish at the right time and let the sparks fly. Here are some of the magic moments we’ve been having this month.
Straw-vote Gang of Four
Forget it, Humboldt County. Since Estelle Fennell and Rex Bohn were seated on the Board of Supervisors last year, joining Virginia Bass and Ryan Sundberg — all elected with the help of the same deep pockets of money — the direction of good planning and land use in this county has gone from first-gear forward…
Paper Power
Friday, 2:02 p.m. A bearded man wearing wire-framed glasses breezes out of the Arcata Police Department. The man wears a dark purple shirt with an awkwardly mended sleeve and a gray fleece vest. He’s carrying a sheaf of papers recording recent events in the city’s crime continuum. He plops the printed stack atop a nearby…
That Darn Cat
Regular weed columnist Ryan Burns is in New York this week, and he declined my suggestion — in the name of investigative journalism — to pack some of Humboldt’s finest on his cross-country flight to test just how lenient the TSA’s gropey screeners are (see the Oct. 10 “Week in Weed”). So instead, I’m here…
A quiet birth
The stiff-petaled cone squats, poised in a birdcage of dried needles. Barbs, the size of small fish hooks, fail to capture the plump oval of seed slipping from the womb of the tree.
Move On
Editor: I have followed with interest the controversy regarding Dan Johnson. I don’t know him personally but I was pleased to see that you ran an article on him so as to get his side of the story (“Meet Dan Johnson,” Oct. 10). While I would be the first to agree that plagiarism is wrong,…
A Letter About Something Else!
Editor: As a long-time composer and member of ASCAP, the Scott-Goforth article caught my eye (“The Day the Music Died,” Oct. 3). While he’s basically correct, I would emphasize that public venues (such as restaurants, bars, etc.) do not have to be licensed by ASCAP, BMI or SESAC if the venue is featuring non-registered music.…
Treat
And some Halloween fun is just for the kiddies, like the costumed sugar high that is trick-or-treating. Only for kids. I’m looking at you, gangly teenage candy hogs. Get started on Friday night in Ferndale with the Halloween carnival and dinner in Belotti Hall at the fairgrounds at 5:30 p.m. ($8, $6 kids). In Eureka,…
Trick
Some Halloween fun is for grown-ups — and no, we’re not talking about skimpy costumes. Sometimes we’re looking for a good scare. The Kinetic Lab of Horrors is back again this year with sculptural arts and body parts. The freaky lab techs take you on a tour of the facilities on Eighth and N in…
Wild Ideas
Why aren’t we done with philosophy? After thousands of years and a parade of togas, cravats and very tight updos, haven’t we pretty much covered humanity’s questions? Maybe. But given the fuss a controversial mind like Peter Singer’s can still raise, probably not. The author of Animal Liberation and The Way We Eat: Why Our…
