Repellant
How to treat and avoid Lyme disease and those creepy ticks that carry it
Cover Stories
Repellant
Nature is usually my best friend, but occasionally it has played my nemesis. While backpacking in Africa, for example, I had a heart-stopping stare-down with an angry lion. In Alaska I was charged by a protective mother moose. In Yellowstone I anxiously jingled bear bells while working in grizzly habitat. I was even struck by…
Pomy Prevails
Eleven-year-old Paloma Herrera-Thomas (“Pomy” for short) of McKinleyville recently spoke with the author about her own struggle with Lyme disease. NCJ: When were you diagnosed with Lyme? Paloma: About five years ago. NCJ: What symptoms tipped you off that you might have Lyme? What symptoms have you had since? P: I used to play soccer,…
Homicide in Willow Creek
A Willow Creek man and his father got into a gunfight last night while defending the man’s home from burglars. Both men were shot in the exchange; the father, 50, was killed. Here’s the press release from the Sheriffs Office: On 05-04-2011, 10:20 a.m. the Humboldt County Sheriffs Office responded to a residence in the…
You Write Seven-O-Heaven
In case the attention lavished on local authors in this week’s NCJ Book Issue has you feeling a bit jealous, we at the Journal wanted to give you, the readers, the opportunity to do some brief writing of your own. Like, really brief. This week’s cover features Seven-O-Heaven star Will Startare delving into local author…
Arkley and Lovelace Smackdown!
The rhetoric employed by Humboldt County Supervisor Mark Lovelace and Security National President and CEO Rob Arkley in e-mails released by the County today as the result of a Public Records request filed by Arkley assistant Shirley Fuller (and first reported on LoCO) might strike some as childishly heated. But when put in the proper…
Thompson: Bin Laden’s Death a ‘Defining Moment in Our Nation’s History’
Congressman Mike Thompson last night issued an ebullient statement on the death of Osama bin Laden. “The search for the world’s most wanted terrorist has finally ended,” he declared. The impact of Bin Laden’s death cannot be overstated. For over two decades, Bin Laden and his terrorist network have brought death and destruction to communities…
A Last Farewell to John Ross
Around 40 friends of the departed John Ross gathered at the tiny Trinidad Cemetery on May Day to observe International Labor Day, say one more goodbye to Ross and scatter some of his ashes to the winds. The site was the tombstone of E.B. Schnaubelt, who died in 1913. It is engraved with the words,…
Charlie’s Early Review of Win Win
Journal film critic Charlie Myers caught the new Paul Giamatti film Win Win while visiting Portland recently. The film opens at the Minor Theatre today. Here’s Charlie’s review: Regular moviegoers know not to trust trailers. In addition to regularly including plot spoilers and often, especially for comedies, revealing the film’s best lines, the trailer can…
Who bought the Arcata Eye?
Hot rumor du jour on the blogosphere is a supposedly leaked memo posted on The Humboldt Herald amidst a back and forth about the ecological impact of pot growing: Arcatawikileaks says: April 29, 2011 at 11:37 am Sent: Thu, April 28, 2011 4:42:56 PM Subject: Re: Bat N’ Rouge…Save the Date!!!!!!! “fellow who bought the…
The BIG DAY
The pre-wedding rigors that British royalty Prince William and his bride Kate Middleton endured before today’s EXTRAVAGANZA must have been sorely trying. But they cannot compare to the primping rituals of the Budweiser Clydesdales, a team of which happens to be ensconced at Redwood Acres right now in anticipation of Eureka’s own BIG DAY tomorrow…
Steel Anniversary
You hear it all around Humboldt: The sweet, pure, tropical sound of the steel drum has become part of the local culture. To a great extent this is because of the work of Eugene Novotney, a music professor at Humboldt State who founded the HSU Calypso Band 25 years ago. Some of his students have…
Blue
My stone hutch perches on a blue height….
Return of Siliqua patula
Last week, anytime between Tuesday and Saturday, if you’d wandered over to Clam Beach in the early morning you might have felt as if you’d also wandered back in time. The shoreline teemed with clam diggers — a spread-out crowd of them near the Little River Beach parking area and others down near the Clam…
April 28-May 4
April 28. Birthdate, in 1758, of James Monroe, the fifth President of the United States and the third to die on the Fourth of July. April 29. A punch called a glogg can be made by heating a bottle of port, a bottle of burgundy and a bottle of the caraway-flavored spirit aquavit, along with…
Ownership diversified
Up until two years ago, Carolyn Fernandez and I — along with our spouses — owned all shares in the corporation known as North Coast Journal Inc. At that time we made the decision to diversify ownership by offering stock to several key, long-term employees. Three of them stepped forward. This month we are welcoming…
w h o k i l l
Singer/songwriter/musician Merrill Garbus, who operates under the pseudonym tUnE-yArDs, drew tremendous attention at this year’s SXSW Festival in Austin with her bracing live performance. The Montreal native, who moved to Oakland several years ago, created a stir in 2009 with an impressive lo-fi debut, BiRd-BrAiNs, a collection of homespun, solo-performed, multi-layered songs employing an overachieving…
High Holy Error
Editor: I enjoyed Jada Brotman’s article on her Jewish food experiences in various locales (“Is It Passover Again?” April 21). However, I’d like to point out that Passover is not, in fact, considered part of the High Holy Days. That title refers specifically to the Jewish New Year, consisting of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and…
Reality Check
I love those other-reality movies that mess with our minds. The Wachowski brothers’ Matrix series, Richard Linklater’s Waking Life and Christoper Nolan’s Inception have a common premise: We can’t know for sure what’s real and what isn’t. In the original Matrix movie, for instance, it turns out we humans are harvested by intelligent machines for…
Dismal Science
Editor: David Johnston’s recent article “Wealth Care” (April 14) refers to the practitioners of “the dismal science of economics” as if they cannot reach correct conclusions from their data. I wonder if he really understands who he is aligning himself with when he uses the phrase “the dismal science of economics.” While this nation struggled…
Viva John Ross
Once upon a time, when I was just an angel child lo these many light years ago, I took Baby Dodds’ drumsticks to my lips and kissed them on the tips, the ones that back up Louie Armstrong and the Hot Five all the way to the Royal Garden, the south side of Chicago, 1919.…
Don’t Trust ‘Em
Editor: Regarding Anders Larson’s letter to the editor (“Mailbox,” April 21): The risk is not zero. I’m able to assess the exposure risks from Fukushima because I have been trained in radiation protection as a medical worker. Without the training, I believe it would be very difficult to assess the risks involved based on reports…
Food First!
“The purpose of Food First is to eliminate the injustices that cause hunger.” — Food First mission statement Food activist, agroecologist and political economist Eric Holt-Giménez came here last week as part of HSU’s Sustainable Futures series to speak about solutions to the root causes of the global food crisis. Coauthor of the book…
Dance Times Three
This is it. The ultimate group show, without allegiance to any school of dance or aesthetic. This is the day you get to see it all: young and old, experienced and up-and-coming, classical and modern. The Two Left Feet Dance Project gives dancers from all walks a chance to show their stuff. Choreographers rent their…
A Visit From the Goon Squad
It would be very easy to describe A Visit From The Goon Squad as merely a collection of interrelated short stories, but that would be wrong. It most definitely is a novel, if not a traditional one. Though several of the chapters were published as stand-alone short stories, they achieve a cumulative resonance when set…
Music to Save Mother Earth
You might remember Buffy Sainte-Marie from songs touching on her Native American heritage, such as “Now That The Buffalo’s Gone.” Most don’t realize that she also wrote the ’60s anti-war anthem “Universal Soldier,” made popular by Donovan, and pop hits such as “Up Where We Belong,” sung by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes for An…
Flowers and Weeds
Editor: Thanks to Heidi Walters for the much-needed counterbalance to the “More Native Than Thou” plant purists (“Bad Weed,” April 21). In San Francisco awhile back, I donated a pair of large jade plants to a struggling local nursery, thinking they’d sell for $15-$20 each (the pots alone were worth that) and help keep the…
Jane, Not Plain
JANE EYRE. Back in college, when I first read novels by Emily and Charlotte Brontë, I thoroughly enjoyed Jane Eyre but passionately embraced Wuthering Heights, which opened my eyes to what seemed like an all-encompassing romanticism. As I’ve gotten older, if not more mature, the darker side of the soul now holds sway over me…
Higher Education
Associate Professor Ronnie Swartz leaned back, looking remarkably comfortable in the decidedly uncomfortable chairs of room 115 in Humboldt State University’s Siemen’s Hall. Swartz, a man with salt-and-pepper hair and a young face, had just finished delivering a presentation on the use of medical marijuana in substance abuse treatment programs. Now in his 11th year…
