Sculpting Community
College of the Redwoods’ ceramics class helps veterans reconnect through clay By Kelby McIntosh
Cover Story
Sculpting Community
In a quiet corner of the College of the Redwoods campus, veterans gather twice weekly to shape and mold clay in a ceramics program customized for them. As rhythmic thuds of hands pressing and slapping clay at workstations fill the room, the warmth radiating from the class transforms a standard ceramics studio into a safe…
Paul Jespersen: 1942-2024
Paul Jespersen, 82, of Salem, Oregon, passed away peacefully Nov. 27, 2024, surrounded by family. Born in 1942 in Ferndale, California, Paul was the son and youngest child of Raymond and Lois Jespersen. After graduating from high school, he moved to Arcata to attend Humboldt State College, where he earned his bachelor’s degree. Soon after,…
Rooftop’s Ramen Warm-up
All summer, which includes October here, tables at Rooftop (148 E St., Eureka) were packed with those starved for vitamin D and hungry for sushi. But during the damp cold of winter, the indoor tables and counter (at last, comfy bar chairs) offer a view out of the chill and hot, hot ramen. The Spicy…
Huffman Tapped for Natural Resources Leadership Position
North Coast Congressmember Jared Huffman has been named the ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee after a weeks-long campaign for the post. “It is the honor of my lifetime to win this election and be named ranking member of the Natural Resources Committee,” Huffman said in a press release of his new role…
Experts: St. Mark’s Violated Tax Law with Election Sign
In the runup to the November election, St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Ferndale violated federal rules prohibiting nonprofit entities from engaging in electioneering activities in favor or opposition to any candidate for public office, a pair of experts tell The Journal. St. Mark’s pastor Tyrel Bramwell’s election-related conduct began raising questions among some Ferndale residents…
Comedy Night: Tuesday, Dec. 17
Speaking of Savage Henry Comedy Club, tonight at 9 p.m. you can enjoy True Kult, a show created and hosted by comedian Patrick Redmond, where comedians explore all things paranormal, from little gray men to cryptids to xenomorphs. Just $5 gets you a spot inside, with an online fee that once again produces an odd…
Comedy Tonight: Monday, Dec. 16
Low brow, low budget, painfully bad films are an itch to tickle for some of you out there. If you are in that number, you can’t get any closer to the rancid wet shit of terrible, sub-cult films than Feeders 2: Slay Bells. It’s the 1998 sequel to the original Feeders, a Blockbuster Video Chain…
Comedy Tonight: Sunday, Dec. 15
Rising star Bay Area comedian Paul Conyers brings his stand-up chops to the Basement tonight for two sets, at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m., so you have options if you are more or less of a Sunday nighthawk. The $20 admission is not a bad deal for a headlining comedian who fills larger venues in…
Music Tonight: Saturday, Dec. 14
The Miniplex is putting on the kind of gig it does best, with cosmic folk musician Julie Beth Napolin, who will be joined by local heroes Ethan Miller of Howlin’ Rain and Comets on Fire fame, and Anthony Taibi, a sound maker, breaker and recorder who has been in too many amazing psyche projects to…
Music Tonight: Friday, Dec. 13
Here’s an unusually and fittingly outré gig for the final Friday the 13th of 2024. Visiting from Spain, the enigmatic, masked (and possibly haunted doll) LA NEUTRA is presenting a DJ-curated, mixtape trip called “March of the Trolls, Dance Exorcism.” Expect a wide range of globe-spanning music, including remixes of Indian and Arabic music, as…
Quake Confusion
In many ways, the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that struck about 60 miles west of Petrolia and rattled Humboldt at 10:44 a.m. on Dec. 5 was entirely typical. It occurred on the Mendocino Fault, a submarine fracture zone that runs more than 2,500 miles west from Cape Mendocino, separating the Pacific and Gorda plates. “That fault,…
Dead Flag Blues
For obvious reasons, I’ve been thinking lately about the more headline-grabbing political violence expressed by solo actors, rather than the steady, deadly wall of daily violence enacted by our domestic and foreign policy. As I write this, it looks like the cops have someone in custody for allegedly killing a health insurance CEO in the…
A Classic Cookie Gets Spicy
Years ago, I made a batch of double ginger cookies with powdered and candied in the dough. Then I immediately remade them as triple ginger, spiking them with a couple teaspoons of freshly grated ginger root. Then came the Mexican hot chocolate cookies barely warmed by a couple pinches of cayenne pepper. Then a couple…
The Valiant Red Rooster Crows
By reimagining the classic folk tale of The Valiant Red Rooster for the annual holiday musical pantomime at the Arcata Playhouse, director Evan Grande offers this year’s post-earthquake, holiday spirits-boosting entertainment enjoyable for all ages. Backed by the equivalent of a Greek chorus (the talented and funny Blue Lake Choir in chicken costumes) that witnesses…
The Enviably Thick-skulled Woodpecker
This election has left many of us a bit shaken in our beliefs and buffeted by fear and doubt. The yammering and hammering are unrelenting. Never has a bird that smashes its head into wood up to 20 times a second been more relatable. We all could use thicker skulls these days. If only we…
Subservience Fails at Fun
SUBSERVIENCE. I want to be a better person but I evidently don’t want it enough to scroll past the schlockier movies and series cranked out by streaming platforms as Gladiator II and Wicked pull in everyone willing to leave the house. And yes, if a domestic horror/thriller or a creepy AI robot movie pops up,…
‘Who Will Be to Blame?’
Editor: As the stable genius, President-elect Donald Trump, nonchalantly stated right smack dab in the middle of a horrifyingly deadly global pandemic, “It is what it is.” To him, it was the “kung flu” and it would soon go away. And now he’s slated to run this country of 345 million people … again (Mailbox, Dec. 5). So, when the…
‘More Expensive’
Editor: The democrat regime in Sacramento plans to use their super majority to “Trump-proof” California again (“Top Dems Say They Won’t Just ‘Trump-proof’ CA, They’ll Make it Affordable Again,” Dec. 5), rather than help the citizens of California. They convened a special session this month to earn more per-diem payments on top of their already…
Why Being with You Was Like the Leaky Trunk of My ’74 Ford Maverick
You moved through like high tide in heavy rain—muddied, filled with beer cans, broken limbs, dangerous against the banks— your fast moving, your hard beauty, the high-water mark I stare at with disbelief and fear— the three inches of rusty water I carry everywhere. Jason Marak
