Cover Story
Shot Up and Shut Down
It’s a rare warm day in late February, a full month before spring is officially declared, and the pastures are yellow with mustard blossoms, and the Eel River is surging beneath the concrete arches of Fernbridge, the river’s sibilance and bright blue color belying the power of its storm-swollen rush. In the gravel parking lot…
Shipping Container Homeless Village: Happening. Probably.
A bed, three meals a day and a door that locks: Small luxuries, but still more than many have. This is what the new partnership between the Betty Kwan Chinn Homeless Foundation and the Humboldt Coalition for Property Rights is promising for at least 40 of the currently homeless people living behind the Bayshore Mall,…
Minor Inconvenience
The Minor Theater will open on April 20 for the Humboldt International Film Festival — and close when the festival ends. The Minor Theater Group, which had assumed responsibility of operating the theater when Coming Attractions abruptly closed the business in February, had promised to have the theater running in time for the festival, but…
HumCPR and Betty Chinn Pitch Shipping Container Village for Palco Marshers
A solution for where to send those soon to be displaced from the Palco Marsh may be on the horizon. The press release (included below) is mysterious, merely inviting the public to attend a press conference to “announce the beginning of a partnership aimed at mitigating the effects of homelessness in the community and providing…
Must, Need & Nice: Measure Z Committee Makes Its Recommendations
The Citizen’s Advisory Committee on Measure Z has finished sorting through the 43 applications it received for funding, breaking the requests up into three categories: “must,” “need” and “nice.” The process, which involved six meetings and a public hearing, short-listed the “musts” for inclusion in the 2016-2017 fiscal year, the budget for which will be up…
Bullock Guilty on All Counts
Multiple media outlets are reporting that a jury today has found Gary Lee Bullock guilty on all counts for the 2014 murder and torture of St. Bernard’s Catholic Church pastor Eric Freed. After four days of deliberations, the jury came to the unanimous conclusion that Bullock was guilty of first degree murder, torture, residential burglary,…
For the Birds
The 21st annual Godwit Days Spring Migration Bird Festival takes place April 13 through April 19, countywide. Fans of the long-beaked, long-legged, flying, black-tailed mollusk eaters will flock to fields, marshes and other habitats to see thousands of the shorebirds and others during this celebration of the myriad bird species in the area. The week-long…
TL;DR: Five Things You Might Have Missed in This Weeks’ Cover Story
If you were too busy enjoying the great outdoors to read about the great outdoors, we understand. Here’s a summary of this week’s cover story, “Shot Up and Shut Down.” In the final week of February, Joseph Alexandre, a farmer at Alexandre EcoDairy Farms in Ferndale, pushed a set of concrete K-rails into the parking…
HumBug: Beauty
The other day, while waging my perpetual losing battle against garden weeds, I glimpsed a shadow. It was a dragonfly cruising my yard for an afternoon snack. I kept watch and it changed its flight pattern from actively hunting to slowly browsing the bushes near the ground for a place to rest. When it finally…
Orville Magoon, architect of Humboldt’s jetties, dies at 87
While his legacy in Humboldt County may live in for another century or more, Orville Tyler Magoon, the engineer who rebuilt the Humboldt jetties, has died. He was 87. Magoon, who was featured in the Journal’s Dec. 19, 2013 story “Treacherous Maw,” came up with the idea of reinforcing Humboldt’s notoriously crumbly jetties with dolosse,…
Blue Man Group
Blue Man Group brings its wide-eyed stares and blue grease-paint to the Van Duzer Theatre on April 11 at 8 p.m. ($66, $35). The performance art group is known for percussive and innovative shows that break the fourth wall and get messy. Take heed, brave patrons in the first few rows.
The Carson Block Building: Open for Business
The North Coast Indian Development Council moved back into the bottom floor last week, and rumor has it most of the offices in the newly renovated Carson Block building have been rented, but the public got its first peek at all of the work that’s been done on this historic building during today’s grand opening.…
Dos and Don’ts of Water Pups
Reports are mixed on whether this little sea lion washed to shore this morning on the North Jetty while caught in these heavy ropes or was just sheltering against them, but he managed to return to the water without help from volunteers from the Northcoast Marine Mammal Center. The tag and brand you see mean…
Body and Soul
Dance can appear solitary from your seat in the audience, but even a solo is a group project; there are performers, choreographers, composers, musicians and all their respective teachers. But the spring dance concert at Humboldt State University brings those hidden forces to the foreground, with students and faculty on the Van Duzer Theatre stage,…
Camping a Go at Koster Street Parking Lot
On Tuesday, the Eureka City Council voted 3 to 2, with council members Melinda Ciarabellini and Marion Brady dissenting, to allow camping in a city parking lot at Koster and Washington streets. The motion, which was a modified version of the Shelter Crisis Declaration approved by the council on Jan. 19, passed after a an…
Movies’ Greatest Hits
Can you imagine 2001: A Space Odyssey without Strauss’ dramatic score? The Eureka Symphony pays homage to music in film with its Film Greats concert April 8 and 9 at the Arkley Center for the Performing Arts at 8 p.m. ($19-$44) performing soundtrack pieces by Debussy, Handel and John Williams.
Far Out
Get ready for an out-of-this-world evening of music, fine dining and mind and glass-blowing entertainment. It’s time for Spectacular! Spectacular!, KMUD’s annual fundraiser at the Arcata Community Center, Saturday, April 9 from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. ($100 dinner and show, $40 show only). This year’s theme sets its sights high with an Intergalactic Garden…
Bayes, Mammograms and False Positives
Bayes’ Theorem is, apparently, the new sexy. Everyone’s quoting it, from psychologists to ecologists to cosmologists, even TV show The Big Bang Theory. Named after an 18th century English minister and statistician, the theorem is basically a way to calculate the validity of one’s beliefs. In a nutshell: initial belief + new evidence = improved…
CBDs Go There. Down There
Every drug, yes, every drug, from alcohol as a rudimentary anesthetic to methamphetamine as a weight loss supplement, has medicinal applications. Cannabis retains a strange space in our medical landscape: Centuries of anecdote reinforce its therapeutic worth, yet in the United States it’s still federally classified as having no medical value. Because of its legal…
Blinis, Darling
Russian dancers must walk around town with bricks attached to their ankles, their quads are so tough. In preparation for this article, I’ve gone down a rabbit hole of All Things Russian, and let me tell you, the thigh power required to do those squat kicks must be tremendous. Personally, after a typical Russian meal…
Family of Origin
Already in a state of grace, Walking loose and slow Down the trail from Garfield Peak, High on the volcanic drama— Muscular rocks that broke all restraint, The occasional soft carpet of red, green, gold, The old weather-tested trees And the tender, hopeful trees, The almost painful views Of turquoise-fringed, Numinous blue water (The precious…
In Compliance?
The California Attorney General’s Office has launched an investigation into the the Humboldt Department of Health and Human Services’ handling of reports of child abuse and neglect, and specifically whether it is in compliance with state law. But the department isn’t cooperating and has so far refused to turn over a host of documents requested…
Far from Home
Reviews I am not, nor have I ever been, a person of faith. Since childhood, I self-identified as an agnostic, but this was based more in my conciliatory nature and innate skepticism than in any real germ of possibility. I even tend to question our unilateral acceptance of science as a quasi-religion, far removed as…
On the Complexity of Insanity
Editor: In “Sanity on Trial” (March 31), Thadeus Greenson presented us with an opportunity to consider the complex interdependent concepts of sanity, mental illness, drug intoxication and accountability for violent behavior. If the tragic account of an infant stabbed to death by her own father in an episode of meth psychosis can have some positive…
Poem Praise
Editor: I would like to commend Cecelia Holland on a very well thought out and written poem, “There Was An Old Woman Who Worked in the SHU” (March 31). It is one of the best I have read and its imagery and message are excellent. It shows how much can be said in a few…
Help the Dogs, Help the Homeless
Editor: This is one piece of the urgent issues facing homeless residents at the PalCo Marsh: The city is set to evict them with no legal place to go, and neither of the city offered night shelters (Rescue Mission or St. Vincent DePaul) will allow animals. (“Eureka: Marsh Campers Must be out by May 2,”…
Correction
The story “Sanity on Trial” in the March 31, 2016 edition of the Journal contained an error concerning the jury in Gary Bullock’s trial. Jurors have been informed that the trial will be bifurcated into a guilt phase and a sanity phase due to Bullock’s dual pleas of not guilty and not guilty by reason…
If You Want to Sing Out…
Our brains are hardwired to be empathetic; that is, we have the ability to “understand” another’s experiences. I’ve heard the term “mirror-neurons” thrown around as a way of explaining it, but let me give it a go here. When we see someone experiencing or expressing an emotion — be it happiness, sadness, fear, love, etc.…
Arts! Arcata
Arts! Arcata is Arcata Main Street’s monthly celebration of visual and performing arts, held at locations in Arcata. Visit www.arcatamainstreet.com for more information about the event or call 822-4500. ARCATA ARTISANS 883 H St. “Retrospective Works,” Joy Dellas, paintings, “Through the Viewfinder,” Jeff Langdon, photography, and Michael Edwards, small metals and jewelry. ARCATA CORE PILATES…
Cult Following
Portland-based painter Tripper Dungan likes UFOs, aliens and other subjects of pop conspiracy. A slew of his small, irregularly shaped paintings are scattered at rakish angles around the Sanctuary’s comfortable, pew-filled exhibition space, as if someone fired a cartoon shotgun around the room. UFO Cult might be the only exhibition you see this year in…
The Illusion of Water in the Low-Water Garden
One of the biggest complaints about water-responsible gardening is that sometimes the garden just looks and feels “dry.” This has been one of my stumbling blocks on the way to gardening more carefully with this resource, because I love a lush, verdant garden. So imagine my delight to find a whole chapter on creating the…
Puppet King
You know what Shakespeare’s greatest tragedy could use? Puppets. Dell’Arte presents The Independent Eye’s King Lear on April 8 and 9 at 8 p.m. at the Carlo Theatre ($12, $10). It features some 30 life-sized, hand and finger puppets operated by actors and master puppeteers, Conrad Bishop and Elizabeth Fuller.
