Cover Stories
They Do!
When Jean Morgan, who goes by Morgan, came back into her bedroom after a morning cup of coffee last week, her partner of 10 years, Tina, was crying. Tina had been up all night awaiting the Supreme Court’s decisions on the Defense of Marriage Act and California’s Proposition 8, and Morgan thought the court must…
Dumping DOMA
You could be forgiven for losing sight of the Supreme Court’s decision to cast out parts of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) last week. In California, which has followed the public battle over Proposition 8 for nearly five years, the news that gay couples can once again get married was more tactile and…
What Next for Gay Marriage Foes?
While Proposition 8 proponents have been strategizing about how to salvage a ban on gay marriages in California, some in Humboldt County are saying that at this point, their best strategy is prayer. With the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals acting swiftly last week to lift its stay on gay unions, and the state…
A Time to Embrace
With chants and kazoos, cheers and party horns, revelers sent up a joyful noise in Eureka and Arcata on Wednesday evening, celebrating a pair of Supreme Court rulings on gay marriage. Outside the Humboldt County Courthouse in Eureka, drivers honked in shared jubilation as they passed, and Susan McGee marveled that the support had begun…
Anyone Want These Tickets to Reggae on the River?
Hear me now: The Journal has four passes to this year’s Reggae on the River festival. And these aren’t just any passes; these are four-day passes, meaning they grant early access to the festival grounds (back at French’s Camp, yo!), plus dibs on camping and an extra night of music, access to magic brownies and…
Environmental Groups Appeal Ruling in North Coast Railroad Authority Case
The North Coast Railroad Authority has had its share of headaches over the years — many of them self-induced — and now a headache the state agency thought cured has returned. Two local environmental groups — Friends of the Eel River (FOER) and Californians for Alternatives to Toxics (CATs) — announced today that they have…
![Hunger Strike Resumes at Pelican Bay [Updated]](https://i0.wp.com/www.northcoastjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/dsc_0514.webp?resize=600%2C450&ssl=1)
Hunger Strike Resumes at Pelican Bay [Updated]
UPDATE: The Bay Area group Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity released the above video yesterday, which gives a brief recap of the issues that sparked the original hunger strike and calls for public support. Original post: This morning at 11, prisoners at Pelican Bay State Prison began their third hunger strike in the past two years…
Movies Night at the Library
“Have you seen the movie?” “The book was better.” Book lovers and film buffs: Let’s not fight. Lay down your arms, climb out of the trenches and hail one another as equals. On July 9, the Eureka branch of the Humboldt County Library kicks off its free Blu Tuesdays film series with a month of…
NCJ Flash Fiction Contest
Send us a story, 99 words (or fewer). Make us weep, laugh, scratch our heads. And we will judge your brilliance. There will be fancy judges. And prizes. E-mail your entries, along with your name and a phone number (the number won’t be printed), to fiction@northcoastjournal.com Or (if you must) snail-mail them to: North Coast JournalFiction…
Independence Day Traditions
The Fourth of July holiday weekend has a bit of tradition surrounding it and should send your favorite memories tumbling down the sensory chute and straight into your frontal lobe. I think of my first foray into lip-on-lip action — the girl I kissed on a family campout. My family camped at the same spot…
Trees, Please!
For a destination whose “Heart of the Redwood Coast” image is promoted as a tourist magnet, Eureka itself may seem like a bit of a letdown. Visitors used to the leafy streets of San Diego, Sacramento or Palo Alto, for instance, might find our mostly sparse and immature crop of sidewalk trees out of kilter…
Five Things To Know Before You Give Someone Your Heart
1. Your heart has value. Only share it with people who are, at the very least, kind, funny and honest. Those are non-negotiable. Do not place your heart in the hands of anyone who delights in embarrassing you, treats you as if you are undeserving of love or otherwise leaves you feeling worse about yourself.…
This season
This season, beauty as painful as loss. The bones of my hands become feathers, skin over my ribs the dry crib of a prairie.
Landscapes in Layers
Even if you’ve never laid eyes on one of Michael Guerriero’s distinctive serigraphs, you have likely seen one of the first works he created after moving here in 1977. Fresh out of grad school in Kalamazoo, Mich., Guerriero put his graphic design skills to use offering sign-painting services to Old Town businesses. Up against other…
First Saturday Night Arts Alive!
Presented by the Humboldt Arts Council and Eureka Main Street. Opening receptions for artists, exhibits and/or performances are held the first Saturday of each month. Phone (707) 442-9054 or go to www.eurekamainstreet.org for more information or to have an exhibit or performance included. 1. EUREKA INN 518 Seventh St. Lauren Cogan Jones, mixed media. 2.…
Trinidad Arts Night
Trinidad’s first Friday art nights are back. More information available from www.TrinidadArtNights.com. 1. Trinidad Trading Company 460 Main St. Original songs by Sarah Torres. Gifts and featured art. 2. WindanSea 410 Main St. Featured art by local artists and gifts. 3. Trinidad Museum 400 Janis Court at Patricks Point Drive. “A Contribution to Prayer,” photographs…
Strawberry Rock: Mission Accomplished?
Within a few years, hikers may be able to enjoy the view from the top of Strawberry Rock — without first having to break the law. Green Diamond Resource Co., the logging company that owns Strawberry Rock and the surrounding forest, is working on a deal that would give the public legal access to the…
The Power of Habit
Habit is the basic substrate of our lives, so basic that its influence is easy to ignore. The Power of Habit tries to peek behind the curtain and reveal the mechanisms of habit — so that readers can grab the levers for themselves and take control. The book begins with a story of someone who…
Name That Dune
Editor: I disagree with many of the claims made by critics of restoration practices on the beach and dunes (“Stake-Out,” June 27). I would like, however, to address the comments that have been made regarding the threats restoration supposedly poses to infrastructure: homes, roads, power and water lines on the peninsula, especially in Manila, where…
Hot Cops
THE HEAT. I’m sorry I doubted you, Paul Feig. During every preview for The Heat, the Bridesmaids director’s sophomore feature, I moaned and groaned, complaining about Sandra Bullock playing yet another character who balances her femininity with her professionalism, as she’s done in nearly every movie since Miss Congeniality. “It could be OK; it is…
Classified
Editor: Ms. Burstiner’s creepy screed (“Media Maven,” June 27) is right on! Where is the ACLU when we need it? If NSA, CIA, FBI, OSI, et al. are monitoring this, may they all be turned into pillars of salt somewhere between Tombouctou (sp. correct) and Bumfuk (can’t find it in my atlas), Egypt. Marvin L.…
Go, Supes
Editor: The guiding principles of the General Plan draft were written by county staff in 2004 from input that was gathered at GPU meetings up until 2004 (Publisher, June 13). That means that the draft guiding principles are nine years old! Of course they need to be revised and updated. So what about the nine…
Don’t Wine and Ride
Editor: Amy Cirincione’s article “Bikes and Booze” (“Get Out,” June 20) not only sounds like a bad idea, it is a really bad idea. I have driven that road for 30 years. The idea of some tipsy traveler cresting the Ettersburg junction as I negotiate the oncoming cement truck turns me purple with frustration. The sugar-coated language used…
Brain Busters
Editor: I have read previous articles from Barry on mental health issues and I look forward to seeing this new series from start to finish (“Field Notes,” June 20 and 27). As former Humboldt County Mental Health Board chair, I can tell you that the medical model has gotten far too much press in the…
Decriminalize Addiction
Editor: In regards to “The Cost of Getting Clean,” (June 20) I find it appalling that we can find money (trillions) to fight unnecessary wars, keep a bloated military budget going, subsidize large corporations, etc. and we cannot find the money to adequately fund programs like the Detox Center (and so many others) in our…
Patriotic Party Circuit
If we hadn’t thrown off the shackles of British tyranny, there’d be butter on all our sandwiches, sweaters would be jumpers, The Office would have ended ages ago and we’d have nothing to do on the Fourth of July. Lucky for us, we get to commemorate breaking up with the monarchy (we did it in…
