Summer of Fun! 2012
The North Coast Journal’s annual guide to kids summer activities in Humboldt County
Cover Story
Ring of Fire
Everything you need to know about solar eclipses can be summed up in one number: 400. During an eclipse of the sun, when the moon comes between our star and the Earth, it’s a near-perfect fit: they look just about the same size. That’s because, while the diameter of the sun is some 400 times…
Joss House Saved
Another state park treasure has been rescued from closure heap, and this one’s close enough to home — just a pretty jaunt down Highway 299 — to warrant notice: the Joss House Historic Park, in Weaverville. The nonprofit Weaverville Joss House Association has agreed to raise at least $47,000 every year, which will help the…
Do You Support Caregivers?
The Tri-County Independent Living Center, as it does every year, has asked local political candidates to answer a series of questions regarding disability and accessibility issues. The candidates polled this year are all running for a supervisorial seat. The questions asked included “How would you encourage compliance with the ADA, for businesses?” and “What is…
The Clit Clamp Caper
Some people shoplift out of desperation; others do it for the thrill. Perhaps the woman pictured above had thrills in mind when she allegedly stole a clit clamp (yes, that’s exactly what it sounds like) from Good Relations in Old Town Eureka. Store Manager Meghan Riley recently sent out an email to give fellow Eureka merchants…
Go Grizz!
Whooooo-wheee! Grease up the Dutch oven, knock the mold off the tent, gather up the kids and haul your camping-starved selves over to Grizzly Creek Redwoods State Park. It’s been closed since May 1 because of the state’s budget fiasco. It will reopen in time for this Memorial Day weekend. Moments ago, the Humboldt County…
Eclipse from Fairhaven
While some were whooping it up in Kneeland or being bowled over by our good luck in Old Town, Jacob Pounds was actually taking photos on the Fairhaven beach. Tripod + Canon S95 (c’mon, it’s just a fancy point-and-shoot!) + eclipse mylar = the above (“Cheshire cat sun”) and below (halfway through our four minutes…
Your Dog is Dead
Guest post from Mark Dondero of Orleans, the land of abandoned dogs: This is an open letter to whoever abandoned a German shorthair pointer named Toby in Orleans, Calif., on St. Patrick’s Day, 2005. Your dog is dead. Actually, once you kicked him out of your car and he found his way to our house,…
Eclipsed in Kneeland
Eclipsers mobbed Kneeland Airport and the surrounding bucolic countryside Sunday evening to watch the annular eclipse. Meadowlarks sang and the people sprawled their picnicking selves all over the rolling green goodness. On the tarmac, the fabulous Astronomers of Humboldt and assorted other sky nerds — bless them! — brought assorted contraptions for viewing the annular…
Bringin’ da Heat! Your 2012 Rutabaga Queen: Sohotshe Burns!
Gloriously defying conventional wisdom, Sohotshe Burns (known on earth as Wendy Burns) was crowned the 2012 Rutabaga Queen before a raucous crowd at Arcata’s Portuguese Hall on Saturday Night. In the end, the much hyped, “Year of the ‘Picker” was not to be. Next year, Johnny. Next year. Queen Sohotshe will go on to be…
New in Town
There’s one thing constant in the restaurant world: change. Menus change; restaurants come and go. It can be hard to keep track. That’s why we put out a new Menu of Menus every year. There’s a new one out, which you can find on select newsstands and other locations throughout Humboldt County. So, what’s new?…
Go, Seidner!
Editor: The NCJ provided an essential service to our community in its recent in-depth report on the supervisor’s race. We have a unique and exciting opportunity June 5 to elect a supervisor with proven leadership skills. Cheryl Seidner was twice voted woman of the year by the state of California; she earned an honorary doctorate…
Recital Season
Springtime! Baseball for some. Dance recitals for others. (With no chance of being rained out.) In local studios all over the county a host of teachers are diligently rehearsing, readying their students to be on-stage. Producing shows takes a tremendous amount of planning and labor, add kids to the mix and whoa — there’s an…
Go, Solomon!
Editor: As Judy Hodgson noted in her Blog Jammin’ item (May 10), “the race (for the new 2nd Congressional District seat) is heating up with just 30 days to election time.” Since time is truly short, I would like to encourage everyone to support Norman Solomon in this race. There is a Democrat in the…
Summer of Fun 2012
Ahh, the sounds of the season … “Maaaaa! Make me a sandwich!” Or who can forget … “Daaaaad, I’m bored. Take me to Tilt.” Or the timeless … “Can we PLEEEZE change the channel to SpongeBob?” (or whatever they’re watching now). Yes, having the kids around the house can be pure joy. But with the…
Dirty Ad
Editor: I noticed the ad for Bayside Garden Supply on page 34 of your May 10 issue. A woman is standing on a log, grasping her back side. In the forefront, a man is blowing air up her skirt with an atomizer. The slogan reads “Clean up those dirty girls from top to bottom.” It’s…
Dig Deeper on Parks
Editor: The feature article coverage of the state parks closure issue (“A Place in the Woods,” May 3) was appreciated. The time is certainly ripe for elected officials, Gov. Brown, and big money funding sources to pull a rabbit out of the hat to avoid these disastrous closures. We hope that your weekly continues to…
Safe Solar Watching
High-energy ultraviolet light can damage unprotected eyes. Since our retinas are insensitive to pain, people looking directly at the sun wouldn’t feel the destruction, and might not even notice it until hours later. Even worse is looking at the eclipse through unfiltered binoculars or a telescope, when retinal damage can take just a fraction of…
Free Flowing
Editor: I am a big fan of “Field Notes” by Barry Evans. In fact, as a retired person, I consider his column a part of my continuing education. His recent column (“Six Rivers (By Any Other Name),” May 3) reminded me that Six Rivers Bank used to (maybe still does) give out these beautiful calendars…
Eclipse Lore
As we count down to Sunday’s annular eclipse – coming to a clear sky near you, we trust – herewith some eclipse bits and pieces: * The word “eclipse” comes from the Greek ekleipsis, meaning “omission” or “failure,” that is, something gone wrong. It’s cognate with “ellipse” and with “ellipsis,” those quaint periods … found…
Dem Dilemma
Editor: Thanks for Ryan Burns’ reporting on the “The Dem Schism Gets Real,” (Blog Jammin, May 17). The motives being alleged against Virginia and others are projection. These hit and run tactics by certain local disgruntled members of the Humboldt County Democratic Central Committee are par for the course. These self-appointed Democrats by their own…
Doggy Days
My wife and I have a misshapen dog named Delroy. A boisterous mutt born into a dirt patch in the Fieldbrook hills (and a product of sibling inbreeding, we suspect), Delroy looks sort of like Pete the Pup, that floppy-eared pit bull from The Little Rascals, with some unfortunate exceptions. He’s proportioned like a dwarf…
Summer of Fun Listings
General & Multiple Activity Programs | Visual & Performing Arts Nature & Science | Sports, Athletics & Adventure General & Multiple Activity Programs TOP ARCATA RECREATION DIVISION. Numerous classes and camps including gymnastics, exercise classes, drop-in sports, art and cooking. Ages: Toddlers to teens, depending on program. When, Where, Cost: Varies according to…
Patti Smith
This is the girl who changed it for all of us girls in the ‘70s. Patti Smith. She was beyond cool. Counter culture and cultured. She was a bona fide poet. She was an artist. A balls-out skinny wisp of a woman with an electric guitar hanging from her shoulder. Her voice, in modulating harmonies,…
Humboldt County Livestock
Humboldt County Livestock
Unfair to Lovelace
Editor: I believe I am qualified to set the record straight regarding an accusation made by Karen Brooks against Mark Lovelace in Zach St. George’s cover story “District Soup” (May 10). For several years, I have been the point person in Humboldt County educating and organizing around the dangerously unhealthy levels of microwave radiation…
(K)SlugFest
Will foolishly steps into KSLG bullshit exposer John Matthews’ torture chamber.
Summer Music Festival Guide 2012
Summer’s just around the corner, which makes it time for another round of music festivals, big, small and in between. Some are tailored to your specific music taste, some more eclectic. Among the options here in Humboldt or not-too-far away: The 36th Annual Summer Arts and Music Festival. Despite troubles with the state park system,…
“wuddup real gurl (2 da max)”
Creepy Marbles is no more. If you missed their 70 or so shows and two tours in their year of existence, try to imagine witnessing a unique blend of electronic music (“chuggly vibes”), low-fi visual art (sharpie’d cardboard signage), and intergalactic conspiracy-fighting method-acting (this one’s a little harder to explain). The four-man act is shutting…
Legend of the Falls
I remember my mother standing at an ironing board in the motel room where our family was staying on a vacation trip in the summer of 1960, as we heard the radio report of what came to be called “the miracle at Niagara”: a 7-year-old boy had been swept over the titanic Horseshoe Falls and…
“I Can’t Go For That”
What makes something “go viral” and bounce exponentially around the Net garnering countless tweet pointers, Facebook shares and millions of hits? It’s hard to say. One thing’s for certain, that word, “hit,” has taken on a new meaning. Marketing departments everywhere are trying to figure out the formula, since going viral has become a mark…
The Cornerstone
It was a grand occasion commemorating the start of a grand project. On Saturday, Nov. 26, 1904, a cornerstone was laid near the southwest corner of Third and G streets for a new Eureka City Hall. The two-story Italian Renaissance-style building, to be built on the site of the old Pioneer School after a vote…
Menu of Menus 2012
http://issuu.com/ncjournal/docs/mom2012
To Be Queen
Elsewhere in this week’s Journal, voters can delve into the thoughtful nuances of our publisher’s positions on the upcoming California June primary election. But here’s where we really relish longstanding Mass Media tradition of throwing weight behind public figures dreaming of power and inaugurations. The North Coast Journal totally thinks that Johnny BerryPicker should be…
“She Works Hard For the Money”
She worked hard for the money, so the afterlife better treat her right… RIP to the Queen of Disco.
If You Tweet in a Forest
My thoughts don’t go much deeper than the length of this column. Once I think an idea through I’m on to my next thought. But two letters that my March column generated bothered me so much that my brain refuses to move on. In “Take the Money and Run With It” (March 1), I said…
Paging Mr. Scissorhands
Reviews DARK SHADOWS. I walked into this movie with my guard down and my hopes up. Bad move. Whether it was due to my recent good fortune at the theater or my nostalgia for Tim Burton’s early movies — which I love dearly — I ignored the fact that his more recent work has consistently…
Lone Survivors: How We Came To Be The Only Humans On Earth
There’s an illustration I recall from an old schoolbook that still defines the popular conception of human evolution (at least for those who believe in it at all). It depictes a progression of primates, hairy apes becoming slightly less hairy and more two-legged until the crouching Neanderthals become the modern human, upright and standing tall,…
My Bully Pulpit
From the time the Journal was founded in 1990 up until a few election cycles ago, we endorsed candidates and made recommendations on ballot measures. They were ultimately my endorsements as editor/publisher — and later as publisher when the two positions were split — with substantial input from the reporting staff. It’s not that I…
After the News, Walking
Full moon: from the trees, shadows spillas if…
Going Viral
What makes something “go viral” and bounce exponentially around the Net garnering countless tweet pointers, Facebook shares and millions of hits? It’s hard to say. One thing’s for certain, that word, “hit,” has taken on a new meaning. Marketing departments everywhere are trying to figure out the formula, since going viral has become a mark…
