Sympathy for the Brownfield
Indian Island is a model among cleanup projects on Humboldt Bay, in more ways than one
Cover Story
Sympathy for the Brownfield
A skinny trail traces the edge of a long willow thicket studded with cypress and a few tall eucalyptus trees on the northeast side of where State Route 255 lands briefly, between bridges, on Indian Island. The trail is hidden from passersby on the road above; indeed, one wouldn’t think to even look for a…
Extra Sunny Fortuna
Remember Janelle Egger? You know, the Fortuna resident whose attempts to find out more about her city government’s plans to build a new water tank turned into a Kafkaesque quest and public records lawsuit against the city? Well, with the help of Access Humboldt’s citizen-production services, she’s made a documentary of the saga: “Boondoggle in…
Mumblecore Rules!
Previews TAKERS. A successful gang of bank robbers — Idris Elba (The Wire), Paul Walker, T.I. (the rapper), etc. — plans one more big heist. Will a hardboiled cop (Matt Dillon) get in the way? 107m. Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, a sexual situation/partial nudity and some language. At the Broadway. THE…
The Return of Sherlock Holmes
The recent Robert Downey, Jr. feature film is the latest screen incarnation of the iconic detective Sherlock Holmes. But the definitive portrayal is arguably still Jeremy Brett’s, in the British television series of 41 Holmes stories made over a decade, ending in 1994. The remastered versions in the DVD series reveal much more than the…
Dead Beatz
San Francisco-born drummer Jay Lane has had a multifaceted career, to say the least. After playing ska with The Uptones and funk with The Freaky Executives in the ’80s, he joined forces with Les Claypool in the original lineup of Primus, which indirectly led to meeting Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir and forming Ratdog. On…
I have reached through the black air
I have reached through the black air…
It’s Business Time
When news broke last Friday that Arcata’s world-famous Cypress Grove Chevre had sold to the multinational Swiss dairy giant Emmi for an undisclosed but surely significant sum, some local business-watchers instantly began to get the jitters. They furiously shot electrons at one another through copper wire and fiber optic cables, and when those electrons reassembled…
A Train Bound For Glory
It’s not unusual for a young singer/songwriter to crisscross the U.S. and absorb influences, initially inspired by Jack Kerouac’s On The Road and Woody Guthrie’s Bound For Glory (along with a healthy dose of Bob Dylan) developing chops in numerous coffee shops and folk clubs. But what this UK troubadour did with those experiences is…
Outdoor Inhale
Last month, the Eureka City Council quietly passed a wide-ranging new anti-smoking ordinance, prohibiting smoking more or less everywhere apart from your own home: No smoking within 100 feet of the Eureka Boardwalk; no smoking at farmers’ markets, festivals or Arts Alive!; in fact, no smoking within 30 feet of any doorway, window, crack or…
In Defense of SPAM – Part II
“Slow down,” she whisperednow guiding my trembling hands”Turn the key slowly.” Pink tender morselGlistening with salty gelWhat the hell is it? Pink beefy temptressI can no longer remainVegetarian (SPAM haiku collected by Keola Beamer, songwriter and slack-key guitarist) SPAM, like Coca-Cola, is a uniquely American food. Like Coke, it has a kind of…
Seeing the (Cape Mendocino) Light
The invention of the Fresnel lens in the early 19th century, and its subsequent installation in lighthouses around the world, was responsible for preventing countless shipwrecks. It’s a simple idea. A point source of light can be focused into a parallel beam using a convex lens (Fig. 1, right), but an equivalent Fresnel lens (Fig.…
You Be the (Slightly Tipsy) Judge
Humboldt County, the power is in your hands. Last week, the Journal posted its categories for our definitive annual reader’s poll, the results of which will be revealed in our asskicking Sept. 2 “Best Of” edition. Reputations are on the line. Winners will gloat. Losers will fade into obscurity… or something. To keep it Humboldty…
Lust for Stuff
It can’t buy you love. Then again, love doesn’t pay the bills. It’s not everything, but when you’re scrounging change to put enough gas in your expiring car, it sure makes a difference. It won’t guarantee contentment. It can create conditions in which that condition is more easily cultivated. How does money connect to happiness?…
Pi: Not Square
Pies are round. Determining the surface area of a pie involves application of the Euclidean formula: Pi (3.141593…) times the radius squared (pi R squared). However, Pi: The Physical Comedy Troupe is not square; they’re six hip clowns. And they’re coming to perform a show called Slices for All at the Arcata Playhouse. Now based…
The Problem with Fundies
Editor: I was pleased to read about the “ambiguously Christian” pastors of Catalyst Church (“Beer Me, Jesus,” Aug. 19). The contrast between Dan Davis and Baptist pastor Larry McCain is the worldwide religious problem in microcosm. People seek certainty in the kind of fundamentalism that McCain (and Islamic fundamentalists and Jewish fundamentalists and Hindu fundamentalists)…
Acceptable Substitute
Editor: Your article on Spam reminded me of an observation made by Paul Theroux in The Happy Isles Of Oceania (“Table Talk,” Aug. 19). He noted a correspondence between islands where Spam was popular and those with a history of cannibalism. Bon appétit. Stephen Sottong, Eureka
Benedict Grammarscold
Editor: I didn’t think you would be one of those slaves to provincial conventions. Your challenge to Kathryn Corbett advises “punctuation inside the quotation marks!” (“Mailbox,” Aug. 19.) The American standard is actually to place periods and commas inside, semicolons and colons outside, and exclamation and question marks inside only if part of the quotation.…
Little Sleazy
Editor: I just finished reading, with some disbelief, Hank Sims starry-eyed visit to Orleans in the Aug. 12 issue (“The Town Dandy”). It was akin to writing about Eureka based on a visit to Old Town, and it goes to show that even in utopia there’s myopia. Mr. Sims must have had his rose-colored granny…
You Break It, You Buy It
Editor: Congratulations and thank you for the objective information provided in “Mega-Village” (Aug. 5). Within the complex draft of the environmental impact report, Ryan Burns ably exposed the heart of this 3,000-plus page document, a quote by the project manager and confirmed by a senior county planner: “the County (Planning Dept.) was responsible for guiding…
