Cover Story
The Party People
Nawdy Little Girl, or Nawdy, as she’s known in and out of Humboldt’s kink circles, steps behind the St. Andrew’s cross, a 6-foot wood and metal “x” with wrist restraints. It towers over the cropped blonde hair that tops her 4-foot-7-inch frame as she explains how the whole apparatus bolts together and breaks down to…
UPDATE: Suspect in Hoopa Stabbing Death Arrested
The Humboldt County Sheriff’s SWAT team apprehended murder suspect Gearold Sotolongo at a Hoopa residence this morning, according to a press release. Sotolongo was wanted in connection with the Feb. 13 killing of Hoopa and Weitchpec resident Rodger Allen Yale. From the Sheriff’s Office: On Wednesday, March 9, 2016 at approximately 9:03 a.m. the Humboldt…
Three Questions for Jared Huffman
Congressman Jared Huffman was in town last week for a short visit, and he sat with Journal to share his thoughts on a few newsworthy North Coast topics. On marijuana: “We’re fast approaching the tipping point,” Huffman said. Climate in Congress is “changing rapidly,” he said, and he expects legislators to reconsider marijuana’s placement on…
The Belly and the Bird
It’s not that you thought you were done with burgers, but you really did intend to take a break. Have a salad. OK, you were going to get the fried chicken sandwich, but then someone said the words “pork belly burger.” Let’s be frank: If somebody puts a handful of roasted, glistening pork on top…
Out There on the Edge of the Prairie
Some 40 plus years ago, Garrison Keillor created a live radio variety show called A Prairie Home Companion, featuring folk music, humor and tales of life in a fictional Midwestern town. Its first audience was a mere 12 people and today it is heard by millions across the wires, on stages and over the Internet.…
Want to Win a Night at the Benbow Inn (Plus Wine and Chocolate)?
Did you blow Valentine’s Day? Are you sitting in your cubicle right now wondering why that chocolate rose and repurposed post card didn’t do the trick? Or maybe you’re at your desk, contemplating a lifetime of loneliness because you showed your partner the door after he/she showed up with a heart shaped pizza, a bottle…
TL;DR: Five Things That Didn’t Make it into This Week’s Cover Story
Busy week? You’ll catch up. Here are five things that didn’t make it into the cover story “The Party People.” You know, in case you’re wondering. When the Impropriety Society — or “Imps” — former hosts of large-scale, pan-kink sex parties in Humboldt County, decamped for Portland, a few individuals and organizations picked up the…
Movement for the Movement
Rain quit just in time for over 100 people of all ages (mostly Arcata elementary-school students) dancing to Katy Perry’s “Roar” to celebrate One Billion Rising at the fourth annual V-Day Humboldt on the Arcata Plaza on Friday, Feb. 12. See the slideshow below for highlights from the event. Ann Youmans, a teacher at Sunny…
Inside the MAC
It’s a rainy Friday morning, but the bright yellows and oranges of the Multiple Assistance Center, tucked into the north end of Eureka next to the Pepsi distributor and Target, shine like beacons under the grey sky. Casey Crabb, deputy director of Redwood Coast Action Agency’s adult services and families in transition program, waits in…
Cupid, Draw Back Your Bow
Valentine’s Day (or, as I like to call it, Half-off Chocolates Eve) is a day when couples thank their lucky stars and swoon, and singles twiddle their thumbs and scowl — and vice versa. Whatever your take on it, there are plenty of things to do on Sunday, Feb. 14. The ones below are (mostly)…
Roads, Safety About to Get a Big Boost from Measure Z
No pitchforks were actually being waved, but Mattole Valley residents who turned out Wednesday night to talk roads and safety with Supervisor Rex Bohn and other officials weren’t optimistic. That was before they got a whole lot more good news than they’d bargained for. In January 2016 the Measure Z Citizens Committee recommend that $125,000 of…
Inside the Portland Flights Deal
Humboldt County has a kinship with Portland, what with our shared interests in food, drink, marijuana, arts, neo-lumber fashion and keepin’ it weird. So PenAir’s announcement that it would be offering service from the Redwood Coast Airport (nee the Arcata-Eureka Airport) was met with palpable excitement. Portland is a hip alternative to San Francisco for…
Police: Teen was in Hiding When Hunted Down by Gang Members
Fourteen-year-old Jesus Garcia-Romero knew his life was in danger, so he and a friend holed up in an apartment on Eureka’s P Street the night of Dec. 16, 2014, according to a court document. The document — an affidavit in support of the arrest warrant issued for 33-year-old Nicholas Leigl for the murder of the…
Sex and the Future
On a Friday afternoon, the Humboldt County Office of Education is bustling. In an office overlooking a greenbelt, Beth Chaton talks energetically about the state of sex education, hopping up from her seat repeatedly to grab curricula, reports and other materials off her crowded bookshelves. This, despite the fact that Chaton has barely been involved…
Kings and Queens for a Day
Stage presence, makeup and body technique: Your average young thespian may get quick pointers on all these for that first school play. But the guidance of seasoned drag performers can change everything, elevating a costume into a character and helping young people transform their bodies to express their truest selves. Or, it can just be…
All Together Now
In our hyper-partisan 21st century world, you’d be forgiven for thinking that we, as Americans, don’t like ourselves very much. Although more and more of us profess to drop out of the two party political system, we still tend to be quite tribal and quarantine ourselves into like-minded camps. Drive a Chevy truck? Your friends…
Together Forever
Whoever’s out there complaining about Valentine’s Day is missing the point — just like stuffing at Thanksgiving and eggnog at Christmas, Valentine’s Day is a time for nostalgia and honoring the tradition of indulgence. Whether you’re steadfastly single or flush with love, enjoy the fruits of Cupid’s labor with anti-oxidant rich glasses of red vino,…
Let it Burn
So many hash labs are blowing up around these parts that Humboldt Bay Fire, which services the greater Eureka area, recently declared it won’t go into the burning aftermath of the explosions. The new policy comes on the heels of several hash lab fires in the area, the most recent of which (on Jan. 20)…
American Dream, American Tragedy
American Dream, American Tragedy Hollywood Hills, Reality Comedy Long Beach, Short skirt, Big Sur La Jolla, Pay dirt, Cancer cure Rodeo Drive, Malibu, John Muir Mulholland Drive, San Fran, We’re Queer Spanish Mission, Bleached blonde, Missionary position NASA Mission, Breached silicon, Economic transition City of Angels, Highway in the valley Den of Devils, Death in…
What’s in a Town?
Editor: Linda Stansberry’s article “Bridgeville” (Feb. 4) is an interesting bit of local history but the title and basic premise, as well as large parts of the story, don’t make any sense. There isn’t now and, in all likelihood, never has been, a *town* for sale. Bridgeville is just another unincorporated area of Humboldt County…
Re-legalize it
Editor: As a Coloradoan who helped re-legalize cannabis (marijuana) in Colorado, it’s strange to read California government continues struggling with medical cannabis issues (“What Deadline?” Feb. 4), when completely re-legalizing the plant looms on Election Day. If state government officials want to shape the inevitable they must do it now because citizens are not waiting…
Mave-on
Editor: I always enjoy the Media Maven’s informative column and never more than the one about our small town newspaper, The Ferndale Enterprise (“It’s All About Us,” Feb. 4). The editor, Caroline Titus, has made us all proud by winning the prestigious James Madison Freedom of Information award. Thanks for spreading the word. — Betty…
Rivers, Tattoos and Time
Arts Arcata audiences are spoiled for choice this month. Up on the hill of higher learning, Humboldt State University’s Gou’dini Native American Arts Gallery features an information-intensive show that documents the fight to undam the Klamath. Meanwhile, Edson Gutiérrez shows tattoo prototypes downtown at Gallery Métier, on H Street right across from Bubbles. The Gou’dini…
Many Rivers to Cross
Editor: Sigh! I let it flow by the first time around (“Uncharted Waters,” Jan. 14), but you used the same map in your update (“From the Ashes of Congress,” Feb. 4) about the damn (non-)removals on the Klamath River. You know, the map that shows we’ve all been wrong all along, and it’s actually the…
Et Tu?
Reviews HAIL, CAESAR! People usually cite Woody Allen as the workhorse of American cinema, churning out movies almost every year, resulting in an array of sublime successes (Annie Hall in 1977 to Midnight in Paris in 2011) next to titles too depressing to list. Allen, on the grind for six decades, is the model for…
No Skewering Necessary
Editor: Anthony Westkamper touted the advantages of collecting photos of “bugs” rather than specimens (HumBug, Jan. 28), but he glaringly and disappointingly left one out: It doesn’t require killing anything. In my book, that’s a big one. “But they’re just bugs,” you might say. True, they don’t have a central nervous system and presumably don’t…
Eat First, Moralize Later
Dickens has Fagin and his band of pickpockets. Brecht has Mr. Peachum and his army of beggars. London’s Victorian underworld in Brecht and Weill’s Threepenny Opera is a lot like the London of Oliver Twist, but with considerably more blurred moral boundaries. In Mr. Peachum’s world, the main competition in the business of self-enrichment is…
What’s Ahead for County Health?
Editor: Kudos to Greenson and Stansberry for their article “Breaking the Cycle” (Jan. 21) on the dire straits of the Mental Health Branch within our beleaguered Department of Health and Human Services. The understaffing, the huge caseloads, and, I agree with one of the total of two (yep — two!) psychiatrists who stated in his…
Kayak Picnic
Getting on the water in a kayak rewards the adventurous with golden-ticket access to the beaches and hidden estuaries of Humboldt County. Paddling across the glassy sheen of Stone Lagoon trailing a bottle of sauvignon blanc (chilled en route) may sound like hipster lore, but the following excursions promise exactly such solace. And ’tis the…
Country Matters
Soon after I moved from London to New Zealand in the 1960s, I was taken aback when a Kiwi friend referred to a mutual acquaintance as “a good cunt, he always does what he says he’s going to do.” Until then, I’d only heard the C-word used in a derogatory sense. In southern England at…
Steamy Windows
My husband and I used to have a lot of sex in the car. Once upon a time because we were young and in love and didn’t have a place of our own. And then there was the second phase, many years later, when we no longer lived with parents or roommates, but — alas…
Arts! Arcata
Arts! Arcata is Arcata Main Street’s monthly celebration of visual and performing arts, held at locations in Arcata. Visit www.facebook.com/artsarcata for more information or call 822-4500. ARCATA ARTISANS 883 H St. Kathryn Stotler, paintings, and Zachary Shea, sculptural and functional pieces. ARCATA EXCHANGE 813 H St. Alex Nosenzo, photography. Music by Pure Mongrel. Wine pour benefits…
