The Trimmers
Life on the job for the day laborers of the marijuana business
Cover Stories
The Trimmers
A car drives by slowly on the rain-sodden McKinleyville street, the glow of its headlights sliding left to right across the closed curtains. Heavy footsteps sound on the wooden stairs, followed by a knock on the door. The people sitting around the L-shaped couch look up, look at each other, stop talking. Someone jumps up…
Trimmer vs Machine
Meet the TrimPro. It’s the steam drill of the trimming world, but John Henry Trimmer’s only hope of besting it is through finesse, not speed. Protruding handles and bright yellow warning labels break up its sleek, shiny cylindrical body, which rests on four legs. To trim, you simply turn on the machine and put the…
Go, civil liberties!
A passing shout-out to Arcata from a writer who dared to read the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution in a New Mexico airport when TSA wanted to scan, scan, scan: People walking to the gate stare wide-eyed, but no one stops. In my hometown of Arcata, someone would have whipped out a cell phone and…
No More Free Matsutakes
Mushroom hunters salivating for their first foray of the year into the woods to scare up some delectable matsutakes for dinner may very well lose their appetites when they arrive at their local Six Rivers National Forest Service office to get a collecting permit. Until now, personal-use matsutake collecting permits for the SRNF have been…
Security National Company Declares Bankruptcy
One of the numerous companies under local businessman Rob Arkley’s Security National umbrella today announced that it will be seeking releif under Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The press release is below: Security National Properties Funding III, LLC is announcing that it is voluntarily seeking relief to restructure its bank financing under Chapter 11 of the United…
Of Politicians and Robots
Reviews THE IDES OF MARCH. I wish there was more to be said about The Ides of March. I’ve enjoyed George Clooney’s work as a director since Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002), but I don’t think any of his subsequent films achieved the resonance of his debut. It could be argued that Confessions benefited more…
Humboldt Sports Jargon
Humboldt Sports Jargon
The Joy of Cassis
After a week spent touring distilleries in France, Scott and I had come to suspect that anything called a museum must receive special benefits: tax cuts, subsidies, an extra-long vacation every August. It seemed like every distillery had created an official museum devoted to its product. The museum was often nothing more than a few…
Vive la Difference!
My wife is fond of telling me that we all start out female, and that men (XY) are essentially abnormal women (XX). Much as I hate to admit it, she’s basically right, as I suppose my nipples were telling me all along. The sexual organs of all mammals start off on similar lines, so embryonic…
Dubwise
What is this thing called dub? British dub master Neil Fraser, better known as Mad Professor, explains that, “Dub is like the first form of electronic music, where the engineer shapes and reshapes the sound you’re listening to with special effects and sonic landscapes.” While dub’s roots are in Jamaica and reggae, it is now…
Indiana Summer
In the dark room Where the window is…
Jail Time
Everyone involved agrees: California’s prison realignment, which went into effect on the first of this month, is a very big deal — a paradigm shift in the state’s approach to crime and punishment for many offenders. Just ask the county’s top prosecutor and defense attorney. “It’s one of the most monumental changes in the…
A Better Race
Reminder: You love living in Humboldt. It’s not always easy, but you know it’s the right thing to do. Sure, you’ve fantasized about what it might be like to migrate to Portland or Seattle or whatever city first wowed you with functioning, convenient public transportation. Perks? If you lived there you would never again have…
Work Doesn’t Pay
Editor: I just read Ryan Burn’s article entitled “Kids Today” (Oct. 6). He missed one reason I see for kids not taking jobs as seriously now as when I was their age. They make exactly the same amount of money. When I was in college I took temporary jobs and earned about $11 an hour. Students…
Already Occupied
Truth Jackson peered over a yellow sign that read, “We all need to pay our fair share! Tax Wall Street!” The 9-year-old was spending his Saturday standing on the sidewalk in front of the Eureka Courthouse with a crowd of Occupy Eureka protesters. The blond, mohawked kid gave a savage grin to the cars…
Music and Politics
About a year ago, Anika had pretty much given up on the music business. The German-born singer had been shuffling back and forth between Berlin and Bristol, England, and was shifting into writing about politics when she was pulled back in. As she explained in an email interview, “After a frustrating seven years battling the…
