Cover Story
The Wine Maker
Everyone, we’re about to start! Buzzy, wine-sipping party guests pack themselves into a large living room — some sit along the walls, some lie on the carpeted floor — to watch a what-I-did-on-my-summer-vacation-esque slide show chronicling the latest artistic exploits of their friend, their relative, their daughter, their St. Bernard’s High School graduate Maria Matteoli.…
Political Polling Shenanigans
PART 1: Late last month, Claire Josefine got a phone call from an anonymous pollster. The woman asked Josefine to rank a list of issues (education, the environment, jobs, etc.) from most to least important and then asked who she intends to vote for in the 1st Supervisorial District, where Josefine lives. Recalling the phone conversation…
More Eureka Drama: Ax-wielding Husband Just Wanted the Keys
Yowza! Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office: On 04-24-2012, approximately 4:00 p.m. Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office was notified of a domestic disturbance in progress occurring in the 3600 block of Union Street, Eureka. The husband was reported to be chasing the wife with an Ax. When deputies arrived on scene the suspect, identified as…
On Yesterday’s Hit-and-Run/Officer Assault in Eureka
Press release from the Eureka Police Department: On 4-24-12 at about 3:15pm EPD Officers were dispatched to a hit and run collision that just occurred in the vicinity of the 4200 block of Broadway. It was reported that a red station wagon collided with two cars, then fled the scene. The suspect and vehicle were…
… And Another 1,669 Plants in McKinleyville
Rackin’ ’em up today. For those keeping score, that comes out to 7,213 plant deaths chronicled in HCSO press releases today. The latest below: On 04-24-2012, approximately 11:00 a.m. Humboldt County Sheriff’s Community Response Unit ( C.R.U.) Deputies assisted by the Humboldt County Drug Task Force served a Humboldt County Superior Court Search Warrant on a…
5,544 Growing Marijuana Plants Seized and Destroyed
Well, they were baby buds. But still … damn! Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office below: On 04-23-2012, approximately 1:30 p.m. the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office was notified by Humboldt Redwoods Company (H.R.C.) security that two security officers patrolling their property located what appeared to be a marijuana cultivation site. Sheriffs deputies with…
Reality TV Goes Off The Grid
There’s no rule that says just because you’re living off the grid taming emus and stuff, you can’t be ON TELEVISION. I mean, maybe you didn’t kill your TV — got it hooked up by satellite, dontcha know, and now you’re willfully addicted to Modern Family, Jon Stewart, O’Reilly and all the cooking shows. Maybe…
Goodbye, Sweet Reservoir
Residents of the pretty little hilltop dead end of Stewart Street, in Fortuna, are bracing themselves for a prolonged construction disruption: Preparations for the demolition of the two 500,000 gallon reservoirs on their street, to be followed by construction of a new, 2 million gallon tank on the site, may begin as soon as this…
Have a Disgustingly Adorable Earth Day!
Happy Earth Day, HumCo! If you’re just bumming around your domicile on this fine Sunday morning like I am, you might as well enhance it by throwing on the most pukingly, snuggly screen saver in the cosmos: Baby Panda Cam! That’s right! To commemorate Earth Day, the Annenberg Foundation has launched a live HD video…
Cry, Godwitters
Surely it’s been a wonderful Godwit Days so far — rare larkspur sightings, perhaps a Scroobius Pip spotted lurking in the marsh. But there’s been grave talk, as well, among the bird folk. Did you hear? As many as 20,000 waterfowl may have died in the Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge since February, victims of avian…
Wal-Mart Accused of Bribery Cover-up in Mexico
As opening day approaches for Eureka’s Wal-Mart (behold the interactive 360-degree panorama of the construction site above), a story in today’s New York Times shows just how far the biggest of big box retailers will go in its “relentless pursuit of growth.” The exhaustive story (this sucker clocks in at nearly 8,000 words) reports widespread…
Locally Nuglicious
Featured today in Nug Magazine, under the title “Eat Your Medicine! ‘The Cannabis Gourmet Cookbook,'” is a review by local scribe Sharon Letts of a new cookbook by chef Cheri Sicard. Letts tried a recipe herself (“Mini Pineapple Upside-Down Cakes”). She also got local chef Lauren Sarabia to perform some of the recipes and comment.…
Beyond the One-Liner
Mike Birbiglia, or “Birbigs” if you want to forgo the embarrassment of not knowing how to pronounce his last name, can tell a better story than you. Case in point: “What I Should Have Said Was Nothing (2008)”, “Sleepwalk with Me (2011)”, and “My “Girlfriend’s Boyfriend (2012).” His story-themed stand-up, hilariously awkward and generally pretty…
Qualified Opinion
Qualified Opinion
Play Ball
Back in the 1950s, when baseball really was the national pastime, the New York Yankees ruled. With Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, etc., they usually won the American League and the World Series. So a 1954 novel called The Year The Yankees Lost the Pennant was about Joe Boyd, a frustrated middle-aged fan of…
The Full Birbiglia
Mike Birbiglia, or “Birbigs” if you want to forgo the embarrassment of not knowing how to pronounce his last name, can tell a better story than you. Case in point: “What I Should Have Said Was Nothing (2008)”, “Sleepwalk with Me (2011)”, and “My “Girlfriend’s Boyfriend (2012).” His story-themed stand-up, hilariously awkward and generally pretty…
“The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face”
Slo-mo version of a song written in the 1950s by Ewan MacColl for his wife Peggy Seeger, recorded by many bands, but perhaps best known from Roberta Flack’s cover in 1972. From the limited release album The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends
Standard Bearer
Peter Mulvey is a guy with a guitar, and while it’s easy to pigeonhole him as another singer/songwriter in the folk tradition, that doesn’t do him justice. In the 20 years he’s spent as a recording artist he’s made 15 records, settling into a whole bunch of songs. He gets comfortable with them and in…
Week of the Young Child
Friday, April 20 Breastfeeding Awareness. 3-6 p.m. Green & Gold Room, Founders Hall HSU. Art, videos, sculpture and information advocating for a woman’s right to breastfeed in public. FREE. Saturday, April 21 Sustainable Living Arts and Music Festival (SLAM Fest) 10 a.m.-11 p.m. HSU. Music, food, workshops, speakers, vendors, educational booths and…
Biologists Blunder?
Editor: No one wants to believe that Ron LaValley and Sean McAllister would do anything dishonest and that their credibility would ever be questioned, (“The Yurok Grift,” April 12). Let’s take a look at the work they did for the snowy plover. About 10 years ago the county was threatened with a lawsuit if it did…
“Who Is It?”
When Will knocks, you listen.
Tall Order
Plaintiffs called it “a resounding victory.” Defendants called it “a big win.” Earlier this month, U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup ordered Caltrans to revise its environmental assessment for a project that would widen Highway 101 through Richardson Grove State Park, and if you believe the official responses to that decision, it was a happy…
Psychology’s Ghosts: The Crisis in the Profession and the Way Back
Contemporary psychological research is too flawed in its premises and procedures to really prove what it says it proves. So it may provide an errant basis for diagnoses and treatments, or the grand explanations of human thought and behavior derived from it, perhaps as expressed in such books as Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking Fast and Slow…
Seven Fowl Days
This week, April 19-25, the annual Godwit Days Spring Migration Festival lands on Humboldt County for its 17th year of fowl play. But let’s end the suspense right up front: You will NOT be able to attend all or even a majority of the more than 100 field trips, lectures, workshops, boat trips, hunting trips…
It Ain’t Easy Being Green (Or Is It?)
I imagine it freaks out the Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau folks — it certainly goes against their plan to “rebrand” Humboldt — but 4/20 weekend is becoming an ever bigger deal locally. There’s even a chamber-esque business alliance banded together for something it calls Humboldt Green Week (the second annual) combining Friday’s unofficial pot-smoker…
Twisted Horror
Reviews THE CABIN IN THE WOODS. Joss Whedon fans have been waiting three years for this film, patiently twiddling their thumbs and re-watching Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog while creative minds and studios clashed over the specifics of the film’s release. Whedon and Drew Goddard have set the bar high for themselves since the cult success…
Defending Armstrong
Editor: Whoa. Such strong wording for a “news” article (“Dairy Diary,” April 12). Mr. Armstrong has always struck me as an intelligent, caring and passionate family man. That was a needless (and tactless) passage by Ms. Peyton Dahlberg. She condemns a concerned citizen whose family would have been affected by the proposed Arcata dairy to…
Bigger Blight
Editor: Although obviously not a billboard (“Coors Blight,” April 12), in my opinion the biggest blight on the view of our beautiful Humboldt Bay is the pink monstrosity at the end of J Street, the Humboldt County jail. Driving (or walking, or biking) down J Street once offered one of the most beautiful views of…
Naughty Firewall
Editor: Your Tip Top Club ads (online) make it impossible for me to read your articles at work. Someone will think I’m reading Not Safe For Work material. Nothing against Tip Top Club. I’m all for supply and demand. Oh well. Brian Saltikov, San Clemente
Sinkyone, dawn and dusk
then heard last night on the radio –…
Theater Memories
Editor: I just wanted to let James Floss (Mailbox, April 12) know that there are a lot of us “still here” who thrilled to his and Jerry Nusbaum’s starring roles in Terra Nova. I occasionally see Jerry walking out at Arcata Marsh but, happily, no longer struggling with a loaded sledge. ?PAC Theatre of yore…
My Parasites Made Me Do It
Why do we do we gamble our money away? Eat junk food? Text and drive? Used to be, we could come up with a good old Freudian excuse for our bad decisions and stupid mistakes: My parents divorced, Mom was depressed, I was abandoned in Wal-Mart. Or we could blame our genes: Dad was an…
‘Surly Cur’ Peyton
Editor: Since you don’t have a policy against publishing hateful attacks on individuals, please publish this letter, which inserts the Journal editor’s name in place of Richard Salzman from your last edition (Mailbox, April 12). If you think that because Salzman is a public figure, it’s OK to let Paul Hagen express his hate-filled allegations…
awE naturalE
Hip hop duo THEESatisfaction was formed by Stasia Irons and Catherine Harris-White while they were undergraduates in Seattle bonding over mutual musical interests: old school hip hop, jazz and neo soul (Bilal and Jill Scott for example). They soon began to collaborate on mixtapes, employing singing and rapping, while honing the music bed in post-hip…
Thanks for Fairness
Editor: I am a faithful and committed Catholic. When I came across Carrie Peyton Dahlberg’s article (“Every Sperm is Sacred,” April 5), I was prepared for yet another hostile or mocking treatment of the church’s position on sterilizations, especially with the Monty Python referencing title (a hilarious skit by the way). I was very pleased…
