Cover Story
Through Mark Larson’s Lens
The end of the year always feels like a mad scramble here at the Journal. It’s one reason we’re grateful to have Mark Larson’s annual archive to share with readers and to fathom the timeline of the past 365 days for ourselves. As a photographer (and a human), his eye is drawn to boisterous community…
‘Climate Indifference’
Editor: The last editions of the North Coast Journal (NCJ) capture the contradictions in Humboldt County when it comes to climate change. Readers who are paying attention to environmental politics will note the contrast between the awareness of climate change articulated in Jen Savage’s excellent article about sea level rise in the Dec. 11 edition…
More Than a Place to Buy a Tree
Humboldt’s community bids farewell to Ben Hurd’s Christmas Tree Farm Dan Woods was in charge of stoking the fireplace at Ben Hurd’s Christmas Tree Farm this year, which everyone huddled around on the house’s back porch while keeping out of the rain last weekend. Some guests tried to keep their hands warm by clutching cups…
Solo at the Mic
Stand-up from Hoffman, Nanjiani and Chappelle If we’re not laughing, we’re crying, right? Or, more often, both at the same time, in a rictal horror that may never be unmade; it is still 2025 after all. As much as I relish the grand collaboration of the movies, there is something immediate, undiluted and handmade about…
Bah, Humbug
Until very recently, I considered using this space to write about the future, Christmas and otherwise, as a means of suggesting through gentle encouragement how we might collectively find a path through the detritus of the present. But now I find myself working remotely from the wrong side of some flooded roads, and what little…
What’s Good: Birria Brunch
The siren call of Taco Loco’s (955 Main St., Fortuna) cushy, thick, handmade tortillas is nearly impossible to resist but sometimes lashing yourself to the mast and sailing on to a couple new items on the menu pays off. Not that there’s a wrong time for chilaquiles, as excellent for breakfast as they are for…
Hallmark Christmas-Romantasy Movie Pitches
Good morning. I’ll get right to it: The numbers are bad. We are losing our target audience of straight, white women in droves. Initially, we responded by dipping our toes into inclusivity: a couple of Ikea gays here, a light brown Santa there. But our crushing grip on the market from the first whiff of…
Thank you to the Eureka Mayor and Council
Editor: I want to thank our mayor and council for greatly improved bike lanes, and for desperately needed new housing atop old asphalt lots. IMO, these are the very best local government initiatives since at least 2011, when I moved to Eureka from helLA! Fred Krissman, Eureka
Superstar
This time of year, you’ll no doubt be seeing commentaries about the Star of Bethlehem, many of which will explain away the “star” as a conjunction of two planets, or as a comet, or even as a bolide (very bright meteor). Looking over my past writing, I realize I’ve been guilty of this in this…
Walk
I stopped to see the moon Sneaking through the day I watched a file of pelicans Patrol the breakers through the spray I spied a beached sea lion in the sand As two prospecting ravens pecked their prey While from the hills rang antiphonal psalmody Performed by rapt coyote choirs, far away. —Ellen Taylor
