The Making of Humboldt When Emily Brady arrived in Garberville in the summer of 2010, she was thinking that the sorta-famous, sorta-secretive pot town could make for an interesting chapter in a book about California’s (seemingly) impending marijuana legalization. But almost immediately she realized that the insular, outlaw culture of Southern Humboldt warranted more than […]
books
Posted inArts + Scene
Black Mountain College: Experiment in Art
That mid-20th century artistic innovations happened in New York, Paris and San Francisco is no surprise, but rural North Carolina? It’s all but forgotten now, but for 23 years many of those who defined American arts came to an isolated YMCA camp in the Blue Ridge Mountains to teach, learn, collaborate and create. Black Mountain […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Tenth of December
Few American short story writers have garnered as much respect or as many accolades as George Saunders has over the last couple of decades. A darling of The New Yorker and a frequent recipient of national story writing awards, Saunders has come to epitomize certain aspects of the turn-of-the-century American psyche. With his 1996 debut, […]
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Pot Adventure Debut
In the new novel Deadman’s Bust, former Humboldt grower Cory Marchese has written what Blogcritics.org calls “a real page-turner” about two brothers growing pot in the Humboldt hills in 1992: The adventure takes us right into the heart of George H. W. Bush’s “War on Drugs,” the Medellin cartel, rogue cops, and a huge pot […]
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Free Books!
Do you like to read? Since you’re reading this, we’ll assume yes. How do you feel about books? Despite any rumors you’ve heard, the book is not about to die — not if serious book lovers have their way. You may find a few local book fans giving away books next Monday, April 23 (and […]
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You Write Seven-O-Heaven
In case the attention lavished on local authors in this week’s NCJ Book Issue has you feeling a bit jealous, we at the Journal wanted to give you, the readers, the opportunity to do some brief writing of your own. Like, really brief. This week’s cover features Seven-O-Heaven star Will Startare delving into local author […]
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Wicked Bugs Invade Fresh Air
Bestselling author, Eureka Books co-owner and North Coast Journal contributor Amy Stewart was on National Public Radio’s Fresh Air this afternoon, chatting with guest host Dave Davies about the “creepy-crawlies” that inhabit her latest book, Wicked Bugs. With her customary cheerful aplomb, Stewart tells of such nasty insects as the Asian giant hornet (pictured above), […]
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An Encounter with the Messiah
When I talked with Raj Patel , a couple of years ago about the politics of food scarcity ( Why Does Food Cost More? ), I had no idea he would be proclaimed Maitreya , the Messiah for followers of a New Age cult known as Share International . But there he was on the […]
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Papervision3D | Panorama
thought.Papervision3D | Panorama: Take a break and pay a pano visit to a golden library somewhere, not sure where. Thanks to Rebecca for the
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Garden Noir
Beloved Journal garden correspondent Amy Stewart dwells on the dark and deadly side of the plant kingdom in Wicked Plants: A Book of Botanical Atrocities , forthcoming from Algonquin Press in May. Above: Please find the book’s chilling, creee-eeee-eepy trailer!
Posted inArts + Scene
Shut Up and Read
In 1935, President Roosevelt decided to give unemployed writers a job. “Why not?” he said. “They are human beings. They have to live.” That might not have been the kind of ringing endorsement writers were hoping for, but hey, there was a depression on. The Federal Writers Project, a program of the WPA, put writers […]