If there was a clear-cut winner on Election Day, it wasn’t Democrats or Senate Republicans, and it certainly wasn’t The Donald. It was cannabis. Amid all the hand-wringing and consternation over whether a Blue wave was going to crash over the nation, national pundits largely have overlooked the fact that the nation is awash in […]
Section Feature
Posted inEat + Drink
The Holiday Pie Divide
Like many of you, my family ate pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving. But I never dug it. Pumpkin pie was typically bland and one dimensional, so I usually just skipped dessert and, for years, longed for that sumptuous finale befitting of a feast. Then in my 20s, it happened. I began dating my now-husband and had […]
Posted inMusic
Back in Town
I have written here before about my antagonistic relationship with nostalgia and the withering contempt it generates in me. As Spider Jerusalem from Warren Ellis’ excellent comic book Transmetropolitan observes, “The future is an inherently good thing.” However, with all of the familiar faces and returning musicians in this week’s column, I find myself flexing […]
Posted inNews (NCJ)
‘Sunshine Every Day’
When professor Rae Robison first met Key’Maan Stringer during the orientation for incoming students in Humboldt State University’s Department of Theatre, Film and Dance in August, the 19-year-old freshman immediately stood out. “He came over and said, ‘I just want to thank you. I’m so excited,’ and he hugged me and I’m not a hugger,” […]
Posted inEat + Drink
Cambodian Community, Doughnuts and Prahok
Usually I’m more than excited when a fellow Southeast Asian has won an award for culinary prowess but, this time around, I wasn’t amused. Humboldt residents, you voted for a Cambodian restaurant to win the North Coast Journal’s Best Chinese Restaurant award. Anthony Bourdain is probably rolling in his grave right now. China and Cambodia […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Liening In
The county of Humboldt is beginning the process of imposing $900,000 liens on a handful of properties whose owners have not responded to abatement and violation notices connected with cannabis cultivation. Planning Director John Ford said the county’s controversial code enforcement approach — which threatens fines of up to $10,000 a day on properties found […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Sea Turtle Lovin’
Sometimes distant things on the beach aren’t what they first seem to be. For example, I recently thought I saw a washed-up great white shark. But it turned out to be a king-size mattress folded in half. Once near Cape Mendocino I thought I saw a flying saucer on the sand up ahead. I froze. […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Fight for Trans Rights
Trans rights are human rights, civil rights. It’s that simple. Consequently, the Trump administration’s recent move to narrowly define gender as an “immutable” condition determined by genitalia at birth can only be seen as an attempt to strip the transgender and non-binary citizens among us of civil rights protections. It’s an effort to craft a […]
Posted inNews (NCJ)
#WeWillNotBeErased
On Oct. 21, the New York Times reported that the Trump administration had begun circulating a memo outlining its plan to roll back the federal government’s definition of gender to an unchangeable at-birth designation of either male or female. This legal definition, which would be applied to Title IX civil rights protections against gender discrimination […]
Posted inMusic
November Soundtrack
We are definitely into November, the 11th month of the year, helpfully named after the ninth month of the old Roman Calendar. Of course, it has had many other names throughout history. One of my favorites is Brumaire, the so-called “month of fog” in the argot of the French Revolution. On Nov. 9, 1799, came […]
Posted inArts + Scene
‘This is the Land We Dream of, the Land that Belongs to Us Again’
This week author Brando Skyhorse visits several locations in Humboldt County for a pair of readings and discussions. Skyhorse’s first work, Take this Man: A Memoir, in which he recounts the quirks and the tragedies of his childhood in Los Angeles, generated much praise. His first novel, The Madonnas of Echo Park, is the 2018 […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Ultra Marine
Multimedia artist Jessie Vala transformed Humboldt State University’s Reese Bullen Gallery for her new exhibition, turning the white cube into a blue sculpture grotto. The Eugene, Oregon-based Vala replaced the usual gallery spotlights with blue lamps, bathing viewers in azure light for an oddly calming effect. The marine implications of all this blueness are reinforced […]