Morning wakes Boxes, bags, suitcases Held breath Keys relinquished easily It’s cleared The lists are concluded The tightness The held back emotions Memories What my mother told me The release Their excitement realized.
Section Feature
Posted inArts + Scene
Occupy Space Station
Reviews ELYSIUM. Writer/director Neill Blomkamp left a pretty outsized footprint on the cinematic landscape with his breakthrough 2009 debut, District 9. With its elegant visual effects, delicately balanced humanism and uniquely shabby dystopian aesthetic, that movie became a runaway hit and was eventually nominated for a best picture Oscar. As a follow-up, Elysium feels a […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Crossing the Rogue
The trick of combining the tensile strength (resistance to pulling) of iron and steel with the compressive strength (resistance to pushing) of concrete is just 160 years old. In 1853, French industrialist François Coignet built an iron-reinforced concrete four-story house in Paris. Then 50 years later, another Frenchman, Eugène Freyssinet (1879-1962), took the technique to […]
Posted inNews
Reviving a Neighborhood
By now you may have been to — or heard of — the Arcata Playhouse, the cozy theatre on the ground floor of the Ninth Street Creamery building, with its roller-rink floor and rustic charm. The pothole-spotted streets crisscrossing the neighborhood around the playhouse have long cloaked a concentration of creativity, from potters and stained […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Cheering the bat-thrower? Really, Arcata?
It was a chilly August evening in the Arcata ballpark, but things were about to warm up fast when Sergio Sanchez stepped to the plate for the Humboldt Crabs. This was the sixth inning of a win-or-go-home game in the Far West Baseball League championship tournament, and the crowd greeted Sanchez with “Ser-gi-o … Ser-gi-o […]
Posted inMusic
Should I Stay or Should I Go?
Judging from the escalated aggravation level that driving through Arcata elicits, we’ve hit that point in the year when Humboldt State University is about to swing back into session. Some of these students will fall in love with the area, and some will fall in love with people who live here. Those students in love […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Boards and Rails
Editor: As stated in the Journal’s article (“Run Out on a Rail,” July 25), the North Coast Railroad Authority’s mission is to “maintain rail service.” Those who sit on that board should be all about fulfilling that mission, with “zeal,” I would think. Nothing against Alex Stillman; she is a fine person. She is also […]
Posted inNews
Lessons in the Ashes
Large fires in and around Orleans last week have sparked new criticism of the Forest Service’s plan to reduce wildland fires in the remote and mountainous community. The Dance Fire burned more than 600 acres before firefighters contained it on Friday. Flames destroyed the home of a tribal elder, as well as two other outbuildings. […]
Posted inEat + Drink
Summer Stock
I want to talk about soup. Some say soup is a cold weather dish, but I think it’s just seasonal. In winter, I make stews; in summer, I make soups. It’s just another way to eat the delightful treats we get at the market around this time. The thing about soup is you can […]
Posted inMusic
(Almost) All about You
This week is not exactly overflowing with myriad musical opportunities, but the ones that are out there sound pretty fine. An early, raucous weekday show This’ll be a fun show, for example: Austin’s Black Irish Texas plays The Logger Bar on Thursday as part of a West Coast tour promoting the band’s latest effort, An […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Along the Way
“Sometimes I feel pissed,” confesses artist Lida Penkova, “because I do almost nothing else but paint, and I feel that somehow life is escaping me!” It’s not so much that Penkova’s life is escaping her, but that she’s pouring it into her whimsical, worldly and wondrous paintings and prints. “Once you are in this fascination […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Rogue Neurons
Until the advent of computers a few decades back, the technology du jour gave us metaphors for the brain. As I’ve written before (Field Notes, Dec. 6, 2012), hydraulic and pneumatic systems, steam and internal combustion engines, septic tanks, cotton mills and telephone switchboards have all been tapped for brain metaphors as thinkers try to […]