Press "Enter" to skip to content

Posts published by “Spec MacQuayde”

Brilliantly Sunny In Mendo

Wendesday morning after coffee at the Mosswood Market I sat in the truck with my pregnant girlfriend, Jetta, checking out the weather forecast on a smart phone. She watched the ripples on her belly, the…

Strawberry Gifts

Humboldt County, October, 1996 – Now that the Owl Creek Tree Village had been disbanded, that particular grove of old-growth redwoods cut and hauled away, the tree-sitters locked up in the Humboldt Hilton, the organizers at…

Dawn In The Redwoods V

(Humboldt County, October 1996. Tensions mounted at the Owl Creek Tree Sit, where a village of at least half a dozen activists occupied strategically-located trunks in an attempt to protect that grove of ancient redwoods…

Dawn In The Redwoods IV

After nearly a week in the Humboldt Hilton as Jane Doe, my pregnant girlfriend, Maggie, was finally released. She joined us at Earth First! Base Camp in the redwoods at a park south of Carlotta.…

Dawn In Headwaters III

The vegan lunch consisted of those stir-fried vegetables that had thankfully been mixed with peanuts, canola oil, and apple cider vinegar, over rice. After serving nearly a hundred activists, glopping the rice into reused, plastic salza containers, I helped myself and took a seat across the table from the fellow kitchen guy and Hoosier, "Duck," who sported a dark goatee, blonde hair, and looked Scandinavian.

Dawn In Headwaters II

Night reluctantly relinquished its grip in the shade of those majestic redwoods, the sun still obscured by ridges to the east as Base Camp sprung to life. Maggie had hung curtains along the back windows…

Dawn In The Redwoods

As we hoofed it down the county road, towards the logging gate and the main stage, the marchers sang the chorus and verses of "This Land is Our Land." Some had strap-on drums to beat. Some carried signs. Tears streamed down our cheeks. The effect overwhelmed both of us, but my pregnant girlfriend more.

-