One of the first people we met in coming to Westport almost fifty years ago was Lyle Standley. He had heard we had bought the old Kruger Place (then the only house on the west…
Posts published in “Essays”
Other than the weather, the homeless and the Giants, the most popular topic in Ukiah is our lack of affordable housing. But unlike the weather, the Giants and our ever-swelling homeless population, at least someone…
It was on a Thursday in late May, 1990, that a bomb exploded under Judi Bari’s seat as she and her beau, Darryl Cherney, were departing the East Bay. The two Earth First!ers had spent…
BOOK REVIEW: An Eclectic History of Mendocino County, by Katy M. Tahja. Tahjanjoki Press, Comptche, 2019, 166 pages, $22.00. Katy Tahja, a local retired educator and librarian, defines “eclectic” as “drawn together from a broad range…
There are certain people society has taught us to trust and respect, like doctors, judges and the police. In my life I have found out the painful truth about these people one catastrophe at a…
Samuel Carr, who turned state’s evidence against his fellow Mendocino Outlaws, served two years in the state penitentiary then gained his release in May, 1882. Later that year, Doc Standley was elected Sheriff of Mendocino…
An unexpected darkness has recently fallen over the seafloor of the Northern California coast – the shadows cast by bull kelp. The giant marine alga nearly vanished after a perfect storm of environmental and ecological…
My friend drove me up to the doctor in Eureka in the pickup I lent him while his car was being repaired. I had been seeing my PA in Arcata but wanted a second opinion—no…