Journalism: My Favorite Class in College. To Actually "BE" Woodward & Bernstein for a Semester. I Interviewed June Moxon & Went to an Earth First Tree Sit Eviction.
June is one of the Main People at the Kinetic Sculpture Race. She was Holding a Fundraiser Open House at the Kinetic Sculpture Laboratory and I Published my Interview BEFORE THE EVENT so Maybe Students That Read the Lumberjack Newspaper WERE MOTIVATED to buy a ticket and Go... My Article Might have Helped Finance the Event! and The RACE!
I Learned a Couple of things in that Class.
If You see Something and Say Something that's an "Opinion" Piece. If You Ask Three People What They Saw... That's a "News" Piece.
I Also Learned to Say Everything You Have to Say in ONE SENTENCE. Then, Say Everything You Have to Say in ONE PARAGRAPH. Then, Say Everything You Have to Say in the Rest of the Article...
The Reader May decide that the Subject is NOT INTERESTING after One Sentence... and Move on to the Next Article... OR they May Read One Paragraph... and then Move on... RARELY do they Read More than That...
I took that Class because My Guidance Councillor said That The Lumberjack Newspaper was Going to Create an Online Edition and the Journalism Department Needed some Computer Experts to Help Them...
Dr. Hal Campbell Said: "This will be an excellent REAL WORLD Learning Experience. Someone Wants Something Done On the Computer... and You are Hired to Make it Happen."
The Allegory of the Cave by Plato:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nHj3gL_JN0
One thing I Never Did was to Interview a Hostile Witness... Woodward and Bernstein were Famous for getting people to Talk that did not want to Talk...
I Always Interviewed People that Were GLAD to See Me... Like: "I'm a Reported for the Lumberjack Newspaper and I'm Writing a Story About What You Are Doing Because It's Interesting."
Earth First! Movie: "Who Bombed Judi Beri?" In 1990 the FBI Bombed Activists Darryl Cherney and Judi Beri. The FBI was Fined $400,000 but Did Not ADMIT Guilt... and they Never Paid a Penny...
https://gvan42.blogspot.com/2022/08/who-bombed-judi-beri.html
Trump Pardoned Michael Milken... Greed FREAK Mikey did Evil in Northern California... Loaning Charles Hurwitz enough JUNK BOND Money to Buy Pacific Lumber in Humboldt County... and Then Hurwitz Cut Down Thousands of Old Growth Redwoods... Once the Highly profitable trees were cut, Hurwitz stole the Pension Fund, Declared Bankruptcy and went back to Texas... and Kept all the Money...
https://gvan42.blogspot.com/2020/02/trump-pardons-michael-milken-he-did.html
Virtual Journey: Trinity Alps, CA, USA - Simulates a Drive on the Bigfoot Highway (299) From Arcata on the Coast to Redding in the Central Valley. White Water Rafting! Gold Rush Ghost Towns!
We Start the Journey in Arcata's Central Plaza... Home to Farmer's Markets, Live Music, Parades and Spontaneous Drum Circles when it's Sunny!
https://gvan42.blogspot.com/2022/04/highway-299-virtual-journey.html
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The Headwaters Forest Coloring Book... Illustration by Mykol Blackwell. Text by Darryl Cherney. (C) 1999 Environmentally Sound Promotions. CLICK ON THE PICTURES TO SEE THEM BIGGER AND DOWNLOAD, PRINT...
https://gvan42.blogspot.com/2018/08/the-headwaters-forest-coloring-book.html
Photo of what the plants look like FIVE Years after a Redwood Forest CLEARCUT near Eureka, California... MAXXAM SUXX - Earth First! Treesit Eviction Documented...
Taken on Greenwood Heights Road in Freshwater, California... The Pampas Grass THRIVES on all that brand new SUNSHINE... after MAXXAM cut down the Old Growth Redwoods, this hillside became Sunny and Warm.
It is easy to find this Location to see what it's like today... Simply Turn into the Freshwater Valley from Old Arcata Road and Take the First LEFT at the School... Drive up the hill in the Dark Forest... When it gets Sunny All of a Sudden, Park... That's the Location of the Clearcut...
MY NEWSPAPER ARTICLE:
Tree Sit Ecology Protest at Freshwater, near Eureka, CA 2003 - Earth First! - Complete Text of a Newspaper Article I wrote for the Humboldt State University Lumberjack. and Photographs...
HEADLINE: 8 arrested March 18th in Freshwater tree-sit. Trees chainsawed to death.
Freshwater Clearcut Logging near Eureka, CA
This morning I drove to Beautiful Freshwater (near Eureka, California) to visit the Tree Sitters. There were 10 sheriff's cars and 5 highway patrol cars. I saw 3 people handcuffed and then put in a sheriff's van. One person down the road was handcuffed and in the custody of a different sheriff. This lady was wearing "press" dogtags and was complaining that all she was doing was taking photographs. There were about 40 people standing around, talking on cell phones and playing drums. I could hear the sound of chainsawing. Then a large tree fell over. It makes a tearing sound then a big thump and a wail arose from the people. When four highway patrol cars stopped in the middle of the crowd and turned on their spinning lights, I left.(I was afraid of the police...protect and serve...corporations) As I was walking to my truck I noticed another highway patrolman writing tickets. I asked a citizen what that was all about and he said "don't worry about getting a parking ticket, none of these people will pay them anyway". I am concerned about the highway patrol being there. THERE CLEARLY WERE NO HIGHWAY RELATED PROBLEMS THERE. What's up with parking tickets? We were in the middle of the forest.
...this part written later that night...
We went to a protest to defend redwood trees today. There are 8 people that are camping at the top of redwood trees to prevent loggers from chainsawing the trees. The owners of the forest (Palco/MAXXAM) hired a guy (eric schatz)to climb up the trees and forcibly evict the trespassers. Then the Humboldt county sheriff's arrest the tree-sitters and send them to jail. Yesterday, there were 7 tree sitters and the police arrested 3 people. Then, during the night, 4 people went up. The grand total of people INCREASED. The loggers started chainsawing at the bottom of a tree that had people camping in it. This action enraged the crowd. We feel that if a logger cuts down a tree with a person in it that it is dangerous to that person. The loggers cut away a 2 foot circle of bark all the way around the tree. Someone said that was called "girthing" and the purpose was to kill the tree. My wife decided that some medicine was needed for the tree, so we went to the hardware store and bought a bucket of "tree wound" compound. It is used to seal the bare wood after pruning. We drove back to the ecology protest and she (with help from others) spread the healing compound on the bare wood. I got to spend a lot of time talking to a knowledgeable fellow named "Atilla". He said that the MAXXAM corporation has to cut down redwood trees in order to pay the interest on a giant "junk bond" debt. MAXXAM, a texas corporation, purchased the Pacific Lumber Company about 10 years ago in a hostile takeover financed by "junk bonds" that they got from Mike Milken. (remember, Ivan Boesky and Mike went to jail for wall street fraud) I saw on the News tonight that our governor, Gray Davis, has ordered the highway patrol to work 12 hour shifts to help defend the state of California from "terrorist" attacks. GEE, WHY WERE ALL THOSE CHPs OUT IN THE FOREST TODAY ? WHAT TERRORIST ATTACKS WERE THEY DEFENDING US FROM ? Atilla also told me why there were large trucks that look like they carry sand. They are used to haul gravel to build logging roads. After I left the protest in the morning, I drove way back into the woods and noticed large orange trucks with PALCO on the doors. The reason Palco hired a subcontractor (eric schatz)to do "tree service" is to protect themselves from lawsuits in case anyone gets hurt.
How to get there: From highway 101 traveling North, Take the Myrtle ave exit in Eureka and drive to Freshwater road. Take a right and then an IMMEDIATE left onto Greenwood Heights road. Drive 2 miles. When you see all the sheriff cars, you are there. From Arcata, travel south on 101 to Indianola cutoff. Take a left and drive to Myrtle ave. Take a right on Myrtle. Left on Freshwater road.
Pile of Wasted Trees
Logging Road near Eureka, CA
View of Humboldt Bay from Greenwood Heights Road, Freshwater, CA
Great Books: The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey Illustrated by Robert Crumb
This Book Inspired the Ecology Organization Earth First!
Read it and be inspired too.
http://www.earthfirst.org/
Silly Story!
A Trump supporter was seated next to an older woman on an airplane and he turned to her and said, “Do you want to talk? Flights go quicker if you strike up a conversation with your fellow passenger.”
The old woman, who had just started to read her book, replied to the total stranger,
“What would you want to talk about?”
“Okay,” she said. “Those could be interesting topics but let me ask you a question first. A horse, a cow, and a deer all eat the same stuff – grass. Yet a deer excretes little pellets, while a cow turns out a flat patty, but a horse produces clumps. Why do you suppose that is?”
The man, visibly surprised by the old woman’s intelligence, thinks about it and says, “Hmmm, I have no idea.”
To which the old woman replies, “Do you really feel qualified to discuss politics, when you don’t know shit?”
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