Dessert on a Budget
Mini Dutch Crunch Apple Pies
See “Fencing” page 10
Visit thelumberjack.org for recipe
“In the Next Room (The Vibrator Play)”
See page 8
THE
LUMBERJACK www.thelumberjack.org
Serving the Humboldt State University campus and community since 1929
Vol. 101 No. 8
Platt discusses grave theft by Cora Vay Grave robbing, an ancient sinister act, entails the unearthing of graves and robbing of objects the dead are laid to rest with. Today, this act of violation is common in Humboldt County’s Native American tribes. Humboldt State’s Native Pathways Speaker Series will host author and professor Tony Platt on Oct. 17. Platt’s book, “Grave Matters: Excavating California’s Buried Past,” delves into the culture behind grave robbing on local Yurok land. Platt details Humboldt’s troubled past with cultural clashes, resulting in the expulsion and isolation of ethnic races in the county. Kerri Malloy, event coordinator and Yurok tribe member, said the Native Pathways Speaker Series is designed to bring hushed topics into light. Malloy said discrimination and racism in the classroom is common. “Derogatory things are said in classrooms in a manner that makes it hard to hold people responsible,” he said. Traditionally, members of the Yurok tribe are buried with items that represent their personalities. These items are meant to carry on to their afterlife to be used in their next life — never to be removed from their grave. A demand in authentic Native American artifacts in the late 1800s opened up a black market with perpetrators looting from burial sites in Humboldt County — the largest population of native tribes in California, Malloy said. Most native burial grounds are unmarked and classified as state property — leaving an open door for looters to unearth artifacts without getting caught. Items are sold on auction sites like Craigslist or eBay and sometimes antique shops for thousands of dollars. “People wouldn’t steal from See “Native” on page 2
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Mischief Lab hosts fiery performance by Kevin Forestieri If you go to a show in Arcata and see bursts of fire, tanks of propane and fire-breathing sculptures, chances are Mischief Lab is behind it. Mischief Lab is a performance group based in Arcata that specializes in fire effects for shows. They do shows at community centers, schools, concerts and other venues with propane fire effects. Mark Switzer, owner of Mischief Lab, said the group also performs their own shows in their parking lot every few months. “We really enjoy doing our fire shows,” Switzer said. Mischief Lab’s Halloweenthemed show, “Sea of Flames: Fire for the Arts” will be at Blue Lake Casino on Oct. 26-27 from 4 p.m. to 1 a.m.. Weston Call, co-founder and member of Mischief Lab, said the group hosted Halloween events in the past. Formerly known as the Burning Bush, the event is normally hosted in Southern Humboldt County. This year, they are hosting it in the city. “It’s going to be our biggest show,” Weston said. Lorraine Tryon, the event
coordinator at Mischief Lab, said the show will have art sculptures and fire sculptures. Tryon said some of the fire sculptures will be huge, some 30 feet long and 15 feet tall. “One of the sculptures is a giant dragon,” Tryon said. “When you push a button, fire shoots out of it.” Tryon said kinetic sculptures and Burning Man props will make an appearance at Sea of Flames. Mischief Lab will be joined by other performance groups including the Department of Spontaneous Combustion, Aerial Dance Circus and Otto Von Danger. Proceeds from the show will go to the Coastal Grove Charter School’s Parent Teacher Organization and the F Street Warehouse in Arcata. Switzer said Mischief Lab promotes fire arts in their shows beyond the scope of California. Mischief Lab performed fire shows in Minneapolis and Ohio this year, and has plans to do shows internationally. They plan to attend the Kiwiburn event in New Zealand this January as well as Burning Man events in Africa.
Kevin Forestieri may be contacted at thejack@humboldt.edu
A performer spins fire during a Mischief Lab event. | Photo provided by Mischief Lab
Judith Warren wins Marigold prize for HSU by N. Hunter Cresswell Judith Warren occupied a changing room on the first floor of a Bay Area mall on Oct. 17, 1989 when the Loma Prieta earthquake hit, measuring in at a magnitude 6.9. She is better prepared than most for earthquakes, but her emergency flashlight was lost in the 10-to-15-second quake. She moved around in the dark and heard panicked screams all around. “It took three hours to battle my way out of that ruined building,” Warren said. Warren is the regional coordinator for the Regional Training Institute for Disaster Preparedness at Humboldt State and is responsible for community disaster preparedness in five Northern California counties: Del Norte, Humboldt, Mendocino, Siskiyou and Trinity. The training institute is dedicated to preparing these five counties for earthquakes, tsunamis, wildfires and floods. This week the Marigold Ideas for Good contest awarded Warren $5,000. “[The money] will be utilized to provide some of the training institute’s community disaster preparedness courses at little or no cost,” Warren said.
This contest is held monthly between April and October. The winners are chosen in part by an Internet vote. She and 14 other people who are over the age of 50 were chosen as nominees for the award. There are five winners each month that the contest is open. Four people win a
HSU Office of Distance and Extended Education. She teaches classes to the general public, businesses, students and agencies on disaster preparedness. Her classes include instruction on how to make survival kits for homes, offices and cars, food safety and on living in
“[The money] will be utilized to provide some of the Regional Training Institute’s community disaster preparedness courses at little or no cost.” — Judith Warren, regional coordinator for the Regional Training Institute for Disaster Preparedness at HSU
$5,000 grant towards their project and one grand prize winner will get an educational or service learning adventure through Road Scholar — which provides travel-based learning experiences — and the grand prize is a choice of trips to exotic locales around the globe. Warren moved to Humboldt County from the Bay Area in 2002 where she met Linda Nellist. Nellist and Warren cofounded the training institute in March 2011 through the
earthquake country. These classes are important now because underneath HSU is the largest earthquake fault system in the continental United States, Warren said. Warren expects massive earthquakes and tsunamis in the area because “massive” earthquakes happen every 225 to 250 years and it has been 312 years since the last one. The last massive earthquake took place on Jan. 26, 1700. It measured at a magnitude 9.0 and if the west coast had
been mapped at that time, cartographers would have had to redo their mapping because of the massive shift of tectonic plates. We are living on what geologists call a subduction zone, which is a massive fault system where one tectonic plate is being thrust under another, Warren said. Nellist stressed that what Warren teaches in her class provides “not only information, but an insurance policy.” HSU geology professor Lori Dengler met Warren in 2005 and has been working with her since she started the training institute. Warren’s effect on Dengler is evident from her office preparedness. Dengler’s desk is metal monstrosity with a cardboard box full of water and food under it. If disaster strikes she may be found sipping water and eating a PowerBar tucked away under her desk. Both Dengler and Nellist feel that Warren deserved to win one of the prizes in the contest. Dengler said Warren is “absolutely superb at teaching these classes.”
N. Hunter Cresswell may be contacted at thejack@humboldt.edu