Trade & Scholarly Monographs

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  Love and Rutabaga

  Claire Hsu Accomando

  In Love and Rutabaga, Claire Hsu Accomando reflects on her formative years growing up in war-torn France. Born in 1937 to a French mother and Chinese father, Accomando was just a child when her father departed for China on diplomatic duty in 1941. Left behind, she and her younger brothers were raised by their mother and grandparents in the small village of Rahon during the German occupation.

  Despite the fear and uncertainty of World War II, Accomando paints a surprisingly joyful and richly textured portrait of those years. Her grandparents' home became a sanctuary - not just for their family, but for anyone in need of refuge. Her grandmother's love of music and storytelling brought beauty and wonder into a world clouded by conflict.

  Blending humor, tenderness, and the innocence of a child's view, Accomando recounts the everyday moments that defined her childhood. The title's pairing of "love" and "rutabaga" captures the dual essence of affection and survival that sustained her family. Through engaging storytelling and vivid detail, she offers a unique memoir of resilience, warmth, and unexpected happiness in the midst of war.

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  The ABC's of Memoir

  Sharon K. Ferrett

  Writing is a way to make sense and find meaning in your journey. Your story explores how you got to where you are and what it all means. It is a way to heal trauma and conflict and honor your inner life. You write to know yourself. Writing will transform you and inspire others in ways you cannot imagine.

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  The ABCs of Rapport

  Sharon K. Ferrett

  In a world that often talks more than it listens, The ABCs of Rapport is a practical and heartfelt guide to creating meaningful connections, one conversation at a time. This book offers tools, tips, and strategies to help you really listen, communicate effectively, and bridge the distance between yourself and others. More than a communication manual, it’s an invitation to shift how you perceive people, and to see everyone as part of our shared humanity. Whether you’re talking with a child, partner, friend, neighbor, or coworker, The ABCs of Rapport helps you build understanding and connection, even in hard conversations. With reflection and practice, you’ll discover how every exchange can become an opportunity for empathy, trust, and authentic human connection.

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  Oaxaca Stories Along the Way

  James E. Gaasch

  View the world of a local photographer... a market vendor... a painter... an academic... all through the eyes of an author who has fallen in love. This is not the simple infatuation of fairy tales, but the real love that comes from appreciating the whole. It comes from the beauty of a city and the hearts of its populace...

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  Bridgeville Elementary: A Big History of a Small School

  Virginia Howard Mullan

  Bridgeville Elementary: A Big History of a Small School is not a work of writing that is meant to be read from the beginning to the end. It is for those of us who only attended Bridgeville School for a short time but wanted to recapture those years. It is for teachers and students bitten by the nostalgia bug that want to revisit the school, (like Sean Byrd in 2024 or Mary Brandenburg (Jardin) in 1999) but don’t have the time or means to make a trip to the remote northwest.

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  Rescue of Memory

  Samuel P. Oliner and Ronnie Swartz

  What motivates people to help, to care, to risk their own lives for others? What differentiates rescuers, helpers, carers, and bystanders?

  There is no single explanation. Anyone who offers you a single explanation of why people do good things is oversimplifying. Empathy is very important. So is courage. And compassion. Bystanders, I want to impress on you, are not evil people; they are not people who should be put in a ship and sent to outer space. They are also good human beings, but they have not internalized some of the ethics of caring, of social responsibility, of knowing. They may not have learned from moral parents, role models, or ethical communities that we are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers. That’s what makes me so optimistic at this stage in my life. In fact, teaching caring, compassion, and altruism is possible, is learnable, is doable. We can move millions of people from a role of neutral bystander—who say, “Well, these are not my people,” “I am too busy,” “It’s too dangerous,” “I don’t have the time,” and so forth. These people can be sensitized to the consequences of indifference. I know it is possible to teach people to care and then we can transform the bystanders, perhaps, into more helpers, altruists, and compassionate actors. -Dr. Samuel P. Oliner. September 9, 2003, “America at Night Reading Room”

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  Northern Humboldt Indians: History of Humboldt County People and Places

  Jerry Rohde

  In what is now Humboldt County and southern Klamath County, seven Indian tribes made their home: the Mawenok, Whilkut, Tsnungwe, Hupa, Karuk, Yurok, and Wiyot. They arrayed themselves upon the land and sent their roots down into the earth, so that they had become as one with the place. Their villages were of long standing, and even their individual houses could sometimes be traced back, by name, for hundreds of years. In 1850, whites arrived on the shores to rage like a gale across the land. For 15 years the gale would sweep up the rivers and over the ridges and tear loose much of what the Indians had established in their homelands. And still the wind continued to blow, as the desire for gold was replaced by other desires—for ranchland, for timber, and even for the salmon. The wind blows yet. This is the story of what happened when the people of the wind met the people of the land.

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  Discursos del viaje del agua: Siglos XV-XXI

  Lilianet Brintrup Hertling and Gladys Ilarregui

  Estos textos pasados por agua nacen del “IV Simposio Libros, Viajes, Viajeros y el discurso del agua” que tuvo lugar en la Europa-Universität Flensburg en Julio de 2022, frente al Mar Báltico. En un marco interdisciplinario cuyo tema central fuera el agua, se abrió un diálogo para sumergirse en las rutas marítimas de los diarios de viajeros, la influencia de los océanos en las literaturas y en los escenarios acuáticos de poblaciones diversas dentro y fuera de la imaginación histórico-literaria. Este volumen no pretende abarcar la totalidad de lo presentado en esa ocasión, sino reunir una serie de ensayos sobre el agua en Latinoamérica y en Europa.

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  The ABC's of Gratitude: The Power of Focusing on the Good

  Sharon K. Ferrett

  Even while struggling with the realities of daily life, you may have a glimpse of wonder that opens your heart and changes everything. Instead of being irritated by small annoyances or wallowing in misery, focus on the good, and your life will be transformed. It sounds too simple, but I have experienced the power of gratitude. Once you make looking for the good a daily habit, your life will be a continual source of thanksgiving. I offer this modest book as a primer to help you find countless opportunities to look for the good and practice gratitude.

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  The Tomboys of Cherry Lane

  Morgan Flynn

  You can pack a lot of friendship, feelings, and field hockey into 45 years. Playing on a field hockey team teaches you a lot about yourself and others—including some things you didn’t want to know. Friends who turn out to be as poisonous as toadstools may be the same ones who help you and become a part of who you are. They might even be the friends who will be with you for the rest of your life.

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  A Photographic Exploration of Wigi (currently called Humboldt Bay)

  Aldaron Laird

  For decades, Aldaron has walked the shores of the bay, climbed its nearby sand dunes, and kayaked its entire periphery, taking over 25,000 photos that reveal the beauty of Wigi as it might appear in some magical, glimmering dream. From those thousands of photos, Aldaron selected 119 for this book. For each photo he kept, he discarded 209 others, which means that of those 25,000 images, he used less than one percent. We might think that taking all those photos required a tremendous amount of work, but it soon becomes clear that Aldaron did not work on this book, he lived and breathed its very essence, so that every photo he did select opens like a window, showing us yet another wonderful facet of Wigi, this place of ten thousand smaller places where land and water so subtly, so strikingly meet. -Jerry Rohde

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  Oaxaca y más allá, microrelatos bilingües del corazón / Oaxaca and beyond, bilingual microstories from the heart

  Rosamel Segundo Benavides-Garb, James Ephraim Gaasch, Rolando Fernándo MartÍnez Sánchez, and Francisco José Ruiz Cervantes

  Oaxaca y más allá, microrrelatos bilingües del corazón, presenta una dimensión de la creatividad artística abundante que florece en este estado del sur de México. Los diecisiete escritores—ocho mujeres y nueve hombres—ofrecen aquí un total de treinta y seis relatos. Algunas historias presentan una relevancia tradicional y atemporal, mientras que otras se asocian a una estética diferente, una narrativa de ruptura y una exploración de la representación misma. De manera profunda, los microrrelatos de este breve volumen captan también nuestra humanidad compartida, y nosotros, los editores, apostamos a que las voces de esta colección nos conmuevan y unan.
  
  Oaxaca and beyond, bilingual microstories from the heart, presents a slice of the rich artistic creativity flourishing in this southern state of Mexico. The seventeen writers—eight women and nine men—offer here a total of thirty-six stories. Some present a timeless, traditional relevance, while others are associated with a different aesthetic, a narrative of rupture and exploration of representation itself. In a profound way, the microstories in this slender volume also capture our shared humanity, and we the editors wager that the voices in this collection will touch and connect us.

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  The Gray Bird Sings: The Extraordinary Life of Betty Kwan Chinn

  Karen M. Price Ph.D.

  “Touched by childhood tragedy, Betty Chinn brings hope to those who have fallen on hard times. Left homeless as a child in China, Chinn became mute. When she came to America, she found both her voice and her mission: aiding those without shelter on our own shores. ” -Barack Obama, awarding Betty the Presidential Citizens Medal

  She worked tirelessly to establish homeless shelters and to feed thousands in her community. As a child, she was separated from her family and exposed to the worst of humanity. Despite these monstrous conditions, she journeyed from fear to forgiveness and became a beacon of hope for those most vulnerable and an inspiration for all.

  Meet Betty Kwan Chinn.

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  Trịnh Công Sơn and Bob Dylan: Essays on War, Love, Songwriting,and Religion

  John C. Schafer

  In this accessible deep-dive into the careers of Trịnh Công Sơn and Bob Dylan, Trịnh Công Sơn and Bob Dylan evaluates the relationship between two of the 20th century’s most beloved and essential songwriters. Schafer retells countless colorful stories from the two artists’ lives drawn from a wide range of Vietnamese and English-language sources, illuminating Vietnamese and American views on spirituality, romance, philosophy, identity, and conflict.
  
  Schafer critically examines the singers’ lifestyles, relationships, and public statements, meticulously collecting primary and secondary sources into a handy reader of 20th century global literary culture. The book even includes English translations of Trịnh Công Sơn’s essays and lyrics by Cao Thị Như Quỳnh, many here in translation for the very first time.
  
  Trịnh Công Sơn and Bob Dylan is an essential read for fans of Bob Dylan and Trịnh Công Sơn, and a substantive addition to the libraries of comparative literature scholars.

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  Looking for Beauty: Humboldt’s Plein Air Community Shows Why Art Matters

  CM Phillips

  This historic publication serves as Humboldt County's first anthology of painters. It showcases a snapshot in time of thirty-seven members of Humboldt's Plein Air community—from beginners to world-renown professionals—in an avant-garde design that blends layers of paintings with commentaries about them, photographs of the artists, and responses to the prompt, "Does art matter in this crossroads of our time?"

  Now more than ever, it is an important question to ask. In this book, you'll find answers from thirty-seven different artists, with each response as unique as Humboldt's thriving Plein Air community. In he words of Plein Air painter Steven Taylor, "I am a part of an active art community, and this is our story."

  Designed and compiled by CM Phillips
  Artist photographs by Kristy Hellum
  Foreword by James Woglom

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  Southeast Humboldt Hinterlands

  Jerry Rohde

  A history of southeast Humboldt County, covering the years from 1850 to 1964, illustrated with over 175 full-color historical photographs and maps. Includes:

  • Stories about the sheep ranchers who gambled and drank their days away in Blocksburg, the rescue party that took “High Rock” Gordon across the snowy wastes of Showers Pass, and the shootout on the Bridgeville bridge.
  • Accounts of the governors from Michigan, who collected redwoods on the Van Duzen; the “second largest city in Humboldt County,” whose businesses failed to fill a single street; and the navy that removed the pepperwoods from Pepperwood.

  From Iaqua to Harris, from Carlotta to Dinsmore, this historic work covers the 28 towns and places that make up this remote corner of the country.

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  Southern Humboldt Indians

  Jerry Rohde

  More than a century after they had spoken, these early day Indians will be heard. All of us who make Humboldt County our home deserve to have access to this information. We deserve to know the many, many names of the tribal groups that were once here and to learn the story of these groups. And we deserve to know the names of the Indian elders who transmitted these names and told these stories, just as we deserve to know the stories about the elders themselves.

  This is the 2024 second printing, which includes minor updates.

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  Southwest Humboldt Hinterlands

  Jerry Rohde

  A history of southwest Humboldt County, covering the years from 1850 to 1964, illustrated with over 200 full-color historical photographs and maps. Includes:

  • Accounts of the oil “boom” in Petrolia, the building of the Redwood Highway, and the race to protect the redwoods of the Bull Creek and Dyerville flats.
  • Stories about “sheriff” Ulysses S. Grant Myers, early- day environmentalist Laura Perrott Mahan, and Indian survivor George Burtt.
  • Images, in words and pictures, of once-important but now nearly forgotten places such as Capetown, Dyerville, Briceland, and Bull Creek.

  All of this and more will recall the rich history of the 24 places that make up this remote corner of the country.

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  Acupuncture for Curious People: A Needle Healer's Manual

  Kaz Wegmϋller

  Welcome to the art of needle healing! In this handy manual designed for the lay reader and seasoned healer alike, acupuncturist Kaz Wegmϋller presents his art in a format that is clear, concise, instructive, philosophical, and practical. In a field dominated equally by clinical jargon and metaphysical Orientalism, Kaz’s approach is refreshingly down-to-earth. He starts by expanding acupuncture’s usual definition to encompass “a unique way of engaging with the mystery of existence,” and goes on to guide the reader in an exploration of this ancient art that centers on touch, curiosity, sensitivity, and humanity.

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  Toyon: Seven Decades of Student Driven Publishing

  Erika Andrews, Asha Galindo, and Sarah Godlin

  This book is meant to capture the history and spirit of Toyon literary journal from its origin in 1954 to the future that surely will exist beyond these pages. The aim of this book is to inform future Toyon staffers of the unique history of the publication, to stress the importance of maintaining archives, and to provide insight into the inner workings of book/magazine production over the last 60+ years.

  This book is also a place to tell the story of a student-run publication from the perspective of the student. We, Erika and Asha, are two former Toyon staff members who worked on issues 65 and 66, in the years of 2019 and 2020, respectively. We hope that these pages will entertain as well as educate—and that it truly honors the passionate and dynamic voices of the student editors, contributors, and volunteers that have published this magazine year after year.

  We have striven to include many details and first-hand accounts and to properly interpret the information archived in the Humboldt State University library special collections. As with any archive, gaps remain in the history of Toyon that we’ve been able to access; for some periods we had very little information other than the finished magazine. In these instances, we worked hard to summarize what we could and fill in gaps using course catalogues and other materials from the archives to properly capture the era.

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  The History of Congressional Apportionment

  Charles M. Biles

  NEW REVISED SECOND EDITION.

  The Congressional apportionment problem is deceptively easy to state: How many seats in the U. S. House of Representatives does each state get? To answer that question, Charles Biles, award-winning Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at Humboldt State University, examines the math and politics that has shaped government and power from the founding of the country to the modern day.

  Employing an interdisciplinary approach that stems from his research in mathematical modeling and the modeling of natural resource systems, Biles tells a flowing evolutionary tale of how slight changes in calculating apportionment has wrought massive shifts in political power and even decided presidents. Bile’s work adds another chapter to the rich story of American history and the people, politics, and debates that continuously shape the political system we have today.

  This second edition includes a detailed account of the reapportionment based on the 2020 census, the impact of extreme partisanship, and an account of the precarious road ahead for the electoral college. This is an essential read for anyone who wants to understand the past and future of our representative democracy.

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  Migraciones de la sangre: Textos de escritoras latinoamericanas

  Lilianet Brintrup Hertling and Gladys Ilarregui

  Migraciones de la sangre Textos de escritoras latinoamericanas, permite que diez autoras Marjorie Agosín, Esther Andradi, Lilianet Brintrup Hertling, Carolina Depetris, Ana María Dolores Huerta Jaramillo, Gladys Ilarregui, Isabel Lipthay, Blanca López de Mariscal, Sandra Lorenzano y Nora Strejilevich, dibujen los trayectos de la sangre en múltiples escenarios: los cuerpos, la sexualidad, los migrantes, los sistemas culturales, sociales y políticos del presente y el pasado a través de un collage de estilos literarios. La sangre con su fuerza atraviesa archivos, viajes, memorias cotidianas, lugares de destierro y migración. Leer este libro es asomarse al hilo de sangre que dibuja y une emotivamente nuestra historicidad.

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  What Kind of Future Will Our Children Inherit?

  Samuel P. Oliner and Ronnie Swartz

  Over the years, my students, research associates, and I have reviewed the literature of psychology, ethics, ecology, climatology, and other areas of study to consider the direction in which our world is going and what kind of future our children will inherit. Our previous work focused on the nature of good and evil—with concern especially for goodness—through which we have considered good in the world and the application of good to achieve a better world. Our books concerned altruism, kindness, empathy, and moral responsibility for diverse others. In this book we concentrate on the areas of greatest concern regarding our future as a species. Scholars are warning us about the direction we are taking in this interconnected world. Many of these experts view our global situation as a “glass half empty”; their studies reveal a future that is bleak and on the verge of catastrophe. There are, however, other scholars who view the world and humanity’s future in more optimistic terms—those who see the “glass half full.” My own work indicates that goodness, defined as concern for others and for making the world a better place, is on the rise.

  Making the world a better place is not simply about the glass being half full or half empty; it is both at the same time. With the complexity of global trends comes major challenges, and one cannot say that one perception is correct and the other incorrect. It is much more complicated than that. We have an emergence of those who see the future as promising and perhaps even more harmonious than we have ever imagined, as well as those who believe that we are declining and ruining ourselves. A number of institutions, groups, governments, and individuals have taken these challenges to humanity seriously—have “seen the light”—and are trying to do something about the future state of the world.

  This book describes two sides to the future our children stand to inherit: the glass half full and the glass half empty of what has been the trajectory of the world, it seems, since the beginning of human history. The arc of human progress has at times taken major leaps forward; at other times it appears to have lain dormant, only to burst forth with a new energy at a later time. In this collection of writings, we have attempted to show both sides of the picture because to do otherwise would leave this endeavor incomplete. Depicting only the negative would lead one to think that there is nothing positive moving us forward; depicting only the positive would suggest that we have no further work to do.

  What kind of future will our children inherit? It is a future like all futures—it contains both an evolution of our species towards a higher level of consciousness and a resistance to such change. This has been the balancing act throughout human history. It will be incumbent upon our children to make sure that the glass of the future is half full.

  - Sam Oliner, Founder, Altruistic Behavior Institute

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  Humboldt Bay Shoreline, North Eureka to South Arcata: A History of Cultural Influences

  Jerry Rohde

  In 1850 the area east of Arcata Bay was a tapestry of wetlands and sloughs, fringed by conifer-clad hillsides. Canoe channels and trails connected a string of Wiyot villages that nearly encircled the bay.

  Then white settlers arrived, establishing towns at Eureka and Union (Arcata). With them came profound changes in the landscape. Rock quarries. Log drives. “Reclaimed” ranchland. An airport. Four and a half railroads. In 170 years the area was transformed into a web of structures and infrastructures that connected what became the two largest cities in Humboldt County.

  Recently a new period of change has begun, promising far greater effects. Global warming has created sea level rise, and Humboldt Bay will be the most severely affected area on the California coast. In response, elected officials, agency experts, and the general public need to make informed decisions about how to deal with the resultant rising water levels. We need to recognize that preparing for the bay’s future requires gaining knowledge of the bay’s past. This book will help start that process.

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  HSU Staff Cookbook 2020 - 2021

  HSU Staff Council and Sulaina Banks

  Recipes from the staff at Humboldt State University. These recipes were compiled during the 2020-2021 school year, and organized by the Humboldt State University Staff Council.