Thank you! You’re the Best–It’s Redheaded Blackbelt’s 13th Anniversary and You’ve Helped Us Get Here
Here’s hoping the future’s so bright (once we get through 2020), we’ve got to wear shades.
In the exhaustion that I live in when the largest wildfire in California history pushes into the Pandemic of 2020, I missed Redheaded Blackbelt’s 13th Anniversary.
On October 8, 2007, 47-year-old me (that mere child) decided to begin practicing my writing so that I could someday create a novel. I threw together a blog to post vignettes of the world and named it after the two things about me that I thought were somewhat unique–I was a blackbelt in Tang Soo Do and I had rather long red hair. From the first story about my husband driving (our family crazy) on a special vacation we had planned for years to the last mundane piece, a press release from BLM, this has been a wild ride as I transitioned from my first vision of a simple blog to a local news site.
Over the years, the website evolved from being solely me to a wonderful, changing collection of freelancers (Oliver Cory, my first and longest freelancer, has been with me five and a half years). To keep sane, I’ve developed rules to keep the comment section a balance between free speech and throwing tomatoes. And, I’ve added a donate button
Together, the community of readers who sends me tips, photos, donations, and kind words keeps this little news site gathering the stories of our end of the world.
Thank you. You’re the best.
Join the discussion! For rules visit: https://kymkemp.com/commenting-rules
Comments system how-to: https://wpdiscuz.com/community/postid/10599/
Thank you Kym for all your energy to make this news platform to fly! All the very best for the future! Love, Cetan
Tang soo!
Dearest Kym,
I come here first for info on fires or other incidents in mendo county. And you’re almost always the first to have posted an article. I rely on you and your website to let me know about my area, which isn’t even your area. I am so incredibly grateful for all of the hard work, long long ass hours you put in, and the fact that you still come around and interact with us in the comment sections.
Happy Anniversary Redheaded Blackbelt! Please keep on doing what you’re doing. ❤️
Thank you!
?????
Thanks so much for all your help!
Kym – My daily early morning education about local affairs begins with you, and only then, proceeds to Lost Coast. Thank you so much for your highly entertaining, professional, and most importantly, trusted news service. Well done!
Thank you!
Your amazing Kym Kemp. I appreciate you for countless reasons. Thank you so very much.
Aww! Thank you for taking the time to say kind words. They warmed my heart.
Kym you have printed stories about my families personal struggles accidents and many other things close to my heart. I have been checking your fire updates several times a day for weeks now to see when it’s time to evacuate my wife and boys. You are like our very clever and informed aunty. Me my wife and my boys are so very thankful for all that you do for the community.
Thank you. That is so sweet. Got a little choked up here.
Your it’s the first place I go every morning to read the news congratulations stay safe
Thank you! Stay safe, too.
wonderful ! Kim when you finish, I’ll read your novel , 13 years, congratulations.
Got sidetracked onto news and haven’t looked back in a long time. I’m in love with the world of news.
Thank you Kym for all you do from timely information to kindness shown to your commenters and your writing skills, you are the best ?
Hugs!
Happy belated blogsite birthday to you… and many happy returns!
Thank you for all you do!
You, Kym, are a local treasure. Long may you reign as a source of news and inspiration for this community. Happy 13th anniversary of the RHBB’s successful launch. Can’t think where we’d be without you.
Bonnie, thank you!
You are my go to for local news and events .Thank you for all you do ?
Thank you!
Thanks Kym for keeping humboldt
ex-pats like me stay connected to the dynamic politics of the north coast
Thank you my goto source for local news..?
Thank you to you both!
Isn’t it interesting where life takes us? You may still write your novel one day, but, as you can see, from the comments above, you are admired, respected and appreciated for what you are doing right now. Congratulations, Kym, and thank you. I don’t know how you keep your sanity with some of the comments you get, but I’m betting the mental skills you practiced in martial arts help! My annual donation will be coming your way, and I sure encourage others to support you financially, too. You deserve it.
Thank you!
I wound up here because of information on 36’s realignment and stayed for the great information. all around and to see what was going on in what I consider my homeland. It’s changed a lot in so many ways, and not at all in others. I’m usually in kind of a hurry when I get back to Humboldt, I am the one who tends the graves of my grandparents (everyone else is spread across the country), and have to get back to my family and business up here in Oregon. I miss being able to spend a lot of time when I am here. Your site helps a lot, and I am grateful I found RHBB.
Your work on the fires has been stellar. Incredibly so.
Very nice picture, btw. Lovely.
You are one of my favorite new commenters. I’m so glad you are sticking around.
In this crazy world and my busy overwhelming life of being a single mom, I find a few moments for myself every morning as I check in with you. I want you to know that morning routine has been a comfort to me all these year’s. I appreciate your up to date news and stories of our home along with your sharp wit. It’s funny because I don’t know you but feel like I do. You were there when our kids planned a walkout at school. You shared a pic of my son dressed as a leprechaun. So sweet. Thank you for all you do!
I feel like we’re all growing on this journey together—you guys are making memories and I’m trying to record them for your grandkids ( I hope to record more leprechauns and less car wrecks and criminals though!)
Oh My God !!!! Redhead Blackbelt is a Teenager!
Finally a post that we can all agree on — We think of Kym as the most pertinent, and informing person on the whole north coast. Kym can take credit for indirectly for saving many lives. (not fake news)
Kym’s Redhead Blackbelt not only has built-in instant spellcheck, punctuation and grammar-check, by the commenters, it also has thought check and political advice. Whether you want it or not.
Congratulations Kym! You have guaranteed your place in posterity.
I love the idea of being a teenager…hmm, now that I think about that I love the idea of being as thin as I was at 13 but not much else.
Hugs to Janice. And you need to write a book with all your bullshihistory.
Kim thank you for keeping me informed about an area l used to live in for many years and raised my kids.
MendocinoSportsPlus out of Elk/ Mendocino area, where l grew up also did the same.
Sadly we lost Paul a few weeks ago.
Keep up your hard work. I trust your reporting in these hard days of knowing what news to trust.
I remember when l first started reading your posts you got Lime Disease, if l am correct, hope you are doing well.
I got Lyme Disease in 2017 and it has definitely left me with a few scars but I’m mostly myself and grateful for having learned how precious time is and how lucky I am to be alive and relatively healthy.
Wow! Glad you’re here Kym. Because of you, over the last thirteen years when people ask, “Where’d you get that information”? I’ve grown accustomed to the reply, “Why Redheaded Black Belt of course!”
You’re the best!
May we have many more years of getting out good info.
You are the best Kym & I appreciate everything you report about~
Thank you!
Kym happy Anniversary!! You do such a great job!!!
Thank you!
Congratulations Kym. I appreciate all you do for our expansive community.
Thanks and hugs out there!
My family and I are sending you lots of love. Happy anniversary ?
Sending you love back!
Well done KK. RHBB is now a fiery redheaded teenager. The best is yet to come!
I’m sure it’s unanimous, you have produced the best site for local news and opinion. Please, keep on keepin’ on.
Thank you, Rod! I appreciate that.
Happy Anniversary Kym Kemp! Thank you for your invaluable service keeping the local community informed. Although we don’t always agree politically, I still value your opinion and take on current events. Stay safe and healthy. May God bless you and your family. Here’s to the next 13 years! ❤️
Raising a glass of the morning smoothie to 13 more good years!
This really is the most valuable news source on the North Coast!
Thank you!
Thank you Kym!♡♡♡ you rock ? here’s to many more yrs ? ? Be blessed ?
Thank you!
You’re the best, Kym. Looking forward to a Best of RHBB Book by you soon!
Now that would have some crazy stories in it.
“Here’s hoping the future’s so bright (once we get through 2020), we’ve got to wear shades.”
I remember that song, and thinking it as a positive note, but learned later on, that the song writer had other ideas……
“Pat revealed on VH1’s 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders of the 80s that the meaning of the song was widely misinterpreted as a positive perspective in regard to the near future. Pat somewhat clarified the meaning by stating that it was, contrary to popular belief, a “grim” outlook. While not saying so directly, he hinted at the idea that the bright future was in fact due to impending nuclear holocaust.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Future%27s_So_Bright,_I_Gotta_Wear_Shades
That is my interpretation, too. I have an odd sense of humor.
Congratulations Kym! Lucky 13, if you know what I mean. Wow, it’s starting to rain! See, I told you. Lets get these fires out. Thank you for all the tireless hard work you do for your community. Missing your news site in the morning and at night would be unthinkable. Here’s to many more successful years of the “REDHEADED BLACKBELT”.
Went out and did a jig to encourage that rain!!
Kym,
You are my Go To First News And Information Source.
Your dedication to our area shows that you care for everyone.
Your vetting process for your comment section is great, that alone must be a full time job.
You must have thick skin to put up with the disrespectful comments that some say. Because it says more about them than you.
Keep up the excellent work, we depend on you!
Thank you for all you do!
Hugs and thank you!
Until the last very few years, I had next to no time to spend reading local news sites. No Facebook, no online shopping. Generally no internet beyond what was needed for work. It was a very, very hands on and real world where exposure to both the best of people and the worst of people shaped my views. If a real rotten person made me question everyone’s nature , a kind and good person soon came along to provide balance to up lift again. When I retired, it gave me time to spend on the internet. A new world to explore but a dangerous and biased one. Like a sugary drink, it is both addicting and damaging if done to excess.
My view of RHBB was limited to this site and comments in the last couple of years. And, while I deeply appreciated the coverage this and last years wild fire coverage, among other things, it also sort of bitter distillation of the worst of the ugly internet. Almost all bad. Even the touted good was just people complaining about the bad. Very little of good that is large part almost everyone’s real life seemed to be left. Reading the linked story about your 2007 trip made me aware that a life lived on the internet is a distortion.
Anyway, congratulations on your anniversary. You do provide great service. I will remember for a long Kevin’s parking lot -as-an-off-road-challenge adventure as an analogy for the many results of impulsive independent action in a civilised world. Sometimes it’s good to take your own path. But it’s also good to have someone along to fix the mess that makes for you too.
I’m glad you went back and read the beginning piece. It still makes me grin at the memory of the good times and cackle at getting through the bad times.
Kym- You are one of the rare Amazon Women who fight for what is right with such dignity and perseverance against idiots, charlatans, and fools– you deserve so much more than you actually get! I wish I had money to donate. I’d give you millions, but I’m a senior living on a fixed income and all I can give is my gratitude for being my daily touchstone in searching out the truth in my own community. THANKYOU!! And especially congrats on your longevity in an industry known to devour its own…
Kind words warm the heart gently and make my eyes shine with tears. Thank you!
RHBB is a great resource Kym, my main source of local news.
You deserve an award for what you do, particularly fire coverages in 2020 plus recent years. May of us would be clueless about what was going on with the fires without your effort. Same thing about CV19. Much other stuff of interest as well. Best source of local news by far for those of us in the hinterlands with internet access.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
RHBB is steadfast, accurate, humble, and incredibly patient with readers that chose to comment.
Aww! Warmed my heart!
Congrats Kym. You Rock!
Thank you!
Kym and RRBB is a very special place.
A place I’ve shared with many others. Some in neighboring counties and some that want to know what Humboldt and Mendocino County life is really like or, want to know what the fires look like, (great maps ) that live in others States.
A special woman and a special site.
Thank you Kym
Thank you, HC. May this rough world find your good heart and bless you for that.
Kym—-Thank you for keeping us informed and safe—every day!
We so depend on you . Thank you is not enough…….
Cheryl Antony
Thank you! Without your help, my website would be much thinner.
The light that guides us through darkness in the worst of time, Kym is the best! Thank you soooo much!!! You know if I didn’t have fire on my doorstep I could be more eloquent but there is the morning dozer crew…
Hang in there! Tell me that the rain is hitting there please!!
We are at a surprising quarter inch when they said a trace!
May the wet weather counteract the higher winds predicted for today.
You’re the best news site we have here in Humboldt, & you keep us well updated on Mendo & even Trinity & Del Norte at times. You keep us updated on many local stories daily. I go to your site morning, noon & night for the latest news. You have much more info than LoCo outpost. Your hard work is greatly appreciated ❤️ thank you!!! ?
Thank you!
Big Up Kym Kemp on RHBB #13 anniversary !
We are very blessed to have you and your crew to give daily updates , some times a few in one day
on the pertinent information all across the Humboldt Nation , the Mighty Redwoods Empire, The Emerald Triangle . The best coverage on the Fires always ! All of the large and smaller aspects of our
culture here on the North West coast. Like some many others , I do check each morning to see what I might
need to know , Thanks x 1000 . Many Mahalo s for the obits, and Mateel news and updates on all
sorts of controversial local issues i.e. the Terra Gen diabolical situation and Old Growth Forest Defenders etc.
Thanks for the Dave Wilson photos and story s . Thanks for the accident reports , the hwy 36 reports.
Exactly how many Big Rig Roll Overs inthe past 13 years – i wonder. The Earth Quakes , Tsumani s , & Floods.
The festivals and all the great things we have here. Then the Covid 19 Pandemic , what a job in itself !
Not to mention the Canna Bizz ” moving goal post” style regulation , so called Legalization , shituation.
Plus all the in laws and outlaws that get their 15 mins if fame up on here.
List go on and on .
My only request is this…. please use some filters on the photos of the mug shots of the junkies and wacked out
photos , make em a bit blurry kinda 50s polaroidesque lookin so that they don t burn the brain to look at .
Also in closing whatever became of the dude in the ” whitey tighties” who was hog tired and put in a loader out on hwy #36 ???
~~~~~ Keep up All the Good Works ~~~~~ One Love ~~~~~~ b.t.- out
What a memory trip! I’m not sure of what happened to the guy. I hope he found some peace and learned to travel more gently.
Ah, glowing pic. You’re one beautiful woman inside and out !
Love you right back!
hi kym, my first time leaving a comment, it will be huge sorry, but this is the best and only time i will. Im from mariposa county in central california, right outside yosemite in the central sierra but have many friends and family from SoHum, eureka, arcata, and (mainly)trinity county. I lived in trinity pines and hayfork from 2010 to 2013 and then upgraded to garberville area off dyerville loop until 2016. I am obsessed with our natural world and i am an avid reader, explorer and researcher of geography, weather, and natural everything. Exploring, living and learning of your amazing homeland throughout my many years living and working there, it brought me to have an appreciation so great, i ended having a trouble and at times guilt with myself and was depressed by the amount of greed and destruction coming in the masses, and how the vast majority had little to no cares of the true greatness of humboldt and the rest of the triangle. I came back to mariposa county cause of that but never forgot its amazing natural beauty and your amazing journalism and reporting. I do still travel up there frequently,
and believe it is truly the best land north america has to offer. Thats hard for me to say cause i am a die hard sierra nevada native and believe I live in heaven on earth. I also have deep family roots and have lived in northeastern kentucky, west virginia, idaho and colorado. These areas are all arguably in there own the very best our nation has to offer. But humboldt and the surrounding northwestern california is the best. With all that, everywhere I have lived before and even my home land in the shadow of yosemite national park, the local news, newspapers and journalists, I suspect, have no idea the most amazing and reliable journalism and reporting anywhere is with you kym. thank you so very much, of the great, instant, and reliable writing and reporting and is why i still read everyday, multiple times a day especially during the season, and I don’t even live there anymore. I wish and pray for the time my homeland gets such awesome community support through journalism that only you provide. And in these troubling and so annoyingly biased times, my local newspaper and all other news outlets are talking about mostly events and news that has nothing for me and my community. So thank you and may god bless you and your local community for many, many more years to come with your true neighborly information and reporting. Of everything, besides the natural wonders up there, you are what I miss about living in the emerald triangle. much love kym…. btw shout out to lost coast but since i have left i dont read them but check in every so often, but still they are way better than what I have here in central california. you emerald triangle residents are truly blessed with the journalism you have. God bless
Crowsfoot, what a sweet comment. Thank you. I am so glad we are bringing the North Coast home to you where ever you lay your head.
Thank you for you’re amazing coverage and tireless information delivery. We’ve butt heads and I love you anyways.
Here’s to many more years of the best info in Humboldt County.?
“We’ve butt heads and I love you anyways.” That’s how I feel about my family and about my online community. Fierce to defend our points of view and fierce in our love for this place and our commitment to each other. Big hug!
You are at the top of my feed too. Knowing you personally, I can say you are incredibly honest and fair, kind and thoughtful and highly intelligent. Your community service is always appreciated. I hope you continue your writing, wherever it takes you. Love to you and your family.
You are my go to neighbor. I can always count on you, Christy. Huge hug and I can’t wait til COVID is over to do that in person again.
Congratulations on your 13th Anniversary of GingerNinja! I’m a shallow Bay Area tourist who came across your site in the hopes of becoming somewhat less shallow about visiting Ukiah. New readers have to start somewhere. Many thanks to your super-informative 1-stop for All Things Emerald Triangle! Hoooooooraaaaaaaaaay!
Aww! may you enjoy many trips to our beautiful area.
Your site is my go-to for news about our community. It’s the first news source I look at in the morning and the last at night. Many days it’s the only news I read! I appreciate your vigilance, tenacity, and depth of caring for our community, and your even, balanced hand in moderating comments. Thanks and happy birthday/anniversary Redheadedblackbelt!
Huge hug for the kind words.
I love this place from it’s stately Victorian mansions to its crooked little hill shacks so fiercely that I think I’ll never understand how someone can ever leave.
I love the country rednecks who wear that name proudly with their bill caps on their heads and tobacco cans rubbing white circles in their blue jeans, the hill mamas picking flowers to put in their free trade, organic quinoa for the community potluck, the surfers riding waves under an orange sunset, the families setting off fireworks under brilliant stars along small town roads, the local musicians and artists, the quirky events, the incredible unique foods that have been born here, the cranky old men with large guns and soft hearts, the gentle twirling rainbow flag wearing bearded men dancing among the redwoods, the barefoot tightrope walking children and the men pretending to wear suits by throwing a sports coat over their t-shirts and jeans.
I love the ganja and vw’s, and yes, I even mostly love the grow dozers (because, how do you run a farm without a big truck). I love the Americana of Ferndale, the wild beauty of the Lost Coast, the wave to your neighbor spirit of the tiny towns and back roads and the incredible artsy bigger towns and small cities.
When I lose my way in the darkness of the news, I have this place and this people to make my heart glow with love and that lights my way through the troubled times..
Beautifully, heart-touchingly said. Thank you. I wish it were a commercial on tv. A good reminder to tolerate and open one’s heart more widely.
ps. what kind of birthday cake/pie would a thirteen year old Redheaded Blackbelt prefer?
My youngest son and I are going to make Great Aunt Jessie’s chocolate chip cookie recipe. It’s about 100 years old and riffed off the original Toll House Cookie recipe.
Kym,
I was “invited” up here about 20 years ago, when I read a Time magazine article where they interviewed the acting Arcata Mayor, Bob Ornelas in a piece titled “Here’s My Marijuana Card, Officer,” which mentioned the 215 card program for the city of Arcata. I was so poor, because I was on work-comp at the time and that was garnished 25% for child support, that I had to take a bus from LA just to get here. When I arrived, there was one thing that stood out above all else, which is that the vast majority of folks that lived up here were special people. So warm, so giving and so comfortable with where they were and who they are.
You know, after posting on your site for many years now, it’s obvious to me that you truly represent the best of what the North Coast has to offer.
I check out your site within the 1st 20 minutes of waking up every morning, and then a few more times throughout the day. I have to admit, there are even times that I check just to see if a particular comment of mine got deleted or not. Yes, I intentionally push the envelope, but I must say I have tried to tone it down a few notches since I was removed from moderation. It genuinely bothered me that my comments weren’t immediately available for others to read, but I deserved being on moderation and now I have more respect for my “standing” with you. Thank you for that lesson.
Keep up the good work, and may you have many more years doing what you enjoy!!
What do you think, is it POSSIBLE that Trump “pimped” his daughter to Putin?
I know, how could it not be!
Too bad your not old enough to be one of my teachers. I always had a crush on my female teachers, even a couple of them that totally dispised me. Didn’t matter that they were older, the key question was always are they wiser?
HOJ, I admit to smiling regretfully a few times when deleting a comment of yours.
But c’mon, let’s avoid salaciously speculating without evidence about Ivanka.
What a lovely ode you wrote to the Emerald Triangle and her people. We are all grateful for your hard work & exemplary journalism!
I only meant to write a sentence but I opened the gates and all the beauty this place has filled me with over the years poured onto my keyboard.
This is why I read. ?
❣️
Thanks for providing this outlet and for attempting to keep the discussions reasonable. I can only imagine the amount of work you put in trying maintain this site and the constant flow of information that is our modern world.
Thank you for the kind words here and the sensible comments elsewhere. You are much appreciated.
Kym, I love what you are doing. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. But I want to take it a step further. You have not only created the best local news site we have ever had, and by leaps and bounds, but you’ve also created a family. I feel like I’ve known some of the commenters for a long time yet we’ve never met, and that is a miracle in and of itself. RHBB is my only source now for local news and you have done a great job in keeping the forums from turning into a mosh pit. Most other forums turn way too ugly for me.
Thank you Kym, and may the RHBB family circle never be broken.
I am so glad this funny little site feels like family to you, too. I love almost every commenter even when I fiercely disagree with them and worry about them when they are in the line of fire or close to a flooding road. I even worry when some commenters haven’t commented in a long time.
I enjoy your comments very much and am glad you are finding a home here.
You are a treasure. Thank you for all you do. Your fire coverage is the best source of information, a real life saving service to everyone. Your handling of contentious comments and hateful rhetoric on your site is intelligent, skillfull, artfull, fair and often entertaining. Congrats!
Yay! Thank you for the very kind words.
Happy 13, Kym! You educate and enrich our lives!
Thank you!
I read your website every morning before work. Thank you for all you do.
I appreciate you joining me every morning.