Washington State Magazine

From “Historically Yours”, by Hannelore Sudermann:Paul Philemon Kies, a popular professor of English, was one of the keenest collectors at Washington State College. When he wasn’t teaching, advising, or shooting photographs on campus, he was filling his office and home with rare books, autographs, letters, and photographs......He started his collecting habit with first edition books, which he bought to show students. That led him to rare book catalogues, whic...
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Kathleen Flenniken ’83 describes and reads from her second collection of poetry Plume, published by the University of Washington Press in 2012, in this video produced by her son Alexander Flenniken ’11.Set off by images of the Atomic City, Flenniken’s hometown of Richland, Washington, she documents her coming of age and eventually her work at Hanford in the heart of the nuclear age.Recently Flenniken was named Washington’s poet laureate for 2012-14. She teaches poetry and is a co-editor ...
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There is the world of science, of measured and verified observations, of slow-moving knowledge. And there’s a world of advocacy, of convictions, values, passion, and a desire for fast-moving change. Only a few slides into his PowerPoint on the West Hawaii aquarium fishery, WSU marine biologist Brian Tissot notes how the two views serve to complicate the conflicts around the aquarium trade. Science, he says, looks at the interest-based aspects of the fishery—conflicts between divers and ...
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Taking archeology a step beyond traditional pottery shards, Brian Kemp analyzes ancient DNA (aDNA) from bones, teeth, and desiccated feces (coprolites) to help bring prehistoric Native American cultures alive in ways never before possible. As a molecular anthropologist, Kemp compares archeological findings with genetic information to detect past demographic shifts, population interactions, and movements throughout the Americas. By plotting aDNA together with artifacts in the ground, specific ...
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Most parents work hard to prepare nutritious, well-balanced meals for their children. But, once the children sit down to eat, what can parents do to help them learn how to eat healthy? What can parents say and do to encourage children to try new foods and to prevent them from overeating?Research has identified three common feeding styles among parents of young children. By observing families, we have found which of these styles is the most successful in helping children eat healthy.See how these...
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David Simon, creator of gritty urban HBO drama The Wire, received the William Julius Wilson Award for the Advancement of Social Justice in September 2011. The award is named after eminent Harvard sociologist and Washington State University alumnus William Julius Wilson ’66 PhD.When accepting the award at WSU, Simon spoke about building a just and equitable society, and the difficulties in achieving that goal.You can read more about Simon’s visit to campus in “The...
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An insect’s small size gives it the gift of relatively greater strength. The newly discovered South African cockroach Saltoblattella montistabularis takes advantage of this fact plus several other features, as Washington State University entomologist Carol Anelli describes here:This is very cool for several reasons.It is a wingless cockroach, described for the first time only two years ago, and the first existing roach known to jump. It achieves this feat with modified hind legs that possess ...
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George Hirahara and his family, including Frank ’48, had their lives in Yakima disrupted in 1942 when they were forced to relocate with about 10,000 other Japanese Americans to Heart Mountain, Wyoming.Frank’s daughter Patti Hirahara has shared a number of items with Washington State University from her family’s internment experience. They include about 2,000 photographs and negatives, many of them showing daily life at Heart Mountain.The gallery below shows a...
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Orrin Pilkey ’57 has written several books on beaches, shorelines, sea levels, and climate change.You can read reviews of two of his books from Washington State Magazine. The World’s Beaches: A Global Guide to the Science of the Shoreline (2011)The Rising Sea (2009)You can read more about Pilkey’s works in WSM Spring 2012, at ...
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