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Fall 2009

Kary Lamb Lee—Telling stories

Husky purple isn’t normally in Kary Lamb Lee’s palette. The Pullman-based illustrator was born in Pullman, and her family’s ties to Washington State University go back 80 years.

Still, she was happy to pull out the purple to create the souvenir poster for the 2009 Windermere Cup, a premiere boating event in the Pacific Northwest and a signature event for the University of Washington.

In fact, Lee’s poster says UW crew like no other. While previous Windermere Cup posters have highlighted the grace of rowing, or the beauty of Montlake Cut, or even the storied history of the UW rowing program, Lee’s captures all of … » More …

Fall 2009

What I’ve Learned Since College: An interview with Maurice (Sandy) Pearson

Maurice Pearson was born in Chicago in 1904. When he was just a year old, his family moved west and settled in Ferndale on 40 acres near the Lummi Indian reservation. Everyone called him Sandy because of his red hair.

After high school, Pearson worked for three years on bridge projects in Ferndale and Everett until he felt he had enough money to pay for his first year at Washington State College. He was the only one of his six siblings to go on to college.

While in Pullman, Pearson first “bached” with friends in an apartment downtown over Johnny Gannon’s Pool Hall. Later, … » More …

Fall 2009

“Photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing…”

—Henri Cartier-Bresson

In 1948 20-year-old photographer Don Normark walked up a hill in Los Angeles looking for a good view. Instead he found Chávez Ravine, site of three ramshackle Mexican-American neighborhoods tucked into Elysian Park “like a poor man’s Shangri-La,” he thought. He spent much of the next year photographing this uniquely intact rural community. Accepted by the residents, he returned often with his camera to witness a life that, though limited by poverty, was lived fully, openly, and joyfully.

In 1950 the people received letters telling them that they must sell their homes to … » More …

Fall 2009

Washington potatoes

Judging by his occasional ribald references to the potato, Shakespeare considered the exotic tuber primarily as an aphrodisiac. Although the time of the potato’s introduction to Europe from the New World is not clear, recent scholarship has determined that the potato was grown in Spain as early as 1570. But the potato is an odd vegetable. Potatoes of that era were not uniformly oblong and smooth, but came in many colors and shapes, with odd protuberances that reminded some of, well, body parts. Although Indians had eaten them for thousands of years, Europeans were mystified, if not titillated.

But they got more adventurous. And the … » More …

Fall 2009

A new coach and a new game

Ken Bone knows his team is young, but the new Washington State University men’s basketball coach foresees a bright future and a different game.

Bone landed at WSU after four seasons as head coach of Portland State University, where he racked up two Big Sky Conference titles and back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances. Before PSU, Bone spent 12 seasons coaching at his alma mater Seattle Pacific University and three years as an assistant coach at the University of Washington.

Bone expresses confidence in his young team.

“I like the culture of the program right now. I’m very impressed with how the team did academically this … » More …

Fall 2009

A player to be reckoned with

On October 2, 1954, a day shy of his 21st birthday, fullback Carl Talmadge “Duke” Washington ’59 and his fellow Cougars played the University of Texas on a sweltering day at Memorial Stadium.

The result was a 40-14 Texas victory, a forgettable day in the annals of Cougar football; however, the day reaches far beyond the athletics history of Washington State and Texas.

Washington, the starting fullback for the Cougars, became the first African-American to play at Memorial Stadium. To the Texas players, however, Washington was not a player making history, but a player to be reckoned with.

“I’m sure it did make a difference … » More …

Fall 2009

Letters in the Fall 2009 issue

Living large

I very much enjoyed the article “Living Large” in your Summer 2009 edition. I am always impressed by the dedication of the large animal veterinarians. My hope is that WSU continues to turn out excellent large animal vets and continues to be able to recruit students into the field.

I do have one nitpicky point about the story. The story indicates that Tom Kammerzell’s property was built in the 1930s by his grandparents. The barn shown on page 25 was built in 1912 or 1913 by my great-grandfather Mike Kroll. Tom’s grandparents Delbert and Miriam Kammerzell purchased the property in the late … » More …

Fall 2009

Interesting times, Part II

Having not been spared from Washington State University’s recent budget woes, we can think of no other way to absorb our share of the cuts than to drop one issue of the printed Washington State Magazine.

Now, before I go on, let me make a few quick points: 1) Don’t worry, I’m not asking for money; 2) I don’t see us dropping another issue anytime soon; and 3) Even though the budget cuts are permanent, we hope to restore that fourth print issue somehow.

There being no point in whining about the matter, we’re determined to approach that reduction as an opportunity. We will, in … » More …

Fall 2009

Puppy mills closed for good

Last January investigators in Mount Vernon raided one of the largest puppy mill operations in state history. They found close to 400 animals. Many of the dogs were sick, in filthy cages, and had insufficient food and water. Days later a similar raid in Snohomish County of a site linked to the Mount Vernon business revealed another 200 animals.

Puppy mills are large-scale dog breeding operations where dogs may be denied their basic needs including proper medical care, sanitary living conditions, and adequate shelter and exercise. The businesses, which sell puppies to individuals as well as to pet stores, can be multi-million dollar operations. This … » More …

Fall 2009

Elevating engineering in the schools

Sean Neal is good at math, but one bit of geometry he can’t master involves moving ten feet up and two feet over. The wheelchair-bound teen isn’t able to climb into a combine to help harvest his family’s wheat fields.

While Neal’s dad was carrying him up a ladder and helping him into the operator’s seat, his math teacher at Garfield-Palouse High School was pondering ways to nudge students toward careers in which they could use their number-crunching skills. Jim Stewart thought an engineering design contest might do the trick. A former baseball coach, Stewart knows kids like to compete. Sure enough, his Gar-Pal design … » More …