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Memoirs

Blanca Blanco WSU interview session
Summer 2022

Q&A with Blanca Blanco

Actress and model Blanca Blanco (’03 Psych.) recently released Breaking the Mold, a memoir she wrote during the pandemic lockdown.

And, at the end of April, Blanco was the keynote speaker at La Alianza de WSU Alumni Weekend and Gala in Pullman.

Here, she talks about growing up in Chelan, breaking into the TV and movie industry, escaping the 2018 Woolsey Fire, and more…

 

You were born in California, moved to Mexico at a young age, then returned to the US, arriving in Washington state at age 9. What are some of your earliest memories of growing up in Chelan? It was … » More …

Summer 2022

Q&A with Larkin Campbell aka “Coach Shane” on The Office

Larkin Campbell (’91 Comm.) details his struggles and successes as an undiscovered actor in Los Angeles in his new memoir A View from the Middle. Here he talks about his time at WSU, writing his book, trying to land parts, and more.

What led you to write your book? Most of my friends down here are actors and directors and people that have worked in the business. And we were sitting around telling stories one night, and I told, I guess, one really good one. Or maybe I was funny that night. I don’t know what happened. But my friend who is a published … » More …

Winter 2019

Flour Sacks: A memoir

The hot sun glared down on my dark skin as I stepped into the familiar dirt street of Laredo, Peru that day in 1984. Children played hopscotch and jacks on the sidewalk while women outside their small concrete homes swept away dust that had settled overnight. Men walked to the sugar cane fields and factories, while boys kicked a ball to the park. A few young adults lingered outside their doorsteps and watched as the world passed them by, and three ladies down the street would be out speaking in their native tongue and giggling about things that mattered only to them.

I was 11 … » More …

Cover of Bound
Summer 2018

Bound

Cover of Bound

James McKean ’68, ’74

Truman State University Press: 2017

 

Bound presents a lyrical memoir about growing up in the Pacific Northwest and the women whose feminine fortitude contributed to the author’s life.

Taking readers into the kitchens and parlors of mid-twentieth-century America, McKean lovingly unpacks the attic trunk, sharing the exploits of his wife, mother, grandmother, and great-great-grandmother-in-law Rachel Cartwright Lee, among others.

At a time when ladies were expected to stay … » More …

Green and Roughshod cover
Winter 2017

Green and Roughshod: I Should’ve Stayed a Montana Cowboy

Green and Roughshod cover

Dan H. McLachlan ’66, ’69 MA

Aventine Press: 2016

 

The dream of a little boy to become a cowboy came true for Dan McLachlan. He read a 1927 text, All in the Day’s Riding, as an eighth-grader in Palo Alto, California, and became enamored with the vision of a wide blue sky viewed from horseback. After earning enough to buy two horses and tack, he eventually ended up in Montana for … » More …

My Father Before Me cover
Fall 2017

My Father Before Me: A Memoir

My Father Before Me cover

Chris Forhan ’82

Scribner: 2016

 

As Chris Forhan approached his mid-forties, feelings about his dead father began erupting in dreams and poems. Ed Forhan killed himself at age 44 in 1973, leaving behind his wife and eight children, including his son Chris, without explanation. Questions left unanswered in Chris’s family for so many years drove him to face, with an unrelenting eye, the legacy of the father who had abandoned … » More …

Fred Kamaka in uniform
Spring 2017

The 1941 Attack on Pearl Harbor

A personal history by Fred Kamaka ’51

The morning of Sunday, December 7, 1941 proved to be clear with just a few clouds scattered above the Hickam Field/Pearl Harbor area. It would be extremely hot by 4 p.m. in the afternoon, the time scheduled for our Sunday parade for that month. During breakfast the cadets sitting at my table were all discussing the parade, for the competition between companies would be keen this year. It meant a lot to me as I was assigned to lead my squad for the competition from my company. My classmate, Rowland Melim, and I were dining room orderlies for … » More …