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Summer 2024

WSM Spring 2003

Spring 2003

Living and gardening in the Pacific Northwest — Spring 2003

Some gardeners work to change conditions in their yard to create havens of greenery and blooms with plants that wouldn’t grow there otherwise. They amend the soil to suit plants’ needs, they water a lot during the summer, and they give added protection to non-hardy plants.

More and more gardeners today are saying “No!” to extra tasks, choosing to work with nature instead of against it. They are using nature as a model in creating yards and gardens that reflect the natural beauty of the place where they live. They’re determining the aspects their yards share with surrounding natural areas-sun, shade, rocks, slopes-and they’re choosing … » More …

Spring 2003

Solid footing

Ah, for the safety and comfort of computer modeling in a cozy office.

Instead, Thanos Papanicolaou, assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Washington State University, found himself in a small boat in the churning waters of the Tacoma Narrows during a “peak tidal event” taking water velocity measurements, soundings, and underwater pictures of the bottom of the channel.

“I was a little nervous,” he admits, recalling his guide’s efforts to avoid vortices in the current.

Papanicolaou and graduate student Kyle Strom have been working to determine exactly how much of a scour hole tides make around the pilings that hold … » More …

Spring 2003

Rebuilding a city, repairing psyches

“You can’t put the blame on one side. Everybody has made some contributions to the misery.”

So thought Rafi Samizay, professor in the School of Architecture and Construction Management at Washington State University, as he stood in what is left of his high school in Kabul, Afghanistan. As he tried to chat cheerfully with students about favorite teachers they shared, the remains of the school teetered around them. Classes are still held in part of the building that was blown up, so students have to gingerly make their way across a second-story, narrow piece of concrete that falls off to nothing. Others walk below. Where … » More …

Spring 2003

The Ministry of Leadership: Heart and Theory

 

I was honored when asked to review The Ministry of Leadership: Heart and Theory, by former Washington State University president Glenn Terrell (1967-1985). I couldn’t agree more with President V. Lane Rawlins’s assessment: “Anyone who loves Washington State University will find this book irresistible”; or the appraisal offered by former Washington governor and U.S. senator Dan Evans: “Glenn Terrell has produced a powerful personal memoir. He presided over Washington State University during one of the most troubling and activist periods in our nation’s history. His leadership style successfully guided the University during its difficult times.”

In The Ministry of Leadership, Terrell divides his tenure … » More …

Spring 2003

Palouse Country

 

George Bedirian’s Palouse Country is a handsomely produced volume of over 100 duotone photographs. This revised WSU Press edition contains many previously unpublished images that provide an eloquent insight into a premotorized age of magnificent barn structures and the towns that supported their production.

These striking photographs of agricultural architecture are reminiscent of the photographic style of Wright Morris and Walker Evans. They are juxtaposed with the magnificent temporal seasonal landscapes of the Palouse. Bedirian has produced this volume of images as an insightful mythology to farming and the grandeur of this exceptional region. His images reflect a visceral appreciation and an understanding of … » More …