WSM Winter 2010

Winter 2010

Mrs. Annathena Gilly Gully From Puddle Rumple Tilly Willy

annathena

Chellis Swenson Jensen ’53
Fairwood Press, Inc., 2010

Chellis Swenson Jensen has created a quirky lady backed by her pet parrot, Maurice. Tired of the neighborhood children’s teasing, the lead character decides the solution is to change her name. Only when she recognizes that she, too, can laugh at her name and accept it does she decide to talk with the children.

The story is a collaboration amongst Chellis, her son, Paul Swenson (illustrator), … » More …

Winter 2010

Vol. XIII: "White Bed"

super-xx-man

White Bed
Super XX Man, 2010

Mining Neil Young’s “Harvest,” Eels’ “Electroshock Blues,” and a wealth of indie rockers, Super XX Man creates an alloy of fine instrumentation and catchy pop melodies to memorialize lead singer Scott Garred’s father on “White Bed.”

Garred ’95 sings lead vocals and plays several instruments, with drummer Adam Mack and bassist Daren Claymon, on deeply personal songs recounting Garred’s dad’s life and eventual battle with cancer. Reflecting on … » More …

Winter 2010

How to Implement Lean Manufacturing

lean-man

Lonnie Wilson ’69
McGraw -Hill Professional, 2009

The rise of Toyota in the 1980s showed manufacturers a fundamental change in methods, called “Lean Manufacturing.” After 20 years in management, Lonnie Wilson (’69, Chemical Engineering) now consults with companies on Lean Manufacturing methods.

Wilson’s How to Implement Lean Manufacturing offers manufacturers an engineer’s perspective on reducing waste and inefficiency through quantity control. He outlines the tools of Lean Manufacturing—particularly 100 percent efficiency and “Just In Time” … » More …

Winter 2010

An Election for the Ages: Rossi vs. Gregoire, 2004

election

Trova Heffernan
WSU Press, 2010

Every couple of years, we engage in the most basic of democratic activities: voting. Elections typically run smoothly and uneventfully. Sometimes they whip up a tornado of controversy, such as Washington’s whisker-thin gubernatorial election in 2004, following on the heels of Bush vs. Gore in 2000, with Florida’s hanging chads and legal wrangling.

Dino Rossi and Chris Gregoire faced off to be Washington’s next governor in 2004. After the ballot-counting … » More …

Winter 2010

Honoring alumni and volunteers

This year, the WSU Alumni Association had tremendous support from its volunteers, especially those serving as president, members of the board of directors, chapter leaders, and Alliance representatives. In keeping with a tradition established in 1999, the WSUAA at its spring 2010 board meeting recognized eight outstanding alumni with Alumni Ambassador Awards.

As WSUAA president this past year, Gina Meyers ’85 led the effort to approve new association bylaws. But her work as president is just one piece of the time and attention she’s offered WSU over the years. The Bellevue resident has also found time in her busy schedule as … » More …

Winter 2010

Mary Kaufman-Cranney ’78—Call of the wild

Last summer Mary Kaufman-Cranney culled a batch of black dresses from her closet and replaced them with hiking boots and trail shoes. Having left her job with the Seattle Opera, where she was director of development, she has less use for the dresses. But now she requires the shoes for her new role at The Nature Conservancy leading fundraising for the nonprofit’s Washington State chapter.

Instead of organizing galas, she’s trekking across mudflats and into rainforests to learn the details of preserving our state’s natural resources.

“I’m really enjoying this work,” she says. “Northwesterners are so passionate about their natural … » More …

Winter 2010

Joe Fugere ’84—Feeding his interests

Joe Fugere opened Tutta Bella pizzeria in Columbia City in 2004. A veteran of several Northwest-based companies, including Starbucks and Taco Time, he decided it was time to go into business for himself and produce true traditional Naples-style pizza.

Today the south Seattle restaurant is filled with blond wood tables and bears sweet touches like parchment paper pendant lights and brick walls. Though it’s not yet 10 a.m., an applewood fire is burning in the oven and trays of sliced mushrooms are waiting to be roasted.

Fugere comes in and orders a cappuccino over the heads of two regulars at … » More …

Winter 2010

Mieko Nakabayashi ’92—Making policy public

Growing up in late 1960s Japan, Mieko Nakabayashi had an unlikely goal. The eldest daughter of a farmer-turned-land-developer, she dreamed of living overseas.

“I was so curious about the world,” she recalls.

Four decades later, that Saitama Prefecture schoolgirl has grown into a power player with a résumé spanning the Pacific Rim and two nation’s capitals. Nakabayashi, 50, has worked as a television reporter, think tank researcher, and professor. For a decade, she worked as a U.S. Senate budget staffer.

Her biggest move came last year, when she was elected to Japan’s House of Representatives. Long acquainted with the cherry blossoms … » More …

Winter 2010

Betty and Peggy Lee in 1936

One day in 1936 Betty Lee and her twin sister Peggy, about four years old, posed for their mother in the Washington State College shirts given to them by Carl Morrow, then Dean of Men at WSU.

Their parents, Don and Julia Lee, moved to Pullman in the 1930s and opened a restaurant, and later ran a small grocery on Maiden Lane. Morrow was a regular customer at their restaurant, which served “American” food, says Betty Lee. On occasion, he brought the family gifts, conferring on the girls the shirts, dolls, and balls.

Betty and Peggy Lee in ... <a href= » More …

Winter 2010

Chickpeas

Although Middle Eastern cooks who found themselves in the United States undoubtedly found sources of such a vital ingredient, it wasn’t until the last couple of decades that the chickpea made its way into the American diet and moved up from the bottom shelf at the supermarket. It can be said with some confidence that chickpeas did not find their way into church carry-ins (potlucks to you non-Midwesterners) until very recently.

The chickpea’s introduction to American cuisine probably started with the salad bar, suggests Phil Hinrichs ’80, president of Hinrichs Trading Company, which processes and distributes chickpeas primarily to a domestic market. Remember those odd … » More …