I really enjoyed your article on Walla Walla Sweet Onions in the Fall 2010 Washington State Magazine. It brought back a lot of memories of working at the Walla Walla Produce Company, a wholesale fruit and produce company that my Dad ran, as I was growing up in the 1940s and 50s. I spent a lot of summers loading 50-pound bags of Walla Walla Sweet Onions delivered by the growers to our warehouse into rail cars that were being sent to the midwest and east coast. But your article stated that the onions were “not called Walla Walla Sweets until 1960.” … » More …
I lean on a glass case that displays stuffed egrets, herons, and sparrows. Across the room, Larry Hufford—director of the Conner Museum of Natural History and professor in the School of Biological Sciences—taps data into his computer. Larry is tall with thick graying hair and sharp blue eyes. I’m a full foot shorter, and this, coupled with the fact that I’m a professor in the English Department, makes for an unusual collaboration.
I used to feel alien in Larry’s scientific domain, even though my office is just a five-minute walk across campus. But over the last six … » More …
Two years ago, Lou Pepper watched the bank he once managed become the largest bank failure in U.S. history.
Pepper, a former Washington State University regent, had retired from Washington Mutual in the early 1990s when the bank was sound. But then a pattern of rapid growth and risky lending led to the collapse.
The former CEO felt helpless as each day brought more negative news. “People had been building this bank for 115 years, damn good people,” says Pepper, leaning forward in his chair in the small first-floor office of his home on Skagit Bay. And many of them were losing their savings, their … » More …
There is a reason why rude and loutish political talk shows dominate the airwaves—they attract huge audience ratings and advertising dollars. But is rude behavior good for democracy? » More ...
For Todd Mitchell '97, the purchase of Kiket Island near Deception Pass meant the return of a cultural resource to his people. For the other myriad residents of the Puget Sound area, it is another decisive step toward restoring a priceless resource. » More ...
Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed '63, '68 is recognized by his smile and civility as well as his nonpartisan statesmanship. Fortunately, he is not entirely alone. » More ...
…Summer 2008 the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Edward and Xerpha Gaines returned to eastern Washington. They talked and laughed, piecing together their own memories of Edward and Xerpha, and mentioning the bundle of letters that gave them the details of their grandparent’s romance.
At the end of the reunion, they delivered to Washington State University an astonishing gift–Xerpha’s steamer trunk which holds nearly a century of private papers detailing the life of a woman whose story is not only threaded through the University’s, but … » More …
Most people who have worked in a group have probably faced a “getting even” situation. I remember a woman who asked colleagues in our shared office space not to wear perfume. A co-worker who felt personally affronted didn’t respond directly, but she soon began applying her fragrance at her desk.
For managers, or anyone working in an organization, the consequences of a workplace conflict can quickly … » More …
Ed Claplanhoo ’56 was chairman of the Makah Tribe in Neah Bay when a winter storm in 1970 eroded the bank above the beach at Cape Alava on the Olympic Peninsula coast, revealing the village of Ozette. The village, ancestral home to many Makahs, had been buried in a mudslide in the 1700s.
Once he realized what the storm had exposed, Claplanhoo called Richard Daugherty, an archaeologist at WSU. Daugherty had been the freshman class advisor in the early 1950s, and Claplanhoo had been the class treasurer.
Claplanhoo and Daugherty worked closely together to explore and preserve what archaeological crews … » More …
