On the addictive nature of fishing
Dennis D. Dauble ’78 MS
FishHead Press: 2016
Fishing is serious business for anglers, and absurdly funny for everyone, a truth understood fully by author Dauble. His misadventures, fishing treks, and philosophical musings fuel this amusing and thoughtful series of short true-life stories by the retired fish biologist and WSU Tri-Cities instructor.
Whether he’s griping about his buddy Leroy’s vintage—and only marginally functional—outboard motor, … » More …
No Barriers: A Blind Man’s Journey to Kayak the Grand Canyon
Erik Weihenmayer and Buddy Levy
Thomas Dunne Books: 2017
After Weihenmayer became the first and only blind man to reach the top of Mount Everest, he decided his next adventure would be to traverse the treacherous Grand Canyon by kayak. He and Levy, a Washington State University instructor, chronicle the turbulent whitewater journey, and the insights gained by Weihenmayer and other trailblazers he has met.
Unusual Punishment: Inside the Walla Walla Prison, 1970–1985
Christopher Murray
WSU Press: 2016
Murray was an employee of the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services … » More …
It’s sunrise somewhere on the Appalachian Trail. Ruth Boden is sitting on top of a mountain, playing her cello as she gazes out at a sea of trees. A hiker approaches. “So that’s what I’ve been hearing for the past six miles!” he calls out to her, grinning from ear to ear.
Boden is the cello professor at Washington State University and the founder of Music Outside Four Walls. She is challenging the received wisdom that classical music is played in tuxedos in concert halls with whisper-quiet audiences who’ve paid big bucks for a seat. So she backpacks, with cello, … » More …
Nearing total exhaustion from my janitorial labors, I plopped my 19-year-old bones down in the cushy leather office chair of Dr. Seymour Slick, Dean of Science. Had I been of a thoughtful nature, I might at that moment have reflected that the way of life I so desperately clung to no longer existed for me. I was now a student and a janitor at a university. That other life was gone. Vanished. Evaporated. Had being in denial existed back then, I would have been a classic case. I simply couldn’t believe that my former life had slipped away like a thief in the night, taking … » More …
Patrick McManus’s comic formula depends on his creation of a world of oddly named characters with generous and adventurous souls. And a markedly different perspective. “As far back as I can remember,” he writes, “I have seen funny. What may horrify normal people may strike me as hilarious.”
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