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2023 was a year of weather extremes, with damaging floods, fires, and storms unfolding across the globe.

The United States logged a historic number of billion-dollar weather disasters, while smoke from Canada’s wildfires choked parts of the country.

“It’s kind of odd to be talking about our neighbor just to the north, but they really did have such a big impact in North America and also globally,” says Nathan Santo Domingo, a field meteorologist with Washington State University’s AgWeatherNet.

Besides the highest ever reported number of acres burned, the Canadian wildfire season was unusual for its longevity. “Wildfire season got going in late spring and didn’t relent until early fall.”

The Pacific Northwest, in contrast, had its second highest number of recorded fire starts, but a smaller than average number of acres burned.

Santo Domingo discusses the conditions behind 2023’s extreme weather and how some of those events are affecting food prices with Washington State Magazine science writer Becky Kramer. He also talks about the Northwest’s forecast for 2024.

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“Food is interesting because it touches so many other communities,” says Samantha Noll, an associate professor of bioethics in the School of Politics, Philosophy, and Public Affairs at Washington State University. “When we decide that we're going to eat that falafel sandwich, or that burger, or that salad, we're impacting others with that seemingly simple choice.”

In this episode, Noll talks with Washington State Magazine writer Becky Kramer about how her childhood on a farm shaped her views of food and some of the environmental and socio-political implications behind our food choices.

Noll recounts how wealthy New Yorkers forced immigrants to give up keeping livestock, triggering the Piggery War. She discusses the complicated history of avocados in the United States and the “food miles” traveled to bring people their daily cup of coffee or piece of chocolate.

Noll encourages people to eat mindfully, considering how their decisions around food can align with their values.

Some of Samantha Noll’s favorite food podcasts:

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Palouse prairie of eastern Washington and northwestern Idaho is an endangered landscape. It’s dominated by forbs—flowering plants—that cover the fields with a riot of color that attracts native pollinators.

The Phoenix Conservancy is among the groups restoring Palouse prairie. Led by Chris Duke, a doctoral graduate in biology from Washington State University, the organization works to bring native plants back to endangered landscapes from Madagascar to the Great Plains of North America to the Palouse hills.

In this episode, Washington State Magazine editor Larry Clark takes a field trip with Duke to the apartment complexes on the edge of Pullman, Washington, where a half-acre hillside shows how Palouse prairie can thrive even on a small, urban piece of land. They call it a pocket prairie.

As sounds from construction of new buildings surround the area, Duke shows off the blue asters, purple lupine, and myriad other native plants as butterflies and pollinating beetles move from flower to flower. It is a sign of hope and the resilience of native species in the region.

Read more in “Rooting for the prairie” in the Fall 2023 issue of Washington State Magazine.

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Eric McElroy is an American pianist and composer who released his debut album, Tongues of Fire, in March 2023 on Somm Recordings. He wrote the songs to accompany poems from modern poets W.S. Merwin, Gregory Leadbetter, Grevel Lindop, Alice Oswald, and Robert Graves. The poems are sung by acclaimed English tenor James Gilchrist and McElroy performs on piano.

McElroy graduated from Washington State University and then continued his postgraduate education in Vienna and Oxford University. 

In this episode, Washington State Magazine editor Larry Clark talks with McElroy about the new album, his creative process, poetry, walking, and his influences at WSU and beyond. 

The music samples from Tongues of Fire featured in the episode:

• The Nomad Flute - W.S. Merwin 
• After the Voices - W.S. Merwin
• Statuary I - Gregory Leadbetter
• Mirror and Candle - Grevel Lindop
• Falling - Alice Oswald
• A Dead Boche - Robert Graves

Read more about McElroy in the Fall 2023 issue of Washington State Magazine.

Tongues of Fire on Somm Recordings

Eric McElroy’s website

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Dean Janikowski is the kicker for Washington State University’s football team, a 2022 graduate and currently an MBA student at WSU. He also has a great time on Instagram and other social media with photos and videos playing football for the Cougs, riding dirt bikes, and kicking spicy Chicken McNuggets.

In this episode, Dean talks with Washington State Magazine writer Becky Kramer about raising money for the Heather Janikowski Foundation, a charity named for his mom, who died of cancer.

Dean also talks about how he started his sports career in soccer, NIL (name, image, and likeness), and his side gig as a social media influencer.

You can follow Dean Janikowski on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok.

Read more

The Fall 2023 issue of the magazine digs deeper into the rapidly changing landscape of NIL in college sports. Check it out next week at magazine.wsu.edu.

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Kellie Zimmerman is no stranger to the Seattle tech scene. And she’s on a new adventure in the industry.

She spent over 15 years building and leading teams in companies such as Concur and Avalara.

Zimmerman is now CEO of Bellevue-based startup Brightloom, which leverages AI and data to help restaurants such as El Pollo Loco, Ruby Tuesday, and Jamba Juice accelerate their marketing and customer engagement.

She talks about the twists and turns of the tech industry and her career after graduating in 2001 from Washington State University's Carson College of Business, with an emphasis in Management Information Systems. 

Zimmerman returned to the world of startups when she joined Brightloom in 2020. 

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James Donaldson had a great college and professional basketball career, a physical therapy business, and many aspirations, even in retirement from sports. 

But over the course of several years, illness, bankruptcy, divorce, and circumstances in life sent Donaldson into a dark mental spiral. 

He found his way back, writing a book about his struggles and starting a foundation to help others. 

In this episode, Donaldson talks with magazine associate editor Adriana Janovich about his struggles with depression and suicidal thoughts, his recovery and memoir, and his desire to help other men, especially men of color, who face the same darkness. 

Donaldson, a 1979 alum of Washington State University, also talks about his WSU and NBA basketball career, influential coaches George Raveling and Lenny Wilkens, and how the suicide of WSU football player Tyler Hilinski shook him to the core so much that he sought help. 

Find out more 

“Standing Tall” (Profile of Donaldson in the Spring 2022 issue of Washington State Magazine) 

Celebrating Your Gift of Life: From the Verge of Suicide to a Life of Purpose and Joy (Donaldson’s 2021 book) 

Your Gift of Life (A nonprofit foundation for mental health awareness started by Donaldson) 

Video and more stories about Donaldson at Washington State Magazine 

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Tom Haig loves adventure. From his high-flying diving days of youth to his recovery from a bicycling accident that left him paralyzed, Haig keeps on moving.

He chronicles his life, struggles, and triumphs in a new memoir from WSU Press, Global Nomad: My Travels through Diving, Tragedy, and Rebirth. Haig writes with wit and candor about the ups and downs of adventure, culminating in his new career as a documentary filmmaker.

In this episode, Haig, a WSU alum, talks with Washington State Magazine editor Larry Clark about reinventing his life, writing his book, and where he’s going next.

Read a review of Global Nomad (Washington State Magazine, Summer 2023)

“Wheeling new heights” (Profile of Haig in Washington State Magazine, Spring 2018)

Buy the book at WSU Press

This New Book Recounts a Local Man’s Life Before and After Paralysis (Milwaukee magazine, January 20, 2023)

Athlete Turned Advocate (WTMJ-TV, Milwaukee)

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ChatGPT, DALL-E, Midjourney, Stable Diffusion—names that most of us hadn’t heard more than a couple of years ago now represent a slew of creative programs powered by artificial intelligence. 

Large language model AI programs can write stories and articles, make illustrations and artwork, and converse with users using prompts. But what does it mean for human artists and writers? Will AI steal jobs and creative works? How should people approach the thorny ethical thicket around AI-generated art?

Mark Fagiano, a philosopher and instructor at Washington State University, talks with Larry Clark, editor of WSU’s magazine, about how ethics in action and pragmatism can help people examine not only AI art, but any rapidly evolving technology and issues in society.

Read about research into measuring AI’s capabilities in “When will artificial intelligence really pass the test?” (Washington State Magazine, Spring 2023) 

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Helen Mary Szablya and her family fled their home country of Hungary and its Communist regime in a harrowing journey under the cover of night in 1956. 

They traveled to Austria, Canada, and then to Pullman, Washington, where Helen received a degree, her husband John was an engineering professor, and they raised their family.

Helen tells the full story in the second volume of her memoir, From Refugee to Consul. Adriana Janovich, associate editor of Washington State Magazine, talked with her about the amazing journey and her experiences along the way.

Read a review of From Refugee to Consul in the Spring 2023 issue of Washington State Magazine.

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