Skip to main content Skip to navigation
CAS in the Media Arts and Sciences Media Headlines

Special to The Times: And the children shall lead us out of climate catastrophe

By , associate professor of history

 
Jeffrey Sanders.
Sanders

When it comes to climate change, children are the canaries in the coal mine. If we’re lucky, they will lead us out of the collapsing mineshaft.

Oregon native Kelsey Cascadia Rose Juliana is the lead plaintiff in the landmark climate-change case, Juliana v. U.S., currently before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Kelsey was only 19 years old in 2015 when she and 20 other youths sued the federal government for failing to protect them from the future horrors of a warming planet.

From climate change to school shootings to asylum-seekers at the border, the plight of young people now animates our political culture. This is not the first time Americans have looked at children to understand periods of troubling social and environmental change.

Find out more

Seattle Times

Five accomplished men on the female role models that have changed their lives

David Leonard.
Leonard

Dr. David Leonard, professor of Comparative Ethnic Studies and American Studies at Washington State University, talked about the influence of African American Studies professor and scholar Ula Taylor. Leonard and Taylor first met when he was a graduate student at University of California, Berkeley.

“I arrived in Berkeley with trepidation and anxiety. My fears were quickly assuaged after a lunch with Dr. Ula Taylor,” Leonard recalled. “At the time, I saw such support as ‘normal’ and ‘routine,’ yet it was anything but commonplace—it is the kind of daily labor that is often rendered invisible. This is the essential work, often carried out by faculty of color, particularly women, that deserves recognition because of its impact. This labor isn’t just about support and mentoring but intellectual work. Thank you, Dr. Ula Taylor for giving so much to me and so many others. Thank you for contributing to my purpose.”

Find out more

Quartz

Crimson Flute Trio advances to MTNA national competition

Sofiya Chayka, Elaine Martir and Marissa Watanabe.
Chayka,  Martir and Watanabe

Washington State University’s Crimson Flute Trio will compete for a $3,000 grand prize in the final round of the Music Teachers National Association’s Young Artist Chamber Music Competition in Spokane March 16–20.

The Crimson Flute Trio consists of Sofiya Chayka, Elaine Martir and Marissa Watanabe and is coached by Sophia Tegart, clinical assistant professor of flute.

The trio qualified for the wind instrument category of the MTNA national student competition by winning the northwest divisional round. The trio will perform works by Tchesnokov, Mozart and Hovhaness.

Find out more

WSU Insider

#MAGA Church: The Doomsday Prophet Who Says the Bible Predicted Trump

A charismatic pastor in New Jersey (who also calls himself a rabbi) leads a church fixated on end times. Before the apocalypse, however, he’s fitting in a trip to Mar-a-Lago.

Every weekend, some 1,000 congregants gather for the idiosyncratic teachings of the church’s celebrity pastor, Jonathan Cahn, an entrepreneurial doomsday prophet who claims that President Trump’s rise to power was foretold in the Bible.

Mr. Cahn is tapping into a belief more popular than may appear.

Matthew Avery Sutton.
Sutton

Matthew Sutton, a professor of history at Washington State University and the author of “American Apocalypse,” said Mr. Cahn fits a unique American mold. “In key historical moments, religious figures like this find a way to step in,” Mr. Sutton said. “They draw from apocalyptic theology and say, ‘We have this secret knowledge and can explain what’s going on.’ It fosters this sense that God’s judgment is hanging over your head.”

Find out more

The New York Times

WRAL

WSU Ph.D. candidate creates food bank for students

Amy Nusbaum.Amy Nusbaum learned from a recent study that a significant amount of college students don’t get enough to eat, so she decided to set up a mini food bank.

“This is a thing I can do right now that’ll help the students right now. And it doesn’t need to be like a huge thing, it’s a mailbox outside of my office, that for most of the last few months I’ve just been buying stuff as it runs out,” said Nusbaum, a doctoral candidate in psychology.

She started to run out of food, but before she made another order to Amazon, she wanted to give others an opportunity to contribute as well.

“You know, I interact with a lot of people on social media who are interested in these things and maybe don’t know how to help — and the cougar community is so incredible,” she said.

She posted on social media with a link to her Amazon wish list, asking people to donate to the food bank. She was overwhelmed by the response.

Just a few days later, Nusbaum came home to about 20 Amazon boxes on her doorstep.

Find out more

KREM2