Author Archives: Abby Kelso

About Abby Kelso

Abby attended Evergreen as an undergraduate from 1997-2001 and again as an MPA student from 2009-11. Her professional experience includes work as a high school teacher and college counselor, as well as roles in Admissions and Advancement at Evergreen. Abby is a native of Olympia, WA and is passionate about helping to build a bright future for Evergreen.

Coffee + Cookies + Sauerkraut ? Oh my !

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Only at Evergreen would this unforgettable combination of alumni-produced treats find their way into one gift bag. Thanks to Whimsy & Spice, Olykraut, and Batdorf & Bronson for donating their products to the thank-you gifts for our inauguration speakers.

Did you miss the inauguration festivities? Catch the highlights from the day!

Handmade shortbread cookies and marshmallows from Whimsy & Spice

Delectible cookies were provided by Mark Sopchak ’94 and Jenna Park ’94, the husband and wife team behind Whimsy & Spice. Read more about their tempting spicy and sweet treats in The Evergreen Magazine.

Handcrafted, fermented sauerkraut from OlyKraut

Sash Sunday ’09, grew up in Olympia, WA and, in 2008, co-founded a sauerkraut company called OlyKraut to put her fermentation fanaticism to work building a food system that supports vibrant health and sustainable farms. Learn more about this fermentation revolution in the Cooper Point Journal.

Batdorf & Bronson specially crafted the “Greener Blend,” which is only sold on the Evergreen campus

Always close to the Evergreen heart is Batdorf & Bronson Coffee Roasters, located in downtown Olympia since 1986. Batdorf and Bronson has flourished in part because of the energy and entrepreneurial spirit of many Greeners who have worked at all levels of the organization over the years. View a brewing tutorial on their blog today!

An animator and an oceanographer walk into an academic program……

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Check out this short video about ocean acidification from the academic program Visualizing Microbial Seascapes: An Introduction to Marine Biology and Animation.

The faculty team with animator Ruth Hayes and oceanographer Gerardo Lin-Cheo reminds us of great interdisciplinary teams from years past like when physicist Don Middendorf and artist Susan Aurand teamed up to teach a program on light.

What faculty teams do you remember most vividly?

Beth Howard ’83 Brings Pie to Newtown, CT

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Beth Howard at the Gothic House

Beth Howard ’83 lives in the historic American Gothic house, where she runs her Pitchfork Pie Stand. This week she’s taking her pies to the grieving community of Newton, CT.

Evergreen’s very own Pie Lady, Beth Howard ’83 attracted national media attention for her heartfelt response to the school disaster in Newton, CT.

It all started with a facebook post on Friday, December 14: “Overwhelmed and heartbroken by today’s tragedy, I feel like packing up my pie supplies into my RV and driving to Connecticut. If making pie and sharing it with the citizens of Newtown would help ease their pain I would load up a hundred cases of apples and start driving right now.”

Her facebook fans immediately encouraged Beth to make it happen.  Within hours of posting a “donate” button on her homepage, she had the funds and the volunteers to drive to Newtown and give away hundreds of pies to the grieving community.

She’s in Newtown for the week and you can keep up with her progress on facebook or read more about Beth’s in Spring 2011’s food issue of the Evergreen Magazine, or refer to Tuesday’s article about Beth in The Atlantic.

Greener Coffee Fanatics Secure Top Award

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Greener entrepreneurs, Oliver Stormshak and Sam Schroeder ’04 pose in front of a cupping.

Roast Magazine, an insider’s publication for the coffee industry, selected Greener-owned Olympia Coffee Roasting Company as the 2013 Micro Roaster of the Year.

Late last week, Oliver Stormshak and Sam Schroeder ’04 shared some thoughts on coffee, Evergreen and the award while “cupping”  the latest roast at their flagship cafe in downtown Olympia.

Abby Kelso (AK): Tell our readers about this award. What does it mean? Why is it important?
Oliver Stormshak (OS): Roast is the trade magazine in our business and this award is its most prestigious competition for a company like ours.  There were over 600 applicants. We submitted a written application and then we sent three of our coffees for the judges to taste at a cupping.
Sam Schroeder (SS): We’ve been using the application process for the past few years as a way to assess our business practices.  We have a business plan, but this helps us see how we’re doing in terms of sustainability, fair trade, labor standards and coffee quality.

AK: How has your your Evergreen experience influenced your work as entrepreneurs?
SS: At Evergreen, you have to be self-motivated and direct your own education — that carries over in the direction of a company.
OS: Evergreen definitely worked well for me, because I was driven to get what I needed.  I studied with Donald Morisato and Martha Rosemeyer.  They both helped me as I moved towards becoming a small business owner.

AK: What do you see in the future of roasting?
OS: Technology will change the industry, this is a new field that is intensely complex.  Today’s roasting is based on 18th century technology and is very craft oriented. Technology will reveal the potential in coffee.
SS: We don’t even know what coffee is capable of yet!

AK: Do you have a particular business philosophy?
OS: Basically we are coffee fanatics and we let that drive our business.

Oliver and Sam enjoy a cup of coffee at their westside location.

Oliver and Sam enjoy some espresso at Olympia Coffee Roasting Company’s west side location. The company was recently named Micro Roaster of the Year by Roast Magazine.

Alumni Author Finds Hope and Family in Alaska

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Hank Lentfer

Hank Lentfer ’91 lives in and writes about Alaska and its wilderness areas.

From the outside, alumni author, Hank Lentfer ’91, is living an American dream.  He quits his 9-5 office job,  treks through untouched Alaskan wilderness, fells trees and mills them to build his own cabin, and gains prominence in conservation circles as he serves on boards and travels to Washington DC to defend his home state from environmental destruction.

Yet, Lentfer’s 2011 book, Faith of Cranes: Finding Hope and Family in Alaska really isn’t a celebration of personal liberation or a bland reporting of an idyllic life in Alaska’s wilderness.  Rather, it’s a story about the author’s journey through despair.  Despair in the face of unrelenting “progress”.  Despair in the face of habitat loss.  Despair and frustration with the interminable political process failing to protect the earth’s wild lands.

Book Cover Image

In his latest book, Faith of Cranes, Lentfer describes his journey into fatherhood and his evolving perspectives on hope and conservation.

Lentfer’s story will resonate with many Greeners working in environmental or social justice fields.  How does one maintain hope and optimism when the challenges are so many?  Lentfer describes his effort to “keep his despair in check” and connects the birth of his daughter with a shift in his thinking that enables him to stop worrying so much about the future.  He writes,

“I now believe even the extinction of cranes cannot render efforts at conservation irrelevant any more than the death of a soldier can strip meaning from calls for peace….”

What do you think?  Join the conversation by responding to the following question posed by Hank Lentfer in Faith of Cranes:

“If every step of one’s way is along a path of caring, does it matter what the future brings?”

 

 

A Convening Moment: All Campus Convocation 2012

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New students are welcomed in by Evergreen’s President, Les Purce. All Campus Convocation taking place in the CRC. Photographed on Sept. 18, 2012.

Evergreen’s gym was packed; it was standing room only. The air buzzed with anticipation for the start of our All Campus Convocation.  In the past convocations haven’t always been this well attended or dynamic. So what made the difference?  Here are three keys to this year’s convocation success:

  1. Civil rights leader Carlotta Walls LaNier as the keynote speaker
  2. 1,200 copies of LaNier’s book, A Mighty Long Way, mailed to all new students three weeks earlier
  3. 240 seminars led by faculty to engage new students with LaNier’s book during orientation week

    Carlotta Walls LaNier, author of A Mighty Long Way, and President Dr. Les Purce at the Evergreen State College Convocation on Tues., Sept. 18, 2012.

After brief opening remarks by President Les Purce and Provost Michael Zimmerman, LaNier opened her talk with a characterization of the Little Rock Nine’s fight for school integration.  A struggle of state rights vs. federal authority, Arkansas governor vs. the President of the United States, 9 kids vs.an angry mob. And at the bottom of it all, a staunch determination to receive a fair and adequate education, marked a major shift in the struggle for desegregation.

Carlotta Walls LaNier at podium

Author and speaker Carlotta Walls LaNier speaks to a crowd of over 1,200 students, staff and faculty at The Evergreen State College Convocation on September 18, 2012. LaNier was one of the Little Rock Nine who integrated public schools in Arkansas in 1957.

At the end of this thought provoking and serious look at an important time in our history, Evergreen’s very own Marla Beth Elliott led the crowd in a round of Alma Mater and the Geoduck Fight Song.  If you’re feeling rusty on the fight song, Randy Stilson ’77, the college’s much beloved archivist has posted an audio recording and sheet music on the college archives page.

New students, faculty, and staff rally the Evergreen spirit, singing the geoduck fight song! All Campus Convocation taking place in the CRC. Photographed on Sept. 18, 2012.