S U M M E R   1 9 9 9 How do you... make a perfect landing in rough weather? sing a love song? keep your heart healthy in 10 simple steps? talk your way out of a ticket? answer the age-old puzzler: If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it really make a sound? catch people's attention in today's busy world? choose the perfect wine for dinner? teach science to grade school students? pick the perfect employee? win an argument? find inspiration to write a poem? treat a common cold without traditional medicine? coax the truth out of a hostile witness? get the biggest (legal) tax refund? devise a defense to stop veteran quarterback Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers? uncover a corrupt gambling operation? keep coming up with fresh angles on the same sports themes year after year? keep your constituents happy? get a shy person to appear on camera? preach a sermon? memorize pages and pages of lines? keep your children's names straight? accommodate high-maintenance movie stars? How do you make a perfect landing in rough weather? Capt. David Weiseth '67, a pilot for Delta Airlines out of Salt Lake City, takes a break in the cockpit of a 727 at Sea-Tac International Airport.      "Many years ago I asked a captain I was flying with to share his technique for achieving smooth landings in varying conditions. 'It's really quite easy,' he said. 'You just fly it down to an inch or two above the ground and wrestle it down from there.' Well, over the years I've gotten a lot better at the wrestling part than I have at determining the one to two inches. I have found, however, that a gasp from the second officer is an excellent indication that a touchdown is imminent." Capt. David Weiseth '67 Pilot, Delta Airlines Issaquah, Washington How do you sing a love song? "In some way, every song is a love song because love is such a complex thing. We experience the emotions of love, all the way from that first rush of falling in love to being dumped by a lover. So you don't just sing a love song, you feel it. And the best way to do that is to fall in love." Nancy (Coltom) Colton '85 Songwriter and Singer Issaquah, Washington How do you keep your heart healthy in 10 simple steps? 10. Take a daily dose of 400 mcg of folic acid (B vitamins). 9. Take a daily dose of 400 IUs of vitamin E. 8. If you're middle-aged with a family history of heart disease, consider a daily dose of 81 mg of aspirin (a baby aspirin). 7. Avoid hydrogenated oils. 6. Laugh — 'A joyful heart is good medicine.' (Proverbs 17:22) 5. Use monosaturated oils (olive and canola) and foods with Omega-3 fatty acids (fish andflax seeds). 4. Eat fruits and vegetables. 3. Stay active — exercise 30 minutes a day. 2. Avoid foods with excessive saturated fat and cholesterol (keep LDL cholesterol below 130). 1. Do not smoke.   PS: For inner heart health, practice daily devotions and prayer — 'For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.' (Matthew 6:21)   Bruce Johnson '81 and Kay (Smith '81) Johnson Cardiovascular disease consultant and registered nurse (respectively) at the Mayo Clinic Rochester, Minnesota How do you talk your way out of a ticket? Deputy Sheriff Micah Lundborg '92 has written his share of traffic tickets. "The easiest way is to tell the truth. Just be honest." Micah Lundborg '92 Deputy Sheriff, City of Lakewood (vice/narcotics squad) Puyallup, Washington How do you answer the age-old puzzler: If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it really make a sound? 'It says, 'Rats [or some expletive] — I'm falling!' If one takes the question more seriously, though, the answer depends on how closely our ordinary notion of a sound is connected to hearing. Sounds must be capable of being heard. But do they actually have to be heard in order to exist? A comparison with the objects of other senses suggests that they do not. Does a rose give off a fragrant odor if no one is smelling it? Is the skin of a peach fuzzy if no one is feeling it? Is there a beautiful sight from the north rim of the Grand Canyon if no one is looking at it?      My inclination is to answer 'yes' to all these questions — that odors, textures and sights can exist without someone's actually smelling, touching or seeing them. So what makes sounds different? Perhaps they are more closely connected to their form of perception than are odors, textures or sights. Consider, however, new parents who have installed an intercom in their baby's nursery. When turning it on one of them would say, 'I want to hear any sounds the baby makes tonight,' not, 'I want to be sure the baby makes sounds tonight.'      If this is right then, given our ordinary notion of sound, if a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, it does make a sound." Norman Dahl '61 Professor of Philosophy, University of Minnesota Minneapolis, Minnesota How do you catch people's attention in today's busy world? Many of Jim Walker's '76 great ideas are hatched right here in his office at the downtown Seattle advertising agency where he works. His window overlooks the Aurora bridge and the waterfront. "Advertising is like trying to set up a friend on a blind date by standing on the street and — as she flies by at 60 mph in her car — shouting to her the one intriguing thing about him, like 'He's rich!' Unfortunately, clients are seldom as simple as 'He's rich,' and with the proliferation of new and old media, there are so many new 'street corners' to shout from. So the trick, if there is one, is to 'know where to stand' to be a very good story teller. Getting people's attention in a day and age where the phrase 'time poor' has become a common description of consumers requires that you reward people for listening or paying attention. Make them laugh, make them cry, make them smile or even make them mad, just don't waste their time." Jim Walker '76 Creative Director, McCann Erickson Advertising Agency Seattle, Washington How do you choose the perfect wine for dinner? Surrounded by 60-gallon French oak wine barrels in the Flint Winery (Cienega Valley), the Rev. Russell Aldrich '76 samples a pinot noir from the winery's stock. "It's traditional and customary that white wine goes with fish and poultry and red wine goes with beef, but it's not necessarily a good rule. Personally, I like white wine with fish and poultry because of the good balance of flavors and acidity of the white wine. It also depends on the balance of textures and aromas of both the meal and the wine. The bottom line is drink whatever you like with any type of food." The Rev. Russell Aldrich '76 Aldrich grows grapes for the Flint Winery on his 50-acre farm in the Cienega Valley, 65 miles south of San Jose. He spends the bulk of his time working as a liturgical design consultant and ecclesiastical artist. Paicines, California How do you teach science to grade school students? "It has to be hands-on, dealing with real problems. The Douglas Creek Watershed Project has been our outdoor classroom since 1993, and the students visit it several times each fall and spring. They gather data on the wildlife, geology, plants and history of this freshwater ecosystem, comparing what's happened from year to year. The students come up with the questions and then have to find the answers from the data we collect. Science is about studying the natural world: it's exciting to them, and they want to find out how it works. Through science, students will write, do math, read — I've seen kids read a field guide that's several years beyond their normal comprehension because it covers something they're interested in." Diane Petersen '68 Fourth-Grade Teacher at Waterville Elementary School, and Washington's Region III Science Teacher of Year for 1997 Waterville, Washington How do you pick the perfect employee? "The top three attributes that I look for in selecting a new employee are 1) Intelligence — Skills are important, but more important is the capacity to learn new skills and adapt quickly to change; 2) Attitude — A positive, enthusiastic attitude by itself will guarantee success in many jobs; and 3) Good References — The best predictor of future success is a person's previous job performance." Bill Rogers '82 Co-founder and owner, Evergreen Staffing Tacoma, Washington How do you win an argument? "I can only tell you how to win an organized argument. First thing you have to do is have good support — evidence and facts to support what you're saying. Second, be clear. Use simple words and be structured. Last, you need to be persuasive about the argument without being too emotional." Mike Burton '69 Speech and Debate and English Teacher and Co-director of the award-winning forensics team at Auburn High School for 25 years Puyallup, Washington How do you find inspiration to write a poem? "Beauty, stories, ugliness, desire, history, surprise, cigarettes and delight inspire me. The important thing remains true: find what you love but cannot comprehend and throw the full weight of imagination to the task." Jason Thompson '96 Graduate student at the University of Arizona (also teaches composition) Tucson, Arizona How do you treat a common cold without traditional medicine? "Naturopathic medicine is based on a firm belief in the body's innate ability, under most cases, to heal if given the proper care. Healing and staying healthy are closely related and involve multiple factors. A holistic approach is used in working with patients to address their problems. Treating the common cold means first addressing the issues that lead to contracting the cold, i.e., why was the immune system susceptible to this disease? Lifestyle issues such as stress and poor diet are commonly at fault. Treating a cold could include counseling on lifestyle patterns or emotional issues as well as specific nutritional supplementation, botanical medicine, homeopathic medicine, hydrotherapy or other therapeutic modalities. The specific treatment plan is unique to each individual." Naturopathic doctors Debbie Lantz '85 and Steve Wangen '90 1999 graduates of Bastyr University, a leading education and research center for alternative, natural medicine Seattle, Washington How do you coax the truth out of a hostile witness? "The best way is to be supremely prepared, with a well-formed grasp of the facts and evidence of your case. The truth is always much more easily sustained than a lie. Also, the reluctant witness must make a conscious effort to 'bury' the facts, as opposed to volunteering information. Therefore it's much easier to catch the witness perpetuating a myth when you're prepared. You also need to maintain calm and not let the witness get the upper hand. And if you're having trouble getting an answer, break the question down to its most basic elements, making each piece irrefutable, then build upon them using your evidence, and you eventually get to the place you want to be. It all flows from being prepared — you can't wing it with a hostile witness." Susan Caulkins '82 Attorney and partner in Shiers, Chrey, Cox, Caulkins, DiGiovanni & Zak, LLP Port Orchard, Washington How can you get the biggest (legal) tax refund? "Don't show up at your accountant's doorstep with a shoebox full of receipts three days before April 15 when your taxes are due! You should be organized and thinking about your taxes all year. For example, you have up until April 15 of the following tax year to make contributions to your IRA, but if you spread contributions out during the year you won't take such a financial hit on tax day. If you're considering selling stock or mutual funds, delay the sale until after Jan. 1, that way you won't have to pay taxes on the gain for an entire year. It's a lot easier and cheaper to try the new TurboTax software than to have an accountant help you prepare your tax form." There are many little-known tax breaks that went into effect for 1998: Interest on student loans (up to the first five years of the loan) is now deductible. The Hope Scholarship is good for a tax credit of $1,500 a year for the first two years of undergraduate college education. The Lifetime Learning Credit is good for a tax credit of $1,000 a year for certain education expenses when the Hope credit is not claimed, i.e., the second two years of undergraduate college education. Families now receive a $400 tax credit for every child 17 and under. Leanne Webber '90, CPA Senior Tax Analyst, Starbucks Coffee Company Seattle, Washington How do you devise a defense to stop veteran quarterback Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers? "When you're dealing with a quarterback like Brett — a player with tremendous God-given abilities who has been around seven or eight years and knows the game inside and out — you have to give him lots of different looks and confuse him. It's called 'disguising your defense.' You don't want him to recognize the play until after the ball is snapped, so you have to make sure you can run different plays from what may look like a familiar defensive pattern. If you can make the quarterback guess — and have him be wrong — you'll decrease his confidence and you can render him ineffective." You'll get a chance to see if Flajole's strategy rings true when Seattle and Green Bay match up on ABC's Monday Night Football on Nov. 1, 1999. Ken Flajole '77 Seattle Seahawks Defensive Backs Coach (Former defensive assistant/quality control coach for the Green Bay Packers. Also spent 21 years coaching college ball, including a stint as a staff coach at PLU from 1977 to 1978.) Seattle, Washington How do you uncover a corrupt gambling operation? "Show me the money! Maybe the best way is to pull back the blankets. In a way, that really is true. I'll look into the structure of a business entity and the character of the business' control persons, and because corruption is about money, I'll utilize various resources to follow the trail of money." Gregg Shankle '78 Detective with the Oregon State Police Gambling Enforcement Division Salem, Oregon How do you keep coming up with fresh angles on the same sports themes year after year? Art Thiel '75 takes (and dishes out) a lot of good-natured ribbing from his colleagues in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer's sports department while trying to write his regular column. "The repetitiveness of the sports seasons makes fresh angles difficult, but not impossible. It helps to read other publications, other news and favorite writers. Sometimes a story, a phrase or a mere word can trigger something that leads to an idea about a fresh take. It also helps that my field of sports manages to 'out-absurd' itself at a pace faster than I can keep up. As for the writing itself, my trick for the fresh phrase is to know that the first, second and third things to come to mind when I'm looking for analogies or similes are probably clichιs. I reject them quickly before reaching more fertile ground. As long as musicians can make new music with the same 88 piano keys, it's the least a writer can do to make new ideas with all the words available in the dictionary." Art Thiel '75 Sports Columnist, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer Seattle, Washington How do you keep your constituents happy? Sen. Rosa Franklin, D-29th, spends a lot of time on the Senate floor in the Washington State Capitol Building in Olympia. "By saying, 'I love you all!' I really do. I say that even though we may have different points of view on certain issues, I certainly love you all and I understand where you're coming from. I also keep my constituents happy by listening, really staying in touch, visiting their communities and their schools, and talking to them about their particular problems. I feel I've been able to help a lot of people while I've been in office." Washington State Sen. Rosa Franklin '74 Member of the Senate since 1993 and member of the state House of Representatives from 1991-1993 Olympia, Washington How do you get a shy person to appear on camera? Shannon Brinias '85 co-anchors the weekend news broadcast on KING 5 Television. "That is one of the hardest parts of a television reporter's job. First I try flattery and personal appeal. If that doesn't work, I try to convince them that it is in their best interest to offer their side of the story. I tell them they might not get another chance. Perseverance is the key. If I don't get the interview today, then maybe next week or next month, I will." Shannon Brinias '85 Weekend Anchor/Reporter, KING 5 TV Seattle, Washington How do you preach a sermon? Rev. Dr. David C. Wold '56 is at home in the sanctuary of Trinity Lutheran Church next to the PLU campus. "Preaching is a public and community event, not a monologue or a private experience. It is an interaction of the Spirit of God between the Holy Scripture, the preacher and the hearer. The preparation has to take into account who the people are and what they are struggling with in their lives. People think bishops have just one sermon. But we need to speak a word from God that is directed to the specific faith community in which the message is proclaimed. And regarding delivery of a sermon, if the message doesn't sound as if it means something to the preacher, it will fall flat — orthodox, perhaps, but flat. It takes passion to engage the hearer. If you can't preach with at least some passion, stay out of the pulpit!" Rev. Dr. David C. Wold '56 Bishop, ELCA Southwestern Washington Synod Tacoma, Washington How do you memorize pages and pages of lines? Matt Orme '86 played the part of Puck in the Tacoma Actor's Guild spring production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream." "It's kind of like eating an elephant — you take it one bite at a time. Some people tape their lines and listen to them in the car. Some people get into it kinetically, that is they have to know where they're standing or what they're doing when a particular line is being said. Others can sit down and memorize by rote. Sometimes I just get a tennis ball and bounce it back and forth off the wall and look at the script as an overview. Sooner or later it all starts coming together and the memorizing is easy." Matt Orme '86 Actor Seattle, Washington How do you keep your children's names straight? Jim Diacogiannis '87 with his wife, Laurel, and their eight children — Gregg, 14; Cassie, 13; Jeremiah, 12; Carissa and Lindsey, 10; Joshua, 8; Benjamin, 5; and Hosanna, 2 — on a recent outing to PLU. "Each child likes to be known as a person not just as a kid, so names are very important in our family. There is a significance to each child's name and each one knows its importance. One thing that helps is that we were sure to avoid using the same first initial for all eight children. We have identical twin girls, and when their backs are to me I have no clue who is who. When they're facing me I can see a mole on Lindsey's right side, which is my left, so L–left equals L–Lindsey. When they were younger I just called them both Dolly." Jim Diacogiannis '87 Father of eight, PE Teacher at Eatonville Middle School. He also owns a painting contracting business and a home-school consulting business Puyallup, Wash. How do you accommodate high-maintenance movie stars? From left, Marc Dahlstrom '83 with actress Karen Allen and his wife, Candace Armstrong '82. "I won't name any names, but here's how I handled one problematic type, a pretty well-known actor. I was assistant director on a film, and we were to shoot a scene where this guy had to kiss a woman. But he had just come back from eating a chicken caesar salad with lots of garlic, and a look of horror came over his face. He looked around frantically and thundered, 'Who's in charge around here?' and then to me: 'You. I need some mouthwash — get me some Scope!' That wasn't normally my job, but this guy had been hard to deal with all along — his trailer wasn't right, he had yelled at the wardrobe lady, etc. — so I said to myself, 'To heck with it; let's just get this done.' I went down to the gift shop in the hotel where we were filming, and all they had was Listerine. But this guy had a temper, and I figured if he said Scope, he meant Scope. So I went across the street to a convenience store and got him some Scope and a toothbrush and toothpaste, and everything actually turned out okay from there." (Scene caught up with Dahlstrom just before he headed to the Cannes Film Festival in France to present "The Basket," staring Karen Allen, which his company produced and he assistant-directed. In contrast to the star described above, Dahlstrom said Allen is "a trooper. . . a real, nice, genuine human being." So they're not all bad.) Marc Dahlstrom '83 Partner, North by Northwest Productions Spokane, Washington Staff Box and Contact Information | ©1999 | Comments