Sian Ritchie will give a Common Reading talk on “Cattails and Walmart: What Nature Gives to Us When We Care to Look,” Wednesday, Sept. 14, at 5 p.m. in CUE 202 on the Pullman campus. Ritchie, from the School of Biological Sciences, will lead attendees on a hands‑on activity with cattails, one of the stars of wetland environments. Although most of us are familiar with catttails in a general way, Ritchie’s talk will explore how this plant can provide us with as much, and more, than a trip to Walmart.
This talk is the first in a year-long series focused on topics inspired by this year’s WSU Common Reading book, Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants. An unlimited, downloadable e‑copy of book is available to all WSU students, staff, and faculty through the WSU libraries, and a teaching guide for the book has been recently completed. Links to the book and to the guide, as well as information about future events, can be found at CommonReading.wsu.edu.
