Frank interviewed a recent MALS grad, Libby O'Neil '19, about her master's thesis, "'A Voice and Nothing More': Technological Embodiment and the Artificial Female Voice." Libby is a graduate of Reed's only graduate degree program, the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies, often referred to as the MALS degree. Libby used Amazon's Alexa voice assistant as a primary text for part of her thesis, and used Alexa, in part, to examine some ways we use technology in our daily lives.

Reed's MALS program: https://www.reed.edu/MALS/

Reed community members can read Libby's thesis online in the Electronic Theses Archive: https://rdc.reed.edu/i/9dc51a44-8ac0-41ef-9776-833d1e09943c

#16: "Alexa, Who Are You?" with Libby O'Neil '19, MALS

Frank interviews Rowen about a thesis year like no other. Rowen's thesis experience explored some arguments about the epistemology of mathematics, or, as Rowen puts it, it was "a philosophical argument that used elements of mathematics." Rowen touches on Gödel's Theorem, Peano Arithmetic, and related theories.

Reed community members can read Rowen's thesis online in the Electronic Theses Archive, which includes a short preface on the usefulness of epistemic thought in times of great crisis: https://rdc.reed.edu/i/f795436c-1da3-476e-a5e0-6e99c4ded95b

#19: Deducing the Indeducible with Rowen Bangs '20, Philosophy/Math

Segovia wrote a cell biology thesis that focused on cell shapes and the spaces between them. She talks about the path she took to get her thesis, how it became a collaboration with work done at another institution, and the relationship between this thesis work and current cancer research.

Reed community members can read Segovia's thesis, “Cytoskeletal Regulation by the Gap Junction Forming Proteins Innexins,” online in the Electronic Theses Archive: https://rdc.reed.edu/i/8d43cd15-4dff-4d03-a320-642fe81abd4a

#24: Gaps between Cells with Segovia Garcia '21, Biochem and Molecular Biology

Gabri's thesis focused on Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" and a response novel written two hundred years later by Jeanette Winterson called "FranKISStein." We also get to hear a bit about one of Gabri's favorite classes at Reed and why you might want to throw a blanket over your desk sometimes.

Reed community members can read Gabri's thesis, “"What is your substance, whereof are you made?": Gender, Sex, Bodies, and Love in Frankenstein and FranKISStein,” online in the Electronic Theses Archive:
https://rdc.reed.edu/i/319c35f7-7721-4c21-97fb-fa1f524d1831

#27: Franken-thesis with Gabri LaFratta '21, English

Join Misha and Amelie as they talk about Misha's thesis on Leon Trotsky's theory of revolutionary language and symbolism. You'll also learn a bit about Misha's thoughts on how the literary thesis experience is more of a reading project than a writing project.

Reed community members can read Misha’s thesis, “Trotsky Writes the Russian Revolution: The Symbol of the Explosion in Trotsky’s My Life and The History of the Russian Revolution and its Meta-Symbolic Significance,” online in the Electronic Theses Archive:
https://rdc.reed.edu/i/5be3de50-8cbe-4e3f-9164-9b2b879f904d

#30: Writing the Russian Revolution with Misha Lerner '21, Russian

Evan Griggs '22 wrote a thesis in the math department, and talks about his path from community college to the math department at Reed.

Reed community members can read Evan's thesis, “Cyclic Cones & Non-singular Refinements of Cyclic Fans,” online in the Electronic Theses Archive:
https://rdc.reed.edu/i/43a37e19-9ec1-40ec-8712-a13045d18a62

#33: Two Dimensional Ice Cream Cones with Evan Griggs '22, Mathematics

Leila spent a pandemic year remotely studying the members and activities of a lab that had quickly pivoted to study COVID-19 at the beginning the pandemic.

Reed community members can read Leila's thesis, “In Our Hands: How Biologists Negotiate Unpredictability to Make and Share Knowledge,” online in the Electronic Theses Archive:
https://rdc.reed.edu/i/205143b1-c33d-4912-89d2-4922bd91407c

#36: Social Labs with Leila Shokat '21, Anthropology

Seamus's thesis focuses on the fall of Taiwan's Kuomintang (KMT) party, and the impacts this party has had in Seamus's own family background.

Reed community members can read Seamus's thesis, “The Blue Sky Falls, the White Sun Sets: a Study of the Decline of the Kuomintang,” online in the Electronic Theses Archive:

https://rdc.reed.edu/i/6fa7ed1b-3872-4bfe-b065-3ca03c110b2f

#40: Taiwanese Political Parties with Seamus Boyle '22, International Policy Studies

This is a podcast, and that was an assertion. Joseph spent a year exploring the nature of assertions like this in his thesis (which was mostly written after midnight, apparently).

This is also the last interview conducted by last year's student producer, Amelie. Thank you Amelie for all the work you did for the podcast, and for helping us get to where we are.

Reed community members can read Joseph's thesis, “Asserting as Committing,” online in the Electronic Theses Archive:
https://rdc.reed.edu/i/9e17a67d-63a5-4b51-b128-a357ecc8ff9f

#43: Assertions with Joseph Puglisi Clark '22, Philosophy

Dive into comic book studies and some great advice on how to approach the thesis with Will in Albert's first interview for the podcast.

Reed community members can read Will's thesis, “Extended Gutters: Sequencing Space and the Narrative Power of the Panel in Watchmen,” online in the Electronic Theses Archive:
https://rdc.reed.edu/i/8e6a6bc4-a8d9-4f02-85c1-7f5dbb5e6d34

#44: Crime Fighting Time with Will Knight '22, English

Take a circular hair tie and set it on a table. That's an "unknot". Pick it up, cut it, twist it into a knot and then reconnect the cut ends, and now you've got the kind of knot that mathematicians study. Follow along as Erika takes us on a brief journey into her thesis focusing on knot theory.

Reed community members can read Erika's thesis, “Khovanov Homology: Putting Pants on Knots,” online in the Electronic Theses Archive:
https://rdc.reed.edu/i/e4688b4e-d55b-46c4-a30e-0ebab9dd393c

#46: Knots and Unknots with Erika Beserra '22, Mathematics

Anjali spoke with Albert about her year studying the epic tale of the Ramayana and related texts that examine the story through both gender and caste.

Reed community members can read Anjali's thesis, “The Power of The Novel: Recognizing The Subaltern in The Ramayana,” online in the Electronic Theses Archive:
https://rdc.reed.edu/i/c314d6ca-5b08-4319-ae65-5b752cc2b5fb

#48: Retelling the Ramayana with Anjali Reddy '22, English

Montreal tells us about their study on the use of a particular phonetic feature of American English by a handful of genderfluid students at Reed, and also about how they became interested in linguistics.

Reed community members can read Montreal's thesis, “/s/tylizing the /s/elf: A First Look into the Concurrent Fluidity of Gender and Language,” online in the Electronic Theses Archive:
https://rdc.reed.edu/i/567f7c74-b4b2-4c84-9305-2158e2f8d853

#49: Speaking Gender with Montreal Benesch '22, Linguistics

Henry discusses finding his thesis topic in the comics character of J’onn J’onzz, the Martian Manhunter, and accomplishing the rare feat of turning in a thesis a little early. Tommy Schacht '25, our new producer for this year, interviewed Henry last May. Welcome, Tommy!

Reed community members can read Henry's thesis, “My Favorite Martian (Manhunter): Alien Immigrants in Comics,” online in the Electronic Theses Archive:
https://rdc.reed.edu/i/dd3febd9-fcd3-4af8-bc5f-8d2cd35cc130

#51: A Martian Immigrant with Henry Belman '23, English

LiLi's thesis focused on the struggles that Chinese women faced in the U.S. after the Civil War, and the damage done to Asian American immigrants by the Page Act of 1875.

Reed community members can read LiLi's thesis, "'For Lewd and Immoral Purposes': Chinese Women in the United States and the Page Act of 1875," online in the Electronic Theses Archive:
https://rdc.reed.edu/i/c4ecba9a-61de-456f-8a3b-c3b23d5802aa

#52: Post-Reconstruction Struggles of Chinese Women with LiLi Siedare '23, History

Betsy spent her thesis year thinking and unthinking what it's possible to know about science, and how science can be used and mis-used in the field of psychiatry.

Reed community members can read Betsy's thesis, “Now Doc, Hear Me Out— Epistemic Injustice in Psychiatry and a Case for Philosophy of Science as a Resource for Intervention,” online in the Electronic Theses Archive:
https://rdc.reed.edu/i/41ed3201-3ad3-42c6-939d-52cc8de17067

#53: Philosophy of Science with Betsy Hoekstra '20, Philosophy

Sofie gets excited about the opportunity she had to write an ethnographic thesis which explored relationships between the Indigenous peoples of the Columbia River and salmon. Sofie also talks about what it took to produce her "multi-chapter document".

Reed community members can read Sofie's thesis, "Salmon Pluralities: Nch’í Wána Pum, Traditional Fishing, and Indigenous Modernity," online in the Electronic Theses Archive:

https://rdc.reed.edu/i/e28041bc-9ad1-41cc-b990-b6c38655a4f1

#54: Indigenous Modernity along the Columbia River with Sofie Larsen-Teskey '23, Anthropology

Peri Joy planned for the work of her thesis year to center on race, religion, and the history of Oregon, and her writing focused on archives related to a 19th century congregation in Salem, Oregon led by Reverend Obed Dickinson. Dickinson’s decision to admit three formerly enslaved Black persons—Elizabeth Johnson and Robert and Polly Holmes—into his congregation marked the beginning of a six-year conflict between Dickinson, the white church members, and the broader Salem community over the issue of race.

Her thesis was titled, “Bringing the Truth to Bear: Obed Dickinson and an Imagined Community of Racial Equality in Nineteenth-Century Salem, Oregon.”

You can learn more about Obed Dickinson and Oregon's Black exclusion laws from the Oregon Historical Society's Oregon Encyclopedia.

Obed Dickinson: https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/dickinson-obed/
Oregon's Black exclusion laws: https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/exclusion_laws/#.Y02IQlLMIbY

#55: Oregon's Black Exclusion Laws and a Salem Church with Peri Joy Long '23, Religion

David studied archaeometry at Reed through an ad hoc major in the chemistry and classics departments (classics at Reed is now known as Greek, Latin, and Ancient Mediterranean Studies). He was introduced to archaeometry, the application of scientific methods and technology to archaeological study, by a research mentor after his sophomore year, and then went about petitioning to form his ad hoc program at Reed (it's not an easy process).

Reed community members can read David's thesis, “Hoping to Smash DNA with Rocks and Pickaxes,” online in the Electronic Theses Archive:
https://rdc.reed.edu/i/38fe0ef0-afa6-4cb8-b28a-2b988b231627

Explore past interviews on our website:
https://blogs.reed.edu/burn-your-draft/

#56: Breaking Ancient DNA with David Rothfels '23, Chemistry/Classics

We're excited to welcome Francesca back to the podcast! Francesca was our first student producer, named the podcast, and was integral as we were still figuring out what we were going to be and how we were going to do it. The voice of this podcast is largely Francesca's voice (along with the voices of all the alumni we've interviewed) and it would have been something entirely different without her. Thanks Frank! (Francesca went by Frank back when she was working for the podcast.)

Francesca's thesis examined Title IX implementations and student perceptions of these implementations at the level of the liberal arts college. Check out the episode to hear about institutional review boards, and why you should put your thesis into the library thesis template well before it's due.

Reed community members can read Francesca's thesis, “The Small Liberal Arts Experience: Title IX and Student Perceptions of Sexual Misconduct,” online in the Electronic Theses Archive:
https://rdc.reed.edu/i/ee929d9c-b4de-4985-b923-baefd1b68685

Explore more interviews on our website:
reed.edu/burnyourdraft

#57: Title IX Perceptions with Francesca Tangherlini '22, Sociology

Isaac graduated in fall 2023 as a spring/fall grad in the anthropology department. His thesis was titled "Aging in The Sun: An exploration of the Jewish Retirement Community in South Beach, Florida," and his work focused on how this community in Florida appeared and disappeared. He also talks about how he found anthropology, found his topic, and found Reed (he's from Australia).

Reed community members can read Isaac's thesis, “Aging in The Sun: An exploration of the Jewish Retirement Community in South Beach, Florida,” online in the Electronic Theses Archive:
https://rdc.reed.edu/i/8575a9a1-56ae-4511-b75e-9bac3cd03250

Explore more interviews on our website: reed.edu/burnyourdraft

#58: Snowbirds in South Beach with Isaac Walton '24, Anthropology

Producer and current senior, Juno Kerelis, talks about organization, and how being responsible for writing a year-long thesis differs from more structured, assignment-driven courses. Juno talks to other thesising seniors about how they're dealing with organization as well.

Explore more interviews on our website: reed.edu/burnyourdraft

Follow us on Instagram: instagram.com/burnyourdraft/

Thesis Mini #1

Joray tells us about the joy of digging into academic papers in their fall semester, and the fun of using the software in the linguistics lab to analyze the trove of interviews they were working with. There was also a kitten.

We'd also like to welcome Avis Corea '27 to the team. Avis is our new student producer on the podcast, and this is the first episode she's produced for us. Welcome, Avis!

Reed community members can read Joray's thesis, “Linguistic Erasure Hertz; a post-binary discussion of F0 performance in read speech,” online in the Electronic Theses Archive:
https://rdc.reed.edu/i/4c352c75-6c02-45c7-a556-e02c704c6fb1

Explore more interviews with Reed College alumni on our website:
reed.edu/burnyourdraft

#59: Performing Gendered Speech with Joray Foster-Wexler '23, Linguistics

Welcome to Burn Your Draft, a new podcast about the Reed College senior thesis experience. Each episode features an interview with a student or alum about their thesis experience. The first episodes launch on August 31st, 2020, and new episodes will release every other Monday.

Trailer

In this special episode we hear from Seth Paskin '90, Reed alumnus and co-founder of Burn Your Draft, on the motivation behind the podcast. We’ll also hear about his own experience as a co-founder and co-host of the podcast, The Partially Examined Life, and his time thesising at Reed as a philosophy major.
This live interview was recorded during the 2020 Paideia week on January 25th in the living room of Prexy, a building on the Reed College campus that housed presidents of the college in the early days of Reed. It’s now the home of the Center for Life Beyond Reed and Alumni Programs.

#0: Burn Your Draft Live Debut Event with Seth Paskin '90, Philosophy

You don’t have to look beyond Portland to see the topic of this thesis. Today we will be hearing from Economics/Mathematics Reed graduate, Ryan Kobler '20, about her thesis on land pricing in Portland.

Reed community members can read Ryan's thesis online in the Electronic Theses Archive: https://rdc.reed.edu/i/5cf0fb28-87b4-42e6-86dc-0493bbae04d5

#1: Land Pricing in Portland with Ryan Kobler '20, Econ/Math

I’m sure you've read joke books, but have you read ancient joke books? Let’s go back to our comedic roots with Jake Buck and his translation of one of the oldest Chinese joke books.

#2: Translating Ancient Chinese Jokes with Jake Buck '20, Chinese

Make sure to grab your tin foil hats for this episode of Burn Your Draft and get ready to hear from Molly Johnson on the sociological aspects of UFO subculture. Seth Paskin '90 hosts this episode.

#3: UFOs and the People Who Love Them with Molly Johnson '19, Sociology

Is history repeating itself? Today we will hear from Soha on China’s Belt and Road Initiative (which is often described as the 21st century silk road), and its effect on foreign investment in sub-saharan Africa.

Reed community members can read Soha's thesis online in the Electronic Theses Archive: https://rdc.reed.edu/c/etheses/s/r?_pp=20&query=soha%20ahmed&s=cba1d9f104c81a09b4c2739df6299fa52165a034&p=1&pp=1

#4: China's New Silk Road with Soha Ahmed '20, Economics

Quarantine has created an atmosphere for a lot of difficult conversations with friends and especially families. Today we will hear from Jade about her research study on gender and pronouns amongst Reed students.

Reed community members can read Jade's thesis online in the Electronic Theses Archive: https://rdc.reed.edu/i/d704b617-47e4-4300-bb0b-cf209765f3b3

#5: Gender Pronoun Use at Reed with Jade Fung '20, Psychology

“Burn Your Draft” is a podcast exploring the year-long senior thesis experience at Reed College, an independent liberal arts and sciences college in Portland, Oregon. Each episode showcases a senior or recent graduate and interviews them about their thesis: what is it, why did they do it, and what comes next. This podcast is a joint production of Reed students, staff, and alumni, and was made possible by a gift from Seth Paskin '90. New episodes released every other week during the academic year. Episodes may contain explicit language and may deal with sensitive topics. The views, information, or opinions expressed on this podcast are solely those of the individuals involved and do not necessarily represent those of Reed College.

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