Shows / Burn Your Draft
Burn Your Draft
“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…
Episodes
Burn Your Draft#28: Attitudes toward Disability with Madhav Pulle '21, Psychology
Madhav conducted a study of college students, staff, and faculty to learn about how accepting these groups were of accommodations in higher education for…
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#27: Franken-thesis with Gabri LaFratta '21, English
Gabri's thesis focused on Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" and a response novel written two hundred years later by Jeanette Winterson called "FranKISStein." We…
Burn Your Draft#26: Subservient Citizens with Abhi Rajshekar '21, Political Science
Abhi discusses how he came up with the idea of subservient citizens, and what led him to want to investigate state sponsored violence in his thesis year. He…
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#25: The Queer Outdoors with Lauren Mondroski '21, History
Lauren and Amelie talk about Lauren's thesis on intersections between queerness and the wilderness in postwar war America. Lauren also created a Spotify…
Burn Your Draft#24: Gaps between Cells with Segovia Garcia '21, Biochem and Molecular Biology
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…
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#23: Identities in Superhero Comics with Precious Romo '21, Art
Precious and Amelie discuss Precious's thesis work, which included creating an original comic called "MOTH," and a written thesis exploring identity in…
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#22: Afghanistan and the Taliban with Ethan Sandweiss '19, History
Our host, Amelie Andreas '24, speaks with Ethan Sandweiss '19 about his thesis on Afghanistan entitled "Highway to Hell: Afghanistan, America, and the…
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#21: Micro to Macro with Mahalia Dryak '20, Environmental Studies
Frank Tangherlini '22 talks to Mahalia about her thesis on microplastics, macroinvertebrates, and fresh water river systems in the Pacific Northwest. Reed's…
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#20: Sexual Politics in Argentina with Dashiell Allen '21, Spanish
Dashiell's thesis exploration of sexual politics in Argentina in the 70s and 80s begins by examining a publication called Somos, an underground magazine…
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#19: Deducing the Indeducible with Rowen Bangs '20, Philosophy/Math
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…
Burn Your DraftSummer 2021 Announcement
Burn Your Draft is taking a break for the summer and will be back in fall 2021 with our new student producer and host, Amelie Andreas '24. We'll have a bunch…
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#18: Tiny Machines with Kate Stoll '04, Biochem and Molecular Biology
Kate Stoll '04 reflects on her thesis work on ScaR proteins with Arthur Glasfeld, Margret Geselbracht Professor of Chemistry, and her fascination with…
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#17: The Dizzying Math behind Spin Chains with Nate MacFadden '19, Math/Physics
Join Seth Paskin '90 as he interviews interdisciplinary Math/Physics graduate Nate MacFadden in Fall 2019 on his research into just how predictable quantum…
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#16: "Alexa, Who Are You?" with Libby O'Neil '19, MALS
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…
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#15: Queer Intimacy in Media with Saga Darnell '20, Theatre/Dance
Frank and Saga discuss Saga's thesis, "Our Beds Are Islands: Creating Queer Intimacy Through Physical Theatre In The Age Of Streaming Media", which included a…
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#14: Wholesale Electricity Markets with Mitzi Zitler '19, Economics
Seth Paskin '90 interviewed Mitzi Zitler '19 back in fall of 2019 about her thesis work investigating the wholesale electricity market in Oregon, and some of…
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#13: Families in Photography Books with Duncan King '20, Art
Frank and Duncan talk about his thesis, "Beyond the Photo Album: Families in Photography Books," and Duncan explains why photo books are his favorite way to…
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#12: Smoke Gets in Your Eyes with Gerry Peña-Martinez '20, Art/Economics
Gerry wrote a thesis which focuses on 20th century cigarette advertisements, and the relationship which those advertisements mediated between cigarettes and…
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#11: Microfinance in Mexico with Alyse Cronk '20, Economics
Alyse entered Reed with an interest in microfinance and connections in Mexico, so spending a year examining microloans and their outcomes for people in Mexico…
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#10: The Politics of Pat Robertson with Lewis Chapman '19, Political Science
Lewis had a secular upbringing, but was fascinated by Fundamentalist Christianity in the U.S. from a young age. His political science department thesis gave…
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#9: DNA Investigations of Tiny Crustaceans with Nick Thayer '20, Biology
Learn a bit about genomic sequencing and annotation of Daphnia magna (water fleas) with Nick as he talks about finding his thesis topic and advisor, and how he…
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#8: Trauma and Stand-Up Comedy with Ella Fisher '20, English
Ella Fisher '20 talks about the relationships between trauma and stand-up comedy in a thesis that discusses both Hannah Gadsby and Richard Pryor. Reed…
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#7: An Illusion of Spontaneity with Rosie Tabachnick '19, Theatre
A spontaneous thesis sounds like an oxymoron, but to Rosie Tabachnick it sounded like a challenge. Today we will hear about the use of spontaneity as a method…
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#6: Splitting Photons with Ely Eastman '20, Physics
While photons are not considered matter, measuring, predicting and controlling photons matters a lot for the field of quantum optics. Today we will hear from…
Burn Your Draft#0: Burn Your Draft Live Debut Event with Seth Paskin '90, Philosophy
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…
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#1: Land Pricing in Portland with Ryan Kobler '20, Econ/Math
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…
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#2: Translating Ancient Chinese Jokes with Jake Buck '20, Chinese
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…
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#3: UFOs and the People Who Love Them with Molly Johnson '19, Sociology
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…
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#4: China's New Silk Road with Soha Ahmed '20, Economics
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…
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#5: Gender Pronoun Use at Reed with Jade Fung '20, Psychology
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…
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Trailer
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…