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 Reed College alumni on our website: reed.edu/burnyourdraft

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/

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

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

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/

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

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

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

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

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

Burn Your Draft is on break for the summer. Our next season will begin in the fall with our new host and producer, Tommy Schacht '25. Thanks to Albert Kerelis '24 for all the work and conversations, and good luck with your thesis next year!

Stephanie's thesis examines female-female love as depicted in Republican era Chinese fiction, and includes a full original translation of one of the stories she examines. Reed community members can read Stephanie's thesis, “Writing Love and Liminality: Female Homoeroticism in Early Republican Chinese Fiction,” online in the Electronic Theses Archive: https://rdc.reed.edu/i/546e55bd-dc70-4f00-89d6-78c48ed9eddc

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

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

Ben used his thesis to examine connections between aggressive sports and stress. Reed community members can read Ben's thesis, "Stress, Aggression, and Performance: The Effects of Daily Hassles on High-Aggression Athletics," online in the Electronic Theses Archive: https://rdc.reed.edu/i/6812806a-da94-42ff-9ea8-ca417f2cb8ff

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

Albert talked with Hannah about her thesis exploring how students with chronic illnesses manage their time while in college by studying Reed students. Reed community members can read Hannah's thesis, "'Resting time is not wasted time': Chronic Illness, Time Perspectives, and The Reed Student Experience," online in the Electronic Theses Archive: https://rdc.reed.edu/i/dcae56eb-a20f-4ba4-825d-e6568c39b0b1

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

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

Natalya and Amelie talk about how Natalya found Reed and became a religion major. This is also our last episode of the semester. We'll be back after winter break with more interviews from the class of 2022. Reed community members can read Natalya's thesis, “The Ineffable Center: Islam in Borges's Intertextual Universes,” online in the Electronic Theses Archive: https://rdc.reed.edu/i/75acb3ac-1447-437e-9631-0dab55a0a1ea