Burn Your Draft

My Burn Your Draft episode is out!! Thanks @burnyourdraft for having me on to talk about my thesis. It was a huge honor to work on this project and I’m grateful to be given the opportunity to share it with folks <3 You can find the episode at the link in my bio, or wherever you get podcasts! #burnyourdraftpod

Ace sits down with Emilie Kelly ’25 to discuss Berlin’s war memorial Neue Wache, or New Guardhouse, the centerpiece of Emilie’s anthropology thesis. Following a semester abroad in Berlin, Emilie became fascinated by the cultural rituals surrounding war memorials, and how these memorials—and the administrations that govern them—play an important role in constructing our collective memory. Tune in to hear Emilie and Ace explore the complex relationship between history and memorialization, from past regimes to the rise of authoritarianism around the world today. In addition, Emilie reflects on how her archival research, ethnographic fieldwork, and cohort-style thesis experience at Reed came together in her thesis—a project which, as she and Ace put it, “doesn’t need to be perfect; it just needs to be done.” Listen to Emilie (and other recent grads) talk about their thesis year on our website (link also in bio): 🔥📜🔥 reed.edu/burnyourdraft 🔥📜🔥 Listen to Burn Your Draft anywhere you find podcasts. #reedcollege #beyondreed #lifebeyondreed @lifebeyondreed @reedcollege

Ace chats with Lucas Forshee about his thesis on the molecule strychnine, which, despite being poisonous, was used as a stimulant for athletes in the 1904 Olympics. Lucas shares a bit about the chemical composition of strychnine, why it's such a complicated molecule, and why it's so fascinating to researchers. But Lucas's research didn't just take place in the chemistry lab: a big part of his project was developing a written history of strychnine. Tune in to hear Lucas reflect on synthesizing the humanities and science in his thesis, and how this process gave him a renewed love for writing and a desire to return to graduate school (eventually). Listen to Lucas (and other recent grads) talk about their thesis year on our website (link also in bio): 🔥📜🔥 reed.edu/burnyourdraft 🔥📜🔥 Listen to Burn Your Draft anywhere you find podcasts. #reedcollege #beyondreed #lifebeyondreed @lifebeyondreed @reedcollege

In this episode, we hear from Caleb about the central theme of violence in McCarthy’s 1985 novel Blood Meridian and its relevance to modern times. Responding to the grimness of McCarthy’s book, set in the 19th-century American southwest, Caleb explores questions such as: What is the significance of violence in society, and how can we resist its inevitability? How can we make meaning, as readers, to respond effectively to violence in our society today? Tune in to hear about Caleb’s process of literary analysis, how his background in Religious Studies showed up unexpectedly in his thesis, and how he found glimmers of hope amidst the bleakness of McCarthy’s novel and, at times, the modern world. Listen to Caleb (and other recent grads) talk about their thesis year on our website (link also in bio): 🔥📜🔥 reed.edu/burnyourdraft 🔥📜🔥 Listen to Burn Your Draft anywhere you find podcasts. #reedcollege #beyondreed #lifebeyondre @lifebeyondreed @reedcollege

In today’s episode, we hear from Rhiannon about restorative justice, therapeutic horticulture, and how their intersection can present alternatives to the carceral justice system for young adults. Rhiannon shares about the experience of working in a gardening program at the juvenile justice complex in Northeast Portland and how this experience profoundly changed Rhiannon’s life. Tune in to hear more about how gardening can cultivate belonging, community, and confidence for young people, as well as how this research might lead to long-term policy changes in the future. Listen to Rhiannon (and other recent grads) talk about their thesis year on our website (link also in bio): 🔥📜🔥 reed.edu/burnyourdraft 🔥📜🔥 Listen to Burn Your Draft anywhere you find podcasts. #reedcollege #beyondreed #lifebeyondreed @lifebeyondreed @reedcollege

In this episode, Lucas joins our host and producer Ace to explore the history of student protests in 20th-century Lebanon. Together, they unpack why these movements can only be fully understood through the lens of class politics and the social forces that shaped them. Tune in for a wide-ranging conversation on the inseparability of class from broader struggles such as the Palestinian movement, Arab nationalism, and resistance to tuition hikes, as well as the challenge of adapting a thesis in the wake of major global political events. Lucas also shares practical insights on organizing research notes, navigating archival work, and how a thesis can evolve beyond Reed—his now taking shape as a book. Listen to Lucas (and other recent grads) talk about their thesis year on our website (link also in bio): 🔥📜🔥 reed.edu/burnyourdraft 🔥📜🔥 Listen to Burn Your Draft anywhere you find podcasts. #reedcollege #beyondreed #lifebeyondreed @lifebeyondreed @reedcollege

The idea for Liz's thesis, “The Makings of a Good Birth,” emerged from a moment of doubt about career paths and a deep frustration with how often women are ignored in the birthing process. What began as a casual discovery of the differences between doulas and midwives, and whether this could be a potential career path, turned into an interview-based anthropology project examining how birth is experienced, remembered, and shaped by culture, history, and power. Listen to Liz (and other recent grads) talk about their thesis year on our website (link also in bio): 🔥📜🔥 reed.edu/burnyourdraft 🔥📜🔥 Listen to Burn Your Draft anywhere you find podcasts. #reedcollege #beyondreed #lifebeyondreed @lifebeyondreed @reedcollege

Hannah's thesis journey crossed disciplines but always circled back to climate change. Her project draws on interviews with oyster farmers working along Maine's coastline—one of the fastest-warming in the world. Listen to Hannah (and other recent grads) talk about their thesis year on our website (link also in bio): 🔥📜🔥 reed.edu/burnyourdraft 🔥📜🔥 Listen to Burn Your Draft anywhere you find podcasts. #reedcollege #beyondreed #lifebeyondreed @lifebeyondreed @reedcollege

Last August we met with Claire, an English major with a creative writing concentration, to discuss weird fiction, the Reed library—and what may or may not lie beneath it—and the complexities of being a college student in the modern era. The elevator pitch of Claire’s creative writing thesis? Imagine a college that eats people, complete with a student reporter chasing the truth, a dash of ritual sacrifice, and a healthy helping of moral ambiguity. Listen to Claire (and other recent grads) talk about their thesis year on our website (link also in bio): 🔥📜🔥 reed.edu/burnyourdraft 🔥📜🔥 Listen to Burn Your Draft anywhere you find podcasts. #reedcollege #beyondreed #lifebeyondreed @lifebeyondreed @reedcollege

In this episode, we hear from Henry, an English major whose thesis journey took a few unexpected turns: from exploring Pacific Northwest regionalism to diving deep into the world of literary naturalism. Henry unpacks how authors Jack London and Frank Norris challenged historian Frederick Jackson Turner’s “frontier myth,” reimagining the American frontier not as a vanished landscape but as an evolving cultural, economic, and imaginative force. Tune in to hear about survival narratives, Social Darwinist ideas, and what happens when you have to scrap half your thesis to start again (spoiler: it’s not fun, but it’s worth it). Henry reflects on the highs and frustrations of the Reed thesis process, the art of negotiating with an advisor, and the unexpected joy of discovering how to make seemingly unrelated ideas work together. Listen to Henry (and other recent grads) talk about their thesis year on our website (link also in bio): 🔥📜🔥 reed.edu/burnyourdraft 🔥📜🔥 Listen to Burn Your Draft anywhere you find podcasts. #reedcollege #beyondreed #lifebeyondreed @lifebeyondreed @reedcollege

Arianna focused on the impacts of the closure of a Walmart in her hometown of Albuquerque for her thesis in the anthropology department. She also tells us about how Reed College’s Anthropology Student Fund helped to support her research, and how her thesis adviser helped her re-work her initial thesis ideas using a concept from environmental anthropology. Listen to Arianna (and other recent grads) talk about their thesis year on our website (link also in bio): 🔥📜🔥 reed.edu/burnyourdraft 🔥📜🔥 Listen to Burn Your Draft anywhere you find podcasts. #reedcollege #beyondreed #lifebeyondreed @lifebeyondreed @reedcollege

Amelie started out in the biology department at Reed because she wanted to study bacteria and living things, but then she got a chance to start learning from the biochemists on the faculty. They helped her build the bridge from chemistry to life, which led her to switch her major from biology to biochemistry and molecular biology. Amelie was also the second student producer for Burn Your Draft, working with us from 2021–22, and it was a delight to get to talk to her. Listen to Amelie (and other recent grads) talk about their thesis year on our website (link also in bio): 🔥📜🔥 reed.edu/burnyourdraft 🔥📜🔥 Listen to Burn Your Draft anywhere you find podcasts. #reedcollege #beyondreed #lifebeyondreed @lifebeyondreed