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

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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.

#29: Republicanism and Blackness with Anesu Ndoro ’21, Anthropology

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Anesu spent his pandemic thesis year investigating Black conservative Republicans in the U.S., and examining how ideas of family connect Black conservatives and the Republican party.

Reed community members can read Anesu’s thesis, “Family Matters: Black Conservatives and Political Belonging in the Republican Party,” online in the Electronic Theses Archive.

#28: Attitudes toward Disability with Madhav Pulle ’21, Psychology

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Madhav conducted a study of college students, staff, and faculty to learn about how accepting these groups were of accommodations in higher education for various kinds of disabilities.

Reed community members can read Madhav’s thesis, “How Appropriate is “Appropriate”? Views of Students, Faculty, and Staff on Disability Accommodations Based on Type of Disability,” online in the Electronic Theses Archive.

This episode contains discussion of topics concerning mental health.

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

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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.

#26: Subservient Citizens with Abhi Rajshekar ’21, Political Science

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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 was also featured in Reed Magazine’s 2021 “What is a Reedie, Anyway?” article.

This is our last episode for the fall semester, but we’ll be back in late January with more interviews from the class of 2021. We hope you have a happy holiday season.

Reed community members can read Abhi’s thesis, “Constructing Subservience: Theorizing Citizenship Under the Incidence of State- Sponsored Violence,” online in the Electronic Theses Archive.

#25: The Queer Outdoors with Lauren Mondroski ’21, History

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Lauren and Amelie talk about Lauren’s thesis on intersections between queerness and the wilderness in postwar war America.

Lauren also created a Spotify playlist to go along with her thesis work. Here’s the playlist link if you’d like to check it out.

Reed community members can read Lauren’s thesis, “Out on the Trail: Queer Representations of Wilderness, Morality, and Fantasy, 1950-1979,” online in the Electronic Theses Archive.

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

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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.

#23: Identities in Superhero Comics with Precious Romo ’21, Art

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Precious and Amelie discuss Precious’s thesis work, which included creating an original comic called MOTH, and a written thesis exploring identity in superheroes and superhero comics.

Reed community members can read Precious’s thesis, “Framing Heroes In Crisis: Approaches to Identity in Superhero Comics,” online in the Electronic Theses Archive.

#22: Afghanistan and the Taliban with Ethan Sandweiss ’19, History

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Our host, Amelie Andreas ’24, speaks with Ethan Sandweiss ’19 about his thesis on Afghanistan entitled “Highway to Hell: Afghanistan, America, and the Fragmented State.” Since this episode concerned recent events, this interview focuses a little more on the content of the thesis, and a little less on the experience of writing the thesis, than our interviews usually do. It is also a little bit longer than most episodes.

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#21: Micro to Macro with Mahalia Dryak ’20, Environmental Studies

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Frank Tangherlini ’22 talks to Mahalia about her thesis on microplastics, macroinvertebrates, and fresh water river systems in the Pacific Northwest. Reed’s Environmental Studies program is an interdisciplinary major which requires students to select a focus in one of five disciplines: biology, chemistry, economics, history, or political science.

Reed community members can read Mahalia’s thesis, “The Ubiquitous Pollutant: Measuring microplastics and ecosystem health along the Clackamas River, OR,” online in the Electronic Theses Archive.