In today’s episode, our producer Ace sits down 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.

You won’t want to miss Ace and Claire’s conversation about how literary subgenres can critique capitalism, the difficulty of self-imposed deadlines, the importance of romanticizing one’s life, and the idea that sometimes you have to be the one to go looking for the answers that they don’t want you to find.

Reed community members can read Claire’s thesis, “To Reap What is Sown” online in the Electronic Thesis Archive: https://rdc.reed.edu/i/38514f29-e0e5-4d9e-b436-2f8b007d4665

Explore more interviews with Reed College alumni on our website:

reed.edu/burnyourdraft

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.

Reed community members can read Henry’s thesis, “Naturalist Afterlives of the Frontier Myth” online in the Electronic Thesis Archive: https://rdc.reed.edu/i/917eb624-f94d-453a-9638-4975c6123d5f

Explore more interviews with Reed College alumni on our website:

reed.edu/burnyourdraft

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.

Reed community members can read Arianna's thesis, “One Albuquerque? Crime, Security, and Dispossession in Albuquerque’s Sacrifice Zone” online in the Electronic Theses Archive:

https://rdc.reed.edu/i/ef189f1b-bd01-4124-a2fa-b3921222eea8

Explore more interviews with Reed College alumni on our website:

reed.edu/burnyourdraft

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.

Reed community members can read Amelie's thesis, “MntR: The Mastermind of Manganese Ion Homeostasis” online in the Electronic Theses Archive:

https://rdc.reed.edu/i/9e05e465-0d21-4fb0-9de1-e6d4d2bf1349

Explore more interviews with Reed College alumni on our website:

reed.edu/burnyourdraft

Emma's economics department thesis explored the effect that Tony awards have on the consumer demand for Broadway shows.

Reed community members can read Emma's thesis, “'It's All About the Green': The Tony Award's Effect on Broadway Show Demand” online in the Electronic Theses Archive:

https://rdc.reed.edu/i/2ec90330-430a-417d-ad4b-b724611a5c60

Explore more interviews with Reed College alumni on our website:

reed.edu/burnyourdraft

We're back for the 2025–26 school year after taking a hiatus last spring. Today, Ocean shares his thesis experience with us which was focused on studying writers from the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean, especially Édouard Glissant, and tells us why he thinks poetry and art is important.

Ace Lackey '27, our new student producer, produced this episode for us. Welcome to the podcast Ace!

Reed community members can read Ocean's thesis, “ rhizophora” online in the Electronic Theses Archive:

https://rdc.reed.edu/i/ba4917ec-7250-448e-976a-ac001f5b3edc

Explore more interviews with Reed College alumni on our website:

reed.edu/burnyourdraft

Juno Kerelis '24 was the third student podcast producer on Burn Your Draft, and we're so happy to get to speak to them on the other side of their time at Reed. If you've been listening since Juno hosted the podcast, you may have noticed little musical interludes during some of the episodes. Most of those were composed by Juno! Thank you for your work on the podcast, and for coming to talk to us about your year studying the Invisible Man.

Reed community members can read Juno's thesis, “Yams Extending Infinitely Across Time: A Blues Philology of Ellison's Invisible Man” online in the Electronic Theses Archive:

https://rdc.reed.edu/i/38b592a4-61fb-4d2c-8235-6901a7ff1820

Explore more interviews with Reed College alumni on our website:

reed.edu/burnyourdraft

Josie wrote a pharmaceutical development thesis about looking for a new way to develop antibiotics. She also tells us about her interest in biology and chemistry and looking for bridges between the disciplines, and how chemistry can be used to do things like examine snake poop to learn about snake evolution.

Reed community members can read Josie's thesis, “A Codrug for Resistant Coinfection: The First Clinically Relevant Antimicrobial-Antiviral Ionic Cocrystal” online in the Electronic Theses Archive:

https://rdc.reed.edu/i/e2a19aba-968a-4281-bd0b-bccc4dce68f5

Explore more interviews with Reed College alumni on our website:

reed.edu/burnyourdraft

Jordan spent a year writing an analytical thesis on Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, which Jordan calls a "psychosexual gothic romance novel" in the introduction of her thesis. She also talks to Avis about the surprising amount of time she spent learning about British estate taxes while studying this novel.

Reed community members can read Jordan's thesis, “Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca: The Poetics, Places, and Gender Politics of the Lesbian Gothic” online in the Electronic Theses Archive:

https://rdc.reed.edu/i/bb4eb631-dbdc-49fd-b99c-e74e410ba891

Explore more interviews with Reed College alumni on our website:

reed.edu/burnyourdraft

Aroon tells us a bit about airline economics under potential carbon taxes, wanting to become an entrepreneur, and deciding to come to Reed because it seemed mysterious.

Reed community members can read Aroon's thesis, “Airline Profitability & Fleet Strategies in a Carbon-Tax Environment” online in the Electronic Theses Archive:

https://rdc.reed.edu/i/3f32060b-6505-44c2-ab48-97984933931c

Explore more interviews with Reed College alumni on our website:

reed.edu/burnyourdraft