The podcast serves as a creative space to discuss the experiences of humanities students
BY JULIE HUANG – arts@theaggie.org
The start of winter quarter and the new year is an excellent time to introduce positive changes to one’s life, whether that involves starting new habits, meeting new people or consuming new media. When it comes to exploring new ways of looking at literature and the experiences of literature students, the podcast “Bookish” is an invaluable resource.
Hosted by English majors Melissa and Lani and edited by John Yarbrough, the undergraduate-based podcast aims to provide a creative space and outlet for literature students to discuss literary studies and the arts through a myriad of angles, with the overall goal of carving out a space specifically for students interested in humanities and the arts. In hosting this literature-focused podcast at UC Davis, where attention toward STEM subjects can feel widespread and inescapable to students, Melissa and Lani hope to touch on topics specifically relevant to humanities students and the issues that come up when navigating university on a humanities pathway.
Episode six of “Bookish,” for example, discusses the anxieties and uncertainties of choosing an English major when it comes to the resulting career outcomes, which are not always straightforward. The podcast acknowledges how parents may react in a skeptical manner when it comes to making certain choices, while also emphasizing how important it is to find support from peers with shared experiences and fellow English majors who they can empathize with.
A primary goal of “Bookish” is to bring together students and faculty in an environment that is less structured than academic settings usually are. Hosting faculty such as English Professor Gregory Dobbins, as well as graduate and undergraduate students, Melissa and Lani strike a conversational tone while remaining informational.
Each guest on the podcast brings their own interests and perspectives on the broad categories of literature and humanities-related subjects, infusing every episode of “Bookish” with a distinct personal charm that cannot be easily replicated. It follows that the podcast covers a wide variety of topics all falling under the purview of literature, such as Irish literature, being neurodivergent in academia, queer and transgender poetics, disability studies, environmental humanities and the journey of obtaining a Ph.D. in literature.
During each episode, Melissa and Lani also often commiserate about the little details present in the reality of being an English major, touching on things like how a reading-heavy course load may cause declining motivation to read for pleasure or acknowledging the strange experience of being a humanities student during the widespread growth of Artificial Intelligence chatbots like ChatGPT.
The content of the podcast is complemented by the gentle, warm atmosphere running through each episode. Throughout the six episodes currently available on the podcast’s channel, it is clear that Melissa, Lani and John hold genuine passion for their goal of creating a inviting space dedicated to literature students and the unique issues and circumstances they face, as well as thoughtful care for each of the guests they invite onto “Bookish.”
Written by: Julie Huang — arts@theaggie.org
