AfterMASH

AfterMASH Podcast
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In elementary school, a silly game called MASH laid out our lives for us, answering society’s most desired questions: who will we marry, what kind of house will we live in, and how many kids will we have? Maybe you were like us, and you survived the suburban-kid-to-college pipeline and graduated thinking you had all the answers. But then you found yourself in your twenties or thirties, having done everything “right”, but somehow nowhere near the future you had envisioned for yourself. Well, we are here to talk about it! Join Jackie and Zoë every other week as we attempt to answer new questions, using the old faithful game of MASH. aftermash.substack.com

Episodes

  1. Shoulda Put a Ring On It (Or Not?)

    1 DAY AGO

    Shoulda Put a Ring On It (Or Not?)

    Jackie has been staunchly opposed to diamond engagement rings ever since learning that blood diamonds were a thing. However, she realizes that she must be missing something, because we all know blood diamonds are a thing, and yet Every Single One of her friends got a diamond engagement ring anyway. So, what gives? Are diamond rings the epitome of the late stage capitalism hellscape we live in today (as Jackie thinks), or an enduring tradition of love and fidelity (as everyone else seems to believe)? How will Jackie sleep at night when she learns that the answer might just be “both”? And, if you are thinking about getting engaged any time soon, what should you do? Tune in to find out. Fun fact: Leonardo DiCaprio, who starred in the 2006 thriller Blood Diamonds (based on the brutal civil war in Sierra Leone), was so disgusted by what he learned about the industry that he now forbids his dates from wearing diamonds to red carpet events, and he has invested in a lab grown diamond company. If you want to learn more about blood diamonds, I highly recommend the book Blood Diamonds: Tracking the Deadly Path of the World’s Most Precious Stones, by Greg Campbell The Global Witness page talking about the Kimberley Process and why they ultimately withdrew: The Kimberley Process | Global Witness How Taylor Swift’s Engagement Ring Is Changing the Diamond Game | The New Yorker How an Ad Campaign Invented the Diamond Engagement Ring - The Atlantic  The original 1982 article in The Atlantic that showed the world for the first time that diamond engagement rings are a myth: Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond? - The Atlantic Comparing Lab Grown vs Mined Is Growing Diamonds a Sustainable Alternative to Diamond Mining? - IGS - International Gem Society Some stats from 2024 Engagement Ring Trends Study | Jewelers Mutual  More stats, specifically lab grown diamond info, from Diamond Statistics: Industry Trade & Production Figures Fun fact: diamond engagement rings aren’t ubiquitous in the rest of the world: Edahn Golan @ Innov8: Interpreting The Shifts In The Diamond Industry - best jewellery magazines India  Share of brides in the U.S. who received a diamond engagement ring-1990| Statista  The study that talks about the inverse relationship between cost of ring and wedding, and marriage duration: "A Diamond Is Forever'' And Other Fairy Tales: The Relationship Between Wedding Expenses And Marriage Duration  This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit aftermash.substack.com

    59 min
  2. One Big Professional Distraction

    17 MAR

    One Big Professional Distraction

    If you wake up in the morning feeling like a “Professional”, I have some questions about your identity. In this episode, Zoe will be talking about what she believes the real problem is with the educational loan caps enacted in the One Big Beautiful Bill from the perspective of the medical journey.  If you’re someone who knows how to read legislation, you can find the OBBB here. I am not. I know of a podcaster by the name of Jennifer Briney who has built a career of watching C-SPANN so you can also listen to her give a two part rundown. I just focused on the federal loan caps for education.  As far as student loans data is concerned, Education Data Initiative, US News & World Report, and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities were my main sources. And good ol’ studentaid.gov spelled out the current federal aid funding available to students. Ivywise told me a bit about financing for university in the UK.  I asked Merriam-Webster what the definition of “professional” is. And obviously reddit its thoughts on medical school loans: How much is everyone realistically pulling out for loans for med school? The average debt thing makes no sense to me Are med students really in this much debt??? I’m looking at 560k debt after graduating medical school. What specialties can I reasonably work and pay off my loans? And because I’m an APA girl at heart, this is the study on Title IV eligible versus non-eligible for-profit schools (aka DeVry, Phoenix, Kaplan Universities) - pretend there’s a hanging line: Cellini, S. R., & Goldin, C. (2014). Does federal student aid raise tuition? New evidence on for-profit colleges. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 6(4), 174-206. And the list of resources at the end of my notes which may be redundant to above but it’s important I don’t miss anything because plagiarism is the eighth deadly sin (or maybe the first, depending on who you ask): Key Changes to Federal Student Loans Made in the Recent One Big Beautiful Bill Act NAICU - Frequently Asked Questions About the One Big Beautiful Bill Act Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans | Federal Student Aid University of Connecticut Tuition and Fees | SoFi Average Cost of College Over Time: Yearly Tuition Since 1970 How Much Student Loan Debt Does the Average College Graduate Have? U.S. vs. U.K. College Costs | IvyWise How much does a university degree cost and is it worth it? College 'sticker prices' have risen dramatically. Here's why : NPR Cellini, S. R., & Goldin, C. (2014). Does federal student aid raise tuition? New evidence on for-profit colleges. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 6(4), 174-206. Trustees approve 2026 budget, frozen base tuition for main campus and no increase for Indiana residents at Purdue Northwest and Purdue Fort Wayne for 2025-26, 2026-27 The Hidden Costs of College: Why Tuition Keeps Rising State Higher Education Funding Cuts Have Pushed Costs to Students, Worsened Inequality | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities Average Medical School Debt [2025]: Student Loan Statistics How Much Does It Cost To Become A Doctor In The UK? - Study Medicine Europe How much is everyone realistically pulling out for loans for med school? : r/premed Financial Aid for 2026 Incoming Health Professional Students Post-OBBB Analyzing the Effects of the OBBB's Student Loan Limits on Tuition - AAF Source of the stat that female-dominated fields get paid less because they are female-dominated: Rich Girl Nation by Katie Gatti Tassin This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit aftermash.substack.com

    43 min
  3. The Booming Business of Fertility Preservation

    3 MAR

    The Booming Business of Fertility Preservation

    In this, our inaugural episode, Jackie and Zoe introduce the podcast and the game of MASH. Once we are all on the same page about the best way to predict the future (circa 2006), Jackie takes us on a journey to learn about the hottest new trend in elective surgeries for women in their 30s: egg freezing. What is it, how does it work, how much does it cost, and why would one do it? For the audience who isn’t on the market, don’t worry: even if you don’t have eggs or don’t want to freeze them, there’s still a lot to learn about capitalism, biology, and health insurance (yay adult things.) If you are considering freezing your eggs, I strongly recommend the following two resources: Everything Egg Freezing by Catherine Hendy and Brittany Hawkins and Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology  Sources for specific statistics and tables mentioned in the episode: The study that is the source of the graph and two tables shown:  Predicting the likelihood of live birth for elective oocyte cryopreservation by Goldman et al 2017  Utilization rate of frozen eggs:  Outcomes of Social Egg Freezing by Kakkar et al 2023 , Planned oocyte cryopreservation by Hirsch et al 2024 , and Planned oocyte cryopreservation-10-15-year follow-up by Blakemore et al 2021  The best age to freeze your eggs:  Optimal timing for elective egg freezing by Mesen et al 2015  Comparing IVF vs using previously frozen eggs for a woman who is 40:  Baby Budgeting by Devine et al 2015  Likelihood of getting pregnant in a given month, by age (“fecundity”):  Age and fecundability in a North American preconception cohort study by Wesselink et al 2017  Origins of infertility; tl;dr approximately ⅓ from female partner, ⅓ from male partner, and ⅓ unexplained or combo of both:  Seven out of 10 couples treated by IVF achieve parenthood following either treatment, natural conception or adoption by Troude et al 2017  The earlier you have your first successful pregnancy, the less likely you will be to need Assisted Reproductive Technologies later (note: correlation != causation) The Supply of and Demand for Assisted Reproductive Technologies in the United States by Stephen et al 2017  Long term outcomes of egg freezing Fifteen years of autologous oocyte thaw outcomes from a large university-based fertility center by Cascante et al 2022  IVF rates in the US US IVF usage increases in 2023, leads to over 95,000 babies born | American Society for Reproductive Medicine  The vast majority of women considering egg freezing would be more likely to do so if covered by employer, but it wouldn’t change their timelines Employee benefit or occupational hazard? How employer coverage of egg freezing impacts reproductive decisions of graduate students by Cardozo et al 2020 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit aftermash.substack.com

    54 min
  4. Episode 0: Trailer

    TRAILER

    Episode 0: Trailer

    In elementary school we thought life as an adult was simple: first comes love, then comes marriage, then you come with a baby carriage. A silly game called MASH even laid out our lives for us, answering who we would marry, what kind of house we would live in, and how many kids we would have. Maybe you were like us, and you survived the suburban-kid-to-college pipeline and graduated thinking you had all the answers. But then you found yourself in your mid-twenties, having done everything “right”, but somehow nowhere near the future you had envisioned for yourself. Well, we’re here to talk about it! Join Jackie and Zoë every other week as we attempt to answer new questions using the old faithful game of MASH. Coming to all podcast apps near you every other Tuesday! Check out our website: https://aftermash.substack.com/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit aftermash.substack.com

    2 min

Trailer

About

In elementary school, a silly game called MASH laid out our lives for us, answering society’s most desired questions: who will we marry, what kind of house will we live in, and how many kids will we have? Maybe you were like us, and you survived the suburban-kid-to-college pipeline and graduated thinking you had all the answers. But then you found yourself in your twenties or thirties, having done everything “right”, but somehow nowhere near the future you had envisioned for yourself. Well, we are here to talk about it! Join Jackie and Zoë every other week as we attempt to answer new questions, using the old faithful game of MASH. aftermash.substack.com

Information

  • Creator
    AfterMASH Podcast
  • Years Active
    2k
  • Episodes
    4
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © AfterMASH Pod
  • Show Website
    AfterMASH

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