Hello, Fancy Comma newsletter readers! Sheeva here. It has been quite the month for me! I have spent very little time on Fancy Comma itself, but have applied the skills I’ve learned from running this business over the past five years. That’s what I want to tell you about in this newsletter.
On March 7, 2025, I organized the Stand Up for Science 2025 event happening in Oklahoma City. It turns out that it’s pretty easy to organize a rally if you are clear on your vision and are willing to talk to a lot of people. I spent so much time on the phone with different federal and state lawmakers’ offices, and it was incredible how all of them were in support of science.
It was a busy time, though, especially with the federal government shutdown deadline looming just a week after, so not everyone I wanted to speak at the rally could make it. Here is the lineup we ended up with, for an event that had a participation of about 100 people, mostly scientists:
Check out my blog post on the Fancy Comma blog about all the media coverage we received as well as to read my opening speech. I want to say that our efforts worked, since some federal scientists are getting their jobs back, but the work to protect the US science infrastructure has just started.
On March 19, 2025, I had the honor of interviewing a NASA astronaut in my capacity as a freelance journalist. Life dream achieved!
It turns out that NASA Astronaut Jonny Kim, who is launching to space in mid-April with Expedition 73, is super cool, and though I’m not sure what type of story I will write for the media, I am hoping to put something together in time for his launch date in mid-April. You can catch my interview here.
Being a scientist means constantly applying your skills and knowledge to tackle new challenges. I can’t think of anyone who exemplifies that more than literal astronauts. It is safe to say that Dr. Jonny Kim — who wears many hats as a Navy Seal, physician, and astronaut — is my new role model!
Between all of this, I’ve managed to squeeze in actual work for Fancy Comma, so we’ve continued to publish blogs and YouTube interviews this month.
On the blog, we’ve celebrated turning 5, and talked about ways to plug into political campaigns as a scientist or science communicator, communicating science to skeptics (thanks to Santiago Gisler of Ivory Embassy), and published my speech for Stand Up for Science 2025 in OKC.
Over on our YouTube, we were lucky to interview Eisha Mhatre, who hosts Improv for Scientists workshops in addition to running her SciComm platform, The Experimentalist.
Anyway, that’s what I’ve been up to this month. I doubt my next month will be half as exciting, but until then, thanks for reading!
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