Stephanie Bastek

Stephanie Bastek is the senior editor of the Scholar and the producer/host of the Smarty Pants podcast.

Meat Made

How 19th-century beef created modern America

By Stephanie Bastek | Friday May 31, 2019

The Space Between Our Ears

How movement, gesture, and spatial reasoning form the foundation of thoughts

By Stephanie Bastek | Friday May 17, 2019
A stylized pink-and-white cat toy waves hello

Totes Adorbs

A philosopher digs into the subversive meaning of “cuteness”

By Stephanie Bastek | Friday May 10, 2019

Little Boxes, Big Ideas

Looking to America’s history of experimental suburbs to solve the housing crisis

By Stephanie Bastek | Friday May 3, 2019

“Making Books Is a Countercultural Act”

A glimpse into the inner workings of a polyphonic publishing house

By Stephanie Bastek | Friday April 26, 2019

The Ten Commandments of Bible Translation

Robert Alter talks about capturing the art of the original Hebrew

By Stephanie Bastek | Friday April 19, 2019

Daughters of War

Writing women back into battle

By Stephanie Bastek | Friday April 12, 2019

Not Ready to Make Nice

Meet Lillian Smith, forgotten southern radical

By Stephanie Bastek | Friday April 5, 2019

The Man Who Changed the Face of Spring

How an English eccentric saved Japan’s cherry blossoms—and spread them around the world

By Stephanie Bastek | Friday March 29, 2019

White Like Me

How a photograph of a young girl transformed a movement

By Stephanie Bastek | Friday March 22, 2019

The Extreme Path

By Stephanie Bastek | Friday September 18, 2026

Call It Macaroni

By Stephanie Bastek | Friday September 4, 2026

Blades of Grass

By Stephanie Bastek | Friday August 21, 2026

The Translator Stuck

By Stephanie Bastek | Friday August 7, 2026

Riot Girls

By Stephanie Bastek | Friday July 24, 2026

To the Manor Born

By Stephanie Bastek | Friday July 10, 2026

The Geek Squad

By Stephanie Bastek | Friday June 12, 2026

For Better or for Wurst

By Stephanie Bastek | Friday May 15, 2026

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