Welcome!
Welcome to Orders of Magnitude, a podcast-plus-publication hosted and curated by Jessica Otey and Alisa Ruddell, two women reading (and writing) in conversation. We started with pen names (George Sand and Acton Bell), which we decided to leave in place for our avatars. And we still call each other George and Acton on the podcast, mostly out of habit.
How it all started
We began the Orders of Magnitude Podcast (OoMPod) in 2023 under our original name, Read Fems, as in, feminists who are well read. We read and discussed books associated with feminism (past and present), but our curiosity got the better of us and now we read whatever catches our fancy.
The podcast drops monthly — and you can read along with us by looking out for the “Do your homework” posts that precede each episode.
What to expect while reading
At Orders of Magnitude, we are attempting to use Substack a little bit against itself, meaning, all of our content is reflected through reading — of ACTUAL BOOKS. We believe that almost all of us have had our attention improperly hijacked by the constant churn-scroll of “content,” and that the only way to beat it is to share the experience of slow, deliberate reading and personal conversations.
If you browse our site, you’ll find the following categories in addition to the podcast and homework posts:
One Last Take features our reflections on a current event.
Here’s a Thought! Before I forget…
Gustate et Videte: “Taste and See” (Ps. 34:8) explores our thoughts on modern Catholicism.
Past Lives Archives shares writings previously published elsewhere.
Off the Shelf features book ruminations, recommendations, and reviews.
I Confess… features podcast interludes where Acton and George get (more) personal.
Who we are
George Sand (a.k.a. Jessica) is a happily recovered academic with a PhD in Italian Studies who left teaching for tech by becoming a DevOps engineer. In addition to blogging, she’s a volunteer radio DJ and choir singer who loves non-fiction reading, foreign languages, and TV murder mysteries. If we still had public intellectuals, she’d be the first to volunteer.
Acton Bell (a.k.a. Alisa) is a staff writer and associate editor at Christ and Pop Culture, and a freelancer for other Christian publications on theological and cultural issues. She’s a married mother of four who homeschooled her kids for thirteen years before joining Substack. She loves classic literature, reading aloud to her kids, and watching sci-fi movies.
Why subscribe?
Subscribe to get full access to all of our content, including subscriber-only features such as “I Confess” (our every-other-month personal interludes).
Contribute!
Orders of Magnitude would love to publish writings that share a commitment to deep reading. Please email George for more information.
