Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Conversation begins at 8:30
"There are ways to downsize a college, but with Hampshire it felt more like a hollowing-out." Our latest installment of The Hampshire Tapes features a conversation with Ida Kao (F18) about having a ringside seat for Hampshire College's decline (nytimes.com/2026/04/14/us/hampshire-college-closing-amherst-massachusetts-enrollment.html). We talk about how how she's trying to preserve the school's spirit by co-curating the Post-Hampshire project (https://posthampshire.org), what it was like trying to pursue an education in the face of Hampshire's financial crisis and COVID, the ups and downs of editing The Omen (https://lists.hampshire.edu/mailman/listinfo/omen) during those times, her exploration of The Omen's archives how it led to a nostalgia for the Hampshire before her time, and how she recognized pretty early on that some of Hampshire's troubles weren't fixable (at least not by sit-ins). We also get into Hampshire's stabs at student government, the institutions that came and went before her arrival and what that said about ahistoricism on campus, whether she felt short-changed by her time there, and more. Follow Ida on Bluesky (https://bsky.app/profile/idakao.bsky.social) and learn more about the Post-Hampshire project (https://posthampshire.org) and the Hampshire Next crowdfunding effort (https://hampshirenext.org)• More info at chimeraobscura.com/vm/episode-687-ida-kao • Support The Virtual Memories Show via Stripe (buy.stripe.com/dR603B83MbhS4XS3ce), Patreon (patreon.com/vmspod), or Paypal (paypal.me/vmspod), and subscribe to our e-newsletter, https://buttondown.email/vmspod
Conversation begins at 8:30
"There are ways to downsize a college, but with Hampshire it felt more like a hollowing-out." Our latest installment of The Hampshire Tapes features a conversation with Ida Kao (F18) about having a ringside seat for Hampshire College's decline (nytimes.com/2026/04/14/us/hampshire-college-closing-amherst-massachusetts-enrollment.html). We talk about how how she's trying to preserve the school's spirit by co-curating the Post-Hampshire project (https://posthampshire.org), what it was like trying to pursue an education in the face of Hampshire's financial crisis and COVID, the ups and downs of editing The Omen (https://lists.hampshire.edu/mailman/listinfo/omen) during those times, her exploration of The Omen's archives how it led to a nostalgia for the Hampshire before her time, and how she recognized pretty early on that some of Hampshire's troubles weren't fixable (at least not by sit-ins). We also get into Hampshire's stabs at student government, the institutions that came and went before her arrival and what that said about ahistoricism on campus, whether she felt short-changed by her time there, and more. Follow Ida on Bluesky (https://bsky.app/profile/idakao.bsky.social) and learn more about the Post-Hampshire project (https://posthampshire.org) and the Hampshire Next crowdfunding effort (https://hampshirenext.org)• More info at chimeraobscura.com/vm/episode-687-ida-kao • Support The Virtual Memories Show via Stripe (buy.stripe.com/dR603B83MbhS4XS3ce), Patreon (patreon.com/vmspod), or Paypal (paypal.me/vmspod), and subscribe to our e-newsletter, https://buttondown.email/vmspod
