Founders

This site is founded by Peter, Francisco, Damon, and Zihan, a group of students who met at St. John's College in Annapolis, MD. There they developed a passion for ideas, and were inspired by the Great Books program, where the questions and concepts raised by the thinkers of the past were treated as still live and highly relevant to our lives today. After graduating, they wanted a place to continue the kind of conversations they had at St. John's, and thought to start a website where great ideas could be discussed seriously outside the academy. And so The Reeds was born!
Peter Kaemingk developed at St. John's, above all, an interest in church-state relations and seeks to promote further thought about it in the public and private spheres, such as his involvement in Stichting Paradosis and his participation at the Hertog Foundation's Summer Course Program. He is currently a graduate student of Theology at Harvard Divinity School. Peter is from Zeist, the Netherlands.
Francisco Contreras Moràn is a lover of the logos and a lover of life. At St. John's College, Francisco pursued the logos by being a writing and an Ancient Greek assistant and by shouting at his peers about thumos and ousia. Prior to St. John's, he spent years as an alternative school educator and lead discussion-based courses in Beijing, Oxford, and San Francisco. Francisco is currently part of the founding staff and a Lead Humanities Guide at The Socratic Experience. Francisco is from Puebla, Mexico.
Damon Kutzin is interested in concepts of truth and the limits and scope of philosophy. At St. John's he co-founded study groups on universal grammar and constructed languages, as well as studied the history of mathematics and science with an eye towards philosophical foundations. Damon grew up in Scandinavia, Western Europe, and Central Asia, and is currently pursuing a master's degree in philosophy at Cambridge University.
Zihan Mei is pursuing his JD degree at Boston University's School of Law. During his time at St. John's Zihan worked as a mathematics assistant and interned with Guantao Law Firm, a top law firm in China. His interests are broad and inter-disciplinary, from ancient Chinese poetry to Latin American literature. Zihan is from Hangzhou, China.
If you would like to see your project featured on The Reeds, if you have feedback for us, or just want to get in touch, you can contact us through our Facebook page, go to the submission page, or email us at:
“It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson