Ashley D'Souza
@ashleydsouza.bsky.social
Journalist, poet, photographer, bird enthusiast. Reporting on environment and science in Brookline, MA (mostly) and LGTBQ+ arts (sometimes).
MIT Graduate Program in Science Writing '26, Taylor/Blakeslee Fellow
they/them
confessionsofabirdfreak.com
MIT Graduate Program in Science Writing '26, Taylor/Blakeslee Fellow
they/them
confessionsofabirdfreak.com
Bee hotels!!!
Back in September, I wrote about cool bee research happening at the Vermont Center for Ecostudies @vtecostudies.bsky.social 🐝
scopeweb.mit.edu/bees-check-i...
Back in September, I wrote about cool bee research happening at the Vermont Center for Ecostudies @vtecostudies.bsky.social 🐝
scopeweb.mit.edu/bees-check-i...
Bees Check Into Hotels On Farms In New Conservation Project
The project finds promising species diversity among cavity-nesting bees — and plenty of parasites.
scopeweb.mit.edu
November 14, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Bee hotels!!!
Back in September, I wrote about cool bee research happening at the Vermont Center for Ecostudies @vtecostudies.bsky.social 🐝
scopeweb.mit.edu/bees-check-i...
Back in September, I wrote about cool bee research happening at the Vermont Center for Ecostudies @vtecostudies.bsky.social 🐝
scopeweb.mit.edu/bees-check-i...
Reposted by Ashley D'Souza
Congratulations to our Class of 2026 Taylor / Blakeslee Fellowship winners! Alex Megerle, Ana Georgescu, and @ashleydsouza.bsky.social all scooped up awards this year. You can read about their wins here: sciwrite.mit.edu/news-events/
News & Events - MIT Graduate Program in Science Writing
Upcoming events and recents news regarding the Graduate Program in Science Writing, our faculty, students, and alumni.
sciwrite.mit.edu
June 13, 2025 at 1:24 PM
Congratulations to our Class of 2026 Taylor / Blakeslee Fellowship winners! Alex Megerle, Ana Georgescu, and @ashleydsouza.bsky.social all scooped up awards this year. You can read about their wins here: sciwrite.mit.edu/news-events/
🐋 so excited!
The GPSW is thrilled to announce our incoming Class of 2026! Welcome Laura Martin Agudelo, Zoe Beketova, @ashleydsouza.bsky.social, Ana Georgescu, Jamie Jiang, Lucie McCormick, Alex Megerle, and Julia Vaz. You can read about our new cohort here:
sciwrite.mit.edu/faculty-and-...
sciwrite.mit.edu/faculty-and-...
Students - MIT Graduate Program in Science Writing
Class of 2026 Health, medicine
sciwrite.mit.edu
June 6, 2025 at 4:45 PM
🐋 so excited!
Weee that's me! So excited and grateful for this opportunity 🦉
Seven journalists are headed to grad school as 2025 Taylor/Blakeslee Fellows! Each will receive $6,000, thanks to the Brinson Foundation.
Congrats to Bridget Balch, Alonso Daboub, Rachel Duckett, @ashleydsouza.bsky.social, Ana Georgescu, @stellamayerhoff.bsky.social & Alex Megerle.
bit.ly/tbs2526
Congrats to Bridget Balch, Alonso Daboub, Rachel Duckett, @ashleydsouza.bsky.social, Ana Georgescu, @stellamayerhoff.bsky.social & Alex Megerle.
bit.ly/tbs2526
May 29, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Weee that's me! So excited and grateful for this opportunity 🦉
My latest! 🦆🤒
More than 140 wild waterfowl are suspected to have been killed by the bird flu in Brookline, mostly found along the Muddy River.
The risk to humans remains low, but here's what you should know.
brookline.news/what-to-know...
The risk to humans remains low, but here's what you should know.
brookline.news/what-to-know...
What to know about bird flu in Brookline - Brookline.News
Since the beginning of the U.S. outbreak in January 2022, bird flu has been found in approximately 12,000 wild birds nationally, with cases in all 50 states. The virus has also caused outbreaks in pou...
brookline.news
February 19, 2025 at 7:25 PM
My latest! 🦆🤒
So grateful and joyful that my story found its home in The Margins! My first time publishing fiction. :) Thank you @aaww-nyc.bsky.social!
aaww.org/unholy/
aaww.org/unholy/
Unholy
All plugged up with wood, I feel like a bastardized Pinocchio.
aaww.org
February 10, 2025 at 2:18 PM
So grateful and joyful that my story found its home in The Margins! My first time publishing fiction. :) Thank you @aaww-nyc.bsky.social!
aaww.org/unholy/
aaww.org/unholy/
Reposted by Ashley D'Souza
“For too long, science journalism has been treated as something distinct, something extra — the domain of specialists writing for audiences who are already deeply interested in and informed about science. This is bad," writes @siricarpenter.bsky.social
Science journalism becomes plain old journalism
"For too long, science journalism has been treated as something distinct, something <em>extra</em> — the domain of specialists writing for audiences who are already deeply interested in and informed…
buff.ly
December 12, 2024 at 12:00 AM
“For too long, science journalism has been treated as something distinct, something extra — the domain of specialists writing for audiences who are already deeply interested in and informed about science. This is bad," writes @siricarpenter.bsky.social
Reposted by Ashley D'Souza
"If news outlets only rely on muscle memory and continue doing things exactly as they always did, they will not survive or thrive," @samjmintz.bsky.social writes. "But many of the basic rhythms are important to re-establish."
Communities relearn the habits of local news
"If you'd been elected to some local position in the past year, my call was probably your first time ever dealing with a journalist. That had never been true in my past jobs."
buff.ly
December 6, 2024 at 5:02 PM
"If news outlets only rely on muscle memory and continue doing things exactly as they always did, they will not survive or thrive," @samjmintz.bsky.social writes. "But many of the basic rhythms are important to re-establish."
Reposted by Ashley D'Souza
More photos from the scene by @ashleydsouza.bsky.social
December 8, 2024 at 9:16 PM
More photos from the scene by @ashleydsouza.bsky.social
I hung out with a garter snake in the sanctuary for 30 minutes while working on this story, but she did not say anything memorable for me to quote 🐍
The D. Blakely Hoar Sanctuary in South Brookline is teeming with wildlife, vegetation, and really, really old rocks. It's also vulnerable to climate change.
Come take a tour of one of Brookline's wildest places, with words and photos by reporter Ashley D'Souza.
brookline.news/inside-the-d...
Come take a tour of one of Brookline's wildest places, with words and photos by reporter Ashley D'Souza.
brookline.news/inside-the-d...
Inside the D. Blakeley Hoar Sanctuary, one of Brookline's wildest places - Brookline.News
Tucked away near Brookline’s southern border next to the Baker School is a lush conservation area teeming with biodiversity — and 600 million year old rocks. The D. Blakeley Hoar Sanctuary is a 25-acr...
brookline.news
December 6, 2024 at 10:29 PM
I hung out with a garter snake in the sanctuary for 30 minutes while working on this story, but she did not say anything memorable for me to quote 🐍
It's turkey time! (My latest bird-related piece)
Everything you've always wanted to know about Brookline's turkeys. Why are they here? What do they want? And what should you do if they act aggressively toward you?
brookline.news/brooklines-t...
brookline.news/brooklines-t...
Brookline's turkeys, explained - Brookline.News
Wild turkeys: they roam sidewalks alongside Brookline residents, graze in backyards and are so ubiquitous that they’ve become the town’s unofficial mascot, recently making a splash as the theme of Bro...
brookline.news
November 12, 2024 at 3:21 PM
It's turkey time! (My latest bird-related piece)
Two poems of mine were just published in "Journal IX: Urban Elegy" by Writers Without Margins. "Flowers" was inspired by a dream I had, and "Mass" was inspired by Alexis Pauline Gumbs's book, "Undrowned". 🐋
October 29, 2024 at 2:13 PM
Two poems of mine were just published in "Journal IX: Urban Elegy" by Writers Without Margins. "Flowers" was inspired by a dream I had, and "Mass" was inspired by Alexis Pauline Gumbs's book, "Undrowned". 🐋
one of my favorite stories I've worked on so far
"As a new disease advances among Brookline’s beloved beech trees, town officials and environmental experts are turning to scientific research to save them..." Uprooter Ashley D'Souza for Brookline News brookline.news/how-brooklin...
How Brookline is using new science to try to save its beech trees - Brookline.News
As a new disease advances among Brookline’s beloved beech trees, town officials and environmental experts are turning to scientific research to save them — while also leaning into the acceptance that ...
brookline.news
October 29, 2024 at 2:11 PM
one of my favorite stories I've worked on so far