A digital publication that...

A digital publication that...

Michelle Pera-McGhee

Michelle Pera-McGheeis a journalist-engineer at The Pudding. She finds joy in drinking boba, singing harmonies, and dissecting reality television. You can follow her on the socials. She has worked on 18 stories to date. Explore them all below.

Get in touch: michelle@pudding.cool

Stories

#208

Jul 2025

kids book animals

How and why do we gender animals in stories?
#201

Mar 2025

rhoslc apologies

What we can learn from watching reality stars apologize.
#196

Oct 2024

queueing theory

Queues are everywhere we go—discover the hidden mechanics that keep them moving smoothly.
#194

Oct 2024

abortion mazes

A maze for each state where the difficulty is calculated by the state’s abortion policies.
#190

Sep 2024

baseball lineups

See how modern stats are reshaping baseball’s batting lineups.
#188

Jul 2024

ai-generated story

We had an AI attempt to make a data-driven story like we do at The Pudding.
#180

Feb 2024

national anthem divas

We listened to 138 National Anthem performances so you don't have to. Here are the biggest divas.
#179

Oct 2023

music genres

Spotify tracks over 6,000 genres—everything from "rock" to "stomp-and-holler." Here's why that's cool.
#171

Jun 2023

wonky rhythms

We break down J Dilla's signature off-beat timefeel.
#162

Dec 2022

emotion wheel

A journey of emotional awareness, where we uncover the power of naming and visualizing your feelings.
#161

Nov 2022

upward mobility

How does where you grow up impact your economic opportunity? Our author returns to his roots.
#159

Sep 2022

words vs. strangers

One random person a day gets the chance to play against the internet in a game of words. Can you beat them?
#158

Sep 2022

sounds of cdmx

Take an audio tour of Mexico City, seen through its street vendors.
#146

Feb 2022

accessible writing

Want to make your writing more accessible? Algorithms might not be the answer.
#142

Dec 2021

sesame allergies

We investigated 200 crackers to learn about food allergies and labelling. Warning: may contain troubling results.
#141

Oct 2021

lenna image

We scraped the web to track one of the internet’s oldest images — one that lives on without the subject’s consent.
#125

Nov 2020

playable crossword

These playable mini crosswords let you get a feel for who gets included (and excluded) as clues and answers in puzzles.
#124

Nov 2020

who's in the crossword

Crosswords are known for being too old, too white, and too male. We backed that up with data.