A series exploring the media “input” of a group of people — our commercial semiotician colleagues, from around the world — whose “output” we admire.

Zutphen (Netherlands)…

SEMIOVOX

What forms of media do you “take in” the most regularly/frequently, during a typical day or week?

YOGI HENDLIN

Gosh, as a cusp Millennial / Gen Xer, I’ve been inundated with crap that I try to avoid, but lonely enough that the dopamine addiction of social media has been difficult to eschew. Too much of my time is spent reading and answering emails, if that can count as a form of media. Then, as a professor, there are student essays and papers and theses. Then there’s keeping up with the scientific literature, across too many domains (ah, the curse of interdisciplinarity). Finally, there’s actually reading books, which is what I enjoy most but get to do least.

My very unpopular opinion is that no learning can occur without reading books and real face-to-face conversations, which I prioritize. If I have the opportunity to meet with a friend and shoot the shit, often the synthesis of what I’ve been thinking and feeling and reading and the entire zeitgeist we’re subject to comes to a head, and through the dialogical maeutic process, thought can emerge that I’m not ashamed of. (And if I’m lucky, I can record part of it, and eventually it makes its way for public consumption.)

Something I just stumbled upon which seems relevant: 198 Methods of Nonviolent Action (Albert Einstein Foundation, originally described by Gene Sharp).

SEMIOVOX

What work of literature (old or new) would you recommend to someone trying to make sense of today’s world?

YOGI HENDLIN

Jane Mayer’s Dark Money, Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, Eric Conway and Naomi Oreske’s Merchants of Doubt, and Nancy MacLean’s Democracy in Chains are foundational for understanding why and how the majority of what we believe has been manufactured by extractive corporations with our well-being the furthest thing from their priority. These books chronicle how perverse incentives and brainworms have led to a planetary unwinding of every single life-generating system, from habitats to decorum, to a sense of ‘enough’ (satiety).

SEMIOVOX

What are your reading habits?

YOGI HENDLIN

I like to read books on planes, trains, in parks, in nooks in my house and in cafés, in my office, on my couch, and anywhere else that allows me to go into simultaneous readiness and relaxation mode. A good book is like flow state, enjoyable but challenging.

After recently hearing my friend’s reading habits, who is a non-academic philosopher and DJ, who reads 3-4 hours in the morning every day, I’ve conceded that this is indeed aspirational. I’m lucky if I get 30 minutes a day to dive into a book. And I say this with great regret, because every time I open a book, I feel better.

Daily, I used to waste about 30 minutes ‘catching up’ with manufactured fear-mongering, and the tragedy and farce of global corporate affairs. Though I’ve realized that this is a game of diminishing returns, my LinkedIn feed is tuned so that if anything actually relevant to my life occurs on the global stage, I’ll learn about it from multiple brilliant sources each with their own hot take.

SEMIOVOX

What work of literature (old or new) would you recommend to someone trying to make sense of today’s world?

YOGI HENDLIN

It wasn’t until I was in my 40s that this book that had been recommended to me since I was 18 finally got read: Daniel Quinn’s accessible yet profound Ishmael, read through my eyes, at least, is a great introduction to some of the biggest questions facing us today.

Joshua Schrei’s “The Emerald” podcast is my go-to for multidimensional sensemaking. Through that podcast’s provocation, I’ve recently begun reading Trickster Makes This World: How Disruptive Imagination Creates Culture, which I sort of rely on as an alibi for the character that I’ve become. As I study disruptive regulation as an under-theorized mode of world-making, disruptive imagination is desperately necessary to help us escape imbroglios of identity politics and polarization which have driven us to drivel. When dehumanization is not an option, what’s a healthy coping strategy?

SEMIOVOX

What music — genres, particular artists and songs — do you listen to during a typical day?

YOGI HENDLIN

All. I like moods more than genres.

• Which means, if I am Raging Against the Machine, then Bad Religion, Pailhead, Shpongle, Ultimate Fantastic, Manu Chao, Nine Inch Nails, Minor Threat, etc.
• If I am doing detailed work, my go-to – since I was in high school – is Vladimir Felsman’s recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, on repeat.
• When sleeping in public places, I listen to El Hadra (on repeat).
• For chilling, I love listening to 1970s Japanese jazzfunk, or Brazilian Tropicalia.
• Favorite jazz album of all time is, of course, Kind of Blue. “Ornithology” by Charlie Parker (Bird) as taught to me by jazz saxophonist Steve Coleman also hits a special nerve, as he made me learn the drum solo.

Since childhood, I’ve been a jazz drummer and musician, so improvisation within a structure to me is the highest form of art. That’s why both classical music (from all cultures) and jazz strike me as most connected to spirit.

MEDIA DIET: GIANLLUCA SIMI (Brazil) | HIBATO BEN AHMED (France) | MARIE LENA TUPOT (USA) | EUGENE GORNY (Thailand) | YOGI HENDLIN (Netherlands / USA) | INKA CROSSWAITE (Germany / South Africa) | SÓNIA MARQUES (Portugal) | ĽUDMILA LACKOVÁ BENNETT (Czechia) | BRIAN KHUMALO (USA / South Africa) | JIAKUN WANG (Shanghai) | FRANCISCO HAUSS (China / Mexico) | ASHLEY MAURITZEN (England) | STEFANIA GOGNA (Italy) | BECKS COLLINS (England) | ANTJE WEISSENBORN (Germany) | MARIANE CARA (Brazil) | VICTORIA GERSTMAN (Scotland) | MALCOLM EVANS (Wales) | COCO WU (Singapore / China) | JOSH GLENN (USA) | JENNIFER VASILACHE (Switzerland) | ANDREA BASUNTI (England) | SARAH JOHNSON (Canada) | PAULINA GOCH-KENAWY (Poland) | MARTHA ARANGO (Sweden).

Also see these global semio series: MAKING SENSE (Q&As) | SEMIOFEST SESSIONS (monthly mini-conferences) | COVID CODES | SEMIO OBJECTS | COLOR CODEX | DECODER (fictional semioticians) | CASE FILE | PHOTO OP | MEDIA DIET.