Debating in A Vacuum
“It’s like a jigsaw puzzle, all one color. No key to where the pieces fit in.”
Semiotics
Untangling the webs of significance within which we've suspended ourselves.
Making Sense
"It’s an almost compulsive need to keep asking why, again and again, without settling too quickly on answers."
Making Sense
"Semiotics is clever and brilliant. It doesn’t need to try so hard to sound clever and brilliant."
Session: Semiotics in Latin America
A session on the unique uses of emotion, color and dissonance in Latin America.
Making Sense
"Semiotic researchers tend to be good people — perhaps because they share a fundamental openness toward understanding cultures other than their own."
Making Sense
"You already have so much knowledge to draw on from your observations — things you’ve noticed, trends you’ve spotted, cultural knowledge unknowingly assimilated, years of training on method."
Making Sense
"Look out for signs, symbols, and patterns in everyday life — and tease out of them the ideas that they communicate."
Session: Mythical Semiotics
A session on how semioticians grapple with the perplexing allure of the mythical.
Making Sense
"Being able to connect, or map ideas — across regions, eras, or cultural objects — requires a comparative way of looking."
Making Sense
"I regularly refer to myself as 'relentlessly curious.' The practice of semiotics is a marathon of mental focus."
Making Sense
"I like naming and describing what’s usually left unsaid, diving into the darker side of things, and uncovering how they show up (or do not) in communications."
Session: Guilty Pleasures
A session on the insights and inspiration to be found in “bad” cultural expressions.
Making Sense
"There’s so much more to learn about semiotics — that’s what frustrates and excites me!"
Making Sense
"My best insights come from sitting with questions rather than seeking instant answers."
Making Sense
"Be passionate. Go crazy. This is the only way to do semiotics."