Semantic Reactions

Our December 2023 episode features an interview with former IGS Executive Director and Trustee Steve Stockdale. In conversation with IGS President Lance Strate, Stockdale discusses his background and connection to general semantics, his experiences setting up a MOOC and teaching a course on general semantics online, and his initiative known as “calling out the symbol rulers”. 

Our November 2023 episode features an interview with author, public speaker, and strategy management consultant Marcy Axelrod. The interview, conducted by IGS President Lance Strate, focuses on her new book, entitled How We Choose to Show Up, her work as a business consultant, and the importance of speech, relationships, and personal presence.

Our October 2023 episode features an interview with Nora Bateson, who is an IGS Trustee and President of the International Bateson Institute. The interview, conducted by IGS President Lance Strate, focuses on her new book, entitled Combining, a volume that includes essays, poems, and artwork. Their conversation touches on topics such as systems theory, the ecology of communication, learning and interdependence, relationships and contexts, and poetry and forms of expression.

Celebrating the one year anniversary of the launch of our podcast, our September 2023 episode features a roundtable discussion with IGS trustees Eva Berger, Susan Drucker, Thom Gencarelli, Michael Plugh, and Lance Strate, as they take up the one of the most basic questions for the discipline of general semantics: What is going on? Their discussion touches on problems such as racism and retribalization, information overload and political polarization, chaos and complexity, AI and regulation, and how to make things better.

The twelfth episode of Semantic Reactions, the official podcast of the Institute of General Semantics, features an interview with Paul Soukup, SJ, a professor of communication at Santa Clara University, and the author of seven books, including Communication and Theology; Christian Communication; Media, Culture and Catholicism; Mass Media and the Moral Imagination; Fidelity and Translation: Communicating the Bible in New Media; Out of Eden; and most recently, A Media Ecology of Theology. The interview is conducted by IGS president Lance Strate, and their discussion ranges across topics such as education, language, environmentalism, religion, and media.

The eleventh episode of Semantic Reactions, the official podcast of the Institute of General Semantics, features an interview with novelist, literary scholar, and science fiction critic Marleen Barr. Dr. Barr is the author of two novels, Oy Pioneer! and Oy Feminist Planets, and a number of works of feminist science fiction, including Alien to Femininity: Speculative Fiction and Feminist Theory; Lost in Space: Probing Feminist Science Fiction and Beyond; Feminist Fabulation: Space/Postmodern Fiction; and Genre Fission: A New Discourse Practice for Cultural Studies. Her most recent book, just published by Dark Helix Press, is a short story collection entitled This Former President: Science Fiction as Retrospective Retrorocket Jettisons Trumpism. The  discussion covers feminism, literary theory, science fiction, and politics.

The tenth episode of Semantic Reactions, the official podcast of the Institute of General Semantics, features an interview with writer, educator and general semantics expert Mary P. Lahman.  Dr. Lahman is Professor Emerita of Communication Studies at Manchester University in Indiana, and the author of Awareness and Action, published by the Institute of General Semantics. She is also a member of the IGS Board of Trustees. The discussion deals with communication as a field of study, the theory and practice of listening, and teaching on the topic of general semantics.

The ninth episode of Semantic Reactions, the official podcast of the Institute of General Semantics, features an interview with author and Past President of the Institute of General Semantics Martin Levinson. Their conversation covers Levinson’s background in general semantics, his career in education, and his writing, centering on his satirical work. Levinson shares a reading from his latest book, Lunch with the American People: Satirical Food for Thought.

The eighth episode of Semantic Reactions, the official podcast of the Institute of General Semantics, features an interview with Gary Gumpert, Professor Emeritus of Communicastion at Queens College of the City University of New York and President of the Urban Communication Foundation, conducted by Lance Strate and Thom Gencarelli. The conversation  covers the entirety of Dr. Gumpert’s life and times, from his childhood escaping from the Holocaust, to his early career in radio and television broadcasting, to his work as a communication scholar. Along the way, we find a consistent emphasis on the themes of community and connection.   LinksGet Embed PlayerDownload Audio File

The seventh episode of Semantic Reactions, the official podcast of the Institute of General Semantics, features an interview with media literacy maven and communication studies scholar Renee Hobbs, conducted by Lance Strate and Thom Gencarelli. The conversation ranges across topics such as propaganda, media education, communication technology, and general semantics today.