Introducing Lissa Soep
Lissa Soep, PhD
Love, Loss and the Language that Lives On
Love, Anything Guest Speaker - June 18, 2026
Thank you for being here this evening and for visiting the gallery and looking at Ryyan’s photography. Elizabeth and I want to thank you as well for joining us here at Gossard Forum, as tonight’s talk marks the last speaker event of the 2026 Love Anything photographic exhibition and speaker series.
Staging and presenting Love Anything started in late 2024. It took a year and a half of work. And it would not have been possible without building a supportive relationship with the CU Anschutz Medical Campus, specifically the CU Anschutz OCD Program through its Medical Director, Dr. Rachel Davis. A relationship we hope to sustain and grow as we move forward.
Tonight’s guest speaker is Dr. Lissa Soep. While Lissa is not a medical doctor, she earned her PhD from Stanford and focused her dissertation on the power of language and the author of the book “Other People’s Words”, a senior editor at Vox Media, and editorial lead on the project “Language Please”, an open source style guide. She spent much of her career as senior scholar-in-residence and executive producer at Youth Radio in Oakland, NPR’s Youth Desk.
We were introduced to Lissa by Dr. Rachel Davis. When we first met with Rachel, we explained that in our attempt to manage our shock, we sought grief counseling and we also read well over 20 books on the subjects of suicide, grief, and OCD. It was our attempt to comprehend what happened to us. Two years on, we are still in search of a complete explanation.
Dr. Davis thought it would be helpful for us to read Lissa’s book, “Other People’s Words”, and she was right. Rachel gifted us a copy a few days before we took off on a road trip. In addition to the print copy, we also downloaded the audio version, which is narrated by Lissa, and it proved to be the perfect companion. Listening to it made us laugh, think a lot, and cry a fair bit.
In her book, Lissa examines correspondences left by individuals who are no longer with us. Her exploration channels the Russian language philosopher Michael Bakhtin’s thinking, which suggests, that those we have lost, remain in conversation with us through the language they leave behind.
When we asked Lissa to be part of the Love, Anything speaker series, she graciously accepted and wanted to weave Ryyan’s story as part of her talk, especially the photography. I recall telling Lissa that in my early graduate work I was very interested in the field of semiotics, the discipline that looks at film as a visual language, not just as a universal language, but as syntax.
In looking up Michael Bakhtin’s profile, I found it serendipitous to discover that his work influenced the field of Semiotics. Which in a manner led me to re-frame an essential feature of photography; that once a photograph is captured, its expressive capacity, vibrancy, and relevance can no longer be constrained by the syntactically obligatory end period. That with photography, a full stop is not necessary, it is not in the mix, and it is not part of its integral composition.
We are very appreciative to Lissa for visiting us from San Francisco to be here this evening. Please help us welcome Lissa Soep.
Elizabeth Metz and Tarek Chacra
