When she was working on her Master’s thesis at Hunter College, Katjanelson kept a remarkable notebook from August 27 to December 19, 1976. Though studying the great philosophers can be considered standard student fare, her notes reveal her particular focus on semiology and philosophical dualities. From Søren Kierkegaard defining mind as a struggle between religion and reality, to Karl Jaspers’ secret text vs. public language, Joseph Schillinger’s perceptual fields of signs, Jack Burnham on aesthetics as a hidden logical structure, Ferdinand de Saussre’s language as a sign system, Claude Levi-Strauss on signs as both concrete and conceptual, and Charles Peirce’s trichotomy of signs, Katjanelson immersed herself in semiotic theory. Her readings also seem to merge with her earlier experiences making radar and aerial photographic manuals, and her interest in recorded sound patterns, subjects defined by micro markings that imply macro spaces. The notebook is punctuated with amusing drawings, charming counterpoints to her intellectual queries.

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