As a student, practitioner and fan of consumer culture, Jarrett Paschel's interests are keenly focused at the intersections of culture, economy and society. More specifically, he has spent the better part of twenty years grappling with assorted takes on the more general question: "How do people come to understand distinctions in things?" This interest lead to deep explorations into the worlds of design, aesthetics, technology, music, film, audio, recreation, food and wine-explorations which are ideally suited to his job as director of consumer and retail trends. Most recently he served as a research fellow at the Center for Study of Myth and Ritual in the American Family at Emory University. In addition, Jarrett has previous experience as a restaurant critic, wine educator, freelance writer, university instructor and web developer.