Category: Culture and the Arts

• Complexity and Chaos: Sensible Nonsense

  The woodcut print at the end of this post is its apt punctuation.  A part of a series of apocalyptic prints inspired by The Revelation of St. John, this one is called “St. John Devours the Book,” by Albrecht Durer, 1497-1498 AD.” What sense does it make to anyone? Now: I wanted to add this…

  Mattie Quesenberry Smith, Ph.D.

  05/24/2017

  Astronomy, Culture and the Arts, Physics, Poetry, Scaling, Science and Nature, Uncategorized, Writing

• Sacred Harp Singing: Glossolalia, Polyphony, and Participatory Singing

  What possible value could untrained, localized voices have for singing?  None, especially in this age of commercialism where we can buy the best for our listening pleasure, passive though our listening is.  Could participatory singing be more valuable for community building than the more passive state of “listening” most of us are accustomed to today?…

  Mattie Quesenberry Smith, Ph.D.

  03/01/2015

  Blog Posts, Culture and the Arts, Uncategorized

  emergent complexity, glossolalia, polyphonic singing, polyphony, sacred harp singing

• Scaling: Michael Martone Explores Perspective in His Prose Poem “Scale”

  

  “From the air, the world, falling away below, grew so small.” is the opener for Michael Martone‘s prose poem “Scale,” appearing in Pleiades, Volume 34, Issue 1.  This poem explores the lives of Art Smith, “The Bird Boy of Fort Wayne,” and Paul Guillow, a naval aviator whom Smith meets during the Great War.  The single…

  Mattie Quesenberry Smith, Ph.D.

  02/21/2015

  Astronomy, Culture and the Arts, Poetry, Scaling, Science and Nature, Uncategorized, Writing

  Art Smith, Michael Martone, Model Airplanes, Paul Guillow, Point of View, Scaling, Sky Writing, The Fourth Dimension, Vantage Points