Ballads of the Scientifica (by sarah)

Todays science-art is an album of science and tech poetry, a possible life origins story and the song I Want To Know Everything. It is available as a free download for the remainder of the week 🙂

Enjoy

Science and Engineering Week 2012 (by sarah)

It is National Science and Engineering Week here in the UK, this marks a festive sort of atmosphere in the science and tech communities where they try and reach out to the general public and show them just how much science, engineering and maths does for them, how exciting it is and what the future may hold.

Not being active in the science community as a researcher anymore I have hovered around things like this the last few years but with the inclusion of my artwork in the Science OnLine 2012 conference and being asked to do a second piece of textural science art for the visually impaired I feel I have something to offer back. Part of what I had wanted to do with science was to make it more reachable, exciting and loved by well everybody. This is why the first tentative steps I took into poetry after my degree tended towards science and technology.

So this week I am going to be posting some of my science-art on here and hopefully will complete the week with my science-art web site being back up and running!

To start today off - here is Celestial Montage which I created for the ESA Create Your Space competition a while back (and good an ESA goody bag for my efforts as runner up). The poem part of the piece also appeared as part of the In Braille Exhibition at Centre Arts last year.

The theme this year is Our World in Motion which I shall use as stimuli for various creative projects. Enjoy and see if there are any events you can mussel in on in your own areas 🙂

Did Life fall into this cradle
This Earth, this home -
We now attempt to climb out of?
Or is it more than a cradle
Some crucible or potters wheel
Shaping and baking us in forms renewed?

Maybe in truth it is a bit of both
And as humanity takes its first toddler steps
We begin to see the variety that our world holds

LIFE -

Life here investigated
In case of alien brethren
Life searched for by the heart if not the mind
As the astronaut steps out into the void
For themselves, for us, for a future
A future - As yet unknown
A future for us all
As we grow too large for this world to contain
A cradle we have explored from end to end

But it is only with eyes freshly opened
To the wonders beyond
That we begin to see what we have missed
That which hides in plan sight
The beauty of our world
We seek its twins, our mirrors -
Its twisted folly of form

OUT THERE

And if we are on our own?
Then look at the wonders the search has wrought
And if we are not?
Then maybe we will truly see ourselves
For the first time

Until then the void is calling
And all these things?

These investigations
These satellites
And images -
Are our jumping off point
Our call to the unknown

Do you wonder what it will answer?

And Now…. an Organ! (by sarah)

So we are on a strict budget for the house - so we went to the charity shop to get a sofa bed... we ended up with an electric organ - a Hammond with Liesel Chorus and stuff!

Alaric is as ecstatic as me and Jeany is really excited and Mary has discovered foot pedals!

Alaric says he knows where this is going though - he envisions Jean pressing down keys and Mary pushing down peddles whilst I reciet poetry and him holding microphones in various rediculous poses.

Part of me does wonder weather I should have taken the piano instead though - but this just has more functionality and wacky electroness that I am just itching to sample.

World Book Day (by sarah)

Jean's school are having their World Book Day celebrations today and this year Jean decided to go as a dinosaur from Harry and His Bucket of Dinosaurs. She loves these books - we met the author last year at Wychwood Festival and she got a signed copy of one of his more recent books - they are really aimed for an older age group than her but she wanted it as a Daddy read (ie Daddy reads it to her when it's bed time!). My friend Ulrike then got her the book she is currently holding for Christmas 🙂

Jean loves books and she loves stories - including making them up - this morning we had a game of what was going to happen to her eggs whilst she was at dinosaur book day - she was taking in the book Cera and Her Bucket of Humans.

But it has come to my attention that other parents may not appreciate World Book Day - they think it is a hassel and just more work for them. I find this incredibly sad and wonder if they feel the same about all dress up days or weather it is just because they don't see the point of books.

We love books so it is unsuprising that Jean loves books but what has astonished me is that she now has an academic age of 8 and a half and a reading age that is higher. I have worked with her on literacy skills and stuff at home as I wanted to give her a good foundation if she turned out to be dyslexic like me.

But there is still a lot of illitracy and stuff in this country and I just wondered looking at peoples reactions weather the schools need to try and include the parents a bit more in World Book Day - unfortunatly that would probably be seen as the schools just being too demanding on time again. This is a double problem as even those parents that do want to be involved will actually be too busy. The normal work regime most families have leaves little time for the fun stuff that is seen as 'optional' or as a pouncy extra rich kids get.

It is all very well for people to say things like they should read instead of watching TV but alot of people are exhorsted when they come in from work and the TV is a relax time - the other issue being what if the parents themselves are not exactly literate?

We are a first world country and yet I come across teens who just scrap by. I'm not sure what the solution is nor weather McDonalds attempt at looking good by putting books in Happy Meals was a good thing or not. The kids seemed happy as it came with a handpuppet.

I think encouraging people into the libraries would be a good thing - but the libraries need to advatise outside of themselves and offer events similar to the litretary festivals where they have people dressed up as the characters and things - but this all takes money and one thing the libraries do not have is money. They are currently an endangered species and if they go then the kids that do use them are going to be even more screwed than usual. And increase in illiteracy means an increase in crime and an increase in poverty gaps which causes an increase in crime.

I do think the libraries are corner stones to solving this issues which is one of the reasons that I am trying so hard to provide books for Jean's school library.

Sarah’s Easter Collection (by sarah)

I have produced an audio book which I am selling to raise money to buy books for Jean's School Library (they get the profit). The disc contains The Little Book of Easter Poetry, The Little Chicken Song and the story Ester Rabbit - there is even me playing the recorder 🙂 It costs £5 with £1 p&p. There will be an online order form eventually but you can send cheques made payable to Sarah Snell-Pym

50 Newton Avenue

Gloucester

Glos

GL4 4NU

There will be a download version soon too (it will be £3) - there is currently no print version of this and probably wont be until next year. I managed to buy two books with the taking from The Little Book of Festive Poetry which the school are very happy with but they do basically need to restock their whole library.

Obviously if you are going to see me before/around Easter just pre-order what you want 🙂

And if anyone has a shop or anything that wants to stock a couple then let me know 🙂