strange sympathies
{a collection of stories, projects, taunts and fragments by Michael Stewart}
About Me*
By Lily Hoang
Michael Stewart, although undeniably a brilliant man, cannot spell the word “bacon.” It seems like an easy enough word to spell, but Stewart, since he was a boy, has had difficulty spelling food items. It was not uncommon for Stewart to go into diners and with his bright blue crayon attempt to copyedit menus. This seemed sweet enough for a while, but Stewart has maintained this habit well into his mid-fifties.
*Hesitant to fill out this section myself, I asked several friends and strangers to do it for me. Each time you load the page one of their creations is randomly selected and displayed. But if you are looking for one in particular you can find them all laid out here. If you would be interested in submitting one just send me an email and I’ll put it up.
About the Title
The title is a play on the term odd sympathy, which was first coined by the physicist Christiaan Huygens. He used the term to explain the strange behavior he noticed in two of his grandfather clocks: no matter when the pendulums were released they always migrated to a sympathetic swing, one pendulum always opposite the other.
The term also defines several other behaviors:
The fireflies of Southeast Asia (the Pteroptyx malaccae) who flash in unison. (A trait which is mimicked by the the Photinus carolinus and Phoruis frontalis of North America during an annual mating ritual.)
The possible habits of menstrual cycles known as the Whitten effect.
The chirping of crickets, which always act in unison.
The moment when the applauding of a crowd suddenly constricts and finds synchronicity.
This activity is made possible in part by a grant from the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, through an appropriation by the Rhode Island General Assembly and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.