Scott Neumeister, PhD

Profile

Join date: Mar 12, 2024

About

Scott Neumeister is a literary scholar, author, TEDx speaker, and mythic pathfinder from Tampa, Florida, where he earned his PhD in English from the University of South Florida in 2018. His specialization in multiethnic American literature and mythology comes after careers as an information technology systems engineer and a teacher of English and mythology at the middle school and college levels. Scott coauthored Let Love Lead: On a Course to Freedom with Gary L. Lemons and Susie Hoeller, and he has served as a facilitator for the Joseph Campbell Foundation’s Myth and Meaning book club at Literati.

Posts (15)

Sep 27, 2026 ∙ 6 min

The Elixir of “Kashmir”: The Return after the Return

Fascination. Enchantment. Longing. My earliest recollections of hearing Led Zeppelin’s "Kashmir" (from 1973’s Houses of the Holy) are more feelings than thoughts. To my Western ears, it was doubtless the most exotic-sounding rock song I’d heard up to that point in my life—a droning, Middle Eastern-tinged underpinning with a melodic scale that evokes the desert.

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Jul 26, 2026 ∙ 6 min

Finding Our Way Back: An Odyssey Toward Heart and Home

I first heard Jefferson Starship’s “Find Your Way Back” (from 1981’s Modern Times) in high school, before I had left the nest for a greater adventure. I loved the music itself, right from the opening picked, descending guitar line, which immediately signaled the song’s melancholic tone. Many years would pass, however, before the lyrics spoke to me and I could echo the opening words: “It’s been a long, long road / Since I packed up and left on my own.”

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Jan 19, 2026 ∙ 7 min

The Sound of Soaring: Maverick and the Music of Flight

I plunged the throttle of the Cessna 172 forward so I could gain altitude. As a solo student pilot, I had just attempted to land my plane but had come in “too hot,” impacting the runway so hard that it bounced back into the air. Rather than try to force the landing, I decided to execute a “go-around”—a re-ascent to come back for another attempt. Instantly my engine began to sputter. While I was gaining some altitude, it was not nearly enough to properly and safely perform the maneuvers

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