Inspired By Durango, CO

Last week, I spent some time in a cabin in Durango, CO. I took several pictures of the majesty of the mountains and the trees, but mostly I enjoyed being able to see that same majesty in person looking out the windows, hiking in the forest, or sitting on the back porch. Since it's been a while since my last poetry blog, I decided to try my hand once again at the art. Inspired by the views in the Durango mountains, I wrote a Villanelle. If you are curious about the form of Villanelle poetry, check out my blog post, "Poetry Part I." 

wandering

By Caleb Gottry

When dusty shoes once trekked down mountain paths,

As he walked side by side with family—

Preserved in words and pictures: this he hath.

Aloft, just like the towering champion of Gath,

The trees around provide a canopy,

When dusty shoes once trekked down mountain paths.

The storm clouds threaten to unleash their wrath.

But some stray further irrationally. 

Preserved in words and pictures: this he hath.

The leaves and ants are crushed in aftermath

And yet why dwell on such inanities,

When dusty shoes once trekked down mountain paths?

On forest floor: dead limbs like snakes or snaths

And on the far horizon: fantasies—

Preserved in words and pictures: this he hath.

Now back to cabin and protective lath,

Remembering this time so happily—

When dusty shoes once trekked down mountain paths.

Preserved in words and pictures: this he hath.

Check out my YouTube channel! I posted a new video on Tuesday. With the Durango Mountains as my backdrop, I recorded a full version of Avi Kaplan's Standing By. Take a listen here!

Memorize This.

A brief overview

    I am in no way an expert on memory, but I have been told and have seen, especially after taking drama this past semester at school, that I have built on a strong aptitude for memorization. Now, memorization is a very broad topic. Necessarily, it applies to theater and poetry, but I think the skill of memorization manifests itself in other areas of education as
well. This is not meant to give all the answers but is simply some tips, tricks, and methods to think about if you want to try a new approach to memorization as it appears in education.

Play to your strengths (Recitation)

    Memorizing a monologue, a poem, or lines for a play is a daunting task to be sure, but if you can find the right method, it can get easier. According to educational literature, there are three main learning styles or preferences: visual learners, auditory learners, and kinesthetic learners. For visual learners, some tips might be to read the text several times, but also to watch the play or poem performed by a reputable person or group. I myself am a primarily auditory learner and to memorize, I record myself reciting the passage and then I listen to it on loop while I do my chores or go for a walk. Finally, for kinesthetic learners, it might be helpful to first prepare what motions you plan to do when you recite (for a stage play, this is called "blocking") and practice the words along with the actions. Once you find a method that seems to work well, stick with it! 

Think about it (Spelling)

    The English language is weird. Just look at the word "weird" and that rule we all know, "I before E except after C or when sounds like A as in neighbor or weigh." I hate to break it to you, but W is not C and weird does not have an A sound. There are certain things in spelling that you just have to remember, but a lot of things you can just sound out instead. I don't need to remember how to spell "dog" if I remember what letters make those sounds. As I started learning Greek this past year (Greek has a different alphabet), I once again had to learn how to spell. Knowing what letters sound like and thinking words through will definitely give you a head start, but for those strange exceptions, just know that the more you use it correctly, the easier it will be to remember how to spell it. Here are some more specific tips if you want to take a look. So, keep a journal, read books, and if you really want to remember how to spell "weird," write a story about an alien species and describe everything that is weird about them (then send it to me!). 

Do it again (Mathematics)

    Think about the nearest grocery store to your house (or the one you most regularly go to). For drivers and non-drivers alike, I'm fairly certain that if dropped off at that grocery store, you would be able to get home. You have traveled there and back so many times that driving, walking or biking there is almost second nature. There are certain things that we have to memorize that are best done through repetition. Both examples above require a degree of repetition, but the most clear example of this type of memorizing is mathematics, specifically arithmetic. Times tables, addition, subtraction, and division are all second nature by the time we are taking derivatives in calculus because we have used those skills so many times. It takes repetition and practice, but then they are very second nature, just like commuting to the grocery store. 

The idea for this blog was submitted by one of the readers. Thank you! 

Check out my YouTube channel (videos under the "playlists" tab)! Just this Tuesday, I posted my One Minute Covers of Fast Car and We Are Going To Be Friends. 

Third Grade Bio - Revisited

In third grade at Archway Chandler, the class was split into partners. We were assigned to gather information about one another and to write a short biography. This is the biography that Jerod Folden wrote about me:

CALEB'S LIFE by Jerod Folden 

    Caleb Joshua Gottry is a friend of mine. He is named after Caleb in the Bible who did good. Caleb's nickname is Smiley Guy because he smiles all the time. His eye color is blue, he wears braces, his hair color is blond, and he is about 4 feet tall. He was born in 2004 at 10:30 in the morning. He lives in Gilbert. 

 

    Caleb's sister is Emily. She is 11 years old. His mom is named Amy and his dad is named Joshua. They are both music teachers. He has no pets now, but used to have a fish that had no name (and that died). He also had a millipede that had a name which Caleb doesn't remember. He wants a pet monkey named Swinger to play with. He likes monkeys because they are active.

    Caleb's favorites are the colors red, blue, and black, meatball subs, How to Train Your Dragon, basketball, drama, and Star Wars. His dislikes are the color white and cooked veggies. His most prized possession is a pottery painting of a turtle. It's his prized possession because it's cute and it reminds him of his grandma. 

    Caleb wants to be a detective when he grows up. he wants to be a detective because his uncle is and because he wants to save people from getting hurt, being accused, or getting robbed. If he could go anywhere, Caleb would go to Africa because he likes monkeys and elephants. If he could do anything at all, he would talk to all of the animals in the world. He wants to invent a rocket that can survive a black hole so he could study it. That's Caleb! 

 

Alright, so those of you who know me now and didn't know me then might be a little confused. Granted, this is a small window into the past, but a lot of things have changed. Let me dive into this more specifically. 

First of all, I know that Jerod and I were not great friends back in third grade so I'm guessing that first line was given to us as part of the assignment. Most of the first paragraph remains true. I am no longer four feet tall (phew) and I don't have braces any more. I also haven't heard "Smiley Guy" for a while and it was more of a familial name, but I've still never really had a nickname in the traditional sense. 

My family is represented accurately in the second paragraph (no, my sister is not 11 anymore, but you can do the math). The description of my pet history is kind of depressing and I don't know how I didn't know the name of the millipede then and yet I do now. His name was Feelers. After getting the opportunity to foster a dog for a while this year, I can say that I would love to have a dog at some point in my life again. Taking care of a monkey seems like a lot of work... even more than taking care of a dog.

My favorite color is blue. How can you have more than one favorite color? Favorite food: Enchiladas, though I still do love a good meatball sub. I remember really liking the How To Train Your Dragon series, but I'd have trouble picking a favorite book or series today. Three great reads are If You're Reading This by Trent Reedy, The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway and The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis (listed in no particular order). Some of my other likes are choir, drama, church activities and service, biking, disk golf, guitar, and still Star Wars. I don't know why I didn't like the color white, but I don't have anything against it now--same goes for cooked veggies, although I'm not a fan of peas. Otherwise, I don't like the things most people don't like: headaches, traffic, going to the dentist, great books with terrible endings, an overly full email inbox, etc. If I had to pick a most prized possession it would be somewhere in my guitar corner in my room. I still have that pottery turtle that I painted with my grandma on a shelf though.

Nothing in the fourth paragraph is true about my ambitions anymore. Being a detective seems like a stressful job, just based on who you're dealing with, the mental requirement, and the importance of the job. Also, my uncle is a forest ranger. As far as Africa goes, I would like to stay right where I am, with friends and family all around me, a familiar place, great food, mild winters, and lots of pool time in the summer. Next, I would hope that if I could do anything, I would chose a nobler end than talking to animals. Finally, going into space sounds extremely frightening and dangerous and studying a black hole sounds very scientific which is not my favorite subject in school. While I may not be able to come back here after college and I doubt I will ever have the ability to “do anything,” I do still have ambitions. For college I am looking at a variety of schools in Arizona, Colorado, California, and Texas, so I can be close to home and/or family. I will likely be pursuing a degree in journalism and I will go wherever that takes me in life, be it sports, business, entertainment, governmental, or in another area.

Well, that was certainly an interesting dive into my then and now. I'll have to revisit this in ten years to see how it all panned out. Thanks for reading and as Jerod said, "That's Caleb!".

Check out my YouTube channel! I posted new videos on Tuesday: A fun Original Rap, and another One Minute Cover.

Exciting Announcement!

Hello! I know that I have not shared this blog far and wide, but to those of you who do read it, thank you! I also hope you have enjoyed my meager ramblings, half-witted stories, and hopefully a few words or phrases of small profundity. If you do not know, I started this blog in the early stages of quarantine partly as something to do with my time, but also as a way to hone my craft of writing as I pursue journalism. 

This summer, I plan to post blogs and videos on a regularly scheduled basis here and on my YouTube channel (under the playlists tab). Every Tuesday, I will be posting a fun edited video or a couple more one-minute covers. Two new one-minute covers have already been posted on my YouTube channel if you would like to check those out. Every Thursday (starting today), I will post a blog. These blogs, as always, will be on a variety of topics and interests. Next week I will be looking back at a third grade biography.

Also, I do appreciate feedback on my blog! It is very easy on my end to go into the blog and change things on a post, so if you think something doesn't read quite right or you notice I am missing a comma, feel free to let me know! If you have general feedback on the way I approached an idea or if you have another idea for a blog I could write, I'd love to hear that from you as well. As I've said, this is for me to practice the craft of writing, so I am always looking to improve as well as try different approaches. I look forward to this summer!