Encomium of Polyphemus

This is kind of a throwback blog for me. Below is a one-day writing assignment that I did for my Great Books class. An encomium is a speech or piece of writing that praises someone who maybe doesn't get praised often. We read "The Odyssey" last fall and I think the cyclops deserves some praise after getting a bad review from Odysseus. This is my encomium:

   

    The cover is not the book, even when the cover is a man-eating monster. To take a single glimpse of a single being in a single society favored greatly by all the gods and define the being as just an obstacle is callous. Monsters are Odysseus’s obstacles, yes, but the one-eyed giant Polyphemus, the Cyclops, is not a monster in being, even if he is in form. Thus, he cannot be defined as just Odysseus’s second obstacle and first failure. Looking to the gods who hold all power and to cunning Odysseus, brash and deceiving, I vindicate blind Polyphemus from his own reputation as the monstrous obstacle he is not. His father is Poseidon, a god forever yearning for justice in battles and life. Polyphemus too has this virtue.

    The gods who never die bless the land of the Cyclops, fulfilling always the never fading trust of her inhabitants. Though they do not fear the gods as the mortals do, perhaps the trust and faith in their power is greater principled. The land flourishes for these lonesome creatures caring for their livestock, Polyphemus, lacking a wife and children, perhaps the loneliest of all. Yet, he governs himself peacefully among the creatures on the island, caring carefully for each of his rams, even as they are already blessed by the gods, able to know them by touch alone in his blindness. In a community known by Odysseus and his crew as not caring for any neighbor, the one who does care for their neighbor as their friend is praiseworthy. As Polyphemus cried out in pain, his neighbors called to him asking of his ailment and the one-eyed giant could call back ‘friends’ in his time of greatest need, though duped by Odysseus he was. The cheese-eating, wine-loving Polyphemus cannot be blamed for his fearful acts of violence or his hideous appearance. Instead, he must be praised for his gentleness to his creatures in all his power and his neighborliness in all his desire to be in solitude. 

    Finding fault in the hero Odysseus may not be easy to do, remembering his crew mates snatched up by the man-eating Cyclops, but we must justly do so in order to properly celebrate Polyphemus. Odysseus sees a monster that looks by his eyes to be cruel and disabling and he turns into that cruel beast in heart, deceiving and disabling them in vaunting laughter. His curious spirit drives him and his crew into Polyphemus’s dwelling: intruders and thieves. They do not deserve the mortal hospitality they beg for and do not receive. Polyphemus knows not of their customs, but Polyphemus knows what is his and what is not theirs. Thus he yearns for justice. Yet, he does not enact immediate justice. Indeed, he does eat one of Odysseus’s men, but they are food to him, making this action almost normal in an odd sense. The most praiseworthy action of the man-eating creature is his dedication to listen to Odysseus. This action, meeting the warrior halfway in his demands for gifts, leads him down a road to be deceived. The deceiver who deceives the one who does not know deceit is wicked; Odysseus is the deceiving one. Praise the one who seeks to enact fair judgement and not the one who seeks to avoid it! This is a way to liberate Polyphemus from the reputation Odysseus spread. 

    How can one call Polyphemus a lawless brute? He is governed by his own laws; he is gentle, trusting, and just. How can one say Polyphemus’s actions were monstrous and evil? He extended grace to a trespasser, listening to only be deceived. Ultimately, how can one call Polyphemus an obstacle? He is a being with his own life, ruined in part by Odysseus. He is lonesome but happy and far from an obstacle; he is praiseworthy. 

Check out another throwback to school on my YouTube channel! Posted just this Tuesday, it's a fun (and funny) video of my Rube Goldberg Physics Project. 

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!

Trapped and Bugged

It was a battle of epic proportions, reminiscent of the old man versus the fish and Captain Ahab versus Moby Dick. One small difference, however, was this: there was no fish. There was just a fly. And while I am no old man, his principles of hard work and not taking the easy way out aligned with my own. This fly was not leaving my home. It was trapped and I was bugged. 

It all began in my parents’ room as the small beast buzzed past each of our heads, its tiny wings beating together to alert us of its presence. I grabbed a magazine to swat the fly lest it continue to bother us. The fly evaded my clumsy swipes and quickly left the room disappearing from my view. I thought that that was the end of it. It was not. The winged creature reappeared in my own room determined to bug me further. 

The fly alighted, for the first time that I saw, on my window blinds. In its position, it was safe from my magazine vengeance, but not from me. I whipped my blinds close and the small beast buzzed against the wooden slates, unable to get out. I gave the blinds a few whacks and the buzzing stopped. I vainly thought that that was the end of it. Again it was not. I reopened my blinds and the winged creature flew out with surprising speed away from my window and out of my room.

I went in pursuit and found the buzzing critter hovering by the door to the garage, assuredly the place where it had entered. The fly was trying to flee its impending doom, but I would not fold to its hopes for surrender after it had already disturbed our peace. It was a challenge now. I would not take the easy way out. I was in pursuit of my own Moby Dick. I swiped at the tiny beast until it fled back to my own room. I knew that that was not the end of it.

If the fly was the fish I was in pursuit of, it was only then that I hooked it. My blinds were opened so I could better find the winged creature, my fan was turned off so I could hear its beating wings, and my door was closed. We were both trapped and I was still bugged and determined. I swiped the magazine through the air when I caught a glimpse or heard its buzz come near but all in vain. I needed the brute to land. At first, I saw none of its landings. Every time I lost the visual, the buzzing ceased and I knew the bug had stopped to sit and to rest, but I could not find it.  Slowly, however, my fly-tracking skills increased and I saw its every motion. After nearly 20 minutes, I knew that the end was coming. It was. 

The small, buzzing beast alighted three times in front of my eyes before it met its end. Twice it landed on a soft surface and sank into my bed and pillow to avoid the fatal blow of the magazine. The third time, though, it sat on my wall in the top corner of my room. That was the end of the poor creature's final flight. I whispered my congratulations on a battle well fought and with a small hop smacked the magazine onto the fly and wall. I disposed of the small and ill-starred mortal being in my trash can. My boat had returned to shore as it were and I joined my family for dinner. 

Ah... Seltzer Water

I have been drinking sparkling water at every lunch consistently since eighth grade and it has quickly become my most favorite drink and proves to be a great alternative to sugar loaded sodas. After tasting these six brands several times based on when they went on sale or whether we were shopping at Costco of Fry's, I have developed an ordered list from my favorite down. I hope you enjoy reading it and I would encourage you to go out and try some seltzer water for yourself!

                                                1. LaCroix Curate

Flavor of Choice: Cerise Limon (Cherry Lime)

LaCroix Curate is far and away my favorite sparkling water. Its dual flavor mix gives it a nice sweetness without being overpowering in every sip. Like all the sparkling waters on this list, it is free of any sugar, calories, or sodium. A 24 count variety pack usually retails for $8.99 at Costco, but especially when it goes on sale, LaCroix's Curate line is a good way to go for any sparkling water connoisseur.

2. LaCroix

Flavor of Choice: Pamplemousse (Grapefruit)

One of the most well known brand names of sparkling water, I believe LaCroix lives up to expectations. Out of the flavors I've tried from LaCroix's arsenal, I am impressed by the subtlety of the flavor that is present in every sip. It also holds its flavor and sparkle for a fairly long time. A 24 count variety pack usually retails for $6.39 at Costco and the three flavors in the pack change based on the season.

3. Kirkland Sparkling Water

Flavor of Choice: Lemon

This might be surprising to see a generic brand of sparkling water earning the bronze, but Kirkland's line of seltzer, in an attempt to profit from the overlap between people who shop at Costco and people who drink sparkling water, is the best imitation of the LaCroix brand. Its three flavors (lemon, lime, and grapefruit) capture the citric acidity and delightful sparkle of any high level seltzer, for a fraction of the cost, at $7.49 for a 32 count variety pack. 

4. Bubly Sparkling Water

Flavor of Choice: Blackberry

Even though this is one of the most popular sparkling water brands on the market, my main issue with Bubly is the truly too overpowering flavor. Unlike the first three, I find it a little bit more difficult to drink a full can in one sitting, despite the nice sparkle and large variety of flavor choices. A 12 count single flavor pack retails at Fry's for $5.75.

5. Belle Vie Sparkling Water

Flavor of Choice: Grapefruit

From the newly opening convenience store, Aldi, in Chandler, this off-brand sparkling water was hard to rank in how it compares to the Kroger brand. I have to say, it was very close, but Belle Vie took the slight lead to Kroger because of its crispness upon opening and solid flavor (though still faintly present). All in all, I would recommend it as a grocery store seltzer if an Aldi is close to you and it comes in at a very affordable $2.99 for 12 cans.

6. Kroger Seltzer

Flavor of Choice: Mandarin Orange

Coming in at #6 on this list is Kroger's brand seltzer, definitely a knock off generic brand, but a decent alternative, especially when it's not directly compared to higher level seltzers. There are many flavors to choose from including dual flavors and they all do taste uniquely different. My main complaint is that it tends to start tasting flat much faster than its competitors. A 12 count single flavor pack retails for just $2.79 at Fry's. 

7. Aha Sparkling Water

Flavor of Choice: Orange+Grapefruit

A low level name brand, Aha sparkling water is dead last on my list for a couple reasons. With all dual flavors, one would think that the drink would be very flavorful, but instead it is hard to pinpoint specific flavors and it tends to taste a little bitter. The citrus flavors are slightly better than the others because citrus tends to work best with the bubbles. An 8 count single flavor pack retails for $3.99 at Fry's.