Odysseus is a Greek hero who we know more for his cleverness than his strength (though he was no weakling on the battlefield).  He was the brain behind the trojan horse, and in the Odyssey, he survives primarily through his wits.  As the title of my blog and cursory analysis reveal: I am not quite him.  There are some ways in which I am like Odysseus.  I’ve spent a long time in the military.  It was not ten years of war with the Trojans, nor did my ideas cause my side to win a major battle.  Like Odysseus, I rely on wit and charm more than brute strength to win my conflicts.  Unlike him, I have not bested a cyclops.  Just like Odysseus, I can fire an arrow through a series of axes (okay, maybe that’s not quite true).  Unfortunately, unlike the great Greek hero, I do not have a beard (but I’m working on that).

What You Can Expect From This Blog

What you can find here is a view of the world through my lens: the lens of an amateur scholar, part-time historian, lover of nature and humanity, and profoundly curious individual.

Odysseus wasn’t a salesman, and neither am I.  I didn’t design this blog to make any money or sell any products, and I don’t expect that anyone will read it other than a few supportive friends (and even they, I expect, will read it only politely).  More than likely, my initial attempts will be poorly written, and I can only hope that later edits will yield a product worth your time to read.

Of all of Odysseus’s adventures, my favorite is the Song of the Sirens.  In this episode, Odysseus plugs the ears of his crewman, ties himself to the mast of the ship, and listens to the Siren’s Song, knowing it will drive him mad with desire, for no other perceivable reason than curiosity: he wants to know what the song sounds like.  Selfish perhaps, but speaking I think to a characteristic of humanity: we are, perhaps to our detriment, insatiably curious.

I hope this blog will both sate and stoke your curiosity.