Revisiting The Great Gatsby
oh, the hypocrisy of it all
Hello readers! Sometimes I have a reading experience that is just ripe for discussion and I can’t help but want to share it with the world immediately. Today’s newsletter is about one of those books and reading experiences.
It all started with one of my best friends texting me yesterday morning that her son (and therefore my son, since they go to school together) had been assigned to read The Great Gatsby in English class and WHY? This dear friend is a longtime professional educator and is one of the most knowledgeable people I know on the topics of educational policy and literacy. She’s one of my most trusted sources on all things teaching and learning, so when she said she was re-reading the book via audio to figure out why it is deemed valuable for teenagers in this current age / hellscape, I cursed her and then begrudgingly said I’m in. Cursed her because I was in the middle of listening to a quite delightful romance featuring a single mom and professional baseball player, so switching to Fitzgerald was a BIG audio sacrifice. BIG.
