There are lots of things to update you on soon — anthologies and stories and essays and writing groups and conferences, oh my!
But instead, I want to tell you about the (swell of orchestral music) *Movies*! The lovely Wendy Russ offered me a chance to review the movie reboot of one of my least favorite books, The Great Gatsby and I jumped at the chance. I’d been anxious to see the movie because I thought the lush, lurid world illustrated by Fitzgerald would lend itself well to the screen and who better to aggregate such grandeur than Baz Luhrmann. In preparation, Adam and I both picked up the book again. We went to the fancy theater to get the best crowd reactions and then had dive Mexican food and recounted everything we loved and hated. The fruit of that labor can be read here. Join our discussion, please — there, here, or on social media.
You did great on the article. PEOPLE, GO READ IT if you haven’t. I want to find time to fit in re-reading the book to see how I react to it as an adult. At the time I was reading it in school I was coming from a really strange perspective living in a small country town, very conservative… a place where the teachers have “Plan B” books in case a parent protests one of the required readings due to religious reasons. (Does anyone care about that anymore? I don’t know.)
Anyway, you did great work. I’m looking forward to reading more of your stuff!
Thanks, again, Wendy. I had so much fun writing that piece and experiencing everything all over again. I spoke to a high school class last week, as well, and we had a fun discussion about it. Looking forward to my next assignment 😉