A letter to graduates in honor of 100 years of ‘Gatsby’

Dear Readers Thank you so much for subscribing to Stacks When I moved from New York City to Atlanta in I was eager to learn more about my new city s literary scene Writing this newsletter has made me realize that Atlanta s book heritage is vibrant and thriving with events like the Decatur and Marcus Jewish District Center book festivals and new bookstores like Long Story Books on the horizon It s been a contentment to bring this and more to your inbox every month Eloisa Bloom L and Alex Kent working on Stacks at Switchyards Buckhead in June Credit Rough Draft AtlantaReading has perpetually been a big part of my life As a child I fought in epic battles with Lord Voldemort with Harry Potter traveled alongside Bilbo Baggins as he ventured into the unknown outside of the Shire and fell in love with Gilbert Blythe in Anne of Green Gables Books shaped my childhood I still vividly remember sitting with my mom in my bed as she read Charlotte s Web aloud tears streaking our faces as we finished the last page and learning how much literature could make me feel I ve covered specific of my favorites in reviews in the newsletter The Guest by Emma Cline Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano and Lies and Weddings by Kevin Kwan are chosen of the the greater part notable novels I ve written about so far My latest obsession is The Great Gatsby which celebrates its th anniversary this year I fell in love with Fitzgerald s rich prose that captures the luxury and glamor of the roaring s along with the pursuit of the American dream in the midst of deep class divides all just in pages It was heartbreaking Gatsby himself was driven by love and dreams rather than greed and never fully accepted into the upper echelon society of New York or wins over Daisy the girl of his dreams As graduation day approaches for the class of and me the last passage keeps appearing in my head the sense of melancholy that we all feel as we embark on the unknown Fitzgerald s narrator Nick Carraway observes Long Island and as the moon rose higher the inessential houses began to melt away until gradually I became aware of the old island here that flowered once for Dutch sailors eyes a fresh green breast of the new world Its vanished trees the trees that had made way for Gatsby s house had once pandered in whispers to the last and greatest of all human dreams for a transitory enchanted moment man must have held his breath in the presence of this continent compelled into an sthetic contemplation he neither understood nor desired face to face for the last time in history with something commensurate to his ceiling for wonder As I think about this turning point in our lives I see that we too are like the sailors Carraway describes not in the sense of being colonizers but as explorers We hold our breaths in the overwhelming grandness of the future ahead of us our lives stretched out in an expanse of unknown terrain a land bursting with dreams and possibilities We do not know what we might encounter we only have our own ceiling to wonder to imagine For me high school has been my own safe haven the familiarity of my friends teachers and society becoming what I imagine the Dutch Sailors saw as the old world or the Netherlands The structure of high school days the feeling of unconditional acceptance and love from my friends and family have been such a light guiding me through my childhood And I m now realizing how settled and even dependent I have grown to this fact And that scares me Now face to face with the uncertainty of the future the task of building a new district for myself is daunting This passage is also immensely hopeful Thinking of what the land the Dutch sailors encountered has become the city of New York with its skyscrapers stretching towards the stars and the plethora of people cultures and religions that have grown thrived and come to inhabit on that soil makes me think of the infinite paths we might take The unending possibilities of what we can attain experience and enjoy So as we leave behind the world of the unknown taking the skills and experiences we have received from our childhoods and from our time in high school I hope we all look at the rolling hills of our future the trees and fruitful landscape and let ourselves wonder about the good we can make with our lives To allow ourselves to feel fear but also let our imaginations run wild As Fitzgerald teaches us dreams are limitless and we have come a long way to this blue law n and our dreams are so close I do hope and believe that we can grasp them I want to congratulate all of us who are embarking on new adventures this month Eloisa View this post on Instagram A post shared by eloisa bloom eloisabloom writes The post A letter to graduates in honor of years of Gatsby appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta