On my way back today from my trip to a four day conference that I will discuss later, I, of course, centered myself by finding the local NPR station. During the long trek from Virginia, I was able to hear a program called Studio360 which was devoting an entire week’s show to “The Great Gatsby”. I got lost within the show as I remembered some other more personal connections to the work—the kind that make you whispy—all made possible by the many readings I heard. I have included a player below for you to listen to the entire show in its various segments. This is a program I would podcast.

As we all did I’m sure, I first read ‘The Great Gatsby” for some school assignment. I can’t remember what I thought of the book as a whole, but I do remember being a bit frustrated with Jay Gatsby. Why was our hero a man who, for all his showmanship, was a truly sad and lonely individual? I guess I never saw him as a hero and, in reality, he was never intended to be.

I think at the time I couldn’t understand why we would care about a character like Gatsby. Why would I want to watch someone living such an obvious and empty fantasy? As I’m growing older and ratcheting up my life experiences, it’s getting clearer. We all have the potential, and at times the desire, to be Gatsby—to reach for that green light but almost willingly be borne back ceaselessly into the past. The past and the never-to-be become more alluring than our mundane present, than the actual achievement. Learning to live with that comes natural to some, but not to others. Some of us prefer to live like Gatsby.