Ball Knowledge

  After Gatsby’s funeral, I stayed back to get things in accord for him. Made sure all of his loose ends were tied up, tidied up the house, and was ready to pay my last respects to him. Just as I was leaving his new butler, Mayor Wolfsheim’s worker, handed me a letter saying to Nick Carraway and instantly I knew who it was from. In his fancy signature was addressed Jay Gatsby. Curious as to what surprised he had left even after he was gone, I opened it:  Hello Old Sport, if you are reading this now then it is like I predicted that I am no longer living. It’s weighed on me for so long, but I haven’t been honest with you or anyone in fact about who I truly am. It’s time you find out. While my past that I told you was true, what I have been working towards in my life is very different from what you perceive.  I presume you are standing on my dock right now looking out at the green light. Now look a little to the right of it and you’ll see a simple, humble house situated righ...

  The past week while we’ve been reading Gatsby , everything always felt so deep and complicated. While I was reading at home, I’d often have to reread some parts and check over things on the internet just to make sure I interpreted a detail the right way. After all that, I’d still get a 2 out of 4 on the Gatsby quiz because I forgot something. In class, we brought up the idea of how Fitzgerald’s purpose for writing The Great Gatsby was to critique the “American Dream” and bring up how people behaved back then, but once we put this into a skit form, it felt so surreal. By converting everything into modern-day slang, adding our own slight personal touches, and acting it out, The Great Gatsby went from being the most sophisticated thing to comedic and almost a little dumb. For example, no way some guy worked insanely hard to get super rich, buy a house across the river from her to stalk her, and throw lavish parties that cost loads of money, just for a girl he met five years ago t...

  The psychological phenomenon of the do not press red button has always intrigued me. If the button were to just be there and exist, no one would pay attention to it. The second that the “do not press button” text is placed onto it, the thoughts that flow into your mind drastically increase. What would happen if I pressed the button? No, I shouldn’t press the button. But i realllllly want to know what happens if I push the button. Are all the thoughts that your brain is filled with, when placed in this scenario. The more your brain tries to suppress the thought of pushing it, the more you think about it and the more appealing it becomes. This is a famous phenomenon known as the Ironic Process Theory. When I was growing up whenever my parents went out somewhere they would tell me to not play on my Nintendo switch. This felt like a big DO NOT PRESS sign placed right on top of my Nintendo switch. The second they ended up leaving, that switch in the corner of my room would always be...