We’re voracious consumers of culture. And each week, a member of our team shares the words, images, and beers that inspired them.

Read.// With “The Great Gatsby” on Broadway this spring, it may be time for a reread. If you are hesitant to bust out your yellowing high school copy, though, critic Wesley Morris makes a compelling case for returning (again and again) to this deserving classic. In his foreword to the Modern Library’s 2021 edition of the book, Morris considers the downright luxuriousness of Fitzgerald's prose and how that polished language glows amid such a bleak portrayal of the novel's characters and the gin-soaked world they lived in. Though I had recently reread Gatsby before discovering Morris' essay, after reading his meditation on the book, I had a hankering to dive into the Gatsby pool all over again.

Look.// In 1921, F. Scott's wife, Zelda Fitzgerald, began making paper dolls for their daughter Scottie. But what began as a series of playthings for her child turned into a lifelong artistic practice. An accomplished painter, Zelda Fitzgerald made paper dolls of not only her family, but also of historic and fictional figures that captured her imagination. In 2022, author Elenor Lanahan compiled Fitzgerald's creations into a book: “The Paper Dolls of Zelda Fitzgerald.” Get a peek inside and see her whimsical creations.

Drink.// Toppling Goliath’s Pseudo Sue

Though the new-money-versus-old-money struggle in “The Great Gatsby” is more of a Goliath-versus-Goliath story than a David-versus-Goliath one, the rags-to-riches rise of Jay Gatsby and his fierce commitment to, or even obsession with, climbing his way up from the limits of his station certainly recall aspects of an epic power struggle. So if you do consider dusting off your copy of Gatsby this spring, consider pairing it with something from Toppling Goliath, a brewery out of Decorah, Iowa, founded in 2009. Its "ferocious" Pseudo Sue, an award-winning Citra-hopped pale ale is a fine place to start.