Last edited: 2026-04-06 06:43:54 | 2 revisions | All changes

Reflection: A College by an Ocean Town (04/28/24)

Rating: 2 Stars Date: April 28, 2024 Notebook: Daily/Deep Reflections 2024-2025 Tags: Reflection, Essay Last updated: 2026-04-06

Overview

A 2-Star essay from April 2024, written when Jack was likely still deciding on or newly at his pre-Georgia Tech Era school. The title evokes a specific type of campus — smaller, coastal, quieter than the cities Jack craves.

Reading the Title

“A College by an Ocean Town” has the quality of an essay title rather than a journal entry header — suggesting Jack wrote this with some intention of it being read. It’s categorized as an Essay in his system (distinct from Reflection).

The ocean town evokes calm, insularity, distance from the tech centers Jack gravitates toward. This essay may be a meditation on what it feels like to be in the wrong environment — away from the density, the intensity, the people.

Context: April 2024

April 2024 is when Jack’s app “went to production” (from his annual review — “April 6: went to production”). Writing an essay about a quiet coastal college right around the same time suggests he may be contrasting where he is with where he’s trying to go.

Essay as Form

Jack uses the essay form specifically for place-based writing (this entry, the LA blog). Essays allow more distance and craft than journal entries. The fact that this was published on thejackluo.notion.site (his public Notion) along with the LA piece suggests it was meant for an audience.

Revision history