History, the Concatenation of Human Experiences :: European Europe History

History, the Concatenation of Human Experiences In June 1961, I left Berlin, Germany, with my parents, my sister, and my Swedish cousin enroute to Sweden for what was to be two weeks of Scandinavian fun. The Russian soldiers who processed us through the checkpoints were impeccably dressed in jodhpurs and the shiniest black riding boots I had ever seen. It was obvious they had been carefully selected for this job, which entailed a goodly measure of public relations; the Communists displayed only their best. The soldiers were not only good looking and efficient, processing our papers quickly; on that day they were noticeably relaxed, with genuine smiles on their faces. A week earlier than planned, my family returned to Berlin, driving through the same checkpoints. This time the atmosphere was tense. There were no smiles. Passports and other papers were scrutinized slowly, creating long delays, much to our discomfort. What had caused the change? An event that will be taught in history classes for hundreds of years. An event that even a thousand years from now will be at least a footnote in the history books. The East Germans had erected a wall, dividing one of the world’s most famous cities in two. Barbara Tuchman would argue—correctly, I think—that it is too soon to write the history of the Berlin Crisis. This contemporary generation, born and raised in the tensions of the Cold War, will record the facts and write the narrative, but we are too close to have a good perspective on it (Tuchman 27-28). For the interpretation of those facts, we will have to wait for the generation now being born, a generation which will have few, if any, emotional attachments to the event and therefore be better able to analyze it with some objectivity—or ignorance, as Edward H. Carr would call it (9). This is how history is written. It is a process—a recording of facts and later an interpreting of those facts to relate them to the future generations. The question, of course, is what history our descendants will write. Human beings are by nature egocentric. In the West we assume future historians will see the crisis as we do. The wall was not constructed for noble reasons; it was a manifestation of the evil empire, was it not?

On the Competition Between an Online Bookstore and a Physical Bookstore Essay

Most of you have no doubt been made aware of Amazon’s latest thuggish, brutal – and brilliant – idea to squeeze out its competition. Utilizing their Price Check smart phone app, a customer would get a 5% discount on a product that they initially scanned in a retail store before subsequently purchasing it on Amazon. Nefarious, right? But also quite savvy. Amazon is no stranger to taking advantage of its massive size and its low overheads to crush its competition. Its online nature has allowed it to skip around state sales taxes, and the employment opportunities it brings serves as a deterrent to local legislators who wish to take Amazon down. â€Å"Hey, if you don’t want us in your state, there are 49 others that do.† Like Wal-Mart before it, Amazon is, depending on your point of view, either â€Å"making the consumer market more efficient† or â€Å"sending us on a race to the bottom.† Amazon has already seen off one of its chief competitors – the formerly-of-this-world Borders – and has since diversified into selling †¦ everything. And so Amazon’s little price-right stunt hit nearly everyone across the board. Thankfully for them, it was a one-day-only event but the fact that Amazon can now, at any time, declare any day as Promotion Day is vaguely monopolistic and scary for Amazon’s real-world competitors. Amazon’s brick and mortar competitors still have that one crucial advantage that the company lacks – people. It sounds hokey, but human interaction – having a salesperson tell you just exactly why you need the iGizmo4 instead of the Sprocketizer – makes a difference. But given how easy it is to shop online, coupled with Amazon’s discount, average consumer Joe might just take his business online. And AC Joe just wasted the sales rep’s time, inadvertently making up for Amazon’s lack of human interaction with the real world store’s service. If Amazon’s online comparative advantage takes off, their only customers would be the chronically impatient who need the it-thing now. Amazon’s Price Check bets on the fact that anything anyone else sells, Amazon has for cheaper; you just have to wait the 4-7 business days for shipping. Amazon’s victory may very well be (nearly) complete. But I believe that Amazon’s oldest adversary will yet linger, no matter how diminished: the independent bookstore. It is a sad time for the local, independent, college-student staffed bookstore. So many of its comrades have gone under as the public migrated to Amazon-like entities. Independent bookstores were more expensive given their limited stock and logistical capacity but they (often) boasted an intelligent and engaged staff who gave personalized recommendations and presentations on the differences between Dostoevsky translations. Yes, many more independent bookstores will (probably) die in the coming years. Obituaries have been written – blaming either Amazon or the rise of e-publishing – and there are those who already speak of the ‘good old days’ when one could thumb through copies of esoterica. But I believe we’ve already hit the bottom. There are no more independent bookstores to cull because the market fat has been eliminated. The places that still have independent bookstores want independent bookstores despite the pricing advantages of the Big Box or the internet. Independent bookstores foster a sense of literary community among costumers, serving as a focal point for discussion and – as pretentious as this sounds – intellectualism. The people who will keep these bookstores alive are the same people who would continue to donate to NPR or become members of museums. It is, of course, a sad fact that bookstores like these cannot survive in the free-market wild with an Amazonian predator on the loose, but the independent bookstore has found its ecological niche: as a curated cultural object. This may be a depressing conclusion for some of you who remember the good old days (was it only a decade ago?) where the independent bookstore thrived in this America. But if you want to keep the independent bookstore alive, we will all have to do our part to treasure the luscious feel of running a finger through bound pages, to waltz through shelves of books we will never read, and to pass on that heady sensation to our children and friends. Call us – the last survivors of the great bookstore apocalypse – kooky and crazy, but we will keep these institutions alive just as we kill and devour a native bird species in November and just as we blow up quantities of explosives in the night sky in the 7th month of the solar calendar. These are cultural things that we do to preserve who we are.

The Chinese Culture: A Chinese-American Family Reunion

My wife is originally from the southern part of China, so her family is a mixture of descendants of China and the Americans who have married into the family. A few years ago her family had a reunion to gather together and visit with one another, and I was invited to attend. While I had experienced some of the Chinese culture prior to the event, the reunion was the first time that I really got to observe the traditional culture in real life. The event was a very elegant occasion, more like a banquet than the typical American family reunion. There was tons of food, most of which was Chinese, and even Chinese decorations. There were red lanterns strung around the room, all lit as the evening approached. They were very beautiful, but as it turns out they are not used for beauty. The lanterns symbolize good luck and hope. They are used every year in China at the Lantern Festival, when they line the streets to symbolize this same meaning. The color red also has significance in the Chinese culture. It is believed to be the color of luck. Some of the older family members spoke the Chinese language, which was interesting to witness, but most everyone spoke English. I am an American with family roots in Germany, so the two cultures are vastly different. The biggest difference I noticed was how much more reserved the Chinese people seemed to typical American families. Even the children, who were laughing and playing, seemed to be more respectful than American children. This aspect of the culture impacted me the most. I realized how different people are from different parts of the world, and especially those who live in America, but have been raised with traditional Chinese values. It amazes me how different cultures can vary so greatly. I enjoyed this learning experience with my wife’s family and I look forward to many more Chinese events in the future. References: Chinatown Connection, â€Å"Lantern Festival.† Chinatown Connection. n.d.. Chinatown Connection. 5 May 2008 . Lee, Danile. â€Å"Chinese People Lifestyle.† Chinatown Connection. n.d.. Chinatown Connection. 5 May 2008 .