Category: History & Culture
-
A Fascinating Look at Tiananmen Square at 25
I remember where I was when the Chinese government cracked down on the pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square in June 1989. Less than a month before the incident, I graduated from college and got married a week later. My bride and I were on an extended honeymoon, traveling to Chicago for her best friend’s wedding.…
-
Know Your History: The Largest Oil Producing Region in America
No, I’m not talking about Texas. Pennsylvania. What, you say? Did you ever wonder why there is “Quaker State Oil”? How about Pennzoil? Or Penn Oil? Or Oil City, Pennsylvania? Or Petronia, PA. Or even the humble village where I grew up – Great Belt, PA? You may not realize it, but western Pennsylvania was,…
-
Indonesian Music – Part II
Here’s the continuation of my exploration of Indonesian music. And here’s the link to the first post in this series: PART I HERE This new urban class in Indonesia set the stage for the consumption of music on a national scale as never before seen. The growth of modern cities like Jakarta created an urban…
-
Know Your History: Germany is Split
In the waning hours of WWII, Germany’s defeat was assured, but the make-up of post-war Europe was anything but certain. The Soviets pushed hard into Germany from the east and the remaining allies, USA, Britain, and others, moved in from the west. After Germany completely capitulated in May 1945, the Allies split the conquered foe…
-
Indonesia & Music (Part I)
The Indonesian archipelago, which is made up of thousands of islands spread over thousands miles off the coast of the Malay Peninsula, is one of the most populated and diverse nations on earth. This heterogeneous society has experienced tremendous change over the last half of the twentieth century as it emerged as a post-colonial sovereign…
-
A Rebuke of Capitalism and a Counterargument
Capitalism has taken its hits in recent years and not without cause. A while back I read Harry Braverman’s thought-provoking and thorough work about labor and capitalism. As I mention in the essay below, it should be required reading for all capitalist. Though his analysis of labor cannot really be argued with, I found myself…
-
Know Your History: 1896 Plessy v. Furgeson
In 1892, Homer Plessy was jailed for sitting on a white rail car. Homer was extremely light skinned and could have passed for a white person, but under the law of Louisiana, he wasn’t ‘white enough’. The case, which eventually made it to the Supreme Court in 1896, centered around Louisiana’s segregation laws and whether…
Author Mark W Sasse 