Cross-posted at The Mandate of Heaven. Tuesday I sat in a Starbucks in Taipei for several hours because I've been editing a Master's thesis by a student from Tsinghua University in Hsinchu. It didn't take me long to notice that Paul McCartney's new album was playing (I had some recollection that he had just come out with a new album). I remember the thought flashing through my head: this is pretty good. Maybe I'll go out and buy it.

I took another sip from my coffee and continued reading. Imagine to yourself a time-lapse photographic movement, a jump forward...time has elapsed. The coffee cup that was once filled with robust steaming brew is now only half full. It suddenly occurs to me that I am stuck in a recurring theme: "I've heard this song before." Yes, the Paul McCartney album had finished and apparently started again from the beginning.  And again...and again...and again...on and on and on...from beginning to end and end to beginning and back again. Was I in the movie, Groundhog Day?

Cross-posted at The Mandate of Heaven

I'm reading a fascinating book--The Island at the Center of the World--by Russell Shorto. No, it is not about Taiwan, though, in many ways, it could be, and the global context in which the story is set, is the same. The second part of the title of Shorto's book should provide you with insight into its main themes--The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotton Colony that Shaped America.

Shorto's thesis is that the history of early America that American children learn in school--especially the role that New York City (New Amsterdam) played in that history--is not the complete picture; it is rather a narrative propagated by the British, who inherited New York from the Dutch. Shorto's task is to discover--and uncover--the contribution of the Dutch colony in forging what became the United States:

Fascinating, and a great discussion - afew

I am so happy you have created a dailykos style blog focusing on European politics.  I am from the states, but I spent a year in Leiden, the Netherlands, 2001-02, to work with a professor there on my dissertation, which deals with Chinese religion and politics.  If you would like to know more about it, see my blog:

http://www.wulingren.blogspot.com

I spent all morning writing a post, attempting to express what I have accomplished in the past 4 or 5 years, since my defense is this Wednesday.

I have been back to Leiden for a week or two the last 3 summers, and each time, walking out of the train station, it is like returning somewhere very familiar, like a home away from home.  

Well, I think this will be good for expanding the community--no reason why we should be confined to national borders.  Perhaps, instead of the EU, we are creating the IU (internet community) or the VU (virtual community).