History, Where Everything Is Made Up And The Points Don't Matter

 While going through grad school we talked a lot about this idea of "can we ever really know history" because we can't generalize because there are so many different experiences. At the same time, there are also few sources for average people the further back we go, is it really representative of the past if we're getting such a small slice of information?  Some historians use creative data to try and reconstruct the past, such as looking at census or tax data.  One example was that we have this idea that everyone in the Wild West had guns, but when you look at the tax data, that doesn't pan out because states would tax guns and very few people actually were paying that tax.  Of course, there's the question of tax fraud, but then again, it does give us some kind of window to challenge what we think of the past.  However, with so much uncertainty, it left me just wondering, is it worth teaching history anymore?

If we can't be certain of anything, why bother teaching things?  If we can't generalize, even when it does tell us about the majority of experiences though not all, then what's the point of learning anything?  It ultimately seemed to align with my feelings about disruptive companies, like uber and such. I don't like it.  Sure some things might need a bit of a shake-up, but also it results in some significant losses.  For example, the taxi market might have issues, but Uber does not solve those problems, and just makes the entire industry worse for the workers.  Those Uber drivers don't have regular full-time work, like someone working for a cab company.  They don't get benefits, they don't have guaranteed wages, they don't have a company vehicle to drive. Sure, I'm certain that not every person working for a cab company is full-time with benefits, but I'm sure some people are.  There are also protections because they are an employee for a company, not a contractor where companies like Uber can just treat them like shit and it doesn't matter.  This also goes for places like AirBnB, which has the added benefit that you get all these companies and rich assholes buying up affordable houses to use at rentals making it harder for you (the average person) to buy a house.

This history disruption I think has a similar issue and criticizing the history that represents the majority of people at a time because it doesn't include everyone I think lends the idea that history is "wrong' or that is not worth learning because it's not everything. Sure, there are indeed issues with the majority view of history because it leaves a lot of people out because their sources are not there to tell us what happened.  It seems to be that such disruption that leaves people wondering if it's worth studying history at all is short-sighted and counterproductive.  As a history teacher, I want people to learn history, I think it's important (more on that in a future blog), but if people feel like it's not worth it because it's not "the whole story" then why would they bother?  If we say it's all made up, it's not complete, it's faulty, then it undermines what we have.  Alternatively, I feel the better way to discuss it is to be clear that not every story is told, but that our job as historians is to add those threads to the tapestry, that history is unfinished, and that we continue it.  We've picked the low-hanging fruit, and need to get those from the higher branches before we can say we're finished.  It's still important and it does matter, but we have to think about how we talk about it. 

The Mall Death of America

Yesterday while at the mall I was talking to Sal and she was less than thrilled with the store offerings available. I told her about how the mall used to have movie stories, and music stores, and toy stores, nature stores, Disney and Warner Brothers stores, cooking stores, and so on.  Now, the mall is mostly just clothing stores.  There are of course places like Lush, Apple, Bath and Body Works, and jewelry stores, but nothing that's all that fun.  Honestly, there's very little variety, which it seems to me is part of the reason that malls aren't doing well.  Even when we go out to Twelve Oaks Mall in Novie, which is bigger and far less empty, there still isn't very much in the way of variety. There's very little reason to go to them mall anymore.  I wonder if perhaps part of their problem is they ask for such high rents, but no longer can deliver the masses of people that they once did in the late 1900s. 

There is a resurgence of people wanting physical media as they get sick of shelling out cash every month for streaming services. With Disney Adults becoming so much more present, it seems that branded stores could do better.  Perhaps, all of these locations would do well given smaller footprints and lower rents.  Places that are easier to staff, with lower overhead which would make them more sustainable.  I feel the leasing managers really should be looking beyond just if there is empty space and who wants to rent it, but also looking to curate a variety of offerings to make people want to 

Could the mall be resurrected?  Who knows.  However, that also made me think about younger people and how I wonder where they go and what they do these days?  When I was a teenager we often went to the mall. We'd look around, get some food, then go see a movie.  Other than that, we might go to the bowling alley, the actual theater, but that was about it.  Do kids still go to the mall? Probably not if there's nothing interesting there for them to see/do/buy.  But also, they need places to go.  But also, do parents even let them go?  I mean, at 14 my mom would take us to the mall and she'd be around but we'd be able to go off on our own and meet back.  That kind of unsupervised situation was important, so do kids still get that? I feel like no, because the 14-year-olds that I teach are pretty feral and don't know how to act, so I think that they are not getting those opportunities to grow and learn they can't act like assholes otherwise mall security is going to come collect them.

I'm just saying, perhaps malls have a purpose.

Time is a Theif

Today was determined that is should be a Dad and Sal day, so we went around and did all the things that Sal wanted to do, which today simply involved going to a bunch of her favorite stores.  First, she wanted to go look for some earrings at Claire's, which I think is probably one of the worst places in existence. I'm pretty sure that if you were to go through the door at the back it wouldn't take you to their storage room but rather to one of the other break rooms in hell where the demons take a break from their taunting.  However, she wanted to look around and see if there was anything fun, and she had a great time.  After that, we walked around the mall so she could see if there were any other good stores, and to see if there was a calendar kiosk where she could find a cat calendar.

After our time at the mall she decided we needed lunch, and of course, did what every elementary school-age kid loved, we went to McDonald's.  As a child, I loved McDonald's, as an adult, I'm not as fond of it as it just makes me feel like ick the rest of the day.  However, she was thrilled. When I was her age I was also thrilled, and there was never a bad experience.  Adults are so picky.  Eww, the fries are overcooked or undercooked.  The nugs aren't cooked to my preference, they're too cold or perhaps were left in the fryer too long.  Kids will just scarf it down and be thrilled.  Though, I sense we're getting to the age where Sal is starting to have opinions and may soon be critiquing the quality of McDonald's.

Finally, we rounded out our day with a trip to Michael's and Barnes and Noble.  Turns out our last stop, Barnes and Noble, was the first place she actually decided to buy anything, and ended up spending two gift cards on books and things from Barnes and Noble.  After that, we headed home with her loot and enjoyed some dinner at the local Mexican place.  Overall, she had a great time.

The problem is, she's getting too big too fast.  She's quickly approaching double digits.  Teenager is now firmly visible on the horizon and far closer than I'm comfortable with.  There's a lot less of that little kid in her, and much more of that independent personality starting to pop out of her. That part isn't so bad, I want her to be fun, and independent, and fearless.  However, at the same time every day on my time hop I see photos of my little potato and I miss a lot of that.  Sure, it was no fun to have to drag her out of Disney shrieking that I wasn't her family and that she wanted her real family.  But also, soon she'll be too big to sit with me in her rocking chair every night and read or watch some short videos.  

It seems like time is moving faster and faster, and soon it will have taken all these things from me.  I mean, at this point we are now almost halfway through the time we'll have with her living in the house with us.  She is halfway to 18, so in another nine years, she'll be preparing for college, preparing to go somewhere amazing and do exciting things.  At the same time, tonight as I sat on the couch with Becky, for the first time I had the thought that in a not-to-distant future, our house would be quiet, and it would just be the two of us again.  Where will she be? Will she be close, like Jasmine, where we'll see her often, or will she be across the country (or perhaps even studying abroad) at some other university?  It's coming far quicker than it seems it should.  Wasn't she just a nugget the other day? How is she closer to middle school than she is to her first day of school? 

Where has the time gone?

Disgusting Greed

 Today my daughter went to have a visit with her grandma, and since my wife was working I decided to take care of the long overdue task of getting tickets for the family to see Wicked next month.  I should have done this during the presale, but life was hectic and I waited, and I waited, and I waited. This means that the options were not great, and we didn't get the seats that we necessarily wanted, but alas, that is the penalty for me not having my shit together.

Worse, is the push to make everything digital.  There is no longer an option to buy tickets and pick them up at will call, or have them mailed.  Your only option is to get the digital ticket and print that on plain white paper if you really want a hard copy.  Sure, this may be more convenient, and it eliminates the possibility of lost or stolen tickets, however, it also eliminates the keepsake.  I have a lovely binder full of tickets of the shows I've seen and I love it.  I can't add digital tickets to my binder.  Perhaps my thousand-dollar idea is to print copies of digital tickets for people so that they can have the keepsakes from their shows. 

The solution to this is to drive to the actual box office and purchase your tickets in person.  The downside of this is that you don't get nearly the control over getting the tickets you want.  You have to work with a person who doesn't always want to search the same way and will just say, "This is what I have" so take it or leave it.  However, on the other hand, there is a huge benefit in that you don't have to pay the Ticketmaster "convenience" or service fees.

Given the fact that I could get a physical ticket and I can avoid a service fee, I decided to drive out to the box office in Detroit to pick up tickets.  But honestly, the fees are the biggest advantage because they really have gotten out of control.  Sure, there is some convenience about being able to buy your tickets online, to choose your seats, and of course, a business must run a system, pay people to maintain that system etc. 

However, I noticed something funny as I was doing my research on tickets.  When I first started looking, the ticket fee was $5 for the transaction, and then an additional $14.95 per ticket.  That's absurd.  There's no way that the cost of running Ticketmaster costs $15 a ticket.  Additionally, there is no competition, they are the only person who can get you those tickets. Sure, you can go out to the box office, but it's not always easy (this has been true when we are going to see something out of town). However as I was checking in weeks later, I noticed that the fee was actually $16.95.  An extra two dollars added to the fee, and for what reason?  Because there were fewer tickets available? Because it's clear there is high demand and they know they can get it? Then, when I did my final check today the fee was $20 per ticket.  

This is just utter greed.  If you take just the run of Wicked here in Detroit, there are 2,700 seats.  As it's going, nearly every show is currently sold out.  So for one performance, that means Ticketmaster is getting anywhere from $40,365-$54,000.  That means for the run of the show, which is 32 performances, that means Ticketmaster is scamming $1,291,680 - $1,728,000 out of customers. That doesn't include the $5 per transaction.  Now obviously not every ticket is bought through Ticketmaster.  But even so, that's an absurd amount of money being added to each ticket and that doesn't even include the transaction fee that's also added to it. There is no way that it costs that much to run the business and still make a healthy profit.  It's simply price gouging because they know that the majority of tickets will get sold in this way and that people will have no real option but to purchase them. 

Ticketmaster seems like the perfect, textbook example of the unchecked greed of corporations.

Goals for 2024!

Goals have been a crazy thing because my blogging has been very hit or miss, well mostly miss.  In 2022 I didn't even do any goals, as I didn't really blog at all.  Last year I set goals and then never logged in after March, so I didn't keep track of them terribly well.  So, who knows what 2024 will be like, but I'm going to set some anyway. So, here we go for 2024!

Goal Number One - Read 12 books: This goal is not new, but last year I set a goal of 24, and I did three whole books.  I've been kind of off reading lately. I just can't get my mind into it, so it's been difficult to do.  The last few weeks (or maybe the last two months) I've started reading on my lunch break so that's been helpful in keeping me moving.  Since it's been rough, I'm going to keep it at a goal of one book per month.  Last year I also wanted to do a classic lit challenge, and did one out of the 12 that I planned. Maybe I'll layer some in if I can keep up with reading.

Goal Number Two - Focus on Fitness by closing all three of my fitness rings 75% of the time: Fitness is always my second goal, and this was a good goal last year.  I don't have crazy goals when it comes to my rings, so I think hitting 75% is achievable. I'll keep this on and try to improve from the barely over 50% that I did last year. I also plan to continue to use my training app, which last year I didn't miss a single workout for the entire year, so I want to keep that up too.

Goal Number Three - Photo Project:  I have so many photos that are just sitting on my computer, and I want to do something about them.  For our anniversary this year, I made Becky this great photobook where I took a bunch of photos, arranged them, and had them printed.  I would like to do that with some of our other trips, events, or whatnot.  To make it achievable and affordable maybe I'll say make three of these photobook project things.

Goal Number Four - Spend less time using screens: I waste a lot of time doom scrolling as they say, and instead I could be reading or doing something better, so I want to cut that down significantly.  I've got some time limits on my phone that I'm going to stick to strictly.

Goal Number Five - REDACTED SECRET: I have something that I'm thinking about that I'm not going to say what it is, and just leave it here in the event that it's something I for sure decide to do. If it is something I for sure decide to do then I can talk about it, and if not it'll just remain redacted here.  These goals are for me anyway so you don't have to know anything (he said on a public blog).

Goal Number Six - Take one photo a day, and post it:  I started a daily Instagram a few years back, and in the past, I tried to do three photos a day, but that was a bit much. Last year I said I wanted to take one photo a day, but while I did that, I didn't post it.  I think the goal here is to just find something worth taking a picture of every day.  Slow down and see more things perhaps. Maybe I'll also post it in here too, just like in the old days (I only ever stopped because they discontinued the phone app).

Goal Number Seven - Have seven new experiences:  I always do this one, and I always enjoy it. 

Ok, and the secret final goal is to actually update and track these, unlike the past two years.

So, there you have it, the goals for 2024.