If there's two things I can't stand it's people who are intolerant of other cultures and... the Dutch!

Some sharply dressed VOC officials from back in the day.
Okay, who votes that Garafola, Siddiqui and Virdin dress this way for Halloween? 

You know, for people known for growing tulips, eating a whole lot of chocolate and wearing wooden shoes, the Dutch could really be epic jerks. Trying to ethnically cleanse an entire race so that we all have something to sprinkle on egg nog? Not cool man... not cool.

We spent some time in class today talking about how the Dutch were able to dominate international trade in the 17th century. I know John Green threw around a lot of information, but focus on the key ideas:

1. The Dutch were able to get ahead of the game by monopolizing the trade of crucial spices that were in high demand. They didn't worry about nuisances like free markets and competition. 

2. They were able to do this through some excellent business choices and quite a bit of out and out violence. Not only did they subjugate the native people in Indonesia, they attacked competing trade posts run by the British and Portuguese. 

3. Despite the fact that they did eventually fall from dominating the world of trade, they, in essence, laid out a nice blueprint that others would follow. You need a big chunk of capital from your home government, very little oversight from that very government, and a cutthroat (literally) business sense. 

Let's watch the British, Spanish, and Portuguese take these ideas and run with them. 

We also got some great song rewrites in class today. Be sure to ask your teacher to share some of his/her favorites. 

We also had some good conversation around the subject of commodities history. Again, this is the study of history through things (natural resources, products, food, etc.) instead of people and dates and stuff. This is a really fascinating way to look at history. Plus, it's just fun to find out wear the food you eat, the stuff you wear, and things like that come from. An ugly side effect is that it made me super hungry all day. I MUST PUT THE CHEESE FRIES IN MY BELLY!

A quick reminder that we are writing our first DBQ on Tuesday in class. We have put quite a few resources online for you. Use them as you see fit. 

Preach on Brother John... preach on...

We hope that you enjoy your three day weekend. Spend some time getting a few things done (like WHAP reading), but be sure you also spend some time relaxing and having this thing other people call "fun". 

To wrap up our celebration of the ACL Festival, I leave with our final artist of the week. 

Here's your soundtrack for Friday: