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« The Jeopardy Jedi | Main | Stuck Between Stations? » Friday, April 6, 2007East Berlin, 18 years after the WallI thought I'd publish some photos from Berlin today, where I have a one-day appointment as Brainiac's Continental Europe bureau chief. It's difficult to get a read on the Berlin political climate in less than a day, naturally, but signs of the cultural climate are easier to come by. East Berlin seems to be, as a friend here noted, a larger version of Manhattan's East Village. Eighteen years after communism reigned, the place is more fashionable than most East Coast cities. Like the East Village and the more shabby-chic parts of Cambridge, Mass., it offers a combination of an anti-establishment vibe -- there's a bunch of graffiti, including "KILL THE BOSS" on the side of a building, foot-high letters -- and a warm embrace of capitalism. Bourgeois bohemians, I suppose, to use David Brooks's terminology. Except more urban. Signs of the urban capitalists...
who are bringing in the new...
and hiding the old in a back lot:
[Revised 1:50 p.m. Eastern time. Not "[BLEEP] THE BOSS" but "KILL THE BOSS," on a second viewing.] Posted by Evan Hughes at 07:46 AM
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