Manhattan Reborn 1978

new York.

At noon~

Smith & Wollensky Steakhouse, 49th Street, Manhattan.

David, Mag Ludwigs and Devinius von Spencer sat at a dining table in a corner and raised their glasses together.

After the three of them had a drink together, David picked up his knife and fork, cut a piece of steak and put it in his mouth, then smiled at Spencer.

“You just mentioned the importance of education, which reminded me of the famous philosopher and pragmatist educator John Dewey.”

"I bought his book Experience and Nature, which I published many years ago, but I didn't take the time to read it carefully. I feel very sorry."

"Oh?" Spencer stopped what he was doing, looked at David and asked with a smile.

"Did you buy his book because you agree with his ideas and opinions?"

"Viewpoint?"

"Which aspect are you referring to?"

"educate!"

When David heard Spencer posed a new "question" to him, he thought seriously for a moment and then smiled.

“I agree with some of the educational concepts he advocates.”

"For example, he believes that education is a process of children's life, not a preparation for future life."

"The term life includes not only the material aspects such as the level of social development and family economic conditions, but also the non-material aspects such as social system, national customs and beliefs, entertainment and occupations, etc."

"It is the sum of the experiences of these two people, and it is also the valuable experience summed up by the entire human race in its survival and development so far."

“Such social life is a growth process in which everyone can gain experience, communicate and pass on experience.”

“So Professor Dewey believes that education is closely related to social life and must be integrated into children’s lives!”

"Then, if we start from the perspective that education is life, we require that schools be run in an environment similar to the existing social system so as to cultivate people who can fully adapt to the current social life. This is another important ideological viewpoint on education proposed by Professor Dewey: school is society."

“Growth is the characteristic of life, so education is growth.”

"School is a special social environment. Although it is very different from the real social environment, it is very beneficial for children who are gradually maturing in their minds because it divides the complex social life and culture into several parts and elements in a targeted manner, allowing children to absorb and digest them step by step and in stages."

"Ever since I left school and my small town and came to New York, I have been haunted by the regret of not being able to go to college."

"But~" David suddenly changed the subject, stopped eating, looked at Spencer and said.

"Which books are useful to read? Which books are useless? Which books may even make me build a wrong simulated environment and then have stereotypes about people or things that are strongly opposed in certain books..."

"If you don't read, you will be deceived by others. If you read, you will be deceived by books."

"Mr. Spencer, can you tell me what I should choose?"

"Haha~"

Spencer replied with a surprised smile when he heard David say such a "wake-up" sentence.

"There is a famous saying that is regarded as chicken soup for the soul by many people~"

“There are no eternal friends or eternal enemies in the world, only eternal interests.”

"But I think it is indeed a famous quote, but it is also the meanest and most shameless quote."

"Because it denies the conscience, faith and spirit of contract in many people's hearts."

"It leads people to extreme selfishness, making them feel at ease to believe that snobbery, callousness, inaction, indifference, betrayal, bullying, collusion, insidiousness, mutual calculation, etc. are the shortcuts to success."

"John Dewey was born in 1859, the year when Darwin published his famous work, The Origin of Species."

"He was born in a middle-class family and was very smart since he was young. He was admitted to the University of Vermont to study Greek, Latin, analytic geometry, calculus and philosophy."

"After graduating from college, he continued to study philosophy and published three papers in the National Philosophy Academic Papers Journal, which attracted a lot of attention and also received an invitation from the Department of Philosophy at Johns Hopkins University."

"After John Dewey received his doctorate from Johns Hopkins University, he taught briefly for two years at the University of Michigan and the University of Minnesota, and then went to the University of Chicago to serve as the head of the Department of Philosophy, Department of Psychology, and Department of Education, and concurrently as the dean of the school's School of Education."

"But during his tenure at the University of Chicago, he had major disagreements with President William Harper and others, and soon left the University of Chicago to work in the Department of Philosophy at Columbia University in New York."

"After the outbreak of World War I, some experts and scholars from the Frankfurt School in Germany left their homes to escape the war and came to New York to join Columbia University."

"At that time, Columbia University was one of the institutions of higher learning in the United States that accepted the largest number of foreign students."

"John Dewey, with his accumulated prestige in the educational and cultural circles, attracted countless students from all over the East and the West, making his international influence increasingly prominent."

Mr. Spencer raised his red wine glass and gestured to David, narrowing his eyes slightly, admiring the surprise and thought on his face, and continued with a smile.

"When he decided to come to the United States from the UK to pursue a doctorate, his destiny had already been changed by studying."

"But what really changed his fate was...his decision to join the Freemasons!"

"Freemasonry?" David looked at Spencer with a strange expression and asked.

"You are also a Freemason?"

"Yeah!" Spencer put down the cutlery in his hand and gently unbuttoned his coat, allowing David to see a seal on the chest of his vest.

"So that's how it is!" David looked at the seal carefully for a few seconds, then turned to Mag Ludwigs and exclaimed.

"Haha~ Don't get me wrong, I'm not a member of the Freemasons, and I've never thought about joining it."

"Oh?"

"why?"

"I remember... several presidents are members, right? Why don't you want to join?"

Mag saw the curiosity on David's face and shrugged, "Because they don't want me!"

"Uh..." David was speechless.

"Hahaha~" Spencer was so amused that he shook his head and laughed.

Mager saw the different performances of the two people and smiled and shook his head, saying, "For an organization like the Freemasonry, it is impossible for ordinary people to be accepted without the recommendation of several internal members and continuous inspection for several years."

"I was unlucky. I had just received the recommendation when the Watergate scandal broke out."

"Haha~" David and Spencer both expressed their sympathy and understanding for Mag with their laughter.

Mag showed a very open-minded side to the two of them. He shook his head with a self-deprecating smile and took the initiative to change the subject.

"Recently, Janet and I have become addicted to going to live boxing matches."

"She bought some tickets for the boxing match tonight. Are you interested in joining her?"

"Thank you, I'm not interested." Spencer directly rejected Mag's invitation.

David stared at Mag for a few seconds, feeling "magical", and asked, "Janet is pregnant, and you still want to take her to watch the boxing match?"

"Yeah, it's not that I want to take her to see it, but she wants to see it herself."

"Um... okay." David swallowed the steak in his mouth, turned to look at Spencer, and said after pondering for a few seconds.

"Last year, I came up with the idea of ​​setting up a TV station that broadcasts 24-hour news programs."

"But I didn't have the time or ability to do two things at the time, and I wasn't sure I could find the right investors for the TV station."

"You want me to..."

"Yes!"

"I want you to take a management position in this TV station and help me plan its preliminary work. When I find a more suitable CEO, you can hand over some power to him and watch it grow slowly on my behalf."

Spencer understood what David meant, his eyes widened slightly, and asked, "I have no experience in managing a TV station, and you asked me..."

David smiled and waved his hands, saying, "It doesn't matter. At least in the past five years, I have never thought that investing in this TV station would be profitable."

"Let's put it more bluntly. It's just an experiment of mine."

"If it can really gain a foothold in the domestic media industry, it will help me realize more of my ideas and plans."

David said this, winking at Mag deliberately, and smiled at Spencer, "If your plan to set up a news TV station goes well, it will just help Mag get more benefits in the presidential election."

"Hmm..." Spencer looked at Mag with a look of surprise on his face and quickly figured out David's entire plan.

He took a sip from his wine glass, thought seriously for a moment, and then asked, "Are you planning to become the absolute controlling shareholder of this TV station?"

"If conditions permit, of course I would like to."

"condition?"

"what you mean?"

David also raised his glass and took a sip, then said slowly, "I asked you to accept the job of establishing a news TV station, which is just a transition in my plan."

"Once it has good self-survival capabilities, I plan to set up a non-partisan, non-governmental international issues research institute and tax-exempt organization similar to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in the United States."

"You want to set up your own think tank?" Spencer asked with surprise in his eyes.

"Yes!"

David looked at him and smiled, saying, "All my business investment plans are based on the future development trends of countries around the world."

"But most of the trend judgments I made were based on analysis of macroeconomic development trends and were not supported by more international relations research."

"Think tanks such as the Brookings Institution and the Woodrow Wilson Center, which provide Congress and the government with feasible ideas on global issues through independent research and open dialogue, will have a brighter future."

"Since I can foresee that they have great development prospects, why not establish my own think tank?"

“I’m only 22 years old.”

“I have plenty of time to watch it grow slowly!”

"..." Spencer gently shook the red wine glass in his hand, staring at David without blinking, and smiled silently.

David is right. He is still young and has decades to watch it grow slowly.

time!

Anything that can stand the test of time will eventually find a suitable place in its own living space and continue to exist!

----

On the rooftop of No. 28 on 22th Street in Flushing, Queens, on the east side of the city.

Rudi of the Sidrich family stood on the rooftop, lit a cigarette, looked towards the north, and said to Rosenlo and Alto beside him.

"That vacant lot in front, the area enclosed from 122nd Street to 129th Street, is the land Hardman is talking about..."

"It is about 1600 meters long and about 600 meters wide."

"The municipal government plans to divide the land into three parts and give them to three real estate development companies for construction."

"If we want to participate in the public bidding organized by the Municipal Government Planning Bureau, we must prepare a deposit of 20 million in advance to be eligible to bid."

Rudi blew out a cloud of smoke into the air, turned to look at Rosenlo and Alto, and said with a smile: "We are not short of money, and Mayor Hardman is supporting us behind the scenes."

"If you have such conditions, you still can't do it well..."

"No!" Alto waved to Rudi confidently.

"Don't worry, even if we can't get the development rights to these plots of land without Hardman's help, those developers who have got the development rights will give the construction projects to us!"

"Hehe~" Rudi raised his eyebrows with a forced smile and looked at Rosenlo, wanting to hear his answer.

"Wooden brother," Rosenluo stared into the distance, letting his hair be messy in the wind, and said in a low and powerful voice.

"This is the first time we have participated in a real estate development project with the municipal government, and the first time we have dealt directly with those government staff."

"So we don't need to attach too much importance to success or failure this time, we just need to do our best."

"With this experience, we can not only meet more successful people in the industry, but also learn more about the unspoken rules beyond the public rules from them."

"Yeah..." Rudi looked at Rosenlo with admiration in his eyes.

He smiled at Alto, took a deep puff of his cigarette, and said, "The experience and lessons accumulated by our generation may seem a little outdated to you young people."

"But I still want to remind you ~ Before making any important decision, you must fully understand yourself, your opponent and the rules of the game!"

"If you don't even know who your opponent is, or don't understand the rules of the game, failure is inevitable."

"Yeah!" Alto slowly restrained his confidence, looked into the distance calmly and smiled.

"Once this area is completed, the surrounding housing prices will also rise."

“Although we don’t have experience in assisting the government with real estate development, we do have experience in how to buy great value properties at low prices.”

"Haha~" When Rudi heard that Alto had already thought about investing in the future, he nodded in agreement and smiled.

"If you can buy some of the better street-side shops around here, remember to leave a few for me."

"No problem!" Alto gave Rudi a thumbs up, not paying any attention to the look Rosenlo gave him.

----

JFK International Airport, Queens.

A passenger plane flying from Houston, Texas, landed smoothly on the runway.

One-eyed Andres, nicknamed American Crocodile, an employee of da Security Company, was standing at the passenger exit and soon saw two people walking out with the crowd.

"Hey~ Lawrence, the jackal!"

Lawrence, who heard the voice of One-Eyed Andres, took off his sunglasses, waved to him, strode over with his travel bag in his hand, and asked with a smile.

"New York police saw you driving with only one eye, and they didn't stop you?"

"Haha~" One-eyed Andres shrugged, nodded to the jackal who came back with Lawrence, and smiled.

"I drove here from New Jersey and didn't see any police patrolling along the way. Why did they stop me?"

"Ok?"

"No police?"

"Yes."

“I heard that they are holding a collective protest recently, and most of the police have gone to the front of the city hall.”

"Police organizing protests? Is there such a new thing?" The jackal, dressed in a neat suit, approached Lawrence and asked with a gossipy look on his face.

Lawrence felt speechless and turned around to glare at him, then pulled Andres out of the airport: "Let's go, tell us in detail on the way."