How do the epigraphs (quotes from Edward Hallett Carr and the rock band Pavement) relate to the memoir’s overall themes?

The memoir opens with quotes from the historian Edward Hallet Carr and the influential indie rock band Pavement, thus gesturing towards the multitudinous nature of Hsu’s interests and passions. Carr’s quote, from his book What Is History?, implies that history is messy and frequently assumes a certain nonlinearity; he writes that “the past throws light on the future, and the future throws light on the past” (epigraph). The lyrics of Pavement’s “Gold Soundz” advance a similar idea, reading “you can never quarantine the past” (epigraph). Both quotes, despite their dissimilar sources, point towards the ways in which the past continually erupts, unimpeded, into the present.

What did the University of California, Berkeley symbolize to Hsu during his teenage years?

During Hsu’s adolescence...