Mike Pilewski writes about life, politics and culture in the United States
Just about every job I’ve ever had has involved handling a certain amount of correspondence. Learning the semantic difference between Herzliche Grüße, Beste Grüße, Freundliche Grüße and Mit freundlichen Grüßen was a big and very necessary step in my first office job in Germany. In the same way, we know that a lot of you are confused by what seem … >>
Ten years ago today, the United States invaded Iraq — a country that had not threatened the US and that had no means of attacking it. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis were killed; two million became refugees. A total of 4,475 American soldiers were killed, and another 32,221 suffered significant injury, disfigurement or amputation. Many more suffered traumatic brain injuries … >>
Suppose you wanted to send a message to someone living thousands of years in the future. How would you do it? We can forget about trying to express it in electronic form. Personal computers have been around for only 30 years, but already quite a number of file formats have become obsolete — and replaced by others that are much … >>
For a second, I was dead — or I might have been. Darkness engulfed my surroundings, and I felt myself being pulled back gently. The warmth flowed out of my body. Then I saw and heard nothing. I was alone, relaxed and at peace. Is this what happens when we die and are reabsorbed into the cosmos? I wondered. If … >>
After two and a half years, my high-school German class reached a milestone when our teacher put away the textbook and got out the board games. We were so proud to have learned enough of a language that we could actually do something with it. Monopoly wasn’t a language game per se, but playing it in German taught us important … >>
It was my first camping trip as a Boy Scout, and already my life was in danger. For some reason, our scoutmaster had arranged for us to go camping — in tents — in the middle of winter. Our survival skills would be put to the test, and the discomfort we’d endure would, as they say, “build character”. We inspected … >>
If you could live at any time in the past, when would you like to live? I think I’d feel very much at home during the Renaissance, or in ancient Greece. Those were great times to be a scientist, a philosopher, a traveler, or all three. Scientists and philosophers saw it as part of their job to be on the … >>
This column was meant for September, but as fate would have it, a few other things got in the way — the presidential election, various school shootings, the demise of Twinkies — that deserved some commentary. However, the start of a new year is just as good a time to talk about this subject: the future. What was special about … >>
My grandmother was the healthiest person alive. This came, she said, from living in the countryside, breathing clean air, and cooking her own food, which was fresh from nearby farms or her own garden. She kept noise and stress out of her life. Her career was her home, and she was the queen of her castle — an image reinforced … >>
Few things are certain in this world, but there’s one prediction I can make: When the Mayan apocalypse comes and goes this weekend, life will continue as it always has. Unfortunately for the United States, this means that mall shoppers, moviegoers and schoolchildren will be gunned down on a regular basis. It sounds cruel and cynical of me to say … >>