Mike Pilewski writes about life, politics and culture in the United States
What if your teacher did not come to school? In Chicago, 350,000 students at public schools don’t have to ask this question, because it is reality for them: 26,000 teachers across the city are on strike. For the teachers and their employer, the city, this is purely a labor dispute. But to onlookers, it raises more general questions about the … >>
It says something about the state of the discussion on climate change that the skeptics haven’t spoken up this year. Usually it takes only a few days of cold, rainy weather — not an entire “summer” like this one in southern Germany — for them to start crowing and scoffing. But even those who don’t accept the idea of climate … >>
Holiday weekends like Easter are also Hollywood weekends in America. It’s when whole families drive to their local multiplex to see the latest movies. Before they go, many of them turn to their favorite oracle for advice. Roger Ebert has been reviewing films for the Chicago Sun-Times since 1967, when he was only 25. In 1975, he teamed up with … >>