Mike Pilewski writes about life, politics and culture in the United States
Yesterday was a time to reflect on a pioneering achievement. Sixty-five years ago, on June 11, 1948, the world’s first astronaut traveled to an altitude of 63 kilometers aboard an American V-2 rocket. His name was Albert. He was a rhesus monkey. Albert really was a pioneer. He was the first living organism to have flown to a significant altitude … >>
American filmmaker Oliver Stone is fascinated by history and those who make it. His JFK, Nixon, World Trade Center and W. have attempted to fill the gaps in our knowledge of what happened and what may have happened at key points in US history. Now he’s filled the gaps in his own timeline in an ambitious documentary called Oliver Stone’s … >>
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 … >>
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 … >>
At some point, it happens to all of us. The computer fails to save that important document we’ve been working on so long. A computer crash, a faulty hard drive, a USB stick pulled out too quickly, or just plain human error: the reason hardly matters when you’ve just seen your data disappear. For journalists, this is a particular hazard. … >>
One of the biggest decisions we make on a daily basis is what to save and what to throw out. A tin can? Throw it out. A plastic container? Might be useful someday. Old newspapers? Into the trash can. Old copies of Spotlight? Keep for future reference or give to a friend. This decision can be a difficult one when … >>
When people ask me where I come from, I tell them Pittsburgh. However, this is only partly true. I grew up in what we in Pennsylvania call a borough — a self-governing community in the suburbs without an actual center to it. The street my parents live on was built in 1950. What was there before it? “Woods” is what … >>
What if John F. Kennedy had never gone to Berlin? What if he hadn’t given that speech at the Rathaus Schöneberg in 1963 in which he proclaimed, in his horrible Massachusetts accent, “Ich been ein Bee-leena”? What if he had chosen to side with the Soviets instead? In the most recent world war, the Soviets had been America’s ally. They … >>
Each month in Spotlight magazine, I write about the anniversary of a historical event, such as the birth or death of an important person. Lately, though, I’ve been thinking about an anniversary that came and went this year. The important person was my grandfather. Next Wednesday, two days after Halloween, is All Souls’ Day. The occasion is hardly celebrated now, … >>
Strange things happen late at night — so strange, in fact, that one incident from 50 years ago still can’t be explained. On the evening of September 19, 1961, Barney and Betty Hill were driving home from a vacation in Canada. It was a clear, starry night, and as they followed Route 3 through the White Mountains of New Hampshire, … >>