Mike Pilewski writes about life, politics and culture in the United States
If you tried to read the English-language Wikipedia last Wednesday, you couldn’t. Every page was replaced with a black screen explaining that, as part of a protest, the content of the free online encyclopedia was being hidden for 24 hours. (A banner appeared at the top of Wikipedia’s Spanish- and German-language pages, but this was hardly more distracting than the … >>
I’ve met the invisible man. He’s tried to kill me — several times, always at night. He rides a bicycle with no lights, on a dark street, usually going the wrong way, while dressed from head to toe in black. He doesn’t stop for anyone. My quick reflexes are the only reason I’m still alive, and I doubt that he’ll … >>
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 … >>
Democracy is a wonderful thing, but it’s not perfect. The majority can always intimidate, discriminate against or simply ignore the minority. As Kermit the Frog used to sing, “It’s not easy being green.” It’s tough enough to be different, and even tougher if you’re not accepted for it. Small minorities with obvious needs — the blind and hearing-impaired, for example … >>
Bargains are easy to find in the United States. But among the bargains, there is one super-bargain. For only 44 cents (€0.34), you can send a letter anywhere within the US or its territories — as far as from Maine to Guam. If you send the letter to a military address, you can even send it around the world for … >>
Herman Cain is history. On December 3, he ended his attempt to become president. Five women brought him down. Four accused him of sexual harassment while he was head of the National Restaurant Association (NRA) in the 1990s. The fifth said she had been having an affair with Cain for the past 13 years. As the accusations became public, the … >>
German is an easy language to learn, but it’s not an easy language to pronounce. The umlauts and the “ch” are only the first hurdle. Letters like “l”, “r” and “y” are tricky. You have to know where to split compound words, and it takes a while to get the intonation right. Tourists sound horrible when they try to pronounce … >>
It’s an odd thing to say, but this column began because of a mistake. Well, not a mistake exactly, but an unforeseen event. In the November 1999 issue of the magazine, to accompany an article someone else had written about George W. Bush, I introduced six of the other candidates for president. One of the most promising, in terms of … >>
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, … >>