Mike Pilewski writes about life, politics and culture in the United States
Michael Silveira was fed up. Twice a day last May, he answered his cell phone, only to hear a recording from a company trying to sell him an extended warranty on his car. Silveira didn’t own a car. Worse, in America, cell phone owners share the cost of incoming calls. So by answering the phone, Silveira was helping to pay … >>
For most of August, America’s representatives in Congress were back in their home states, meeting with their constituents. Many of these voters were angry because of plans to reform the health-care system. “This is about the dismantling of this country,” one woman shouted at Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter. “We don’t want this country to turn into Russia!” A woman carrying … >>
If you don’t know how many states are in the United States, here’s an easy way to remember. This Friday marks exactly 50 years since America added its final, 50th, state: Hawaii. The country was ready: the growing availability of air travel in the 1960s made Hawaii a popular vacation spot for those who could afford it. Those who couldn’t … >>
Last Thursday, one day before adjourning for its summer recess, the US Senate agreed that Sonia Sotomayor could take the vacant seat on the Supreme Court. Sotomayor, whom Barack Obama nominated in late May, is the third female Supreme Court justice in history and is considered the first Hispanic. Sotomayor had been questioned by the Senate for the entire month … >>
I was in a foreign city, watching TV with some friends I’d made there. We’d gone through the channels and had stopped at one that was showing a movie. After a few minutes, a girl in the group said, “This must be a French film. All they’re doing is talking and eating.” She was right. “If it were an American … >>
One of Aesop’s many fables is the story of two snobs, the town mouse and the country mouse. The town mouse goes to visit his cousin, who lives in the country. The town mouse doesn’t like the simple food he’s offered, so he invites the country mouse to visit him in the city. There they eat sweet things, but the … >>
This summer seems like it’s been the summer of death. The Grim Reaper has claimed one of Charlie’s Angels, a 50-year-old kid who’d held a baby out a window, a defense secretary who’d been responsible for the Vietnam War, and an Irish-American author who, in old age, was still complaining about his awful childhood. Now the most trusted man in … >>
If Barack Obama had told me he was going to Ghana, I would have warned him. The country is a dump — parts of it quite literally. In the late 1990s, I knew it as a place where very little functioned as it should have. The currency was worthless. Families often had 10 or even 14 children. Garbage was simply … >>
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 … >>
Years ago, in the days before MP3 players, an American friend of mine moved to Germany. His stay was to be temporary, so he’d left all his records, cassettes and CDs behind. The move had also cost more than he’d expected, so he decided not to buy a radio. A month in his new apartment was more than he could … >>