• Racial Profiling
• Civil Liberties at Risk
• American Values Underlying the Monica Lewinsky Matter
• Guns, Funds, and Values
• How The Jury System Works
• Gender and the US Workplace

• Declared and Undeclared Wars
• Financing the Presidential Campaign
• The Shadow of Watergate
• Primaries, Caucuses, and The Electoral College
• What It Means to Be "Unconstitutional"
• How Congress Passes a New Law

• Marriage and Moving: How Moving to a New Country Affects Couples
• Home, When You've Traveled Far
• Translating Emotions into a New Language

• Talking to Children About Scary Things
• Evaluating Your Child's School Year
• Checking out Day Camps
• Using Family Stories and National Legends to Teach Your Family's Values
• Vocabulary for the First Day of School: From "Field Trips" to "Show and Tell"

• "Hi, I'm Rick:" Informality in the US
• Starting Over: The American Way
• Believing in Equality
• Who Should Decide? Americans Still at War with King George III

• Making Sense of Over-the-Counter Cold Medications
• The Rules of Baseball and American Football
• Winterizing Your Home
• Renting a Car in the US
• Gift-Giving at Times of Change

• Men and Women Around the World: Stereotypes and Reality
• Mothers Talking to their Infants Around the World
• Father' Special Work Around the World
• Love and Marriage Around the World

• "Why do I get so much ice in my drink? My teeth get cold!"
• "Why do Americans find Sesame Street's Ernie funny? I think he's mean."
• "Please explain what to do with all those squashes I see in the store."
• "What is the difference between 'Bake' and 'Broil' on my oven dial?"

• "Out in Left Field:" Idioms from Baseball
• "See You This Friday:" Time in English
• "I'll Eat My Hat:" Clothing in English Idioms
• "Keep It Up:" Idioms Using the Word 'Keep'

Valentine's Day
• Early Roots and Current Practice (Ignore At Your Own Risk)
• Marriage and Moving: How Moving to a New Country Affects Couples
  Fourth Of July
• How to Make a Real Hamburger
• How The Second Amendment Was Born
• One-Page History of The American Revolution
  Halloween
• The Ancient Roots of Halloween
• What to Do On Halloween If You Have Children (and If You Don't)
  Thanksgiving
• Thanksgiving: Who Were the Pilgrims?
• How (and Why) to Cook a Thanksgiving Dinner
• Separation of Church and State in the US

• The US Supermarket: What to Do with 194 Kinds of Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Butter, Margarine, and "Spread"
• Products for Spring Cleaning

Newcomer's Almanac is designed primarily as a cultural and language support tool for newcomers to the US during their first one or two years in this country. For this reason, articles about holidays and sports may be repeated annually; articles about cultural values and tips may be repeated bi-annually. Every issue contains brand new, current information about news events, new technologies, US demographics and attitudes, and other US opportunitites as well.

Recently, I was away from home on a business trip. My husband suddenly had to go away too. There would be one afternoon when neither of us would be home with our children. My husband called one of our usual baby-sitters, the 14-year-old daughter of a Russian couple in our neighborhood. The daughter was busy and could not come. But her mother offered to watch our children for us. My husband said, "Oh, we could not possibly ask you to do that." We had spent several happy evenings with this family, but her offer surprised him. She answered, "Don't you see? We would like to be friends with you."

In a typical American way, we had already thought of this Russian family as our friends. In our minds and vocabulary, they had moved from being "people we know from the children's school" to being "friends" after one dinner together! We probably would have stayed at that level of surface friendship for a long time, if they had not brought their own cultural values to the relationship. Instead, my husband gratefully accepted their offer. And we have gone on to feel an unusual connection to this family.

My husband and I probably have as many "friends" as most American couples. I am sure many of them would have been happy to help in this case. But my husband would have called many teenage baby-sitters (whom we would pay, keeping the relationship formal and distant) before asking any of our friends for this kind of help.

I have heard many international newcomers say that American friendships are superficial (on the surface only). They say Americans do not know what true friendship is - they seem very friendly at first, but the friendships do not grow.

Here are a few thoughts that might explain American friendships. Hold on to your seat - if you are from a country with very different friendship patterns, this may sound crazy to you!