JINN MAGAZINE

PACIFIC NEWS SERVICE

Issue No. 3.02

01/13/97 - 01/27/97

CONTENTS

HERESIES: Thinking the Unthinkable About the Future

Not Much Headwind -- Is Clinton Flying into the New Millennium on a Bully Pulpit?
By Chris Lehmann

Bill Clinton has let it be known that he admires Teddy Roosevelt -- a claim that can only cause alarm among those familiar with U.S. history. But the wording of his second inaugural address suggests to PNS commentator Chris Lehmann that Clinton may be more at home in a zeppelin than atop a bully pulpit. Lehmann is editor of Newsday's Sunday Currents Section.

PACIFIC PULSE: The Pacific Century and Its Impact on the Americas

Asia's New Middle Class--Now the World's Largest--Searches for New Sense of Self
By Andrew Lam

With the world's largest middle class, Asia seems particularly tantalizing to producers in the West. But Westerners need to understand that modernization no longer means "automatic Westernization." Asians are searching for new ways to understand who they are becoming, and are drawing on their own Asian cultures for images that fit. PNS associate editor Andrew Lam is a Vietnam-born journalist and short-story writer who lives in San Francisco.

THE AMERICAS: The Growing Enmeshment of the U.S. and Latin Worlds

Mayan Survival at Stake -- Rain Forest on Chopping Block in Belize
By Mary Jo McConahay

In its effort to earn foreign exchange to pay off a large national debt, tiny Belize is selling Asian lumber companies logging rights to one of Central America's last great rain forests. Mayan residents of Belize fear the end of their way of life but have so far raised little support for their protests from townspeople. PNS Central America editor Mary Jo McConahay has reported on environmental issues for Sierra, National Catholic Reporter, Choices, Mother Jones and other publications for over a decade. Photographs by McConahay are available on request.

As Leaders Congratulate Themselves on Debt Repayment, Mexico's Middle Class Still Feels the Pinch
By Sam Quinones

With considerable fanfare, Mexico has repaid the controversial $20 billion bailout loan ahead of schedule. But while national leaders and corporate executives speak in optimistic tones, middle class Mexicans see only a continuing downturn. PNS associate editor Sam Quinones, is a Mexico City-based freelance writer.

CALIFORNIA COLLAGE: California as Trendsetter for the Country and the World

Briefings From California's Ethnic Press
Compiled by Andrea Lewis

What does the world look like to people whose principal source of news is the ethnic media? To explore this, PNS has asked a round table of editors of U.S. publications in languages other than English, or directed at minority communities, to select leading stories and opinion pieces from their publications. Most of these publications are produced in California, but others come from far afield. Their choices will appear in a special monthly column entitled "Briefings from California's Ethnic Media". This is the second column in the series.

Prison Chief Quits Scandal-Ridden Department-- Now Who's Responsible?
By Corey Weinstein

California's prison chief James Gomez has quietly moved into a new administrative job with the state retirement system, despite court findings of serious abuse of power in the state's prisons during his tenure. However accountable Gomez may be, the situation reflects a widespread public desire to simply look the other way when it comes to the criminal justice system. PNS correspondent Corey Weinstein is a medical doctor and a board member of California Prison Focus.

MOVEMENTS: Strategies For Survival, Identity and Direction by People on the Margins

Supreme Court Takes on Physician Assisted Suicide -- Both Sides Win
By Lonny Shavelson

It's a rare court case that finds both sides winning, but that may well be the outcome of the recent arguments about patients' right to die before the Supreme Court. In preparing to present their positions to the court, both opponents and proponents have agreed on the need for a more humane approach to terminally ill patients. PNS correspondent Lonny Shavelson, a physician and journalist in Berkeley, California, is the author of "A Chosen Death."

CIVIL CONFLICTS: Interpretive Reports on Ethnic, Religious, and Inter-National Conflicts Worldwide

Burma's Dictatorship of Drugs
By Dennis Bernstein and Leslie Kean

After fifty years of civil war involving at least 15 different hill country minorities, peace of a sorts has finally come to Burma. But the price Burmese, Americans and people throughout the world are paying is more, better and cheaper heroin. PNS associate editor Dennis Bernstein and correspondent Leslie Kean report on how and why Burma has become the world's leading exporter of illicit heroin. A longer version of this article appeared recently in The Nation.

YOUTH OUTLOOK: The World Through Young People's Eyes

The Real Drug Abusers -- Parents Who Prescribe Prozac for Their Kids
By Allyce Bess

More and more parents, determined to see their teenage children make it into the Ivy League, are turning to Prozac as the perfect behavior modifier. The kids often improve their grade points and even say they feel more "balanced." But one of their peers argues that the price is too high. PNS commentator Allyce Bess is a high school student in northern California, and a reporter for YO! (Youth Outlook), a publication by and about young people published by PNS.

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