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JINN MAGAZINE

PACIFIC NEWS SERVICE

Issue No. 3.20

09/22/97 - 10/05/97

CONTENTS


* VOICES: First-Person Essays Linking the Private to the Public

    New Challenge for Communicators -- Conversate With Youth
    By Sandy Close
    Date: 09-25-97
    President Clinton has called for a national conversation as a solution for America's racial tensions. But the real challenge --- especially for those in the field of communications -- is to create safe venues for conversation where people don't necesssarily talk about race, but interact interracially. Those most cut off from civic discourse, and most diverse, are young people, PNS executive editor Sandy Close has discovered, -- and they are hungry to "conversate." Close is the founder of YO! (Youth Outlook), a newspaper by and about young people published by Pacific News Service.


* HERESIES: Thinking the Unthinkable About the Future

    Not So Green-- Neighbors See Only The Ugly Face of Recycling
    By David Bacon
    Date: 09-23-97
    Public concern with environmental quality has made recycling a major growth industry, especially in areas like Los Angeles. The benefits of recycling, however, are lost on the immediate neighbors of plants that handle massive amounts of glass, concrete, and dirt. PNS associate editor David Bacon is a Bay Area writer specializing in labor and immigration issues.


* VECTORS: A Regular Column on the Ideas and Directions Behind Today's News

    Taliban Victory in Afghanistan -- Story of the Year
    By Franz Schurmann
    Date: 10-02-97
    For much of the democratic world, the specter of the militant Taliban Islamists consolidating their hold on Afghanistan is certainly the scariest--if not most important--story of the year. The reason it is frightening lies more in the Talibans' literal interpretation of the democratic ideal than in their remarkable military prowess. PNS editor Franz Schurmann, professor emeritus of history and sociology at the University of California, Berkeley, lived and worked in Afghanistan in the late 1950s.


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

    Why We Should Delete "Nigger" From Our Vocabulary
    By Earl Ofari Hutchinson
    Date: 09-26-97
    Inclusion of the word "nigger" in the latest edition of Webster's Collegiate dictionary has touched off a new round in a decades-old debate about the "n" word. Some prominent African Americans are demanding that Webster's delete or deracialize its definition of the word. Yet a new generation of multi-racial young people claim the word now belongs to them. In the first of a special series of commentaries by PNS and YO! writers, Dr. Earl Ofari Hutchinson, author of several books on black culture, explains why he supports the campaign to eliminate the word entirely.

    The New "Niggers" -- In Defense of the "N" Word
    By Josh Parr
    Date: 09-26-97
    In a country that insists on breaking down racial issues into black and white opposites, a new generation of young people -- Asian, American Indian, even white, as well as black and Latino -- has turned away from white and embraces black. In the idiom of the popular youth culture, their generational ID, their password, is the "n" word. Journalist Josh Parr works at several youth centers in the San Francisco Bay Area. This is the second in a series of three articles PNS is wiring today on the "n" word.

    Addicted to the "N" Word
    By Ri'chard Magee
    Date: 09-26-97
    Once the word "nigger" was as familiar to a young black man's mouth as his tongue. Now, instead of using it once every three words, he uses it probably once every thirtieth word. Ri'Chard Magee is a writer and rap artist who works with YO! (Youth Outlook), a newspaper by and about young people published by Pacific News Service. This is the third in a series of three articles PNS is wiring today on the "n" word.

    It's Just Not Cool to Have a Baby Anymore
    By Joan Walsh
    Date: 09-30-97
    Oakland, Ca., has registered one of the country's sharpest drops in black teenage pregnancy rates -- with parallel declines in teen violence and school drop out rates. Counselors working with young people see the trend as a validation of their effort to reduce the social isolation of teenagers. This is the first of three articles on new approaches to reduce teen pregnancy in Oakland, Baltimore and Denver. PNS associate editor Joan Walsh, a Bay Area based journalist, authored a recent report for the Rockefeller Foundation entitled "Stories of Renewal: Community Building and the Future of Urban America."

    A Family Health Care Program That Remembers The Men -- And Works
    By Joan Walsh
    Date: 10-01-97
    Taking an obvious, but largely overlooked, approach to problems of infant mortality, the Baltimore Healthy Start program has been working with fathers since 1991. The shift upset social workers, and recipients, but is involving a growing number of men in constructive activity. This is the second of three articles on new approaches to reduce teen pregnancy in Oakland, Baltimore and Denver. PNS associate editor Joan Walsh, a Bay Area based journalist, authored a recent report for the Rockefeller Foundation entitled "Stories of Renewal: Community Building and the Future of Urban America."

    Churches and Churches: Collaboration is the Sectet of Success In Denver
    By Joan Walsh
    Date: 10-03-97
    Although the church has long been a core institution in the African American community, it has rarely been directly involved in government- or foundation-sponsored social service programs. A Denver program designed to bring churches into collaborative relationships with each other and with other helping agencies suggests they can play an even greater role in the community. This is the third in a series of three articles on community building approaches that are paying off in urban America. PNS associate editor Joan Walsh, a Bay Area based journalist, authored a recent report for the Rockefeller Foundation entitled "Stories of Renewal: Community Building and the Future of Urban America."


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

    Landmine Decision-- The President Draws a Line - But Not On the Ground
    By William M. Arkin
    Date: 09-22-97
    In refusing to sign the politically popular treaty against land mines, President Clinton explained that his action was based on military necessity. But the necessity he had in mind, according to PNS commentator William M. Arkin, had more to do with Pentagon politics than with national security. William M. Arkin is author of ten books on military matters and a consultant to the Human Rights Watch Arms Project

    Don't Ask, Dont Tell- Effort to Crack Intelligence Budget Balked on Many Fronts
    By Todd R. Lowery
    Date: 09-24-97
    Since they were first established some 50 years ago, U.S. intelligence agencies have been able to conceal their workings -- including the amounts spent on different programs -- from almost all eyes. With the end of the Cold War, this secrecy has been challenged on several fronts, but none of these efforts seem likely to pay off in the near future. PNS correspondent Todd R. Lowery is a graduate student in International Relations at the University of Chicago and writes regularly on U.S. foreign policy and the intelligence community.

    Low-Intensity Street Wars in Europe -- Fas Versus Antifas
    By A. Clay Thompson
    Date: 09-29-97
    Stories of violence directed at immigrant workers in European countries have pretty much disappeared from the media, to be replaced by accounts of right-wing fringe groups making gains at the ballot box. But in fact, a low-intensity war continues in most of northern Europe, with terrorist activities and, occasionally, open battles on the streets. PNS associate editor A. Clay Thompson, a former activist in the squatter movement, has just returned from a 2-month trip to Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Holland researching autonomous political movements. This is the first of several articles on the politics and culture of youth in Europe.

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