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JINN MAGAZINE

PACIFIC NEWS SERVICE

Issue No. 3.25

12/01/97 - 12/14/97

CONTENTS


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

    Teaching On Line-- How Words Loop Together to Make a Class
    By Esther Cohen
    Date: 12-03-97
    Good morning and welcome to the school without-- cybercollege, where the unseen teach the unheard. After five years of dealing with flesh and blood students, PNS commentator Esther Cohen, who claims to be completely mystified by computers, finds some intriguing possibilities in education over the internet. Esther Cohen lives and writes in New York City.

    Can Ghosts Cross the Ocean?
    By Andrew Lam
    Date: 12-08-97
    An exile always lives at least partly in more than one world. For those who are young, the experience of every day may seem to erase memory of the original place, but as PNS editor Andrew Lam discovered through his grandmother, the spirit of home may travel an unexpectedly long way. 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

    Narcocorridos -- Polka Beat, Gangsta Rap Lyrics, Top the Charts in Mexico's Northwest
    By Sam Quinones
    Date: 12-01-97
    Germans brought the sound -- polka beats played with accordions. But drug traffickers are the subjects of the hit songs in Northwest Mexico these days. The narcocorridos, as they're called, resemble gangsta rap in the U.S. and have even given rise to a Mexican version of Tupac Shakur. PNS correspondent Sam Quinones is a freelance reporter based for the last five years in Mexico City. This is the second of three reports on Mexico's narcoculture. Photographs illustrating the series are available through PNS - call George Gundrey at 415-243-4364.

    From Fashion to Dress to Attitude-- Narcotraficantes Set the Pace in Mexico's Northwest
    By Sam Quinones
    Date: 12-01-97
    In Mexico's northwest state of Sinaloa, better known as home to the chic resort of Mazatlan, drug smuggling is an accepted part of life. From ostrich-skin boots to shirts emblazoned with the portrait of a "narco saint" known as Jesus Malverde, people dress to imitate the "narcos" and talk with narcotrafficers "like it's the most common thing in the world." PNS correspondent Sam Quinones is a freelance reporter based for the last five years in Mexico City. This is the first of three reports on Mexico's narcoculture. Photographs illustrating the series are available through PNS - call George Gundrey at 415-243-4364.

    Jesus Malverde-- Saint of Mexico's Drug Traffickers May Have Been Bandit Hung in 1909
    By Sam Quinones
    Date: 12-2-97
    In Mexico's Pacific Coast state of Sinaloa having the government as an enemy can do great things for your reputation. And so it was that a legendary bandit supposedly hung in 1909 is now a revered saint whose shrine draws thousands each year from as far away as Stockton, California. With his Robin Hood image, it was inevitable that Jesus Malverde would also become the patron saint of drug traffickers. PNS reporter Sam Quinones reports on his legend in this third of three parts on Mexico's narcoculture. Photographs illustrating the series are available through PNS - call George Gundrey at 415-243-4364.

    Keep America Green-- Hire an Illegal Alien
    By Louise Brannon Wagenknecht
    Date: 12-4-97
    A recent "sweep" in national forests in Idaho found illegal aliens working for the federal government as tree planters. Forest Service spokesmen claimed ignorance, but for Louise Brannon Wagenknecht, who worked as an inspector in the Klamath National Forest near the California-Oregon border from 1975 to 1987, the denials rang false indeed. Wagenknecht is now raising sheep in Idaho and writing for the "High Country News" a biweekly published in Colorado.

    Tijuana Workers Continue Hunger Strike to Force Recognition of Their Union
    By David Bacon
    Date: 12-10-97
    A first-ever victory for an independent union in Tijuana has been turned sour by a government agency's refusal to accept the results of an election judged clean by the agency's own representative. North of the border, supporters of the workers have been active in more than 25 cities, and one group has filed a complaint under NAFTA. PNS associate editor David Bacon reports from Tijuana. He is a former union organizer who writes widely on labor and immigration.


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

    Meet Jerry Brown-- Leading Black Candidate for Oakland Mayor
    By Joan Walsh
    Date: 12-09-97
    Despite a field of at least three African Americans, former California governor Jerry Brown is generating the strongest buzz among black voters in the race for mayor of Oakland. Although the city is at least 30 percent Asian and Latino, writes PNS associate editor Joan Walsh, Oakland politics is still mostly played on a black and white checkerboard. Walsh, a freelance writer, writes widely on issues of race and poverty.


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

    Message in a Cyber Bottle-- A Lifeline for Gay Teens
    By Bruce Mirken
    Date: 12-11-97
    Chance encounters on the internet can be amusing, informative, funny. But the medium can also provide refuge and a chance for fellow-feeling for those who feel cast out in their own immediate worlds. For gay teens, especially, writes PNS correspondent Bruce Mirken, the internet can be lifesaving. Mirken is a freelance writer living in San Francisco.

    So Long Locks-- California Prison Officials Declare War on Inmate Hair
    By Joe Loya
    Date: 12-12-97
    California prison officials have decreed that no prisoner may have long hair or a beard on the grounds that short hair prevents disguise in case of escape. In fact, cosmetic coercion has long been the first resort of petty tyrants when dealing with intractable subjects. PNS editor Joe Loya is a California writer currently writing an autobiography.


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

    Young People To Clinton-- Get Real if You Want to Talk About Race
    By Josh Parr
    Date: 12-05-97
    President Clinton hopes that last week's town meeting to discuss race relations will jump start similar conversations among America's youth. But for one multiracial group in their early 20s who tuned into the Akron, Ohio event at the San Francisco office of YO! Youth Outlook, it was clear from the outset that the script had been written well in advance-- that the government isn't interested in what they have to say except as a backdrop.

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