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JINN MAGAZINE

PACIFIC NEWS SERVICE

Issue No. 3.26

12/15/97 - 12/31/97

CONTENTS


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

    It's Not Just Sprewell-- When The 'Attitute' Comes to Basketball, Watch Out
    By Ri'chard Magee
    Date: 12-18-97
    Loud and repeated criticism of one basketball player's threat to his coach may actually mask the fact that basketball has undergone a style change, one that reflects the increasingly pervasive attitude of hip hop. The problem goes well beyond the professional sport, according to PNS correspondent Ri'chard Magee, himself a rapper and avid basketball player, and is changing the playground game as well. Magee writes for YO! (Youth Outlook), a monthly newspaper by and about young people published by PNS.

    "Amistad" Steers A Familiar Course-- Avoiding History
    By Andrea N. Jones
    Date: 12-19-97
    The film "Amistad" has been hailed as a genuine effort to educate all Americans about a most shameful time in our history. A young African American viewer familiar with that history, however, can only be disappointed to see yet another movie expressing Hollywood's preoccupation with whiteness and exoneration, and nearly complete disregard for the real experience of millions of African slaves. Andrea N. Jones is an editor of YO! (Youth Outlook), a youth newspaper produced by Pacific News Service.

    Lesson of Sprewell-- America in Search of a Moral Compass
    By Richard Rodriguez
    Date: 12-22-97
    It is easy to pontificate about the failings of a single individual like Latrell Sprewell. But events like the death of Diana and Mother Theresa and the Promise Keepers march drive home the key lesson of the year -- Americans know that there is something profoundly wrong with the entire American family and we yearn for a sense of moral direction that will set things right again. PNS editor Richard Rodriguez, author of Days of Obligation (Viking-Penguin), writes for Harper's, the Los Angeles Times, and the PBS News Hour with Jim Lehrer.


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

    From Elation to Shame-- Korean Americans Riding an Emotional Roller Coaster
    By Katherine Kim
    Date: 12-30-97
    South Korea's financial crisis has triggered a range of emotions among ethnic Koreans everywhere -- including sadness, guilt, humiliation, and a sense of justice. To understand the depth of these feelings, one must first understand the dizzying elation -- like a Babylonian fever dream -- engendered by the country's economic success over the last two decades. PNS correspondent Katherine Kim, a Korean American journalist who has lived and worked in South Korea explores the highs and lows in her family and her community.


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

    Gleanings from California's Ethnic Media-- Focus on the Asian Press
    Edited by Sandy Close and Franz Schurmann
    Date: 12-29-97
    What would the world look like if at least part of your daily diet of news came from the ethnic media -- which now has more readers than the mainstream press in some California metropolitan regions? PNS, in collaboration with members of the New California Media network of ethnic media organizations, regularly digests news and commentary from this rapidly growing but largely invisible segment of the news media. This digest focuses exclusively on news and opinions drawn from the press serving East and South Asian communities.


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

    Notes From a Journal Part II- Life in Post-Affirmative Action America-- The College Culture
    By Caille Millner
    Date: 12-15-97
    In the world after affirmative action what are young people finding to be the major sources of inequity in their personal lives and how are they overcoming them? Caille Millner, an 18-year-old African American from San Jose, Ca., is keeping a journal on her experiences as she navigates her way through Harvard University where she is completing her first semester. Here are the second two entries in her journal. Millner writes for YO! (Youth Outlook), a newspaper by and about young people published by Pacific News Service.

    Unabomber Trial-- Putting Politics as Well as Violence on Trial
    By Scott Corey
    Date: 12-16-97
    The ultimate irony in the trial of Theodore Kaczynski, accused of the Unabomber crimes, may be that it subverts the American tradition of avoiding any semblance of trying people for their political beliefs. Recent anti-terrorism legislation and his own maneuverings may force the prosecution to prove that his political beliefs are sound. PNS analyst Scott Corey, a political scientist specializing in political violence and revolution, is a freelance writer covering the trial.

    Round Three-- Air War on Radio Rebels Escalates
    By Travis Lea and A. Clay Thompson
    Date: 12-17-97
    In a fine example of Catch-22ism, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has argued in court that a citizen cannot claim the FCC has denied his right to broadcast because he has not applied for a license which the FCC has refused to issue. This is only the latest twist in a long-term struggle which pits low-power "rebel" radio broadcasters against the agency and the broadcast industry, according to PNS correspondents Travis Lea and A. Clay Thompson. Lea is a producer at YO! Radio which airs on radio stations across the country; Thompson is a writer based in San Francisco.

    CIA Report Fans More Conspiracy Theories
    By Earl Ofari Hutchinson
    Date: 12-23-97
    The CIA did itself a favor last week by clearing itself of any involvement in drug trafficking in black neighborhoods of Los Angeles. But the agency also almost certainly guaranteed that the ranks of those who still believe it was involved will swell even more. PNS commentator Dr. Earl Ofari Hutchinson is the author of "The Assassination of the Black Male Image" and the forthcoming "The Crisis in Black and Black." (email: ehutch344@aol.com)

    Seeing the Siege of Sarajevo Through Two Lenses
    By Terence Sheridan
    Date: 12-26-97
    Movie-goers who see "Welcome to Sarajevo" -- the first English-language film about the three-year siege of the Bosnian capital -- will learn more about what it was like to be an American correspondent there than to be a citizen survivor. And even the depiction of the "hell" of the Holiday Inn foreign journalists endured bears little resemblance to the reality, according to one such survivor. PNS correspondent Terence Sheridan is a free-lance journalist.

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