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JINN MAGAZINE

PACIFIC NEWS SERVICE

Issue No. 4.01

01/01/98 - 01/18/98

CONTENTS


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

    The Pope and Castro-- An American Catholic Sizes Up an Unlikely Pair
    By Richard Rodriguez
    Date: 01-06-98
    The Pope's upcoming visit to Cuba and meeting with Fidel Castro is being depicted as a sort of ideological shootout: believer vs. atheist, Catholic vs. Communist, Old World vs. New. But the reality is much more complex, as Pacific News Service editor Richard Rodriguez comments from his own particular place in several worlds. Rodriguez, author of "Days of Obligation" (Viking), is an essayist for PBS' "The News Hour with Jim Lehrer."

    Post Affirmative Action America-- Why Both Sides Claim King As Their Own
    By Earl Ofari Hutchinson
    Date: 01-12-98
    Thirty years after Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination, American activists on all sides of the spectrum still argue over the real meaning of his words and deeds. This year the issue in dispute is affirmative action, but his message transcends partisan interpretations in a way that we may need to consider. PNS commentator Dr. Earl Ofari Hutchinson is the author of The Assassination of the Black Male Image. (email: ehutchi344@aol.com)


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

    Clues in Hair, Language, Tone -- How Iranians Will Read the Khatami Interview
    By William O. Beeman
    Date: 01-08-98
    The U.S. government has been quick to react to the pronouncements of Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, made in his first interview with an international news organization. But the real significance of Khatami's appearance may be in its implicit message to Iranians themselves, according to PNS associate editor William O. Beeman. Beeman teaches anthropology at Brown University and is the author of Language, Status And Power In Iran. This is one of two articles today on the Khatami interview by William O. Beeman.

    Khatami's Message for Americans-- A Lesson in the Art of Communication Iranian Style
    By William O. Beeman
    Date: 01-08-98
    A nationally televised interview with Iranian President Mohammad Khatami January 7 elicited a number of friendly comments from all sides. But in focusing on the explicit content of his remarks, according to PNS associate editor William O. Beeman, officials and analysts may be overlooking the more subtle, and more important, suggestions embedded in his presentation. Beeman teaches anthropology at Brown University and is the author of Language, Status And Power In Iran. This is one of two articles today on the Khatami interview by William O. Beeman.

    Why Asian Crises Don't Mean the End of a Better World
    By Franz Schurmann
    Date: 01-13-98
    The Asian financial turmoil has many people worried that the global economy is about to come undone. But the turmoil is essentially a crisis of money, not of economies. PNS editor Franz Schurmann, a professor emeritus of history and sociology at UC Berkeley, is the author of numerous books on Asian and global affairs.


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

    A Pocket Monster-- The Game That's Giving the Media Fits
    By Patrick Macias
    Date: 01-07-98
    A standout among the unsettling stories of recent months is the account from Japan of children suffering seizures as a result of watching a TV cartoon show. Sensational coverage of the incident here offered a distorted picture of Japanese animation, writes PNS commentator Patrick Macias, a fan of the genre, and while most responses reflect genuine concern, some have been thoroughly self-serving. Patrick Macias is on the staff of YO (Youth Outlook), a publication by and about Bay Area youth produced by Pacific News Service.

    Asian Meltdown -- A City Loses Its Balance But Not Its Dreams
    By Andrew Lam
    Date: 01-14-98
    Thailand, the prime example of the Asian "economic miracle," has been hit hard by the recent crisis. The rapid fall from a great height has produced sharply contrasting views of the world. PNS Editor Andrew Lam is taking a first-hand look at the "Asian Crisis" in Thailand, Vietnam and Burma.


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

    Mexicans Turning to God-- In Many Forms
    By Ruben Martinez
    Date: 01-05-98
    From Pentecostals to tarot card readers, the spiritual side of life is thriving throughout Mexico -- despite, or perhaps because of, a general air of crisis and a bleak view of what is to come. PNS associate editor Ruben Martinez reports on examples from every corner. Martinez is working on a book about life and death in the borderlands for Metropolitan/Holt.

    How and Why the Moon Could Rise Again
    By Walter Truett AndersonE
    Date: 01-09-98
    Almost 30 years after the first human being walked out onto the moon, a new little spacecraft called the Lunar Prospector is winging its way towards the moon. There is little fanfare attending this mission yet ambitions are high among many scientists and lunar enthusiasts that the Lunar Prospector could lead, once again, to a new and prominent position for the moon in the imaginations of humanity. PNS associate editor Walter Truett Anderson is author of numerous books on science, the environment and politics, most recently "Evolution Isn't What It Used To Be" (W.H. Freeman).

    20-Something Politics Rolls Out Critical Mass, Parisian Style
    By Rez Sacharoff
    Date: 01-15-98
    On city streets everywhere these days, there's an ongoing struggle between muscles and motors. This takes different forms in different places: in San Francisco, mass protests seem to call for a sort of pedal-power politics; in Paris, Rez Sacharoff finds, protesters are no less determined but much more polite. In an accompanying story, Michael Blanding provides a sketch of the international two wheel revolution. Sacharoff a veteran of San Francisco's Critical Mass bicycle movement, and a writer for YO! (Youth Outlook), reports from Paris. Blanding, a freelance writer who bicycles to and from work, reports from San Francisco.

    The Riddle of Kaczynski -- Why Suicide Over Powerlessness
    By Scott Corey
    Date: 01-16-98
    Regardless of whether he wins the right to defend himself in court, accused Unabomber Ted Kaczynski has impressed himself on the public as a man determined to be seen as a revolutionary rather than a psychotic. There is a logic to his actions and it can be discerned from the ideas he espouses and writings attributed to him by his family or in the Unabomber Manifesto. PNS analyst Scott Corey, a political scientist specializing in political violence and revolution, is a freelance writer covering the trial.


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

    Zedillo is No LBJ-- Mexico City's Spin Control on Massacre Gets it Wrong
    By Andrew Reding
    Date: 01-05-98
    The latest spin control coming out of Mexico City on the massacre of 45 Tzotzil Indians depicts President Zedillo as Mexico's Johnson or Kennedy, bent on solving Mexico's race problem but hampered by racist members of his own party in the south. But far from being a reformer utilizing Mexico's military to pressure intransigent governors, Zedillo has deployed the army throughout the south to reinforce his party's rule and terrorize civilians through paramilitary groups. PNS associate editor Andrew Reding, a political scientist who has worked and traveled widely in Mexico, directs the North America Project of the World Policy Institute.


* YOUTH OUTLOOK: The World Through Young People's Eyes

    Why Farrakhan is "Man of the Year"
    By David Gaither
    Date: 01-02-98
    PNS asked its network of youth reporters to select the man or woman of the year. David Gaither, a 22-year-old African American journalist who grew up in Oakland and is now married and the father of a one-year-old, explains why his choice is the controversial leader of the Nation of Islam, Minister Louis Farrakhan. Gaither is an editor of and counselor for The Beat Within, a weekly newsletter of writings and art by incarcerated youth published by Pacific News Service's YO! (Youth Outlook). This is one of two stories today about young people's view of "The Man of the Year."

    If Young People Picked the "Man of the Year"
    By Ri'Chard Magee
    Date: 01-02-98
    Another New Year means another round of Man of the Year lists. Ask young people who they would pick and you'll find out what they value. The private individuals who nurture and raise them, as well as the public figures who shape their values, top young people's Man of the Year lists. Ri'Chard Magee is on the staff of YO! (Youth Outlook), a newspaper by and about young people produced by Pacific News Service. This is one of two stories today about young people's view of "The Man of the Year."

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