JINN MAGAZINE

PACIFIC NEWS SERVICE

Issue No. 4.08

04/13/98 - 04/26/98

CONTENTS

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

Growing Up With Crank
By Alisa Moore

Endless numbers of books and articles have explored the impact of crack cocaine on America's urban culture, particularly black culture. By contrast, far less is known about how speed (methamphetamine) has affected white, blue-collar culture. As speed replaces cocaine as the drug of choice in many metropolitan regions, PNS special correspondent Alisa Moore writes of her own experiences growing up in a household dominated by crank. Due to family privacy concerns, she is writing under a pseudonym.

Eulogy for a Graffiti Writer
By Spie

In cities all across the United States and many suburbs as well, young people announce themselves, proclaim their views to an uncaring adult world, through graffiti, the most ubiquitous medium of youth communication. And all over the United States adults respond with angry denunciations, rarely knowing how to interpret the messages. On March 18, an 18-year-old graffiti writer in San Francisco named Jonathan See Lim, AKA TIE ONE, was shot and killed outside a building by a resident who told police he thought the young man was trying to break in. Other "writers" who knew and admired his work insisted he was no intruder -- he was climbing the fire escape in search of a canvas for his aerosol art. The following eulogy offers a unique perspective on the passions that motivate and sustain graffiti writing. Spie, the author, lives and "writes" in San Francisco.

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

Europe Once Gripped America's Imagination -- Now It's The Other Way Around
By Richard Rodriguez

Europe once riveted Americans' imagination but today, as the century ends, the roles are reversed. Young and not-so-young Europeans head for New York and Los Angeles to learn about life, while German and Italian tourists -- called "Euro-trash" by jaded Americans -- head for decadent San Francisco and Miami. PNS editor Richard Rodriguez is the author of "Days of Obligation" and essayist for the News Hour with Jim Lehrer.

2000 Years After Augustus -- Clinton Seeks Place in History Through Pax Americana
By Franz Schurmann

Clinton's partial peace-making process, launched with the Dayton Peace Accords in 1995, has turned into a full blown peace making offensive. As peace-making efforts sprout all over the world, comparisons with Octavian Augustus come to mind, not the least because his success at creating a Pax Romana salvaged his reign -- and his stature in history. PNS editor Franz Schurmann, a professor emeritus of history and sociology at U.C.-Berkeley, is author of numerous books on world affairs.

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

Time is Running Out for North Korean Families Yearning to Reunite
By Katherine Kim

Talks between states often seem to involve issues remote from everyday concerns. But for hundreds of thousands of Koreans separated from their families nearly 50 years ago, the talks between North and South Korea -- just ended in an impasse-- held a very personal kind of hope. PNS commentator Katherine Kim, whose grandmother is one of those losing hope, discovers the present situation is more complex, and a little more unsavory, than it first appears to be. Katherine Kim is a Korean American journalist based in the Bay Area.

Pol Pot's Curse Lives On -- A Rural Rage Against the City
By Andrew Lam

Pol Pot's death has not removed the curse that inspired the Khmer Rouge killing fields. That curse grows out of a deep rural hatred of the city, one that has not eased as Pnomh Penh has sprung back to life and now, once again teeming with affluent foreigners, lords it over the countryside. PNS editor Andrew Lam, a San Francisco-based writer, has traveled extensively through Cambodia.

Beyond the "Madman" Theory -- Cambodia's Fate and Future Shaped By Many Actors
By Judish Coburn and Joshua Phillips

The death of Pol Pot has produced a number of comments asking whether this has allowed him to escape trial and penalties -- to "slip the hangman's noose." But focus on one individual, however monstrous his attitudes and actions, can blind us to forces and actors that continue to shape Cambodia's fate. PNS commentator Judith Coburn covered the war in Cambodia from 1970 to 1973 and has reported from there regularly since then; Joshua Phillips, a freelance journalist, reported for the "Pnomh Penh Post" in 1997.

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

Summit of the Americas-- Big Guy on the American Block Offers Lots of Talk, Little Action
By Andrew Redding

As the nations of the western hemisphere meet in Chile for a second "Summit of the Americas," there is bound to be much talk of the way the states of the region have moved away from authoritarian rule and toward democracy. But even a casual look at the real situation shows these shifts are more a matter of veneer than deep change. Pacific News Service associate editor Andrew Reding directs the North America Project, a joint venture of the World Policy Institute and the Bay Area Institute.

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

No "Hoop Dreams" For Me -- Success In Professional Sports a Mixed Blessing For African Americans
By Caille Millner

Tuesday night President Clinton will hold a town meeting on race and sports to be broadcast on ESPN. According to one young writer, America's obsession with black athletic prowess encourages myths and stereotypes and makes her glad she grew a book worm, not a jock. Caille Millner is a freshman at Harvard University, and on the staff of YO! (Youth Outlook), a newspaper by and about young people published by Pacific News Service.

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

When Perfect is Not Enough -- How to Level the Playing Field at Post-Affirmative Action Berkeley
By Ronald Takaki

The most recent figures on the number of minority students admitted to the University of California show a startling drop -- a drop administrators say they cannot act to correct under an anti-affirmative action initiative passed by California voters. But the existing grounds for admission do in fact discriminate, writes PNS commentator Ron Takaki, who suggests a way to ensure more diverse admissions that stays within the law. Takaki is Professor of Ethnic Studies at UC Berkeley, and author of "A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America."

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