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JINN MAGAZINE

PACIFIC NEWS SERVICE

Issue No. 5.15

07/18/99 - 08/01/99

CONTENTS


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

    Kennedy Tragedy Evokes an Old World Understanding
    By Mark Schurmann
    Date: 07-22-99
    The Kennedy family conducted private funeral services for John F. Kennedy, Jr., but his death remains unavoidably public, especially in his New York City neighborhood. There the response evokes memories of how tragedy was understood in the villages our grandparents may have come from. PNS commentator Mark Schurmann lives and writes in New York City.

    Don't Slam the Door to Internet Access
    By Jeff Murai
    Date: 07-26-99
    A fight over who holds the keys to the Internet is brewing in several major cities. PNS commentator Jeff Murai argues that the city should keep its hands off AT&T, which has the experience and expertise to offer Internet access to the community. Murai, president of Market Garage, Inc. in San Francisco is past-president of the Nikkei Lions Club in San Francisco and an active volunteer in the Asian community. One of two articles presenting opposing views on this question.

    Beware the Man Who Wants to Own the Internet
    By Roy Ulrich
    Date: 07-26-99
    Internet access is a hot topic in a number of cities these days. One major player turns out to be none other than AT&T, now the nation's largest cable company, driving hard under its present chief. PNS commentator Roy Ulrich thinks this represents a real danger to the public. Ulrich is president and founder of the Institute for the Study of the Public Sector, a Washington-based think tank. He recommends visiting http://www.nogatekeepers.org for more information on this topic. One of two articles presenting opposing views on this question.

    Discrimination is Still Alive and Well in Corporate America
    By Earl Ofari Hutchinson
    Date: 07-27-99
    Despite everything -- including a $175 million fine -- corporate America continues to operate in a sort of apartheid atmosphere. There may be a few more black faces, writes PNS commentator Earl Ofari Hutchinson, but white males are still calling all the shots. Hutchinson is the author of The Crisis in Black and Black. email:ehutchi344@aol.com

    Nation's Oldest Public Station Under Arrest
    By Dennis Bernstein
    Date: 07-28-99
    The streets of Berkeley are back in the news, but this is no flashback -- the players and the issues are very much of the late 1990s. Although the immediate focus is one radio station, writes PNS commentator Dennis Bernstein, the outcome of this battle will affect us all. Bernstein, a journalist at KPFA, was ordered arrested by Pacifica management on July 13 when he broke the story of the potential sale of the station. He can be reached at www.flashpoints.net.


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

    Spider Silk From Goats' Milk -- Hints of a New Industrial Revolution
    By Walter Truett Anderson
    Date: 07-21-99
    One of the strongest substances in nature is the stuff of spider webs -- the thread produced can hold more weight than most manufactured materials. Attempts to synthesize the substance have failed, writes PNS commentator Walter Truett Anderson, but a new venture involving gene-splicing shows considerable promise. Anderson, author of "Evolution Isn't What It Used To Be" (W.H. Freeman), is a political scientist who writes widely on technology and global governance.


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

    Vietnamese Brides for Sale
    By Van Tran
    Date: 07-30-99
    Women are leaving Taiwan's countryside for jobs in the cities. Dowries are becoming more costly. As a result, rural Taiwanese men are turning to Vietnam as a source of "low-cost" brides. Van Tran is a staff reporter for the Taiwan News in Taipei. She wrote this article for New California Media Online (www.ncmonline.com), a project of Pacific News Service.


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

    Mexico City Leads an Urban Renaissance
    By Koren L. Capoza
    Date: 07-23-99
    In one of Mexico City's poorest shantytowns a youth center has sprung up which represents a new approach to community organizing, one that hinges on communicating with all residents. PNS correspondent Koren L. Capoza reports from Tlanetziye, which in the Indian language of Nahuatl means "is threatening" but is now a gem amidst urban despair.


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

    Gleanings From the Ethnic Media #30
    By Emil Guillermo
    Date: 07-23-99
    What does the world look like as reported on the pages of California's growing ethnic newspapers? PNS monitors the Chinese-, Spanish-, Vietnamese-, Japanese-, Korean-, Arabic-language news media as well as English-language newcomer and native-born ethnic press published and/or distributed widely in California. "Gleanings from the Ethnic Media" is a regular weekly column compiled by Emil Guillermo, host of "NCM: New California Media TV" (seen on PBS station KCSM-TV60 in the Bay Area); assisted by Pacific News Service and the NCM Network. Just as the alternative news media connected the disaffected populations in the 1960s, so in the 1990s the ethnic media connects the new ethnic majority communities of California -- to one another and to the larger public forum.

    KPFA - Resolution or Eviction?
    By David Bacon
    Date: 07-29-99
    The recent offer by Pacifica Foundation to lift its lockout of community radio station KPFA has only fueled suspicions among many staffers and their supporters that the Foundation is secretly plotting the station's sale. PNS contributing editor David Bacon, who hosts a show on labor issues at KPFA, explores the reasons behind their suspicions.

    Gleanings From the Ethnic Media #31
    By Emil Guillermo
    Date: 07-30-99
    What does the world look like as reported on the pages of California's growing ethnic newspapers? PNS monitors the Chinese-, Spanish-, Vietnamese-, Japanese-, Korean-, Arabic-language news media as well as English-language newcomer and native-born ethnic press published and/or distributed widely in California. "Gleanings from the Ethnic Media" is a regular weekly column compiled by Emil Guillermo, host of "NCM: New California Media TV" (seen on PBS station KCSM-TV60 in the Bay Area); assisted by Pacific News Service and the NCM Network. Just as the alternative news media connected the disaffected populations in the 1960s, so in the 1990s the ethnic media connects the new ethnic majority communities of California -- to one another and to the larger public forum.


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

    Hiroshima's Lessons Recalled by American Surviors
    By Sanford Gottlieb
    Date: 07-22-99
    This August 6 marks the 54th anniversary of the atom bombing of Hiroshima. Yet some Americans are still living with the effects of that explosion. PNS commentator Sanford Gottlieb, who worked with the survivor committee in 1975, is author of "Defense Addiction: Can America Kick the Habit?" published by Westview Press, and has worked for over 30 years for private organizations in the field of international arms control.


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

    A Death Between the Generations
    By Stanley Joseph and Scott Louie
    Date: 07-20-99
    Reactions to the sudden death of John F. Kennedy, Jr. have stressed his place in history, but for many younger Americans, those references are to a time un-remembered. Two college-age commentators give some idea of their generation's responses -- one finds something to appreciate, the other wonders what the fuss is all about. Stanley Joseph is a reporter for YO! (Youth Outlook) and a student at San Francisco State University; Scott Louie works with "Hard Boiled," an Asian American publication at University of California, Berkeley and is a recent graduate of UC Davis.

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