Scholastic Update articles from September 1991

Scholastic Update archives from September 1991

Rethinking the American family.
September 6, 1991... How would you define the typical American family? Is it two parents and their children living together? A divorced mother living alone with her kids? An extended family of many generations? A foster family of kids from different families...

A portrait of change. (family structure)
September 6, 1991... The traditional nuclear family--a married couple with children living together under one roof--is becoming harder to find. As the graph below shows, U.S. households now take a variety of different forms. Today, more children live in...

We are family. (nontraditional families) (Cover Story)
September 6, 1991... FEW AMERICAN FAMILIES LOOK LIKE TV's Cleavers these days--and not just because hair and clothing styles have changed. With fewer Americans living in traditional nuclear-family units, America's idea of family is evolving. Today "family" can...

A capitol issue: saving the family.
September 6, 1991... Marian Wright Edelman wants to redefine "national security." Most people think national security means protecting the country from external enemies. But to Edelman, one of America's leading children's rights advocates, the gravest threat...

All work and no playtime. (family-related employee benefits)
September 6, 1991... UNTIL LAST YEAR, Ellen Sahl spent nearly as muck time thinking about day care for her 3-year-old daughter, Victoria, as she did thinking about her own job as a secretary. She had a full-time baby-sitter for Victoria. But she was so unreliable...

Children of divorce.
September 6, 1991... EVEN WHEN THEY WERE CHILDREN, LINDA and her brothers knew something was dramatically wrong with their parents' marriage. "I remember at night we used to hide under the covers and shake when they were fighting," she recalls. When she was 16,...

Law in the living room. (family law)
September 6, 1991... AS THE UNITED States heads into the 21st century, the traditional family model--father as breadwinner, mother as homemaker, children as dependents--is quickly becoming the exception rather than the rule. Today, nontraditional households, such...

The "sandwich generation." (caring for aging parents)
September 6, 1991... Every morning whe she gets up, Paulette Brogna goes to her mother-in-law's room and checks to make sure the 76-year-old woman is still breathing. Then Brogna has a solitary cup of coffee. The 30 minutes she spends drinking it is the only time...

American teenagers come of age.
September 6, 1991... WHEN HE WAS 13, ASA Sheldon left his family's farm in Wilmington, Massachusetts, and went to work. All he carried with him was a change of clothes. For the next eight years, Asa traveled around Massachusetts doing odd jobs. From the time...

Four decades of viewing families. (television families)
September 6, 1991... On a recent episode of television's Blossom, 15-year-old Blossom Russo fantasizes about having a warm and loving mom in the house. Then, with a start, she remembers that her real mom has abandoned her family to pursue a career as a singer. ...

A talk with Will Smith. (actor) (interview)
September 6, 1991... How did you get the name "Fresh Prince"? Will: A couple of teachers at school started calling me "Prince" because I was just so charming. (Laughs) And in 1985, "fresh" was the new slang so I said "Fresh Prince." In your old...

Perturbed in the 'burbs. (new television program, 'Eerie, Indiana')
September 6, 1991... Check out the new comedy series Eerie, Indiana starring Omri Katz as 13-year-old Marshall. Marshall just moved to Eerie -- statistically the most average place in America. But as Marshall soon discovers, Eerie is anything but average. For...

Searching for the real Columbus. (Christopher Columbus)(includes related article on various depictions of Columbus)
September 20, 1991... Searching for the Real Columbus The picture above is one of the landmark images in Western history: Christopher Columbus stepping ashore in the New World for the first time. It is a heroic, inspiring sight, filled with achievement and glory....

Three countries, three legacies. (how Christopher Columbus's voyages are being commemorated in Spain, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic)
September 20, 1991... Three Countries, Three Legacies The U.S. is not the only country marking the 500th anniversary of Columbus's arrival in the Americas next year. Nor is it the only country taking a critical look at the legacy of the great explorer. If anything,...

"Our people won't be celebrating." (Native Americans and celebration of Christopher Columbus' voyage)(includes related articles on attitudes of Native American college students)
September 20, 1991... "OUR PEOPLE WON'T BE CELEBRATING" To most Native Americans, Columbus began the process that destroyed their way of life, and very nearly obliterated their peoples, as well. In 1492, when Columbus first landed on the shores of what came to be...

A cry from the Amazon. (Yanomami tribe)(includes related article on reporter's encounter with the tribe)
September 20, 1991... A Cry From the Amazon Five centuries after Columbus, the last untouched tribe in the Americas is fighting to survive. When Christopher Columbus landed in the New World in 1492, some 20 to 40 million Indians inhabited the Americas....

Fighting over history. (controversy over Christopher Columbus' legacy)
September 20, 1991... Fighting Over History When the planners of the Christopher Columbus Quincentenary Jubilee were mapping out 1992, they expected a year of celebration. What they got was a raging debate. At the heart of the controversy over Columbus'...

Charting the course. (historical views of the world)
September 20, 1991... Charting the Course A Pre-Columbian View of the World Exploration means more than uncovering something new. It also involves recording the experience so that others might later follow--and extend--our knowledge of the world. If...

The final frontier? (outer space)
September 20, 1991... The Final Frontier? With so many of this planet's mysteries solved, today's explorers set their sights on outer space. In Joseph Conrad's long short story "Heart of Darkness," a character named Marlow describes the way a 19th-century map made...

Behind the beat: a night at Power Station. (recording studio)
September 20, 1991... Behind the Beat: A Night at Power Station The night the Currents Crew went to Power Station -- one of the top recording studios in the country -- we walked right by the entrance. After all, we thought the place where Madonna recorded "Like A...