New York Times Upfront articles from January 2000

New York Times Upfront archives from January 2000

Answer the question. (letters).(Brief Article)
January 3, 2000... We should know if our President is using or has used drugs ("Politics Gets Personal," 10/4/99). Candidate George W. Bush has replied to the drug question by saying, "When I was young and irresponsible, I was young and irresponsible." That...

Is Dung art? (letters).(Brief Article)
January 3, 2000... I was appalled to learn that in today's society, free expression is still not accepted ("A Sensation--But Is It Art?" 11/1/99). The point of art is to catch your attention and to provoke your thought process. If you get offended, deal with it....

Sick and twisted. (letters).(Brief Article)
January 3, 2000... I'm very ashamed of Matthew Coons ("Don't Blame Manson," letter, 9/6/99) for sticking up for Marilyn Manson. I will blame Manson because he has a sick, twisted, perverted mind. JASON JOHNSON Montclair, Calif.

Weird geography. (letters).(Brief Article)
January 3, 2000... In the "World Affairs Annual 1999-2000" (10/18/99), I see the U.S. now is larger than Canada, and your publication is the first to say so. Are there new techniques to establish physical size? My college-level geography classes are interested in...

Riding the dunes. (Photo).(Brief Article)
January 3, 2000... What to do when snowboardinq season ends? You can always try sandboarding, like this rider catching air on a dune in Namibia's Namib Desert. The sport has distinct advantages: There's always sand, there are no trees to ram, and it's warm enough...

The disappearing forest. (Environment).(Brief Article)
January 3, 2000... Visitors to the Petrified Forest National Perk in Arizona often come away with a sense of wonder at the 250-million-year-old fallen trees that, thanks to ancient volcanic activity, have turned to stone. But more and more often, they are leaving...

Rosa Parks gets a bad rap. (law).(Brief Article)
January 3, 2000... After Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger --as Montgomery, Alabama, blacks were required to do in 1955--her arrest sparked a citywide bus boycott that began the civil rights movement. Now 86, Parks is still...

Click for free food. (Circuits).(Brief Article)
January 3, 2000... Many of the Internet's more-interesting sites provide food for thought. Now there's one that provides food for the hungry. Launched by Indiana software programmer John Breen earlier this year, www.hungersite.com dispenses information about...

Zero tolerance. (Education).(Brief Article)
January 3, 2000... If push comes to shove in the high school hallway, don't count on an apology and handshake to end the matter. That's the lesson being learned by students across the U.S. as more and more schools treat misbehavior with "zero tolerance," meaning...

The battle in Seattle. (International).(Brief Article)
January 3, 2000... They call themselves anarchists, dress in black, and go by first names only: Spider, Possum, Nimo, Rob. Last month, however, Seattle police called them something different: the possible instigators of destructive protests against the World...

Who's afraid of the WTO?(Brief Article)
January 3, 2000... When demonstrators poured into downtown Seattle to protest a global economic meeting last month, they drew international attention not only to themselves, but to the target of their ire: a little-known but powerful body called the World Trade...

Stressed out! A new poll confirms it: from money and grades to drugs and violence, today's teens face tremendous pressures.(Brief Article)
January 3, 2000... PARENTS WON'T LEAVE ME ALONE NEED MONEY MUST PASS CHEM EXAM DRUGS? SEX? SATS... SATS... SATS SHE DOESN'T CARE TRYOUTS FOR TRACK TEAM DOES SOMEONE HAVE A GUN? Elizabeth Ging's day starts with a rush; she's got to fly if she wants to snag...

The last stone-age Indians: life for an isolated tribe deep in the amazon rain forest hasn't changed in thousands of years. Can it survive?(Brief Article)
January 3, 2000... For Domingo Neves de Souza, it was only a half-hour's walk to the edge of the unknown. Two years ago in September, he ventured out from the Brazilian rubber plantation where he lived and pushed deep into the Amazon to go fishing with his two...

Should the computer king be dethroned? A court ruling could change the way Bill Gates does business. (business).(Brief Article)
January 3, 2000... Microsoft is a big, rich, and powerful company. Is there anything wrong with that? In America, a nation with a deep commitment to free-market economics, in which businesses are permitted to operate with a minimum of government...

Notes from Apple's core: on her latest album, Fiona pares down to a piano and painful honesty. (arts).(Brief Article)
January 3, 2000... Fiona Apple shows up late for an interview with her excuse on a makeshift leash--a black-and-white wire-haired mongrel. Apple was walking through New York City's Central Park when she came across some police officers offering the abandoned dog...

The Port Chicago mutiny: after a deadly blast, 50 black sailors refused to return to work--and went to jail instead. (times past).(Brief Article)
January 3, 2000... You didn't say no. It was the wartime Navy, and you didn't defy the lieutenant--especially if you were black and he was white. But Joe Small said no anyway. After an explosion killed 320 people in Port Chicago, California, he and 49 other...

Smile, and say `woof': new software takes photos into the realm of imagination. (circuits).(Brief Article)
January 3, 2000... For anyone whose snapshots are a snore, now there's computer software that can overcome almost any shutterbug's shortcomings. The programs work on pictures taken with digital cameras or on photos shot on film and scanned into digital form, and...

Expel kids for fighting? Authorities say yes after the melee at an Illinois football game. (opinion).(Brief Article)
January 3, 2000... YES We have all seen the video of the fight that took place in the bleachers at the football game in Decatur, Illinois, on September 17, 1999. This was no innocent shoving match, if there is such a thing. This was a melee that endangered...

The free-trade battle: should the World Trade Organization be stopped? (opinion).(Brief Article)
January 3, 2000... YES In a democratic society, we presume the right to make laws that reflect the deepest values of citizens. But this is no longer the case. With the emergence of the World Trade Organization (WTO), democracy has moved to the back burner....

Drawing on the news. (opinion).(Brief Article)
January 3, 2000... HEY, DAD. WHERE DO BABIES COME FROM? THE INTERNET. THAT'S RIDICULOUS... I MEAN... LIKE... DON'T WE WATCH DAWSON'S CREEK and MELROSE PLACE, LIKE, RELIGIOUSLY ..? WE DON'T ALLOW OUR CHILD TO READ HARRY POTTER BOOKS. THERE'S TOO...

letters.
January 17, 2000... Health-Care Injustice "It is an injustice that someone can walk into an emergency room with a chronic illness and be denied treatment because they don't have insurance coverage ("Without a Net," 11/15/99). I believe that medical care...

That Old Sinking Feeling.(captain of oil tanker jailed by French authorities)(Brief Article)
January 17, 2000... Twenty-six crewman of the Maltese tanker Erika were airlifted to safety after the ship broke up in high seas near France last month. Their captain was less lucky. Concerned that Erika's 5.8 million gallons of fuel oil might pollute their coast,...

Columbine's Tale of the Tape.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2000... In chilling videotapes made before they marched into Colorado's Columbine High School and killed 12 classmates, a teacher, and themselves, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold revealed that they hoped to kill far more--as many as 250 people. The...

Who Killed Martin Luther King?(Brief Article)
January 17, 2000... Thirty-one years after a sniper's bullet killed civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. on a motel balcony in Memphis, Tennessee, a jury there has decided that King was the victim of a conspiracy rather than of a lone assassin. In a...

Hope Stays Afloat.(the case of Elian Gonzalez)(Brief Article)
January 17, 2000... It has been a large predicament for such a small boy. Elian Gonzalez, 6, survived for two days on an inner tube at sea after his mother, stepfather, and nine others drowned trying to reach the U.S. from their native Cuba. Little did Elian know...

Mars Says: Go Away.(Mars Polar Lander goes awol)(Brief Article)
January 17, 2000... For the second time in two months, the U.S. space agency lost contact with a spacecraft as it approached Mars on an exploratory mission. The Mars Polar Lander fell mysteriously silent in December as it entered the planet's atmosphere en route...

Honorable act.(tougher punishment for honor killings in Jordan)(Brief Article)
January 17, 2000... Jordanians convicted of killing adulterous female relatives for the family's honor (see UPFRONT, 12/13/99) may soon face tougher treatment. The nation's Senate voted to throw out a law permitting as little as three months in jail for such...

A Hope for Peace in Ireland.
January 17, 2000... FOR A TEENAGE GIRL BLINDED IN A BOMB BLAST, NORTHERN IRELAND'S CENTURIES-OLD CONFLICT CAN'T END TOO SOON Claire Gallagher still has what she calls "bad days." They come most often on Saturday, she says, the day of a terrible bomb blast in...

To the White House, Baby.(following the Bush campaign)(Brief Article)
January 17, 2000... ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL WITH GEORGE W. BUSH, A REPORTER GETS AN INSIDE LOOK AT THE PROCESS OF CHOOSING OUR NATION'S LEADER AND, IN RARE MOMENTS, A GLIMPSE OF THE PERSON BEHIND THE CANDIDATE On the long, winding, and peculiar trail that could...

Let the GAME BEGIN!(the long road of presidential campaigning)
January 17, 2000... THE PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARIES MAY BE CONFUSING, DISORGANIZED, AND NOT ENTIRELY FAIR. BUT AT LEAST THEY'RE AMUSING. ONE OF AMERICA'S LEADING POLITICAL COMMENTATORS TAKES A LOOK AT HOW THEY WORK--AND HOW THEY DON'T. Al Gore has been trying so...

America's CHOICE.(presidential candidates for 2000)
January 17, 2000... WHO SHOULD BE THE NEXT PRESIDENT? CHECK OUT THESE NINE HOPEFUL CANDIDATES AND DECIDE FOR YOURSELF. DEMOCRAT Al Gore AGE: 51 HOME: Washington, D.C. CURRENT JOB: Vice President (1993-present) EXPERIENCE: U.S....

THE BIG ISSUES.(presidential election 2000)
January 17, 2000... THE ELECTION IS ABOUT MORE THAN PERSONALITIES THE NATION'S FUTURE IS AT STAKE. With President Clinton leaving office, this year's Presidential campaign is wide open. Americans will be deciding not just who will live in the White House, but...

The Front Lines.(teenage campaign volunteers)(Brief Article)
January 17, 2000... Behind any successful political campaign stands an army of teenage volunteers. Work for free? Why? The Presidential candidates jousting in New Hampshire's February 1 primary have a secret weapon: teens behind the scenes. Campaigns rely on...

JFK Beats the System.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2000... In 1960, John Kennedy used primaries to win over the bosses. Now primaries rule. They crowded the floor, marching, snake-dancing, and shouting themselves hoarse. They had placards, banners, even a giant papier-mache ball. The only thing...

To Star, Perchance to Act.(Shakespeare on the big screen)(Brief Article)
January 17, 2000... Ethan Hawke takes on Hamlet, and to his own self is true A report that two thirds of leading American universities had dropped the Shakespeare requirement for English majors prompted worries in some circles that the Bard had become a...

Technicolor Dreamcoats.(rock 'n' roll fashion)(Brief Article)
January 17, 2000... Rock fashion show amplifies the link between music and style It's not every day that a fashion exhibition resembles a walk-in version of People magazine's annual best-worst-dressed issue, but that's exactly the impression given by Rock...

God in Politics.(Brief Article)
January 17, 2000... Should candidates emphasize personal religious views? NO When the Republican Presidential candidates were asked in a recent debate to name their favorite philosophers, Texas Governor George W. Bush replied: "Christ, because he changed my...

Fooling with Mother Nature.(genetically modified foods)(Brief Article)(Column)
January 17, 2000... Can genetically altered crops help feed the world? YES Corn that is genetically modified to include a natural insecticide, cotton engineered to tolerate herbicides--if you've been reading about genetically altered crops, you may be asking...

letters.
January 31, 2000... Money Talks I appreciated the article about the two teenage girls who attended the same school but led totally different lives ("Money Matters," 12/13/99). I attend a high school where I see the same discriminations occur daily. Money...

person of the millennium.(Albert Einstein)
January 31, 2000... It's All Relative No one can say you didn't make a smart choice. The November 15, 1999, UPFRONT asked readers to select the Person of the Millennium. We suggested 10 possibilities, from GENGHIS KHAN to NELSON MANDELA, and invited readers...

California Steaming.(forest fires)
January 31, 2000... Unusually dry, warm weather this winter has left California with summerlike problems: brush and forest fires. Despite the chopper dumping water on this December 28 blaze in the rugged San Gabriel Mountains, 700 acres went up in smoke in a...

Do Seniors Know Civics?
January 31, 2000... "Deeply troubling," is how education historian Diane Ravitch describes results of a nationwide civics test administered by the U.S. Education Department. The exam, given to a representative sample of 22,000 students, showed that one third of...

America's Pyramids.(objects that may survive until the next millennium includes nuclear waste)
January 31, 2000... Although the new millennium has just begun, at least one observer is already looking ahead to the next. Which of today's creations, wonders Yale art historian Vincent Scully, will still exist a thousand years from now? Scully's guesses: New...

Cuff Daddy.(Sean Combs, rap singer)(Brief Article)
January 31, 2000... Rap star and recording executive Sean "Puffy" Combs has been in trouble more often than he's been on the record charts recently. His latest misstep: an arrest for illegal gun possession following a Manhattan night club shooting last month. ...

`A' in Generosity.(kidney donation by teacher to student)(Brief Article)
January 31, 2000... All that most students want from their teacher is a decent grade. North Carolina eighth-grader Michael Evans is getting something more from Jane Smith, his science teacher at R. Max Abbott Middle School in Fayetteville: a new kidney. ...

RUSSIA AFTER YELTSIN.(Boris Yeltsin, former President of Russia)
January 31, 2000... RUSSIAN PRESIDENT YELTSIN STEPS DOWN, SURPRISING THE WORLD. WHAT'S THE NEXT SHOCK FROM THE FORMER COMMUNIST SUPERPOWER? On the final day of a dramatic decade, Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin shocked his nation and the world by resigning...

UNDER SIEGE.(Russian military activity in Chechnya)
January 31, 2000... IN 1996, REBELS IN CHECHNYA BEAT THE RUSSIAN ARMY. BUT NOW RUSSIA IS DETERMINED TO WIN. In the Russian town of Mozdok, residents do not have to look out their windows to know when the skies are clear. They can tell from the roar of Russian...

Liz's Story.
January 31, 2000... BY AGE 16, HER MOM HAD DIED, HER FATHER WAS A DRUG ADDICT, AND SHE WAS HOMELESS. BUT LIZ MURRAY FOUGHT THE ODDS--AND WON. My mother was buried on the day after Christmas, 1996. I was 16 and I had been homeless for a few months. There was no...

Is a CRACKDOWN the Answer.(banning homless form public places)
January 31, 2000... CITIES ARE BANNING THE HOMELESS FROM PUBLIC SPACES, BUT CRITICS SAY THAT WON'T MAKE HOMELESSNESS DISAPPEAR When the police car pulled up, a dozen homeless men and women were sitting in a tired heap with 15 shopping carts and two dogs...

When Homeless Teens Rode the Rails.(youth homelessness in Great Depression era)
January 31, 2000... For tens of thousands of kids in the Great Depression, a rolling boxcar was home Hopping aboard a freight train wasn't something 17-year-old Gene Wadsworth had planned to do. Orphaned at 11, he had been living on an uncle's farm in the...

Internet Music: Who's Minding the Store?(commercial music file downloads)
January 31, 2000... Downloading tunes may give you an earache I was in a music store last week, trying to decide whether to take the band Cake home with me. I liked the album cover (a silhouette of a brown pig). A 30-second sample of a song sounded promising...

Truth on the Ropes?(Review)
January 31, 2000... A new movie about a wrongful murder conviction tampers with the facts If movie biographies are a Hollywood staple, so, too, is the temptation for filmmakers to tinker with the facts. Trouble is, sometimes the final movie shows more...

The Cat Comes Back.(protection of endangered tigers)
January 31, 2000... Do tigers have nine lives? The nearly extinct cats aren't out of the woods yet, but they're making a comeback. An old Vietnamese legend explaining how the tiger got its stripes tells of a man who once lashed the big cat to a tree trunk and...

Baseball's Bigmouth.(John Rocker, baseball player)
January 31, 2000... Should Atlanta Braves pitcher John Rocker be fired for his bigoted remarks? YES John Rocker is a muscle-twitching, wide-eyed specimen who happens to fling a baseball at high speed. He prattled to a Sports Illustrated reporter recently...