New York Times Upfront articles from September 2002

New York Times Upfront archives from September 2002

Mideast suicide bombings. (letters).(Letter to the Editor)
September 6, 2002... The story about the Palestinian teen killing the Israeli teenager ("Two Girls, Divided by War, Joined in Carnage," 5/6/02) equalizes the two too much. Their lives did not intersect, mirroring the conflict between people as this article states....

Say no to drug testing. (letters).(Letter to the Editor)
September 6, 2002... Random drug testing is wrong ("Expanded Drug Tests in Schools?" 5/6/02). It is wrong to go into a high school, pick out a student and conduct a drug test on them. It is not only an invasion of privacy, but also an illegal search and seizure....

Truth makes a difference. (letters).(Letter to the Editor)
September 6, 2002... It's awful that so many teens smoke ("Smoked Out," 5/6/02). But at least people are coming together now with the Truth ads and teens are listening. Organizations like this can make a difference. Jane Larimer Coalinga, California

A voice for "Voices". (letters).(Letter to the Editor)
September 6, 2002... I love reading your "Voices" section. I look forward to every issue to see what teen stories you have to offer me and my class. Blanca Reyes Needles, California

No guns, no shooting. (letters).(Letter to the Editor)
September 6, 2002... I laughed so hard when I read "No Guns Allowed" (3/25/02). To say, as Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff does, that "more guns equals less crime" is incomprehensible. Utah is out of its mind if it allows people to carry concealed weapons. Do...

Learning vs. testing. (letters).(Letter to the Editor)
September 6, 2002... "Are Tests the Answer?" (3/25/02) makes a good point about too many tests, but the real problem with education today is the entire grading and evaluation process. I have found that I will cram for a test to get an A on it and then forget the...

Skateboarding: not the devil's work. (voices).
September 6, 2002... MUSKEGO, WISCONSIN -- Hello, everyone. Meet your everyday skateboarder. Aside from the fact that I'm a skater, here's some stuff about me: I am a guitar player in a rock band, and I work at the local supermarket, Pick 'n Save. I am also on...

Taking aim at terror. (Photo).(Brief Article)
September 6, 2002... An Israeli anti-terrorism police officer practices his shooting skills against cutout terrorist stand-ins during a military exercise at a training camp in the West Bank Jewish settlement of Beit Horon, nine miles north of Jerusalem. The...

Mashed up. (Music).
September 6, 2002... Can hip-hop diva Missy Elliott and hard rockers Metallica ever unite in harmony? Yes, thanks to the new online music genre of mashups. Beyond simple song swapping, users create mashups by breaking apart songs like Legos and putting the...

A degree in debt. (College).(college tuition going up)(Brief Article)
September 6, 2002... Is the price of higher education too high? College is harder to afford than ever, even for the rich. New research shows the growing cost of tuition has outpaced increases in family income, forcing families to devote a larger share of their...

Japanese speaking in thumbs. (International).(using text messaging)(Brief Article)
September 6, 2002... The U.S. is losing the thumb race to Japan. With the explosive popularity of text messaging via cell phones in Japan, teens there are becoming known as oya yubi sedai, the "thumb generation." That's because they use their thumbs to type notes...

!Hay caramba! English rules. (National).(Brief Article)
September 6, 2002... It seems the more we change, the more we talk the same. The U.S. population has become increasingly diverse, especially with Hispanic immigrants, but the grip that the English language has on the country may actually be strengthening. ...

TV's dark side. (Q&A).(Brief Article)
September 6, 2002... TV may stand for Teen Violence, according to Jeffrey G. Johnson of Columbia University. He talked with Upfront about his recent study that linked teens who watched a lot of TV to an increased rate of aggression. Are any TV shows...

One year later: on Sept. 11, 2001, the unthinkable became real. But has it forever changed American life? (National).
September 6, 2002... When a terrorist attack transformed the 110-story World Trade Center towers into choking clouds of crushed concrete, ash, and debris last Sept. 11, it seemed immediately clear that American life would change. Even as rescue efforts began,...

"Everything feels so different."(September 11th attack aftermath)(Cover Story)
September 6, 2002... It was a glorious September day in New York City--bright and warm, with a clear blue sky. That beauty was abruptly shattered when two jetliners slammed into the World Trade Center. UPFRONT spoke with four teenagers who were directly affected,...

Bush's midterms: neither Bush nor Democratic leader Tom Daschle are on the November ballot. But they might as well be. (National).
September 6, 2002... After giving a speech in South Dakota earlier this year, President George W. Bush, the head of the Republican Party, sought out Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota, the country's highest-ranking Democrat. Bush warmly shook his hand and patted...

Oil, Islam, & terror: Saudi Arabia is, in some ways, an example of the contradictions of the Islamic world. That makes its friendship with the U.S. both very important and very complicated. (International).
September 6, 2002... Sitting Arab-style on the floor eating a dinner of lamb, rice, and salad, Sheik Salman al-Awdah admitted he felt ambivalent about Sept. 11. On the one hand, said the prominent Saudi Arabian cleric, the hijackers were wrong to kill so many...

Scoring the big money: do pro athletes deserve so many millions? Here's how you might be responsible for Derek Jeter's paycheck. (sports).
September 6, 2002... MRS. KRAM WAS A VERY GOOD TEACHER. Like all teachers, good or bad, though, she didn't make a whole lot of money. Reading about exploding salaries in sports, she once asked me, since I write about baseball, "Why should athletes make so much more...

Marshall's plan: pay for peace: as a devastated Europe smoldered after World War II, general-turned-diplomat George C. Marshall proposed the idea of opening America's wallet to countries in need. (times past).
September 6, 2002... EUROPE WAS A SMOKING CRATER. THE rise and fall of Nazi Germany in World War II had come at a huge cost--millions of people were dead, cities lay in ruins, and country after country was devastated. Jobs and food were scarce, as fears grew that...

Once a criminal, never a voter? In eight states, those convicted of a felony lose the right to vote--forever. Should ex-felons be able to cast ballots after they're freed? (opinion).
September 6, 2002... YES On Election Day 2000, Thomas Johnson had wanted to vote for George W. Bush, but Florida law prevented him from doing so. Johnson, who runs a program for ex-offenders, moved to Florida after serving a prison term in New York on drug and...

Drawing on the news.
September 6, 2002... THE CAMEL ATTEMPTS TO DISTANCE HIMSELF FROM HIS HUMPS [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] J.D. Crowe * The Mobile Register * Artizans.com IT'S REAL LIFE, NOT A VIDEO. THAT'S WHY WE CAN'T REWIND TO SEPT. 10. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ...

Terrorist victims ring the world. (Graph Exercise).(Brief Article)
September 6, 2002... As Americans come together to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, it is worth noting that people in other countries have also been victims of terrorism. President Bush has repeatedly stressed this fact...

Quotes.(Brief Article)
September 27, 2002... "We've constantly underestimated the kind of levels the epidemic can roach." --DR. NEFF WALKER, a United Nations epidemiologist, on a prediction that AIDS could claim 65 million more lives by 2020. "No one who cannot rejoice in the...

Remembering 9/11. (letters).(Letter to the Editor)
September 27, 2002... It is time for America to address the roots of 9/11 ("Everything Feels So Different," 9/6/02). So long as more than 1 billion people live on less than $1 a day and the U.S. Peace Corps budget is less than 1/365th of the U.S. military budget,...

Britney's no role model. (letters).(Letter to the Editor)
September 27, 2002... I enjoy your magazine, but I was surprised by the "Britney's Dance Beat" ad in your May 6 issue. I thought Upfront was one place I could get away from the horrible culture that says girls should be skinny and tan and have big breasts. In...

It's what's inside that really matters. (voices).(Brief Article)
September 27, 2002... BUFFALO, NEW YORK -- I graduated in the spring from Kensington High School, a mostly black school in the heart of the inner city. Race was a big issue at my school. There were sometimes fights between blacks and whites. Many blacks at the...

Feeling a little ratty. (Photo).(Hindus consider rats holy)(Brief Article)(Illustration)
September 27, 2002... A boy visiting the Karni Mata Hindu temple in northwestern India plunges his arms into a tray of milk, while dozens of rats drink up. Hundreds of rats live in the temple. Thought to be incarnations of people whose souls await rebirth, the rats...

Candy-coated cancer. (International).(Brief Article)
September 27, 2002... Gutkha, a smokeless tobacco that's as portable as chewing gum and as sweet as candy, has become extremely popular in India--even with kids as young as 6. The problem? Doctors say it's leading to an epidemic of oral cancer. About 30 percent of...

Racial divides. (Education).(increased segregation in schools)(Brief Article)
September 27, 2002... Almost 50 years after Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark Supreme Court decision that outlawed public-school segregation, American schools are segregating again. New research by the Civil Rights Project at Harvard finds that in our...

Don't beep at me. (Circuits).(car safety technology)(Brief Article)
September 27, 2002... Think you can speed and get away with it? Not if your parents have the latest in car-safety technology. Road Safety International's black box tracks your driving behavior, and lets parents in on the secrets. It beeps a warning if you speed,...

More drug tests. (Upfront Update).(for high school students)(Brief Article)
September 27, 2002... You don't have to be a jock, it turns out, for your school to make you take a drug test. In July, the Supreme Court gave high schools the OK for random drug testing of any student in extracurricular activities ("Expanded Drug Tests in Schools?"...

Day dreamer. (Q&A).(singer, guitarist Howie Day)(Brief Article)
September 27, 2002... The music business, for most artists, is driven by marketing. But Howie Day, 21, of Bangor, Maine, sold 30,000 copies of his independent debut CD, "Australia," the old fashioned way--by touring more than 300 days a year. Employing an innovative...

Cooking the books: an outbreak of corporate greed has shaken the economy, evaporated trillions in value from the market, and altered millions of American lives. (National).(Cover Story)
September 27, 2002... The arrests have come with the regularity of a drumbeat. There's John Rigas, the 79-year-old founder of Adelphia Communications, the nation's sixth-largest cable TV company. Prosecutors say he and his sons turned the company into their...

Is hate free speech? Does the First Amendment protect something as offensive as burning a cross? The Supreme Court will decide. (National).
September 27, 2002... Richars J. Elliott was annoyed. At a party in Virginia Beach, Virginia, 18-year-old Elliott told the other teens gathered there that he wanted to "get back" at his new neighbor, James S. Jubilee. Jubilee had been complaining about the noise...

A New Mexico--or still the old? When Vicente Fox won the Mexican presidency, he captivated the nation with his promises of sweeping change. Two years later, the reality of reform has been slow and less inspiring than many hoped. (International).
September 27, 2002... Sonia Weiss Pick remembers the moment she figured out that Mexico's democracy was a sham. She was 10, and a candidate for President was speaking on the radio. "Listen," her mother said, "that's the person who's going to be your next...

Inside the secret world of college admissions. (education times).(Brief Article)
September 27, 2002... SITTING AT A CARD TABLE ON THE PORCH OF HIS HOME, RALPH Figueroa, an admissions officer at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, reached over to the pile of applications assembled randomly at his feet and scooped up the folder submitted by Jordan...

"Remember Wounded Knee" American Indians have twice battled the U.S. government near a little creek in South Dakota. (times past).(Wounded Knee, South Dakota)
September 27, 2002... BY LATE DECEMBER 1890, THE AMERICAN Indian tribes of the Sioux Nation were bracing for trouble. About 120 men and 230 women and children of Chief Big Foot's Miniconjou band were running from a growing number of U.S. cavalry in South Dakota. The...

Arms for airline pilots? In the quest to keep air travel safe, lawmakers are considering allowing pilots to carry guns. Will armed cockpits boost security? (opinion).
September 27, 2002... YES The events of Sept. 11 have dramatically changed how we must defend our planes and passengers. It is now conceivable that our own Air Force would be ordered to shoot down a plane full of innocent passengers due to a terrorist takeover. ...

Drawing on the news.(editorial cartoons about current events)(Brief Article)
September 27, 2002... DID YOU SAY YOU WERE COOKING THE BOOKS? ISN'T THAT HOW THE BOSS LOST OUR PENSION IN THE FIRST PLACE? IT'S ALL WE'VE GOT TO EAT. Larry Wright * The Detroit News * Daryl Cagle's Cartoon Index IT'S OKAY. HE'S OUR PILOT. Larry...

(Graph Exercise) Enron's terrible tumble.(calculating stock price and value)(Brief Article)
September 27, 2002... One of the worst cases of corporate fraud in recent times is that of Enron, a Houston-based energy trading corporation that went bankrupt at the end of 2001. High-level Enron executives participated in an accounting deception whereby they...

Upfront quiz 1.(corporate fraud)(Brief Article)
September 27, 2002... DIRECTIONS: Circle the letter next to the correct answer. 1. How did Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and other corporate leaders cheat investors and employees? a They forged stock certificates. b They stole money and lied...

Upfront quiz 2.(Mexico's government and politics)(Brief Article)
September 27, 2002... DIRECTIONS: Circle the letter next to the correct answer. 1. Before Vicente Fox's election in 2000, Mexico had been governed for more than 70 years by the a Party of Democracy. b National Action Party. c Institutional...