Economist , Jan. 17
(posted
Saturday, Jan. 17)
The
cover editorial urges the United States to lift its
embargo on Cuba. With Fidel Castro aging and the pope visiting, now is a good
time to reopen relations. Warmer dealings with Cuba might hasten its adoption
of a free-market economy. ... The requisite Asian economic crisis story
argues that the region's authoritarian regimes should be replaced by democratic
ones. ... A story spots a disturbing trend in Bangladesh: Angered men
throw acid in women's faces, disfiguring and blinding them. (Estimate: There
are 100 acid attacks per year.) The Economist blames a male backlash
against Bangladeshi women's growing economic independence. ... A profile
salutes "Finland's Buster Keaton." Aki Kaurismaki hates Hollywood and directs
sly, funny films. His latest is entirely silent.
New
Republic , Feb. 2
(posted
Friday, Jan. 16)
The cover
story uses the trial of former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy to slam the
proliferation of picayune ethics laws. Special prosecutors wield unchecked
power, settle political scores, and waste money. (Espy prosecutor Donald Smaltz
spent $12 million investigating a $35,000 transgression.) Once we punished
sleazebags by ostracizing them; now we unnecessarily jail them. ...
"TRB" is skeptical of Republican efforts to credit Ronald Reagan with the
current budget surplus. Doesn't that make Reagan responsible for the early '90s
recession, too? ... A year after the Texaco-tapes scandal, a story
ridicules the company's new diversity training. Silly games and animated fables
anger executives and stretch racial divides.
New
York Times Magazine , Jan. 18
(posted
Thursday, Jan. 15)
The cover
story laments the disappearance of abortionists. Young doctors don't learn the
techniques because 1) they fear pro-life violence or 2) they consider abortion
a low-rent procedure for second-class docs. Nearly two-thirds of abortion
doctors are 65 or older, and some serve clinics in multiple states. ...
A profile cheers Sherman Alexie, American Indian poet, essayist, novelist, and
filmmaker. Alexie's forthcoming film, Smoke Signals (produced, directed,
written by, and starring American Indians), depicts reservation life accurately
and touchingly. ... A writer recounts his 3-year-long experiment with
not talking on Sundays. His weekly silence annoys some but affords him "flashes
of clarity." He also had "the best date of my life!": She did all the
talking.
Harper's , February 1998
(posted
Thursday, Jan. 15)
A long
article describes the pathos of a Louisiana prison rodeo. Life-without-parole
inmates, for the entertainment of the public, sustain horrible injuries in
often degrading events (e.g., "Inmate Poker": Four inmates sit at a table in
the ring, while a bull is goaded to charge them. The last inmate to stand up
wins.) Despite the pain and humiliation, the inmates love the rodeo and feel
"free" for that one day. ... A writer recounts his experience as a phone
psychic. Callers, overwhelmingly poor people of color, think their lives are
entirely pre-scripted and want to be told what to do. Psychics (generally not
psychic) oblige. Other callers just want someone to talk to. (Cost: more than
$4.00 a minute.) ... From the "Index": "Percentage of Americans who
believe they are more likely to cheat at cards than Bill Clinton or Al Gore:
8."
Time and Newsweek , Jan. 19
(posted
Tuesday, Jan. 13)
Time 's cover story calls Toni Morrison "The Great American
Storyteller." Her new novel, Paradise , follows black families venturing
westward after the Civil War. Morrison says winning the Nobel Prize was a bit
of a curse, as it distracted her from her work. (See Brent Staples' review in
Slate
.) ...
Newsweek 's cover story tries to predict
the impact of the pope's visit to Cuba. The pope hates communism but, like
Castro, he also loathes heartless capitalism. He will request religious freedom
for Cubans. Castro hopes for a PR coup: If the world's most saintly man will
deal with Cuba, why won't the United States?
Newsweek 's scoops: 1)
Ted Kaczynski's lawyers have talked to the Justice Department about avoiding
the death penalty; and 2) if Kaczynski wants to get life without parole, he
must cede any right to appeal the sentence. ... Also, a story says
chimps may have better language aptitude than previously thought. Chimps can
use word order to determine meaning ("bring the person to the water," not
"bring the water to the person"). Chimp neologism for a stale pastry: "cookie
rock."
Time wonders if the U.S. Postal Service can be profitable in an e-mail age.
E-mail could steal 25 percent of USPS business by 2000. The post office's ace
in the hole: mountains of desirable marketing data. ...
Time
spots a new treatment for heroin addicts: The drug
buprenorphine relieves cravings and withdrawal symptoms, but packs only a small
high and is not addictive.
U.S.
News & World Report , Jan. 19
(posted
Tuesday, Jan. 13)
The
cover story worries that our military needs retraining. Budget
cuts and boring, noncombat peacekeeping missions are atrophying our troops'
battle-readiness. ... A story cheers Madeleine Albright's first year in
office. The secretary of state uses immense charm, straight talk, and fluent
French and Russian to get her way. Some criticize her "preoccupation with
image," but others call image-control essential to the job. ... A
package on abortion says 43 percent of American women get one, but
few talk about it. To remedy that, U.S. News interviews several women
about their experiences (one was raped, another used abortions as birth
control). A sidebar says late-term abortions are rare (1 percent of all cases)
but usually performed for nonmedical reasons.
The
New Yorker , Jan. 19
(posted
Tuesday, Jan. 13)
A piece
says there's not enough evidence to indict JonBenet Ramsey's parents.
Revelations: 1) Her body may be exhumed to determine whether she was assaulted
with a stun gun and 2) some investigators suspect that her death was an
accident, and her parents' real crime was covering it up. The piece praises
much-maligned Boulder District Attorney Alex Hunter for his impartiality, but
admits his office is too soft on punishing criminals. ... An article
describes a new scheme to clean the sacred but polluted Ganges. (It's teeming
with corpses, since it's holy to be buried in it.) Scientists propose using
bacteria-eating algae to disinfect the water. ... Also, a long biography
of Mikhail Baryshnikov. He's turning 50 and just returned to the former Soviet
Union for the first time since his 1974 defection. Thesis: Dance is the
substitute for the home and family that he never really had. (His mother killed
herself when he was a boy.)
Weekly Standard , Jan. 19
(posted
Tuesday, Jan. 13)
A
three-story cover package mourns the 25 th anniversary of Roe vs.
Wade : The lead piece claims that abortion will be "the central issue" in
the 2000 presidential campaign because the next president will likely have
three Supreme Court seats to fill, enough to shift the court's balance against
Roe . Overturning Roe is the only way to restore a "politics of
republican self-government ... and moral decency." ... Also, another
conservative chestnut: An article asserts that the death penalty is used too
infrequently. Since 1977, juries have sentenced 5,500 murderers to death but,
thanks to obstructionist lawyers, only 432 people have been executed.
... An article welcomes Iranian President Mohammed Khatami's
conciliatory comments but notes that it's still anti-American mullahs who
really control Iran's military and government. Best-case scenario: popular
unrest with the mullahs grows, leading to a middle-class democratic
revolution.
The
Nation , Jan. 26
(posted
Tuesday, Jan. 13)
The
cover report exposes a new campaign-finance scandal:
influence-buying in state judicial elections. Interest groups fund a judge's
campaign, then often appear before that judge in court (e.g., "In Nevada,
Justice William Maupin received more than $80,000 from casinos and gambling
interests, much of it while ruling favorably on a landmark casino case").
... A dispatch from Denmark debunks claims of the welfare state's death.
Despite severe unemployment, Danes still live the good life (great health care,
seven months of paid maternity leave, social harmony). Changes: The state is
nudging the jobless to work and shifting from income taxes to "green" taxes on
fossil-fuel use. ... Also, a letter from Ralph Nader to Robert Rubin
slams the treasury secretary's work on the Korea crisis. According to Nader,
the International Monetary Fund plan bails out American banks, rewards them
with cheap Korean investment opportunities, and throws Korea into an
unnecessary recession.
Vanity Fair , February 1998
(posted
Friday, Jan. 9)
A profile
argues that Al Gore secretly hates politics. His family bred him to be
president, and he does his duty as a good son, but he'd rather be doing almost
anything else. The piece reaffirms the cliché that Gore is a warm, funny guy
behind his wooden exterior. ... An essay wishes the New York
Times would ditch its new sections. "Dining In," "Fine Arts," etc., help
advertisers more than readers, and make the paper unwieldy to read. ...
Also, Vanity Fair dubs Brown University "Jet-Set Ivy." Super-rich,
super-hip students (called "Euros," even when not European) drive Ferraris,
wear Chanel, and hit Paris for weekends. Brown attracts the children of the
rich and famous (Diana Ross, Kate Capshaw, Lamar Alexander, Itzhak Perlman),
and its grads dominate the music and Web-publishing industries.
--Seth
Stevenson
