Youngsters, inspired by teachers, TV and rock stars, are rallying against the greenhouse effect, acid rain and the garbage glut. And they're bringing a new environmental ethic home to Mom and Dad.
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After the '80s excess, less is best
May 3, 1990
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"Simplify, simplify, simplify," Henry David Thoreau wrote.
Easy for him to say. He didn't have a mechanic-friendly BMW in the garage, dry-clean-only Armanis in the closet and kids yelling to be taken to soccer and ballet and piano lessons.
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Mature new moms; More women push back biological clock; Joys overide obstacles for late bloomers
May 11, 1990
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Michelle Murphy Strada endured months of infertility worries, a miserable pregnancy and a difficult delivery to have her first child just before her 42nd birthday.
She couldn't be happier with what she got in return - "a perfectly normal, gifted, bright little girl," says the New York painter, now 43 and about to celebrate her second Mother's Day with daughter Alexandra, 1, and husband Robert, 42. "She's been so wonderful that we're even thinking about squeezing in another one, believe it or not."
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Boomers bunk down for the '90s
Dec. 28, 1990
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Forget the old haunts - the boardrooms, the bistros, the bars. Bed is the '90s place to be.
Baby boomers are settling in, pulling those designer covers up to their collective chins. Why be masters of the universe when you can be master of your mattress?
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Teen-agers ponder: Is everyone doing it? Fewer kids save sex for adulthood
March 5, 1991
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Reports of rising sexual activity among teen-agers make front page news. But the headlines are ancient history to Veronica Green, 18, who graduated from a Washington, D.C., high school last spring: "In high school, everyone assumes you've already done it. The emphasis moves from 'Are you doing it?' to 'How are you doing it?'... "
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Future in a grocery cart; High-tech advances in food aisles
Apr. 25, 1991
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Check out what's happening at the supermarket. Electronic gadgetry is turning the weekly shopping trip into a high-tech adventure:
When customers at Schnucks in Kansas City, Mo., wheel their shopping carts toward the vegetable section, a video screen attached to the handle lights up with "Welcome to produce ... Rhubarb is on sale today, 69c." Recipes flash on a moment later. Can't find the steak sauce? An electronic map points the way.
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Women change career paths; More choose to stay home with children
May 10, 1991
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Amy Meehan, 26, works 30 hours a week doing medical billing and other office work for a Potomac, Md., podiatrist. When she's saved enough to afford a second child, "I will more than likely be stopping work altogether."
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Saying no to Nintendo; Gamesters find the wonder has waned; Super Mario faces a new challenge
May 31, 1991
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Brett Cross used to be under the Nintendo spell.
The 12-year-old would rocket home daily after school to challenge his brothers and other Herndon, Va., zap-meisters to hours of video game contests.
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Exposing 'segregation, '90s style'
Sept. 20, 1991
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The waterfall, Jonathan Kozol says, was "astonishing."
Kozol passed it in the hallway of an inner-city New York high school - water cascading down the stairwell as though it were ambience for a garden office building.
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USA TODAY's teen panel; The years for fears; Demands for success are an albatross
Sept. 25, 1991
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What don't parents know about teen-agers?
That many are more scared than parents realize. That they mess around more (or less) than adults think. That they get a bad rap. That they need parents more than they admit.
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Teens cautious about having sex
Oct. 24, 1991
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Although about half of U.S. teens have had sex, they may be more cautious about it than many parents think, suggests a survey out today.
"Sexual behavior is seen as part of a natural, teen-age relationship," says Roberta Myers of Seventeen magazine, which commissioned the survey of 1,003 single 14-to-21-year-olds. "But it does seem that they're ... doing it with (more) concern about themselves and their partners. And they're fairly monogomous, even for teen-agers."
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Are parents the new scapegoats?
Oct. 31, 1991
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DALLAS - Psychiatrist Steven Wolin has a favorite T-shirt. It pictures a huge auditorium with a convention banner welcoming "Adult Children of Normal Parents."
And there are only two people present.
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Subbing for sex; More remote sources of satisfaction
Nov. 26, 1991
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You can look. But don't touch.
Why? Because we're all scared sexless.
Magic Johnson's recent announcement that he's been infected by the HIV virus has further chilled our collective sexual fervor and wilted any lingering willingness to do the wild thing with utmost abandon.
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Racial identity crisis; Middle-class blacks struggle to maintain cultural awareness; Dealing with the discords of diversity
Dec. 2, 1991
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Who's black? Who's white? Who's right?
Increasingly, high-profile African-Americans - filmmakers, a Supreme Court nominee, even a mega-famous singer - are engaging in public, emotional examinations of black identity in the '90s.
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Fueling mind and body; 'This year is devastating' for churches
Dec. 20, 1991
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Edna Watts has worked for eight years at Glide United Methodist Church in San Francisco's grim Tenderloin district, but she's never seen times as troubled as now.
"This year is devastating," says Watts, 45, director of the church's crisis center, which is serving 50% more people than last year. "I estimate 1,500 people a week come in or call. Three lines ring all day long. This is reality: They have no this, no that, no the other."
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Gay topics go public; Issues are entering the mainstream; Exposure brings air of acceptance
June 2, 1992
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Gays on prime-time TV! Lesbians in Redbook! Comic book supermen bursting out of the closet!
From the halls of Congress to the halls of ivy, gays and gay issues, once mentioned in whispers if at all, are being discussed, out loud and often. Like it or not, the once-taboo topic has found its way into:
- Politics. Not-yet-presidential candidate Ross Perot, in a 20/20 interview with Barbara Walters Friday, caused a stir when he said he wouldn't hire a gay person for a Cabinet-level post and thought it would be "unrealistic" to allow gays in the military.
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Sexual equality and the pursuit of alimony
June 10, 1992
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Joan Lunden's griping about the $18,000 a month temporary alimony awarded Monday to her soon-to-be-ex Michael Krauss has lips flapping. But stay tuned. Divorce gurus say women paying big-bucks alimony is just beginning.
