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- <text id=90TT3512>
- <title>
- Dec. 31, 1990: Living:Most Of '90
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1990
- Dec. 31, 1990 The Best Of '90
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- LIVING, Page 59
- MOST OF '90
- </hdr>
- <body>
- <p> Busiest Baby Season. As the tick, tick, tick of the
- biological clock sounded ever louder, aging baby boomers got
- down to the business of having a baby boomlet of their own.
- Among Hollywood's hottest couples who turned up around town with
- baby in tow: Patti Scialfa and Bruce Springsteen; Sigourney
- Weaver and director Jim Simpson; Steven Spielberg and Kate
- Capshaw.
- </p>
- <p> Greatest Aerobic Rush. Nearly 1 million Americans discovered
- the high-speed thrill of "blading." Riding high on roller skates
- with a single line of polyurethane wheels rather than the old
- double-row configuration, enthusiasts wove through traffic at
- speeds of up to 20 m.p.h., terrifying pedestrians and drivers
- alike.
- </p>
- <p> Most Endangered Species. Cigarette smokers found themselves
- all but squeezed out of socially respectable circles. More
- restaurants quarantined smokers to tiny sections. Businesses
- ordered that cigarettes be left at home. Smoking was banned on
- virtually all domestic airline flights and on interstate buses.
- And the risks of secondhand fumes puffed the anti-smoking chorus
- to an implacable roar.
- </p>
- <p> Most Resurgent Decade. Nineties fashions hitched a ride back
- to the '60s. Skirts hiked back up to mini length. Widened ties
- boasted loud colors. Headbands returned. Designers even
- resurrected Jane Fonda's Barbie-goes-to-Armageddon sado suits.
- </p>
- <p> Most Outing-rageous Pressure Tactic. Some gay activists
- decided that the best way to halt gay bashing by public figures
- was to expose the sexual activities of critics who are
- homosexual themselves. This practice, known as "outing," caused
- deep embarrassment to several elected officials. Opponents
- warned that such tactics don't win support--they destroy
- lives.
- </p>
- <p> Wildest Haircuts. For young men, especially blacks, the
- preferred 'do left many a head looking like a billboard. Peace
- symbols, Batman logos, initials, even faces decorated pates. For
- the less daring but still young at heart, the Age of Aquarius
- ponytail hung in there.
- </p>
- <p> Nastiest Campus Trend. Even with incidents of racism and
- anti-Semitism on the rise, date rape stood out as the greatest
- blight on academe. A study showed that 1 in 9 female college
- students had been raped; 80% of them knew their attacker.
- </p>
- <p> Hottest Up-and-Comers. The twentysomething generation moved
- into the working world and offered up some fractured
- Shakespeare: what to be--or not to be. The don't wannabes
- balked at baby boomers' workaholic values, postponed marriage
- and shunned decision making. As the year wound down, this 48
- million-strong force was still seeking an identity to call its
- own.
- </p>
- <p> Most Hygienic Practice. As landfills reached critical
- overload, citizens looked for solutions. Increasing numbers of
- households bundled newspapers for recycling. Business
- establishments added bins for recyclable cans and bottles. And
- debate raged over disposable vs. cloth diapers.
- </p>
- <p> Slickest Packaging. Once stashed in the backs of men's
- wallets, condoms entered the fashion market. Manufacturers
- affixed prophylactics to earrings, pins and bolo ties.
- Meanwhile, some pioneering secondary-school-board members
- debated whether to distribute condoms to students.
- </p>
-
- </body>
- </article>
- </text>
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