Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.trends From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: trends Tue, Jul 21 1992 Date: Tue, 21 Jul 92 06:06:53 EDT Message-ID: 07-21 0000 DECISIONLINE: Trends & Marketing USA TODAY Update July 21, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network SCHOOLS ABANDON UNIFORMS: Times are changing at schools like Philips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire. Exeter students dressed in brightly colored saris, turbans, or African Kente cloth are now walking to class side by side with students in traditional white turtlenecks and corduroy blazers. "Multiculturalism is the buzz word in education right now," says Exeter's Director of Communication David W. Johnson. (For more, see special Dress package below.) MAGIC JOHNSON SPARKED TESTING: Delegates at the Eighth International Conference on AIDS Monday reported the November 1991 announcement of Magic Johnson's HIV infection prompted a lot of people to get tested. Testing rates in San Francisco rose 20% immediately afterwards, say researchers from that city's health department. The largest increases were among black and Hispanic women, but rates among black men rose as well. PRISON POPULATION EXPLODES: The average number of federal prison inmates per institution has risen despite 23 new prisons being built in the past 10 years. The Federal Bureau of Prisons reports the average was 699 in 1950. That has jumped to 1,015 this year. REGISTER TO VOTE VIA DOMINO'S: Domino's Pizza is joining in the campaign to rock the vote. The pizza chain will register voters now until Sept. 1 at most of its U.S. stores. Those who sign up to vote will get a free topping on a carry-out pizza. Some Domino's deliverers will even carry registration cards to doorsteps. OFFICIALS HOPE MORE FOLLOW: One thousand Domino's take-outs already are registering voters. The company hopes to have nearly all its 5,000 U.S. locations in line by Aug. 1. Registration is most of the battle in getting people to the polls, says Becky Cain, president of the U.S. League of Women Voters. Any group can sponsor registration drives as long as it uses official cards and procedures of its state. `JUMP' INTO KROSS DRESSING: The duo Kris Kross is wreaking havoc on the record charts and creating an adolescent fashion craze along the way. The single "Jump" has put Kris Kross' album, "Totally Krossed Out," into the Top 10. To imitate the rap duo, you need an oversize Starter baseball shirt, which costs about $65, and a matching cap for about $10, sold at sportswear stores. Any pair of jeans will do. PHONES MAKE THEIR WAY TO SLOPES: Snow Country magazine reports cellular telephone service is reaching more and more ski slopes, so beware of call-waiting beeps, busy signals and annoying chatterboxes. Already skiers can ring or be rung on mountainsides in Colorado and Jackson Hole, Wyoming. BELL BILLS BY DISC: Southwestern Bell, in a four-month test run, has been bypassing the U.S. Postal Service by billing some business customers via floppy disk or modem, Compute magazine says. Electronic billing has become more popular as employers try to track employee phone usage and detect telephone fraud. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON DRESS: HIGH COURT SPARKED DIVERSITY: Twenty years ago, traditional uniforms were unquestioned, but many private schools now are liberalizing their policies. Part of the impetus for private educational facilities to change their policies were Supreme Court decisions about dress codes in public schools. Many private schools are moving in the same direction. PLAID SUITS ARE HISTORY: Philips Academy in Andover, Mass., no longer has a dress code. Even the strictest religious schools are now debating the necessity of uniforms. Landi Smith, a sophomore at Dowling High School in West Des Moines, Iowa says her Catholic school's once rigid dress codes have softened into "broad guidelines" in the past several years. The plaid jumpers and ties, she says, are long gone. MORE WAYS TO BE CREATIVE: Potomac School in McLean, Va., deviates from the current trend in private schools. While many parents are enthusiastic supporters of the dress code, Norma Mancha of Potomac says students often complain about being restricted in their free expression. "I tell them the school offers lots of outlets to creativity, and dress is actually one of the less creative ways to express yourself." (End of package.) Trends & Marketing Editor: Michele Coleman. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM