Cover:
The New Welfare State
A Metro special report on welfare reform and the people it affects.

Get a Job: California's new welfare reform law was born out of rancorous politics, but is being celebrated by both sides now.

Cultural Revolution: Why Santa Clara County didn't wait for the Legislature to tell it how to reinvent itself.

Deal Them Out: In three weeks, 20,000 legal immigrants countywide will lose their food stamps.

Back to Work: A reluctant welfare mom experiences the joys of employment--a photo essay.

Welfare as They Know It: A reluctant welfare mom, a lifelong welfare recipient and a welfare adult without kids share their view from the inside of the System.

News:
Public Eye: Lobbyist for the little guy takes his last flight.

Leading Romance: Ballroom dancing is sweetly ribald in the Japanese film Shall We Dance?.

L.A. Jungle: 187 doesn't make the grade.

Mafia Kickboxer: Acting roommates wrestle with gay gags in Tony Vitale's Kiss Me, Guido.

Footloose in Nice: A child shall lead them in Mondo.

Three Shades of the Blues: An interview with young blues lion Jake Sampson.

Love Is Dead: But the Mr. T Experience keeps on singing and jesting about the pain and pouting of punk heartbreak.

Tell Laura We Love Her: A tribute album honors the memory of Laura Nyro.

Bach and Beyond: Carmel Festival matches Bach to Mozart and Strauss with mixed results.

A Ray of Strings: Bass great Ray Brown brings his unbroken beat to the Stanford Jazz Festival.

Beat Street: Barbara Manning strikes the match.

Pizza Your Heart: Industrial-sized portions and larger-than-life Italian-Americana decor make Beppo's Palo Alto's worst-kept secret.

Russian Greens: Shakespeare SC fills Ostrovsky's The Forest with environmental conceits and jests.

Please don't forget to write! Metro welcomes letters. Like any great work of art, they should be originals -- not copies of letters sent elsewhere. Include address and daytime phone (for verification purposes only). Letters may be edited for length and clarity or to correct factual inaccuracies known to us. Postal: Metro Letters, 550 S. First. St., San Jose, CA 95111. Fax: 408/298-0602.

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