Young Americans

VATICAN CITY - Before news of the end came, St. Peter's Square was not somber. Cheers sporadically broke out among the young in one corner of the vast plaza. High-pitched melodies rose up nearby. Across the cobblestones, just beneath the apartment where the 84-year-old Pope John Paul II labored to breathe, there were near-constant chants, almost joyous. "Giovanni Paulo," the voices called. These were the children who grew up with Pope John Paul, the only pope many of them have known. Their presence spoke to a central contradiction in the pope's long tenure: He drew the young to him with warmth and charisma and humanity - even as he urged them to hold to the strict, traditional teachings of the church.

WASHINGTON - My wife constantly regales me about her favorite National Public Radio show, Wait Wait ... Don't Tell Me. The show features three journalists who have to answer questions about the week's news. Some of the news stories they are quizzed about seem totally unbelievable, while others are straightforward. Well, this is my last column for 2004, so let's play a little Wait Wait ... Don't Tell Me. I'll give you 10 news stories from the past few weeks and you tell me what they all have in common.

AMERICA'S LEADERS hold a dangerous, false and widely held assumption that young people's issues are vastly different from those of older adults. On the contrary, polls show that the top issues among all voters are the top issues among young adults. With that in mind, if Sen. John Kerry and President Bush are interested in mobilizing a few million extra young voters, the message isn't very complicated: It's the economy for us, too, stupid. The key factor in appealing to young Americans, however, is recognizing the need for new approaches to old economic debates.

ATHENS - After the flag-waving stopped and the eardrum-piercing cheers faded, the team that was supposed to be sad was happy and the coach of the team that won was sad. Larry Brown knows. The Greeks can bring it. So did the majority of the 12,000 inside the Helliniko Indoor Arena who had come to see their sporting prowess continue. Making matters worse, everyone's feeling it, which is why the Greek fans were yelling, "Puerto Rico." If it can dump the Americans, so could Greece. Fresh off cheering for its national soccer team, which just won the European Cup, the Greeks were eager to sustain their fevered rooting pitch, and what a wonderful bonus: The American NBA stars were in the house.

Most of the Korean War veterans digging into their chili bowls at the Fort Meade golf course's Double Bogey Lounge wear their Army affiliation subtly, with a small pin or patch on their sleeves. Not retired Sgt. Maj. Raymond J. Moran, known on the Odenton post as "Old Soldier." Never shy about his love for the Army, the longtime recruiter is wearing three nylon Army jackets - each with its own lapel pin - plus a tie pin, a Korean War baseball hat covered with military decorations and a combat infantry patch.

Thousands of young Americans were on the move in summer and fall 1967, on journeys that helped alter the path of the United States. In San Diego that summer, several thousand young soldiers boarded the USNS General John Pope and sailed to Vung Tau, South Vietnam. The enlisted men among them slept in bunks stacked seven-high. Walking ashore after a 6,000-mile journey, the men joined 500,000 other Americans fighting a war against an enemy the Pentagon was coming to regard as both ever-present and frustratingly elusive.

Peter Emanuel, a scientist at the Army's Edgewood Chemical Biological Center, has been named one of the U.S. Jaycees' 10 Outstanding Young Americans for this year. Emanuel was recognized by the Jaycees for his work in technologies to counter biological weapons. At the Edgewood center, Emanuel has focused on devices for biological sampling and analysis. Among his achievements are development of the BiSKit, a biological sampling kit that is easier for personnel dressed in protective garments to use, and a robotic system for detecting the presence of biological agents in samples.

HOLLYWOOD - Jake Foley is about to learn a lesson the hard way, the one about being careful of what you wish for. A computer technician at the National Security Agency, Jake would love to become a secret agent, swapping his geeky little job for a life of glamour and intrigue. When a shootout erupts at a classified government lab, he gets caught in the crossfire and is accidentally injected with nanites - microscopic machines that can do amazing things, at least in science fiction. Such is the premise for UPN's Jake 2.0, which premieres tonight at 9 Eastern.

NEW YORK - James Blake shimmies with excitement. The crowd surrounding the Arthur Ashe Stadium court shimmies back. There is desire in the air. Desire by Blake to win this increasingly difficult match against Sargis Sargsian. Desire by the record crowd to see Blake, a personable young American from Yonkers, become a full-blooded star. It's a curious phenomenon. It's putting the age-old cart before the young horse. Blake won yesterday, 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (6), but not before Sargsian made the point that Blake still has a ways to go. "I think this is another match since Wimbledon, where I've done a great job mentally," said Blake.

Cedric Hunt, wearing a look-at me, lemon-yellow suit and black Borsolino hat, was all smiles as he finished singing the Four Tops' hit, Reach Out I'll Be There, on this season's premier episode of Fox's talent show, American Idol. "Come on, Simon, reach out," the 18-year-old said confidently to Simon Cowell, the judge famous for his nasty wit. Cowell reached out with one word: "Hideous." "Hideous?" Hunt replied incredulously. "I'm sorry, everything -- the outfit, the singing, it's just hideous," said Cowell.