COVER: “Splitsville” (p. 46). Senior Editor David J. Jefferson writes about the ways divorce changed the lives of his classmates from Ulysses S. Grant High School, class of ‘82 as part of “Divorce Generation.” In a series of intimate interviews with former classmates, Jefferson tells the stories of those who lived through the explosion of the myth of the nuclear family, the first for which divorce was just another part of growing up. “Although I grew up a few blocks from the ‘Brady Bunch’ house, the similarity between that TV-family’s tract-rancher and the ones where my friends and I lived pretty much ended at the front door,” Jefferson writes. “In the real Valley of the 1970s, families weren’t coming together. They were coming apart … Our parents couldn’t seem to make marriage stick, and neither could our pop icons: Sonny and Cher, Farrah Fawcett and Lee Majors, the saccharine Swedes from Abba, all splitsville.”THE MONEY CULTURE: “Silver Linings in the Sky?” (p. 16). Senior Editor and Columnist Daniel Gross writes that the only thing that will really improve the experience of flying in America is a recession. “Despite all the obstacles — foolish security measures, rising delays, fuel surcharges and airlines that made passengers pay for everything but oxygen — air travel grew steadily during the just-concluded economic expansion … In recent months, the insanely high price of jet fuel ($3.22 per gallon last week), the credit crunch and … the slowing economy have done what regulators and politicians were unable to do: persuade airlines to give up valued landing slots,” he writes. “When the economy goes south, as it is doing now … travel frequently leads the list of discretionary items sacrificed on the altar of frugality.”CAMPAIGN 2008: “A Man at Home in the World” (p. 22). Senior White House Correspondent Richard Wolffe and Senior Editor Michael Hirsh report that Barack Obama’s foreign-policy experience is not like Hillary Clinton or John McCain’s because the kind of experience he talks about so confidently is not what one typically associates with a presidential resume. Instead, it is the kind of bottom-up experience that comes from growing up in the muddy lanes of Jakarta in a plain concrete house. That experience, aides say, turned Obama into someone who identifies with those less fortunate abroad-and a true-blue patriot. Interview: POLITICS: “It’s So Nice to Be Here” (p. 28). Investigative Correspondents Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball report that since leaving office, Bill Clinton has circled the globe raising money for his charitable foundation, giving speeches to private corporations and foundations, but has also created potentially difficult conflicts for his wife. In recent weeks, Sen. Hillary Clinton has taken a hard line against the Chinese government’s human-rights record and its crackdown in Tibet. Meanwhile, Bill Clinton has cultivated his own personal ties to China. Between 2001 and 2006, he gave seven speeches there that netted him $1.3 million. His 2002 speech in Sydney, Australia, was staged by an organization that Western intelligence officials believe is closely tied to the Beijing government.”The States of Play” (p. 29). Chief Political Correspondent Howard Fineman reports that the new strategies and math in this election are producing some unusual sights as campaigns test foreign ground, such as John McCain campaigning in Brooklyn and Barack Obama reaching out to the hunters and anglers of Appalachia. Candidates are depending on about 10 states — most moving into, but a few moving out of, the “swing” category.IRAQ: “A Gun in One Hand, A Pen in the Other” (p. 34). Deputy Washington Bureau Chief Dan Ephron and Special Correspondent Silvia Spring report on the Pentagon’s Human Terrain System, a program that recruits academics whose area expertise and language skills can help the military wage a smarter counterinsurgency in Iraq and Afghanistan. These specialists, among other things, are meant to map the population of towns and villages, identify the clans that matter and the fault lines within them, then advise U.S. commanders on the right approach for leveraging local support. The problem is, of 19 Human-Terrain members operating in five teams in Iraq, less than a handful can be described loosely as Middle East experts, and only three speak Arabic. The rest are social scientists or former GIs who are transposing research skills from their unrelated fields at home.JONATHAN ALTER: “Boycott Opening Ceremonies” (p. 36). Senior Editor Jonathan Alter writes that the half a dozen European leaders and the Democratic presidential candidates urging a mini-boycott of Beijing’s opening ceremonies are right to do so. “After promising Jacques Rogge and the International Olympic Committee that it would respect human rights … the regime moved in the opposite direction,” he writes. “While showing some important signs of maturity in joining regional efforts to deal with North Korean nukes, the government has found it hard to break bad habits: it took the bait in Tibet, indulging in stale denunciations of the Dalai Lama after cracking heads in the worst violence there in 20 years.”RELIGION: “Why This Pope Doesn’t Connect” (p. 41). Senior Editor Lisa Miller writes that Pope Benedict XVI has done little to appeal to Americans in need of serious spiritual catharsis. “It’s not just that Benedict pales in comparison to his predecessor John Paul II in almost every respect,” Miller writes. “It’s that Benedict himself has done very little to win the hearts of his American flock at what may be the most critical moment in their history.”SHARON BEGLEY: “A New Reason to Frown” (p. 45). Senior Editor Sharon Begley writes that researchers at Italy’s Institute of Neuroscience found that the botulinum in Botox can reach nerve cells in the brain and spine. Researchers injected rats and mice with botulinum neurotoxin A in doses comparable to those used in people. “Neurons at the injection site — the whisker muscles — absorbed some of the toxin and passed it along to other neurons they connected to … Within three days, the toxin had migrated from the whisker muscles to the brainstem, where it disrupted neuronal activity,” she writes.MUSIC: “Where Have You Been?” (p. 57). Assistant Editor Joshua Alston reviews British band Portishead’s long awaited third album called “Third,” and interviews band members on the 11-year gap between this and the previous album. Portishead fans know that the time elapsed between albums was almost inevitable. But when asked about it, instrumentalist Adrian Utley told Alston, “We have to operate this way to make it work. I don’t even understand the criticism of perfectionism, really. It’s just about wanting things to be correct.”TIP SHEET: “Spring Clean Your Air” (p. 60). Correspondent Joan Raymond reports on the various ways of improving air quality both outdoors and inside your home. Tips include checking the Air Quality Index, avoiding jack-rabbit starts and long idling while driving, choosing air-friendly alternatives for home improvements and banning smoking in your home. Strategies like keeping air conditioners and furnaces maintained and running ceiling and attic fans can help, too.Newsweek

NEW YORK, April 13 /PRNewswire/ — During the 1950’s marriage was the most powerful social force. After California Governor Ronald Reagan’s 1969, “no- fault” divorce law allowed couples to end a marriage by declaring “irreconcilable differences,” divorce became the most powerful social force. Divorce evolved from something shocking, even shameful, into a routine fact of American life. Its effects, however, are no less profound.(Photo: )In the April 21 Newsweek cover “Splitsville” (on newsstands Monday, April 14), Senior Editor David J. Jefferson and his classmates from Ulysses S. Grant High School class of ‘82 tell their sides of growing up in L.A.’s San Fernando Valley as part of “Divorce Generation.” In a series of intimate interviews with former classmates, Jefferson examines how divorce changed the lives of the children who lived through the explosion of the myth of the nuclear family, the first for which divorce was just another part of growing up. These interviews show how living through divorce shaped their lives, influenced their relationships and changed their expectations of commitment.”Although I grew up a few blocks from the ‘Brady Bunch’ house, the similarity between that TV-family’s tract-rancher and the ones where my friends and I lived pretty much ended at the front door,” Jefferson writes. “In the real Valley of the 1970s, families weren’t coming together. They were coming apart. We were the ‘Divorce Generation,’ latchkey kids raised with after-school specials about broken families and ‘Kramer vs. Kramer,’ the 1979 best-picture winner that left kids worrying that their parents would be the next to divorce. Our parents couldn’t seem to make marriage stick, and neither could our pop icons: Sonny and Cher, Farrah Fawcett and Lee Majors, the saccharine Swedes from Abba, all splitsville.”By the late ’70s the women’s rights movement had opened workplace doors to mothers-more than half of American women were employed, compared with just 38 percent in 1960-and that, in turn, made divorce a viable option for many wives who would have stayed in lousy marriages for economic reasons. By the time Jefferson and his friends entered their senior year of high school, divorce rates had soared to their highest level ever, with 5.3 per 1,000 people getting divorced each year, more than double the rate in the 1950s.”Researchers have churned out all sorts of depressing statistics about the impact of divorce. Each year, about 1 million children watch their parents split, triple the number in the 50s. These children are twice as likely as their peers to get divorced themselves and more likely to have mental-health problems, studies show,” Jefferson writes. “When we were growing up, divorce loomed as the ultimate threat to innocence, but now it just seems like another part of adult life … What I wanted to know was how divorce had affected our class president and Miss Congeniality, the stoners and the valedictorian. Did it leave them with emotional scars that never healed, or did they go on to lead ‘normal’ lives? Did they wind up in divorce court, or did they achieve the domestic bliss their parents had sought in suburbia? I decided to open my yearbook, pick up the phone, and find out.”After reuniting with his friends, Jefferson found that despite the dire predictions, a surprising number of Grant alums wound up in solid marriages. Jefferson’s best friend, Chris Kohnhorst, who he had met in the fifth grade and the first kid he can remember encountering whose parents were divorced, got married 15 years ago and is still happily married. Chris’s life since his parents’ divorce, “has been shaped to a tremendous degree by the goal of avoiding divorce as an adult at all costs,” says Kohnhorst. Jefferson also found that the urge to get and stay married is stronger in his classmates’ generation than the urge to get divorced was in their parents’. “Every honest couple will tell you that it’s hard sometimes,” says classmate Josh Gruenberg, who now lives in San Diego with his wife and three kids. “You have to compromise, and it takes work,” says Ruth Kreusch, who’s been married for nearly 17 years and has three kids. David Selig says divorce isn’t as prominent in his social circle now as it was when he was growing up — though his circle is admittedly smaller, since he’s become much less social than he was in high school. “My wife and I would rather spend time with each other and our five rescue dogs than just about anybody else,” says David, who’s been with his wife for 18 years.Others, however, were not able to avoid divorce. One ugly side effect, according to research, is that divorce can be passed from generation to generation, like some kind of genetic defect, with children of divorce becoming divorces themselves. Tonju Francois married when she was 28 and got divorced six years later, in part, because her husband didn’t want to have kids (he already had children from a prior marriage). “I loved being married, and it devastated me when it ended,” she says. Elyse Oliver got married when she was 25 and divorced four years later. “I guess I just didn’t know what to do in a relationship,” she says.Other classmates wound up marrying much later in life than their parents did (that’s in line with the research, which shows that children of divorce tend to marry either later than their peers, or much earlier, in their teens). Lisa Cohen, waited until she was 35. “This generation grew up with such a massive culture of divorce that I think there was an effort to make better choices about who we married,” says Cohen, whose parents wed in their 20s. “I was pretty clear on the fact that I didn’t just want to marry someone for how good he looked on paper or how crazy in love we were.”Jefferson writes that “Despite the complications and the collateral damage, my friends from Grant High’s class of ‘82 seem to agree that the divorces in their lives — both their parents’ and their own — were probably for the best. Most don’t think ill of their parents for having split up. “As a child I felt like I was a victim of my circumstances, a victim of the divorce,” says Deborah Cronin. “But as an adult I learned that my parents were just two people who met each other, fell in love, had children, and it didn’t work out. They were 18 and 19 years old when they met. They were young kids having kids.” It seems that along with the crow’s feet and expanding waistlines of middle age, my classmates and I have acquired an acceptance of our parents and their life choices. Some of us have even found healing. “My parents were good people,” says Francois. “And good people get divorced, too.”(Read cover story at )URL: Newsweek