Around Town Around Town (October 13, 2004)

NINTENDO GENERATION SLACKING OFF... Hey Generation Y! If you're puffing on a Marlboro, watching too much Simpsons, snacking on too many Cheetohs and continually promising yourself you'll go to the gym without ever actually doing it, you're not alone. Young people are smoking more, eating worse and exercising less than they were 10 years ago, according to researchers at Stanford University. At the same time, elderly minorities -- groups thought to have the greatest difficulties in staying healthy -- are making progress in fighting bad habits. These were some of the findings in a new Stanford Prevention Research Center study that analyzed data from more than 187,000 telephone surveys of black, Latino and white men and women. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention helped conduct the surveys in 1990 and 2000. The study focused on cigarette smoking, poor diets and sedentary behavior, factors known to contribute to chronic disease. More than one-third of white men and women ages 18 to 24 were smokers in 2000, a larger-than-expected increase from 1990, according to the study.

CITY OF (IRON-JAWED) ANGELS? . . . Voting rights are on a lot of local's minds as Election Day nears. One of those is Palo Altan Amy Rao, who has leased out the Aquarius movie theatre tonight, Oct. 13, to showcase "Iron Jawed Angels," an HBO movie that tells the true story of the women's suffrage movement using an MTV-style mise en scene . "All I can tell you is that this movie will lead you to think differently about the right to vote and teach you history you never knew," Rao wrote in an e-mail to friends. Another local voter-advocate is Marianna Grossman Keller, who is organizing a Democratic get-out-the-vote rally on Friday evening in Palo Alto's City Hall Plaza. Among those expecting to attend is Kids for Kerry founder Ilana Wexler, who wowed a fawning crowd at the Democratic National Convention. Numerous musicians and other politicos will also entertain at the Friday event, held from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. To help or learn more visit the Web site www.familiesforkerry.org.

A LITTLE PIECE OF OUR HISTORY ... C'mon and -- take it! On Saturday, Oct. 23, the Museum of American Heritage is offering visitors an opportunity to purchase interesting and historical items, including duplicate or unneeded items from the museum's collection. The event will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Museum of American Heritage, located at 351 Homer Avenue, immediately in front of the museum's historic garage. For further information, visit the MOAH Web site at www.moah.org or call 650-321-1004.

PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE ... The Palo Alto Unified School District will hold its annual College Fair from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Oct. 18 in the gym of Gunn High School, 780 Arastradero Road. Representatives from almost 100 private and out-of-state public universities from across the country will be on hand to provide literature and answer questions. Colleges from Canada, as well as Franklin College from Switzerland, will also be represented. A financial aid workshop will be held at 7:30 p.m. in the dance studio, and Norman Caito, assistant director of financial aid at the University of San Francisco, will be the speaker. The College Fair is open to interested students and parents of Gunn, Palo Alto, and other mid-Peninsula high schools. For more information, visit www.gunn.pausd.ca.us/~sbronstien/ccc.html.

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