March 18, 2001

Bull market that began in 1982 is over, but it will be remembered for changes it has made in America; it changed way people live and risks they are willing to take; it led to Americans becoming more dependent on stock market profits than ever before, and gave them confidence that there is little need to save; 1990's economic boom spurred bull market, and was in turn increased by spending that bull market encouraged; stock options became widespread, making millionaires of even low-level employees in companies that became stock market favorites; stock market, once viewed by many as highly risky place where amateurs could get hurt, has come to be viewed as sure thing, at least in long term; many Americans came to think that equities were riskless; in 1999, as bull market reached its zenith, net worth of American households rose 14.1 percent, and many Americans felt comfortable carrying extraordinary amount of debt; stock market's fall has put dent in Americans' wealth already; household net worth fell 2 percent in 2000, first such fall in 50 years; loss of wealth reflects fact that by 1999 Americans had 60 percent of their investments and savings in stock market, double proportion they had in 1982; photo; graphs (L)

A Tale of School Shootings There was a shooting this month at Hoover High, a mostly minority inner-city school in San Diego. It did not make the national news. PAGE 12 SPECIAL TODAY The Sweet Life The clothes sent down the runway for spring were better suited to Carnaval in Rio than going up the corporate ladder. Men's Fashions of The Times takes a look at them, from classic resort wear to more adventurous designs. MAGAZINE PART 2

Ron Jenkins article on International Theater School of Jacques Lecoq in Paris, a school of clowning, improvisation and commedia dell'arte that has been great incubator for theatrical innovation and has had profound impact on theater; says that because Lecoq, who died in 1999, insisted that students develop their own individual style, there is no clearly definable Lecoq style, but that his poetic approach to movement has influenced such theater pioneers as Julie Taymor, Ariane Mnouchkine, Theatre de Complicite, Cirque du Soleil, Mummenschanz, Footsbarn Traveling Theater of France, Theatre de la Jeune Lune, Geoffrey Rush, Steven Berkoff and Yasmina Reza; photos (M)

Fresh Kills landfill in Staten Island, last of New York City landfills, will close this month; it has long defined trash disposal dilemma for millions of Americans; few will mourn its passing, or its stench, or its name etched on many 10-worst lists; landfill's life spanned what waste experts call Age of Disposability in 1970's and 1980's, when use-and-toss lifestyle reached its pinnacle; it ends its days as soaring costs of disposal force equally momentous changes that experts say will fundamentally alter waste stream, and American habits; following Fresh Kills's closure, all of city's garbage will be carried to landfills out of state; photos; map (L)

IN the canyons of Lower Manhattan, at 18 Washington Street, there sits an unassuming building where the city hires itself. It does not take an entire building to do this, simply one first-floor room of the Department of Citywide Administrative Services. Its walls are ringed with countertops above which hang blue corkboards plastered with notices for Civil Service examinations. The notices are the colors of wedding mints: pink for caseworker, green for elevator mechanic, white for plumber's helper. Most of the people peering at them on a recent morning were black or brown.

Alan Cowell laments that outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease is restricting people from visiting England's lovely bucolic rural areas and mountain districts; photo; drawing (L)

Colonel's trial in killing of young Chechen woman puts Russian justice to test; Col Yuri D Budanov, highest-ranking officer to be accused of crime against Chechen civilian, admits that he abducted, beat and killed 18-year-old Elza Kungayeva in Grozny, Chechnya's capital, year ago; claims he believed she was rebel sniper who had killed soldiers in his regiment, and that he killed her in uncontrollable fit of revenge; woman's father disputes this, saying Budanov had 'noticed' his daughter in days before abduction; initial accusation of rape, documented by autopsy, has vanished; Human Rights Watch has documented thousands of cases in which Russian military killed, tortured and raped Chechen civilians with no punishment; despite fact that Kremlin itself expressed outrage at Kungayeva's killing, half of Russians polled feel Budanov should be set free; photos; map (M)

Craig Wolff article on his love for Jerry Lewis, whose films he began watching when he was immobilized in brace as child with Legg Perthese disease; photos (L)

Ten-story office structure in downtown Newark is converted to 63 rental apartments; photo (M)

Behind the Wheel column reviews redesigned 2002 Ford Explorer; photo; chart (M)

Gretchen Morgenson Market Watch interview with Peter J Tanous, money manager and author of Investment Gurus, who believes investors are mistaken in believing that their decimated stocks will make a quick comeback; he urges them to accept more normalized historical returns; chart (M)

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