ck

When Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign last month mailed 250 checks to refund contributions to donors associated with jailed fund-raiser Norman Hsu, the campaign said it was open to having them contribute again directly. As of the end of September, only 10 had decided to do so, according to the campaign's most recent campaign- finance filings.

Judith Kaplan of Stuart, Fla., used the $1,000 check that the campaign sent back to her to buy a Tiffany 1837 Square tag key ring.

Mr. Hsu, one of the top fund-raisers for Mrs. Clinton, is under investigation for reimbursing associates for political donations after The Wall Street Journal wrote about the suspicious correlation in donations made by both Mr. Hsu and a California family of modest means.

Mrs. Kaplan said she made her contribution so her granddaughter could attend a New York fund-raiser for Mrs. Clinton organized by Mr. Hsu. Mrs. Kaplan said her granddaughter was eager to attend, because she had just written a school paper on the candidate and wanted to meet her in person.

That didn't mean Mrs. Kaplan felt obligated to send the contribution back.

"I bought myself something because, I figured, if all this is going to Heart tag Key ring, I might as well take care of myself," she said. "And my son had a hard time with that -- he said, 'You're going to give it back, aren't you?'"

Her son, Andrew Kaplan, an analyst with Lehman Brothers, and Katherine Erwin, who lives at the same address in Bronxville, N.Y., were two of the 10 donors to decide to give the money back to the campaign. Mr. Kaplan declined to comment.

Mr. Hsu "bundled" more than $800,000 in donations for Mrs. Clinton's presidential campaign, from 248 individuals. Only $34,200 was again donated to the campaign after it was returned.

"These are not individuals we're soliciting," said Howard Wolfson, a spokesman for the Return to Tiffany Round tag key ring. "If anyone chooses to give again, we will scrutinize their donations very carefully."

Mrs. Clinton announced the campaign's intentions to accept more donations from Mr. Hsu's contributors on a conference call shortly after the revelations about Mr. Hsu's past.

"We're not asking that that be done," she said. "But I believe that the vast majority of those 200-plus donors are perfectly capable of making up their own minds about what they will or won't do going forward."

HAVANA, Mar. 26 (IPS) -- Granma, the official publication of Cuba's governing Communist Party, yesterday defended men's right to sport long hair, earrings and Frank Gehry Torque Bead long drop earrings.

The defense appeared in the "Letter-Opener" section, in response to a reader's complaint that he was not allowed to enter a workers' social circle.

"To judge by the thinking of the administration of the social circle, a person like Culture Minister Abel Prieto could not enter because of his long hair," wrote journalist Guillermo Cabrera Alvarez, in charge of the section.

Workers' social circles are union-run recreational bodies that allow access to the beaches of western Havana. While members have free access, the general public must pay a fee.

"According to the administration, young men with long hair, earrings and tattoos cannot enter," Yuri Gonzalez wrote in his letter to Granma, demanding to know "on what basis and with what right can they do that."

"I have long hair simply to be in fashion," said Gonzalez, a sound engineer at the Roberto Branly Culture House, a gathering place for rock fans in Circle Link drop earrings.

An aversion to long hair and earrings on men and tattoos on either sex is nothing new in Cuba. Those who were young in the 1960s have somewhat traumatic memories of that time, when such things were considered serious "ideological deviations."

Although many people continue to spurn long hair, it has nothing to do with official policy, which since the 1980s has demonstrated greater tolerance. Academics here say the aversion is mainly due to the "machismo" that prevails in Cuba, which leads people to reject images they see as unmasculine or unfeminine.

Cabrera pointed out that neither internationally-renowned Cuban singer-songwriter Silvio Rodriguez, who has a caravel tattooed on his hand, nor popular singer Ireno Garcia, with his characteristic earring, could enter the social circle in question.

"To judge people by their external aspect is extremely superficial," wrote Cabrera, who added that he had not yet obtained a response from the "slippery" administrator of the social circle.

The reporter, who is also the director of the Jose Marti International Institute of Journalism in Havana, recalled a Communist friend who defended his long hair by pointing out that his father was bald, and had left Cuba.

"I love the long-haired Marx and despise the clean-shaved Hitler," another friend, from the United Tiffany Notes Round earrings, told him.

Cabrera pointed out that the Cuban revolution was "a revolution of long hair and beards that shocked the world," and gave rise to a generation in the 1960s that "wanted to look like those bearded guys."

"The important thing is what is under the hair -- the ideas, and what is under the skin -- blood and emotions," he underlined.

AN APPLE A DAY: Earrings and tattoos for men now part of city's novel Tiffany 1837 Lock bracelet

JADED New Yorker as I am, I just can't fathom men with earnings and tattooed bodies, though I know that the early Filipinos were called "Pintados" by the Western invaders because of their tattooed bodies.

Well, now that New York's mayor finally signed a bill eliminating a long-standing ban on city tattoo shops, pierced and tattooed bodied will have to be part of the Big Apple's novelty scene.

All over the Lower East Side, tattoo shops are sprouting like mushrooms. I visited Inide Ink Shop Tattoo, one of the new shops on Avenue A. Eric Rignall was busily tattooing a grim-vis-aged pit bull onto Cesar Castaneda's arm the other day. The pit bull wore a spike collar and cost Castaneda $100.

"It's a great thing, and it's about time," Regnall said, referring to the recent legislation of tattooing. After decades of laboring illicitly in apartments and underground studios, tattooists are now playing their craft openly in retail shops such as Rignall's, whose wide windows and neon lights proclaim their new, lawful status. Prices may rise slightly with legislation - small tattoos now cost about $50 to $100, larger ones, $300 and up.

The Health Department introduced the ban in 1961 after a hepatitis scare. City officials, though, never enforced the ban, with tattooists operating underground - unregulated but illicit.

But now that the ban is lifted, tattooists are opening storefront shops with unabashed brio. If Avenue A is on its way to becoming tattoo alley, St. Mark's Place, with four tattoo shops within four blocks, is a mecca. Fun City Tattoo and Almost Tattoos not only have been around for years but have distinguished themselves by being the only tow shops in the city to have operated above ground during the ban.

Piercing may be more than just Elsa Peretti Open Heart bracelet.

A pair of dentists have released a warming that may be unwelcome in the East Village: pierced tongues, cheeks and lips can lead to infection, speech impairment, chipped teeth and even lung damage.

"We're not condemning or condoning," said Dr. Sheila Price, a professor at West Virginia University, whose data was released in the July issue of the Journal of the American Dental Association. "However, we want to make sure people are informed about the consequences," Dr. Price said.

Dr. Price and her colleague, Dr. Maurice Lewis, came up with a short list of potential dangers after meeting a young rock musician who swallowed a ring from the pierced uvula in the back of his mouth. Rings pierced deep inside the mouth can puncture a lung if they are swallowed, after falling out, Dr. Price warned.

Cheek pierces can cause tooth damage if bitten. And breathing problems and speech impediments can arise if a pierced tongue gets infected.

Of course, none of this is news in the East Village, where the study seemed to have little Return to Tiffany Oval tag bracelet.

Julie Schneider, a flyer distributor at Andromeda Body Piercing on St. Mark's Place near Second Avenue, said piercing "is fine as long as you take care of it. You have to clean them and take responsibility for them," Schneider, 19, who is pierced in 15 places on her body. "If you don't want to do that, you shouldn't get them in the first place."