Wise Monkey News is here to provide young people an opportunity to discuss the issues that affect their lives. We hope that, through your participation, this website serves as a forum for the development, exchange, and expression of ideas that will prepare us to assume our positions as the leaders of tomorrow's world. Have something to say?

‘That’s the thing about Christmas in Ghana’

by: Isaac Vanderburg - printed on 01-31-2001

It is an organic story, really. In 1969 two Peace Corps volunteers went to Ghana, West Africa. They taught English to the Twi-speaking children of villages called Aducrom and Laarte. They ate fufu and banku and redred and nkatiekwein. They did all the things that volunteers do: teach, travel, work, wander, laugh and cry. Of course, they couldn’t help but to love the kids they taught, love the work they did, and love most of Ghana in general.

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When dealt death and tragedy: How do we play our hand?

by: Ryan O'Connor - printed on 10-24-2001

My brother has been in El Salvador since last June. A friend of his from Santa Clara University, where he is a junior, was one of the victims of the attacks on September 11. She died, valiantly so it seems, aboard the flight that went down in rural Pennsylvania.

She had volunteered with my brother once a week, for an entire year at a San Jose-area school, tutoring children. She was the girlfriend of his co-editor on the Santa Clara student newspaper.

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Can Religion justify Terrorism?

by: Asima Ahmad - printed on 10-10-2001

Was the atrocity of September 11th following the repetitive theme that plays throughout history in different parts of the world? Based on the presumptions of the media, this act was committed by the Islamic world of terrorists. However, the networks are trying to make it clear that the war is against terrorism, not followers of Islam. United States citizens of all ages are becoming aware of the Arab world in a way that was never seen before in the history of U.

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Who is in charge?

by: Chris Graham - printed on 09-12-2001

At the center of the debate over stem cell research, the value of human life is being debated from both sides of the issue. On one hand, stem cells are believed to potentially have the ability to regenerate damaged organs and tissues which would prove extremely valuable in the fight against diseases such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s, and diabetes. The opposition stems from the fact that these stem cells are taken from embryos grown in fertility clinics.

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Where did hope go?

by: Hank Smith - printed on 02-06-2002

"Okay. The story is about a little wave, bobbing along in the ocean, having a grand old time. He?s enjoying the wind and the fresh air ? until he notices the other waves in front of him, crashing against the shore.

"'My God, this is terrible,' the wave says 'Look what's going to happen to me!"

"Then along comes another wave. It sees the first wave, looking grim, and it says to him, 'Why do you look so sad?'

"The first wave says, 'You don't understand! We're all going to crash! All of us waves are going to be nothing! Isn?t it terrible?'

"The second wave says, 'No, you don't understand.

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Helping Alaskan honey buckets

by: Maia Nolan - printed on 04-10-2002

Spring has come at last to Anchorage, Alaska. After a record-breaking St. Patrick's Day storm that dumped more than two feet of snow on the city in just over 24 hours, canceled school for two days and left residents piling snowberms up to six feet high as they dug out, it was starting to seem like winter was here for good. Today, though, the sun is shining and a new, unfamiliar substance is starting to replace the ice: pavement.

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