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?
Americans packin' heat
by: Jason Talbot - printed on 04-24-2002
Dear Uncle Sam: I am writing in regards to the war being fought against terrorism. My wish is for you, the federal government, to let me help protect our country from other acts of hatred. The protection I need may only be secured through armament. For this reason, each and every American citizen should be sent a gun through the mail as soon as possible. That's right, the American public needs to pack some heat.
In search for all the news that’s fit to print
by: Casey O'Connor - printed on 11-28-2001
I spent the first four months of my time in El Salvador reading the right wing Spanish language newspaper La Prensa Grafica. Shortly after the attacks of September 11th, however, my housemates and I decided to look for another, possibly more complete, version of the news, and so we ended up with the The New York Times on our table every morning. After my initial euphoria due to the presence of a credible English language periodical wore off, I realized that a significant portion of the news seemed to be missing from the paper that claims to publish “All the news that’s fit to print.
Defining the Environmental Goal
by: Meghan Molenda - printed on 01-23-2002
As I passed the curb and saw the rejected bins of recycling that sat in front of my house, I had to think for a moment about what it actually means for me to be an environmentalist.
I get the label all the time especially on trips back to my hometown, but it is one of those labels that has harsh connotations.
Most people are kind of weary using the word "environmentalist" because it has a particular stigma based on an entire set of beliefs, values, and political stances that go along with that word.
Nagasaki to Portland: the Hanford nuclear reservation connection
by: Isaac Vanderburg - printed on 03-28-2001
When I was young, I would make parachutes by connecting the four ends of a bandanna to a fishing weight using four pieces of red yarn. Somehow the unfolding corners and the perfect billow and the gravity of it all produced a phantasmagoria of wonder, so much so that I would bunch the whole thing together and dart it back into mid-air, just to see if it all happened again.
Today I imagine that if I had looked up as a boy and saw the parachute that Katsuji Yoshida saw, with its impeccable aerodynamics and noble descent, I would have been excited just as he was.
Ice shelves fall; the heat is on
by: Sarah Dempsey - printed on 03-27-2002
Last week the world saw first-hand the disturbing effects of global warming. Part of the Larsen B ice shelf in Antarctica, made up of 720 billion tons of ice (roughly the size of Rhode Island), collapsed into the ocean after a month of rapid melting and disintegration. This was not a prediction, not some scientist's dreadful warning, this was real life. This was the result of five decades of sharp temperature increases of as much as 4.
Umatilla: A call for Congressional investigation
by: Jim McCandlish, J.D. - printed on 04-25-2001
A recent lead editorial in the Oregonian calls for an independent investigation of chemical agent leaks at the Umatilla Chemical Depot. This follows the Oregonian’s lengthy commentary piece which found the Army’s explanation of the September 15, 1999 exposure incident to be misleading and inadequate. Over eight months ago, Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) asked the U.S. Department of Defense to conduct such an investigation.