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?
One Child Policy
by: Ben Hays - printed on 11-07-2001
People pack the streets of China everyday from sunup to sundown. Bicycles fill the lanes with a steady blur of baskets and business suits. The sound of ringers is a constant melody, with the addition of a few mopeds thrown in for an offbeat. This is a typical day for Chinese people, who migrate to work through a sea of people. With China?s large population of over 1.2 billion, how could it ever change?
Population decrease has already begun when the Chinese government imposed a One Child Policy in 1978.
A journey through Paris
by: Jefferson Azevedo - printed on 09-12-2001
Paris is romantic by definition, gallant by tradition, sophisticated by choice. I spent last year living, studying, and working in Paris; each day, upon exiting a metro station or turning a street corner, I came across a glamorous café or a staggering monument erected to celebrate French power. It sometimes felt like time had stopped in the bohemian life of the 20’s, as if I had been caught in a live oil canvas by Picasso or Van Gogh.
A win for Mr. Le Pen?
by: Mono Vergara - printed on 04-24-2002
It was certainly not expected that the FN (National Front) candidate Jean Marie Le Pen was going to get this result in the first round of elections in France.
Children of Abraham Need to Return to Common Faith
by: Fr. Gary Ruzicka - printed on 11-03-2000
The situation in the Holy Lands is sad because all of the people involved consider themselves the Children of Abraham. Each considers Abraham their “Father in Faith.” As tragic as it may be, religion is the source of the conflict. For Israel, the sign of being chosen as the Children of Abraham is the sign of the Land. Therefore they cannot relinquish it. The solution to the whole problem might be to return to that common heritage as “Children of Abraham” and concentrate on what they have in common.
Los jornaleros: Day labor on the San Francisco peninsula
by: Jessica Jenkins - printed on 03-27-2002
They cluster together on street corners in the early morning hours, intently watching the passing cars, looking for any sign of a potential employer. They are as young as 17 and as old as 52. Nearly all are from Mexico or Central America, and the vast majority of them have no legal immigration documents. They wait each morning, sometimes for hours, for the lucky job in gardening, construction, carpentry - basically anything they can get.
El Salvador: Liberating the poor, liberating ecology
by: Jessica M. Jenkins - printed on 01-23-2002
Raul's family has no rice this year. As peasants in the northern mountains of El Salvador they live off the land, so when the land suffers so do they. In good years, they can eat corn, beans, rice, and vegetables, and have just enough left over to sell in order to purchase tools, clothing, medicine. The problem is that the good years have been few and far between as of late. Within the past ten years, both drought and hurricanes have struck Central America with extreme agricultural instability, bad for any farmer but devastating for subsistence growers like Raul.