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?

Bush & Blair: Future Nobel Laureates?

by: Casey O'Connor - printed on 03-27-2002

A little over a month ago a member of Norway?s parliament, Harald Tom Nesvik, nominated Mr. George W. Bush (our president) and Mr. Tony Blair (Britain?s Prime Minister) for the (rather) prestigious Noble Peace Prize.

"The background for my nomination is their decisive action against terrorism, something I believe in the future will be the greatest threat to peace. Unfortunately, sometimes you have to use force to secure peace," said Nesvik.

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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.

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Debunking the feminist myth

by: Christy Scheuer - printed on 09-25-2002

Feminism. Oh, the difference a word can make! The word feminism is fraught with negative implications, obscured by layers of stereotypes. Many people hesitate to call themselves feminists for fear of others’ scorn and derision.

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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.

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Snap-shot goes unnoticed

by: Megan Molenda - printed on 11-28-2001

While talking with an aspiring middle-aged photographer, I learned the secret to becoming successful within that field -- if one is indeed aspiring towards the kind of success in which he or she would receive genuine recognition from others.

If you are among the many who simply see something beautiful and capture it on film, then you may be complimented with a brief expresion of admiration from others, but chances are that the feeling will quickly pass and the work will soon be forgotten.

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No More America! I am in Spain!

by: Annmarie Phelan - printed on 02-28-2001

This is it. Submerged in another language, another culture. I cannot speak or understand all that well, but somehow I am able to live in this country. It is my home for four months. My home. Spanish family, Spanish classes, Spanish food. No more America. No American handshake. “Dos besos” instead — a kiss on each cheek — is how I greet people. No standard American house. Most everyone lives in apartments, and the houses you do see do not share the same outward aesthetic beauty to which we are accustomed.

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