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?
Illegal immigrants gain priority admissions to California universities
by: Jaime Denning - printed on 03-06-2002
You live in New York. Your dad, his dad and his grandfather all attended the University of California at Berkeley. Family tradition and desire push you to apply to the university. You harass the mailman daily, waiting for your acceptance letter. Finally it comes and you run triumphantly with it into the kitchen where your step-mom is making cookies. You tear open the creamy cardstock envelope and find "Dear Joe, We regretfully inform you.
The roots of war: Universities supporting the military-industrial complex
by: Mckenzie Miller and Evan Hughes - printed on 04-10-2002
The military industrial complex, the collaboration of the military and defense corporations, has from its conception pivoted on profiting from war. In the history of the arms race, the cold war stood as the initial justification for the weaponization of our society. With a sense of urgency and fear, universities across the nation were employed in the research and development of new technologies of war.
Seeds of mass destruction in slow motion
by: Mono Vergara - printed on 11-07-2001
I was thinking about the hundred of miles that I have walked freely. I thought about people playing in the fields on a sunny evening. I thought about a Cambodian kid chasing his dog after they went fishing. But suddenly I heard an explosion; the innocent child?s life is over. As another seed of death explodes, another life is taken.
According to the Red Cross, 26,000 people are either killed or injured by Anti Personal [AP] land mines every year.
An Indian, a Peckerwood, and a Higher Power
by: Ryan Bemis - printed on 02-14-2001
“Man on the left!” warns Andy.
I jump at his startling tone.
“Will you stop saying that everytime you see a police car!” I tell him.
The fact is, Andy can’t. He grew up in a small Californian reservation shantytown where cops beat him because he was a hotheaded Indian boy. The sight of a cop begets an impulsive “watch your back” mood.
Today, Andy recovers from the deadly disease of alcoholism.
Dear Chairman Arafat and Prime Minister Barak,
by: Hank Smith - printed on 11-03-2000
122 people dead…over 2,000 injured…three weeks. By the time achieve any peace whatsoever is robbing people of their hope. What is the point of haggling over minute details of resolutions that will never lead to permanent peace when, in the meantime, people are dying? You are, as U.S. Ambassador Martin Indyk put it, “condemned to live together.” Instead, you are dying together.
There are clear differences, even uninfringeable differences, between your two cultures.
A pace protester reflects
by: Casey Terry - printed on 09-11-2002
Had it been any other day, the ungodly hour at which I was awoken would have caused quite a riff between mother and me. Instead, it left us huddled close together, staring at the TV screen in shock and horror. Like most Americans, I cried for the devastating loss of life.