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?
Our Ugandan Sister
by: Sister Catherine Mukimba - printed on 01-31-2001
American Poverty vs. African Poverty
In America, the real poverties are loneliness and isolation. This poverty stems from society’s individualism and materialism. I do like the independence in the U.S., for it allows any hard-working citizen to reach the heights of one’s hard labor. People in Africa can work equally hard but the social environment doesn’t favor individual development. In Africa, much of poverty is material.
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.
New York Attack causes mixed emotions
by: Meighan Doherty - printed on 09-26-2001
Photographs capture moments in time unlike any other artistic medium. Throughout history there have been many images that have spoken volumes about memorable events from the past, such as photographs from the Great Depression, Watts, Columbine, and the Oklahoma City bombing.
The photographs from the recent attacks on America are no different from any other historical photographs in that the images one sees in those pictures will leave a lasting impression on us for years to come.
The Gift of Conscience: A Blessing and a Burden
by: Candace Cook - printed on 03-28-2001
When considering military service from a Christian perspective there is a tendency to dichotomize between pacifism or nonviolent resistance and military participation. In fact, Christianity has historically considered both positions licit at various times.
The Jewish people viewed fighting for a just cause as acceptable, and God would be with the people in the fight. The early church, from the death of Jesus until the advent of Constantine in 312 CE, was largely pacifist however, and martyrs like Maximillian of Theveste died because they refused to don the military garments of the legions.
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.
Protecting Freedom
by: Steve Groke - printed on 03-28-2001
STAR’s ongoing campaign to stop weapons training on campus, as well as its questioning of the image ROTC gives to a Catholic University, makes me reflect on why I joined the ROTC program. Why do I want to make a career out of serving our country? Why would I sacrifice my life and possibly the happiness of my family by joining the military?
All my life I’ve wanted to be part of something big—to stand for something I think is right.