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?
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.
Breaking stereotypes: A fangirl speaks up
by: Kattie Gardner - printed on 04-24-2002
Growing up, the naive little girl that I was, I used to think that comics were nothing more than a bunch of boys running around in tights, shooting at each other with rays coming out of their fingers. The thought of picking up a comic book and actually reading it seemed silly and childish. I pictured comic readers as being nerdy little fan-boys who lived in their parents? basement and spent hours debating the finer points of D&D.
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.
China’s Environment versus Economy
by: Jefferson Azevedo - printed on 10-10-2001
It is impossible to talk about China without taking into account the environmental problem. With a population of about 1.2 billion people – one out of every five human beings in the world – China alone has the potential to raise the greenhouse effect to levels far beyond scientists’ worst nightmares. And this is considering that its population, four times as big as that of the United States, uses only half as much energy and resources as America does.
Make Every Day Earth Day
by: Chris Sparks - printed on 04-11-2001
Simple Facts…
Some simple facts to keep in mind. Though already over 6 billion, the population of the Earth grows by 83 million people a year. 80 percent of the global population lives on under $2 a day. 20 percent of the world’s population lacks safe drinking water or adequate sanitation. The 20 richest countries in the world consume nearly 80 percent of the natural gas, 65 percent of the oil, and 50 percent of the coal produced each year.
World immigration standards need to change
by: Mono Vergara - printed on 03-27-2002
For a few minutes please forget about what we see in the media. Forget about that nonsense axis and all the other issues that "our leaders" tell us that they are important. Stop for a few minutes and look south, to the south of our world. Picture Africans swimming in the strait of Gibraltar, South Americans banging pots and pans, Cubans who die in the Caribbean every other day and lonely Mexican women running through the Arizona desert.