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?
Do animals feel pain?
by: Peter Singer - printed on 11-07-2001
Excerpted from Animal Liberation, Peter Singer, 2nd
Edition, New York: Avon Books, 1990.
Do animals other than humans feel pain? How do we know? Well, how do we know if anyone, human or nonhuman, feels pain? We know that we ourselves can feel pain. We know this from the direct experience of pain that we have when, for instance, somebody presses a lighted cigarette against the back of our hand.
Do not be afraid of big birds
by: Isaac Vanderburg - printed on 10-24-2001
Those West African tropical storms sure make for great conversations.
Like this time, two years ago, on the way to Ghana (the first time mom had returned in 30 years), on a lurching Ghana Airways 747 with 16 people on board. The plane left from London at one in the morning, so before the storm hit there hadn’t been much talking going on, just sleeping sounds and the occasional hiss of a pop can or flight attendant’s beep.
Recognize the beauty that surrounds you
by: Meghan Molenda - printed on 11-07-2001
We are all Oregonians at the moment. I realize that this may not seem to be the case for many of us, myself included, because many University of Portland students are from out of the state, or out of the country. Right now, however, we all have something in common, no matter where we are from or where we might be heading: we are here on the west coast in one of the most beautiful cities in the country, Portland, Oregon.
Visiting The Bird Parliament
by: Mono Vergara - printed on 09-25-2002
Fellow sailors, It was in an island a few minutes from Portland, the city we fail to leave because we are scared to give up our comforts and the way fake paintings look over the scars of the walls. I thought I could share this with you. You are probably used to my political columns, but this is more political than what you think...
Aisai bento
by: Yuri Nakamoto - printed on 04-11-2001
I’ve noticed that Americans misuse the Japanese word “bento”. My roommate thought bento was something over rice. You thought so, too? The Commons once served something called “bento chicken”! It actually looked like teriyaki chicken though. Bento is a boxed meal that some times it even includes dessert. Just like your lunch sack. But bento is not just leftovers. Maybe some of the items in your bento are leftovers, but bento is made for the purpose of taking your meal with you.
Where did hope go?
by: Hank Smith - printed on 02-06-2002
"Okay. The story is about a little wave, bobbing along in the ocean, having a grand old time. He?s enjoying the wind and the fresh air ? until he notices the other waves in front of him, crashing against the shore.
"'My God, this is terrible,' the wave says 'Look what's going to happen to me!"
"Then along comes another wave. It sees the first wave, looking grim, and it says to him, 'Why do you look so sad?'
"The first wave says, 'You don't understand! We're all going to crash! All of us waves are going to be nothing! Isn?t it terrible?'
"The second wave says, 'No, you don't understand.