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?
“Don’t ask, don’t tell” an archaic notion
by: Emily Marie Dinges - printed on 03-28-2001
Discrimination. That’s an icky word. It is defined as “treatment based on class or category rather than individual merit.” Unfortunately, that’s exactly what the United States military is doing today: discriminating against gays and lesbians.
Before 1993, gays and lesbians were barred from serving in the military. President Clinton worked to change this and the compromise solution, “Don’t ask, don’t tell” was born.
Nurturing our Bodies/Nurturing Mother Earth
by: Tim Crump - printed on 03-28-2001
My morning bicycle ride to the University of Portland is one of the few times in the day that I feel good, truly and deeply good, about what I am doing. In our lives, so many of our decisions and actions involve trade-offs. To keep the apartment warm we have to turn up the heat and burn more energy. To learn more about an important subject, we print out an article, using a few more sheets of paper.
Our business world
by: Meghan Molenda - printed on 10-24-2001
Many of us know no other way to exist other than by relying on millions of other people everyday. We may not personally have contact with them, but we encounter different objects into which they have put their labor. The great majority of us cannot make our own clothes; much less sew on a button. A box of macaroni-and-cheese is the extent of our cooking experience. These are just two of the simple everyday challenges that we do not have to worry about, because we do not have to know how to make clothes or cook a meal.
Bringing Democracy to the land of Mao
by: Christy Scheuer - printed on 11-28-2001
Dr. Jianli Yang, who spoke at the University of Portland on Thursday, November 15, has been officially charged as a traitor by the Chinese government. In 1989, Dr. Yang helped to lead the Chinese democracy movement, which culminated in the student rally in Tiananmen Square in which 30 students were killed for speaking out against communism in China. Consequently, he was exiled and placed on a list of 49 dissidents who are strictly forbidden to return to China.
VITW Stands Against Iraqi Sanctions
by: Tom Frieberg - printed on 11-03-2000
On Monday, November 11 the University of Portland Offices of Volunteer Services and Campus Ministry will host peace activists from the group Voices in the Wilderness. The group’s mission is to end United Nations economic sanctions currently imposed on Iraq (which have been in place for a decade, since the Gulf War). This is a valuable opportunity for the campus community to study and reflect on a critical issue involving ethics, US foreign policy, nonviolence, military dictatorhips and human rights, the merits of various ways to influence public policy, and more.
Chilean economy now stabilizing
by: Alejandro Gatica - printed on 10-18-2000
According to Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), Chile scored 28 in the ranking of the less risky emerging economies. It was ranked 4th behind Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea. It is interesting to realize that the second Latin American country was Venezuela with a score of about 50 and ranked 19.
This result steams from a macroeconomics policy that has been very careful in keeping indices under control.