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?

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...

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Beer, wine, cigarettes and other dispatches from Spain

by: David Miller - printed on 02-28-2001

My flight from Portland to Madrid, Spain had a layover in Newark, New Jersey. As I had four hours to spend in Newark, I bought a premade, mushy Philly-steak-and-cheese sandwich and sat down to collect my thoughts. I was on my way to Spain to spend the next four months studying there, in Spanish, all in Spanish. It wasn’t like I hadn’t ever traveled before, I had. I wasn’t worried about that. It was the 15 credits of college courses .

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What exactly is the meaning of the mystical word 'mantra'?

by: Kelly Maggi - printed on 10-24-2001

Since the debut of this column two months ago, readers have brought one question to me repeatedly: “What in the world is a mantra???” I hope that this will answer your question.

The Modern Mantra:

I use modern mantra in this column. A modern mantra consists of a simple phrase or a couple of words that are meant to help one get through the day or a particular situation. You probably already use these without knowing it.

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Foriegn policy goes fishing

by: Ryan O'Connor - printed on 04-25-2001

If ever the United States of America has needed a clear set of foreign policy objectives, it is now. As the world witnessed in Quebec last week, many citizens of the world are not sold on the benefits of free trade. Conversely, we also saw that most oft he Western Hemisphere’s political leaders are. In many respects, there seems to be little doubt than an integrated hemispheric (and eventually world) economy with few trade barriers will be the result of the increasing power and prevalence of multi-national corporations, non-governmental organizations, and inter-governmental organizations.

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Stem Cells: Just the basic facts

by: Heather Thibodeau - printed on 09-12-2001

Stem cells. Two seemingly simple words that have incorporated themselves into common conversations with everyday people. These words however, bring one of the hottest controversies to the table.

Most people now know what they are and to some extent how they work. The controversy though, lies from where the stem cells originate. There are many places that stem cells are found. For example (if you had x-ray vision) look inside your own bone marrow, or look inside a petri dish filled with frozen babies (or the scientific word, embryos) and my personal favorite, umbilical cord blood of newborn babies.

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Jose Bove fights the Mc-Domination of the world

by: Michael Driessen - printed on 02-28-2001

This past summer in France, a mustachioed, pipe-smoking sheep farmer held the French’s regard in the headlines of Le Monde, with the attention usually reserved for soccer heroes: his name was Jose Bove. In August of 1999, Jose led a group attack on the McDonald’s near his farm in the south of France. His trial, held this summer, drew a crowd of over 15,000 people, and Bove commanded a following of thousands more.

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