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?
"Just some banter about trees"
by: Meghan Molenda - printed on 02-06-2002
I sat down and introduced myself as an inquisitive mind wondering about the other side of the story. Mere human knowledge, although it was abundant, was not enough for me to form an unbiased, educated view. No matter how many facts you have on a subject, you can?t make an educated decision if you ignore a valuable position. I wanted to know about the world from the viewpoint of a tree, and human knowledge just wouldn?t cut it.
Living a life of nonviolence
by: Karen Shea - printed on 02-28-2001
Before he was brutally assassinated, Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador said: “Peace is not the product of terror or fear. Peace is not the silence of cemeteries. Peace is not the silent result of violent repression. Peace is the generous, tranquil contribution of all to the good of all. Peace is dynamism. Peace is generosity. It is right and it is duty.”
It is in this spirit that I have dedicated myself to living a life of nonviolence.
The Death Penalty is state sponsored murder
by: Kawai Washburn - printed on 03-06-2002
What is justice?
Stop and think about it for a second, because it's a difficult question to answer. Often, what may seem fair, right and just to one person is nothing of the sort to another person. What is the appropriate response to a crime? Indentured slave labor in barren wastelands has been tried. Solitary confinement in a sensory deprivation cell is another alternative. Then, of course, there is always the option of just killing the criminal.
Deforestation, our two-faced friend
by: Nicole Ulacky - printed on 10-10-2001
The snowball of events that has caused our current planetary environmental condition was started long ago. It has been handed down, generation to generation, only to grow with each successive passing. We can thank our parents and grandparents, and grandparents’ grandparents, and all of those before them, for throwing us into a phase of environmental degradation that is nearly unfixable. To say the least, the environmental problem facing our generation is of enormous proportion.
A win for Mr. Le Pen?
by: Mono Vergara - printed on 04-24-2002
It was certainly not expected that the FN (National Front) candidate Jean Marie Le Pen was going to get this result in the first round of elections in France.
Disney Perpetuates Gender Stereotypes
by: Marcilla Lucero-Miner - printed on 09-25-2002
What is worrisome is the values those heroes, princesses and villains represent. Using DisneyÂ’s most famous animated motion picture, Cinderella (1950), as an example, the way in which Disney characters are continually cast in traditional gender roles becomes clear.