Adam Fletcher over at the Freechild Project has called me out from an entry I posted on One and Four where I said the following: I do agree with integrating youth in with the adult community though. That’s one of the many positive benefits that youth rights holds for the world. While many of Adam’s…
A thread in the NYRA forums about gym reminded me of some experiences of mine in PE class, and indeed in all sports going back to when I was quite young. In elementary school we had these raucous soccer games during recess. One part of the playground had a very small field set up with…
Over on the Freechild Blog, Adam writes about this awesome Gandhi quote, then quickly goes off on a tangent about Laura Bush: For instance, Mr. Bush’s wife Laura has spent the last two years being concerned about America’s youth. From the beginning, her initiative focused on the problems young people face. In a rather traditional…
I just had a particularly illustrative experience at church today that I’d like to share. Half-way through the mass a group of people arrive quite late and sit down in the pew behind me. From the moment they sat down they were being incredibly obnoxious. Talking, swearing, making jokes, laughing. They didn’t shut up for…
The state of our union at the start of 2006 is a state of fear. Politicians, the media, and special interests fan the flames of fear to justify calls for further restrictions on our civil rights and civil liberties. This directed campaign of fear affects the liberties of Americans from all corners of this country,…
I think adult bullies are a part of the problem that spawns youth bullies. It’s the same situation that gets played out all the time. Power hierarchies turn into totem poles where everyone dominates the one below them. The boss yells at the working man, who goes home and hits his wife, she screams at…
I totally agree with with Matt: Surely nobody wants to take anything away from Martin Luther King, Jr.’s impressive achievements. Nevertheless, I always feel that the cult of King serves in an unfortunate way to obscure the fact that the Civil Rights movement wasn’t something one dude dreamed up in mid-1950s Alabama and achieved over…
As far as modern day youth rights gospels go, you can’t get much better than Bob Franklin’s introduction to the “Handbook of Children’s Rights” I’ve seen no better succinct and cogent explanation of the assumptions that drive our work, the key logical arguments that support our work, and a complete undressing of those who disagree….
Ageism manifests itself in so many ways. Typically at NYRA we chose to focus on the big issues that are enshrined in law and stand as barriers to equal status and civic involvement for youth like the voting age or the drinking age. However it is often the day-to-day elements of our age apartheid system…
Great news, New Hampshire has joined Vermont and Wisconsin in introducing bills to lower the drinking age. Unlike Vermont though, the New Hampshire bill covers just those serving in the military. So if you are 18 and in the military you could legally drink in New Hampshire. Its a positive step forward at least. Most…
