NYRA-Berkeley recently participated in a successful debate on whether 17-year-olds should be permitted to vote in Berkeley School Board elections. The debate, which took place on the campus of Berkeley High School, was sponsored by the Berkeley Youth Commission and attended by four classes of students. Councilman Max Anderson spoke in favor of the youth…
Chris Lydon, a NYRA member from New Jersey, applied for a grant through his employer, Time Warner. Lydon has done work for NYRA in the past by volunteering at Warped Tour events in New Jersey, and attending meetings in New York. Time Warner gave NYRA a grant in the amount of 1000 dollars, the single…
This fall the Paterson, New Jersey City Council asked residents to vote on whether they would support a youth curfew ordinance. The Council did not present any details or any kind of plan, and the only relevant court case in New Jersey resulted in a ruling against curfews. Unfortunately, Paterson voters overwhelmingly supported the proposed…
To me, school uniforms are so vehemently opposed by young people in the United States because they violate our individual-centured culture. In other countries, such as east Asian, Native-American, or African cultures, uniforms do not arouse the same level of ire because their cultures are collective in nature. Uniforms, because of their inherent nature, seem…
A day ago, NYRA’s website was hacked by an outside person or group. These people added files with malicious content to every directory, sub-directory, sub-sub directory, and so on! When the horrible situation was first noticed, Alex Koroknay-Palicz contacted NYRA’s technical staff. This group of people, Alex Koroknay-Palicz, Jason Kende, Jim Pleger, Rich Jahn, and…
It’s been nearly 13 months since Alex KP, Dave Varney, Alexis Grant, Rio Samsie, and I went to this “Town Hall” meeting at Bethesda Chevy-Chase High School. The subject was a favorite of those with political power: teen driving. Although, I suppose anything related to teens is a favorite of politicians: just take more rights…
In a recent post, Stefan Muller pointed out that many young people do not support youth rights. Stefan contends that young people often hold ageist views in order to distinguish themselves – in order to seem more mature. Unfortunately, Mr. Muller is correct in his assessment. When I speak to other young people, I am…
SSDP’s Dare Generation Diary has alerted me to a new AP news story on the Goose Creek Raid at Stratford High School in South Carolina back in 2003. Apparently the students involved could receive around $9,000 each in a settlement with the police department and the school district. From Tom Angell at SSDP: As you…
We talk all the time about recruiting, but we rarely discuss how to go about doing that. Here’s something I’ve noticed that might make a difference: I’ve found just from talking to friends that 90% of people have never even thought about lowering the voting age (I use voting age simply because I believe it’s…
On Saturday, Dec. 10, I had the opportunity to attend an event held by my US Rep. Charles Taylor (R-Brevard, N.C.). As part of a Student Council activity with my school, I was invited to help at Taylor’s annual dinner party. At the dinner party, I introduced myself to Taylor and Sen. George Allen (V.A.)….
