Ads Mess Everything Up

When you listen to a political ad, whether for a political candidate or proposition, what do you hear? Most of the time all I hear are attack and fear ads, mixed in with totally irrelevant arguments that have nothing to do with what they're promoting. I mean, it kinda puts you off politics. Even if you support the ad, half the time you end up questioning your reasons to support it. It's kinda sad, how it just gives everyone the impression that politics is a bad thing. Ah well, what can a kid do? Just giving my two cents.

No on Prop 8

Prop 8 is, quite simply, a very stupid proposition. It claims not to discriminate against gays, but if you read anything about it, it quite obviously does. I mean, they're only trying to deny them the right to get married and actually call it that. Its not such a big deal, right? They still get the rights, just not the right to actually call it marriage. But that's kinda the whole point of wanting the right to marry, so... that's just wrong. As long as you stick to your own definition of marriage, what do you care if the official definition changes? I doesn't affect you. And their claim kids in school are forced to be taught this? Totally wrong. Parents in California have every right to take their child out of that particular course, like they did when we were being taught evolution and the HIV/AIDS units in science. Also, churches aren't forced to perform such marriages if it goes against their religion. However, public officials should, as they are government related, but that is obvious. This is a stupid proposition, and you should vote no on 8.

Not paid for by anyone in particular, but just written for my enjoyment. Donations are welcome, however.

CTY

Ok I just really want to say one thing. CTY is awesome. CTY, to be frank is, quite simply, nerd camp. Nevertheless, it is awesome. It isn't your typical nerd camp. For one thing it's a 3-week residential camp at several notable universities around the country. It also is more elite than many nerd camps: you must take the SATs to get in and score at least over 1100 combined in math and english. You can feel pretty outclassed, though. Some of the CTYers scored over 2000 points on all three subjects combined...in middle school. It is more than just nerd camp, though. It is an opportunity for us to interact with other kids with our interests, and those at a similar intellectual level. Everyone at CTY is also expected to have some quirks, too. Many attendees are almost insane, but when you get to know them, everyone is awesome. In short, CTY is the greatest camp in existence. Btw, you just lost the game.

School newspapers

The first issue of our middle school newspaper came out last week, and i was less than impressed. That's not to say it was bad, though. Some parts were pretty good, but what irked me was the fact that some parts were extremely opinionated. I mean seriously, out of all the good writers in the school, you just had to print an obviously unresearched and biased political article. And on the front page to boot! I mean, you pick up the newspaper and the first thing you see is an article on the presidential race. That's all well and good, and it starts out ok, but once you near the end, you begin to read comments such as:

"if we elect McCain, we will have the wrong president for the next four years."

That, I think, is going just a bit too far. Also, I was vexed by the pure anarchy of the organization. They had politics, school announcements, sports, advice columns, fashion, and even, get this, a two page horoscope all scattered aimlessly throughout a six page paper. There were unnecessary sections in sports as well. News about the school sports teams is all well and good, but they don't need a section about skateboarding in a school newspaper. Obviously, you also don't need to fill a third of a newspaper with a horoscope no one will read either, and most kids won't care what kids in the fashion section are wearing. So, it's a mediocre start, but I hope that future issues will be more streamlined. Unfortunately, you have to wait a month for that too.