Teens Changing The World

A new organization around the Kona scene.
Promoting peace and all that. We will be organizing a graffiti campaign soon as well as free art campaigns, blogs, articles all that fun stuff. We especially encourage artists and graphic designers to join up and help us with our campaign in your area.

If you have a myspace, I encourage you to join up, start some activism shit in your area. That'd be cool.

Teens Changing the World

New Article/Voting

Voting
By Andrew

In good consciousness, I cannot support the concept of the 'right' to vote. By voting, one instills authoritarian power in the hands of the few, when the power belongs to the individual. Voting is nothing more then an authoritarian
policy. By allowing this policy to take root, libertarian ideals can
never blossom. In a sense, voting in this democratic-republic, that
we call the United States of America, takes away our natural rights.

Voting acknowledges government power. By acknowledging this power, more and more power is given to the government, rather then the individual. If in the next election for president, not a single vote was cast, this democratic republic would cease to function as is. Yet nothing would actually change. The
authoritarian powers would only have to find another way to justify
their power, which is what they would do. Examples of this can be
seen in parts of Africa and pre-invasion Iraq. By this logic, the
democratic-republic's system is inherently flawed at best. This
system actually gives no power to the masses by 'giving' them the
right to vote, only the illusion of power.

I am not apathetic to voting. I actually care a great deal about voting. So much so, that I refuse to vote. The idea of voting is nothing but a dangerous tool created by
authoritarian powers to cement their power.
By refusing the vote, I have cast my
vote to where the power belongs...

New Article/DIY Aesthetic

DIY Aesthetic
By Morgan

Ever wanted some clothes that are just your style but don’t want to spend some ridiculous sum of money? The answer to your problem is DIY. DIY stands for Do It Yourself, it has been a big part of counter culture since the days of the hippies. Confused on where to start? Well, that’s pretty easy to solve.

There are many projects you can embark upon to being your DIY lifestyle. First and foremost is the customized jacket. All you’ll need is a jacket (duh), and whatever you want to put on it.

When you have your denim jacket, leather jacket, or hoodie that you’re undoubtedly anxious to customize, you can get something of your choice to put on it. Patches are what I’m talking about. Patches are good for advertising your interests, mainly bands. Patches can be purchased from very wide amount of places such as music stores or online sites such as www.crustpunks.com or www.studsandspikes.com the great thing about patches are they’re absurdly cheap. It’s up to you, but you might want to look in to buying a back patch, it’s just as cheap, but it covers the most of the back of your jacket.

First thing’s first, once you find the patches you want to put onto your jacket of choice you’re going to put them on. Back patches can be easily put on by means of safety pins, but if you want something a little more substantial then you can sew it on using sewing thread or (as the crust punks do) by using dental floss. Dental floss is cheap to buy and it has a very high strength. Finish it off with your other patches of choice on the arms or fronts or sides. In my opinion a patch across the front pocket on a pull over hoodie looks really good.

So I got my patches on now what do I do?
Once your patches are on you have a wide variety of choices, you can put studs on your back, around the patch(s) and you can put spikes in the shoulders, both of which can be purchased for low cost from the above sites (crustpunks.com and studsandspikes.com). Another thing you can do is sew on different fabrics of your choice, popular fabrics are leopard and zebra print, and plaid. As well, fabric paints come in all colors imaginable, and you can always stencil on words and designs using spray paints.

Now I’m not telling you to go out and purchase a 60 dollar denim jacket, or a 200 dollar leather one, that would defeat the purpose of this article. A good way to find some good leathers and other jackets is by thrifting. Check out the local thrift stores in your area. Also, when looking for fabrics or other materials try out discount stores in your areas alongside thrift stores.
If you find a shirt that has the right material then purchase it, it doesn’t matter if it’s the most god awful shirt on the planet, if it’s the right material, it’s the right material. Working like this can save you a whole lot of money.

There are a lot of people who seem to have DIY go right over their heads. Asking “but where will I get my studded belts without Hot Topic?”

Hot Topic did something amazing. They commercialized the counter culture. Hot Topic killed DIY. What happened to C-Squat? What happened to self funded record labels? What happened to home made and Xeroxed zines? DIY is something that we should all get in to, thrifting saves money, it teaches you, gives you skills, and lets you get out into your own.

Stores:
www.crustpunks.com
www.studsandspikes.com
www.ikickshins.net
www.interpunk.com

New Article/Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men
By Morgan

The best-laid plans of mice and men
Go often wrong
To A Mouse- Robert Burns

The right to vote has always been one that has been deeply respected, and fought for. From the battlefields of Lexington and Concord, to Fort Sumter, to the convention at Seneca Falls, the right to vote has been a staple issue. However, in the past few years I’ve been noticing a disconcerting apathy in the people of America. The neglect (and often the unwillingness to vote) is a very large issue, and people need to once again be shown the importance of their vote.

We in America are granted a far too often overlooked right. We have the rare ability to actually have a direct say in what our government does for us. As Malcolm X once said, being here in America does not make you an American. To be an American is to share of the great and the fail of our country.

Voting holds importance not only in the present, but in the past and in the future. People such as Sojourner Truth and Lucretia Mott fought for the rights of all to be equal in their ability to vote. Why should we forfeit it now?

Is it not true that we all are equally affected by the outcome of the vote? Why forfeit your ability to make change for the better? Voting is one of the most important rights we have; it keeps our country from becoming what we’ve so passionately fought against. Even when the people have spoken and you stand on the threshold of defeat, you voted. You made your voice heard, and you made use of one of the greatest gifts that your country can give you. Remember the fight for the 19th amendment.

Vote. Be Heard.



Sitting at the table doesn't make you a diner, unless you eat some of what's on that plate. Being here in America doesn't make you an American. Being born here in America doesn't make you an American.
Malcolm X, Malcolm X Speaks, 1965

New Article/We Are Daming Our Society

We Are Damning Our Society
Paul

What exactly is the purpose behind the gross amount of money we as human beings spend on entertainment? Why do these entertainment stars make so much money? And perhaps the most important question is this - why do these entertainers make more money than our teachers?

American football players make an average of roughly $1,400,000 US each year. British soccer players make an average of $1,177,000 US. Even high school coaches manage to make an average of $73,000 US. The average high school teacher, on the other hand, makes only $42,000 US each year.

Am I the only one who sees a problem with this?

Something about this isn’t right. Teachers are the people who give up their own time and money (since teachers are grossly undersupplied and are often forced to buy supplies with their own money) to educate our children. These people are raising the next generation of scientists, geneticists, mathematicians, writers, authors, composers, and playwrights. The children these teachers raise will go on to find the cure for cancer and AIDS, achieve heights of technology never before imagined, and will eventually discover a way to help us as a race transcend our own existence.

And yet you people would rather toss your money at people who are willing to entertain you for 30 minutes at a time.

Without teachers, we would have hardly any way to pass on information (for without teachers, who would have instructed us on how to use the internet?) Without teachers, we would all still be sitting in caves, scavenging for our lives (for without teachers, who would have instructed us on how to settle, to grow and harvest food instead of roaming?) A world without our teachers would be a world very different from the one we live in today.

Yet when money becomes tight in a city, where do those in power turn to for the first budget cuts? School systems. Every year, more and more teachers are losing their jobs due to budget costs, cramming more children into each classroom and reducing the amount of time and energy a teacher can spend with each child. Certain activities are often cut out entirely, with fine arts programs being the first to go (God forbid we lose our physical education classes before our fine arts classes!) Teacher pay is often sacrificed before politicians will even dare to think about cutting their own paychecks. And people wonder why teachers hate their jobs.

Despite all this, these teachers come to class every day - to classes where they are ridiculed relentlessly by youths, where they are under appreciated by the head faculty, where they are bombarded with complaints and compromises by parents - to pass along the knowledge to children that will one day mold them into greatness.

So why do we still pay these people so little, barely beans, to put up with all this crap, while sports stars and actors live the high life for doing nothing more than being able to play a game?

I think it’s time we get our priorities in order. If we don’t our society will be forever damned to mediocrity, and we will never become what we truly have the potential to be.

New Article/Help! The Ice Is Falling!

Help! The Ice Is Falling!
By Morgan

According to major news sources, Al Gore, and National Geographic the world is warming to a point that is very beyond the norm, and this is causing enormous amounts of ice to break off from the main parts of the antarctic shelf, which in turn causes the ice on the mainland to melt as well. This is interesting considering the fact that rising water temperatures (largely caused by volcanic activity) are causing ice to melt from the bottom up, not rising atmospheric temperatures, what's also interesting to note is that, while it is reported to the average citizen that very large chunks are coming off the Antarctic peninsula, but what they don't report is the fact that the ice chunks that fall off very rarely only account for roughly 2% of all total ice on the continent, as well that it won't cause anything significant because the ice has already displaced all the water it is going to, melted or not. They also fail to note that in recent years we've had some of the coldest winters ever (people are still reeling from the heating bills!), and the falling snow easily replaces what is lost at the sea on the main land mass. Ice has been cooling and accumulating since the early 1970s. According to Michael S. Coffman, Ph.D, only 2.67% of the Wilkin's ice shelf and only .01% of the entire Antarctic continent, despite the media coverage of it using such powerful words as "collapse", and "explosion". Joseph D'Aleo former director of meteorology at the Weather Channel, and executive director of Icecap.us compared it to "an icicle falling from a snow and ice covered roof".

What else is interesting to note is that for every scientist that favored the IPCC conclusions in any way 792 scientists signed the petition saying that there is not any conclusive evidence for catastrophic man-made global warming. And for every Ph.D who believed it there were 1,800 who signed the petition.