Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni passed into law an anti-gay bill that states that homosexual acts are punishable by years in prison on Monday. Gay acts were illegal in Uganda even before the bill was passed; now, some of these acts are even punishable by life in prison. Museveni did take out the death penalty originally included in the bill. The reason he has passed this law is because he thinks homosexuality, bisexuality, and transgender people are wrong, and he thinks these things are a choice, and does not want his country’s morals to be affected by the U.S.’s wishes. However, this has badly damaged Uganda’s relationship with the U.S., who is one of the country’s largest donors.

What do I think? This reminds me of a paper my brother has to write on whether or not Japanese internment camps were wrong. Yes, they were wrong. That is pretty much the only answer to that question, in my opinion. So yes, Museveni needs to get his head out of his judgmental @$$ and wake up to the fact that his way of life is not the only one. Homosexuality, bisexuality, and being transgender are not choices. They are not sicknesses. Museveni is the only one who is sick in this situation. My friend Scarlett doesn’t believe in laws against sexuality and thinks that it is dumb to damage his country’s relationship with the U.S. just for his beliefs. She thinks it should have been voted on. The author showed no bias.

Visuwords web, extending outward from Betty Friedan

They were soldiers

or boys, if you prefer

carrying guns like men because that’s what grown ups do, right

and they said goodbye to mom and dad and 

they set off. And

they sailed into an alien solar system with bullets in their guns and steel in their eyes

and they set down in their metal birds and they weren’t used to all the green there

so much green on

this alien planet

so it, the jungle I mean, swallowed them up because they were soft and unknowing  

and it hungered for muted colors

like gray

and then the jungle was calm and soft and dull

and empty for a long time.

But

soldiers quickly

turn

from gray to green, you know

and they grew branches instead of arms and legs

and their soft brown hair spiraled into floppy green leaves

and their soft pink skin grew hard and brown

and their roots dug into the ground and held firm and powerful

and there they stood

desperate 

and angry

for many, many

years

And that was their skin.

And they waited. 

And a long time after they dug their roots in, after they sprouted leaves and branches, when they were all asleep

a jet sailed through the air like a crow

or a hawk or

maybe a raven even

and the horizon flooded tangerine

tangerine clouds.

And the sleeping trees opened their eyes

which were really just knots in their bark and they said

what is that?

and the ugly orange cloud seeped toward them and they tried to run but
but

their roots were dug too deep in the alien planet, too deep in the

filthy,

barren dirt

and they stood there stuck in the ground

thrashing and

waiting

helpless

for the cloud

in the distance

creeping

creeping

closer.

and one tree, smaller than the rest

he imagined that if he could still smell, he would taste oranges in the air

and he closed his eyes and he imagined his home.

and then, then he could smell but

all his nose filled with was gas and

his branches turned back into limbs but

they were too weak to hold him

and 

he fell and

his sockets, they came back but his eyes were just scorched ash

and

he screamed through his dead mouth

and

the trees, they watched through their ashy sockets as they grew soft and pink and just boys again

they watched as their hard brown skin peeled off and left them raw

they watched as their bodies burned

and they were left ravaged 

and stolen

and dead inside

in the alien jungle.

And many years later

Some of them were

back home but

changed

and some of them were

scrawled on a tall V planted in

the ground

and some of them were forgotten and

left broken in the alien jungle that they were left to call home

and some were just fine.

but in the end

After trees and

jungles and

gas and

scars

and guns

all were men

if you know what I mean.

For a project in class, we had to interview a veteran from Vietnam. Since Ms. Christensen’s father was in Vietnam as a young man, we skyped him and asked him some of our questions, which are below, along with their answers.

1. Did you know you would be in the war when you heard about the draft? How did you feel when you heard about it, and how did you feel when you were drafted?

Mr. Christensen told me that he didn’t expect to be in the war or expect to be drafted. This was because, since he was in college, for four years he received a deferment, which meant he didn’t have to go to war. However, after that, he didn’t get another deferment, and before he knew it or had time to think, he was heading off to Vietnam, which he says was very overwhelming, but he was able to handle.

2. What sorts of people did you meet in the war? Do you still know any of them?

He was outdistanced from many of his fellow soldiers, but he does still have a very good friend from the war named Fred, and they still see each other sometimes. The two met in training and got to know each other well. Fred, who was an engineer in the war, was actually in combat, unlike Mr. Christensen.

3. Before you were drafted, did you feel like we should be in the war or not? Did your feelings change once you were in Vietnam or after you got back? Why or why not?

He was a dove before, which he felt was ignorant on his part because he didn’t know what it was like to be fighting in the war. After his service, he was a hawk, although he felt many mistakes were made in how the war was handled.

4. Were you surprised by the culture in Vietnam, or did you know what it was going to be like? What did you think about the culture?

He didn’t know what it was going to be like in Vietnam. The Vietnamese way of life was a new, alien culture, but eventually he got used to it, and he feels his experiences in the war were the foundation of his life.

5. Looking back, do you think the war was necessary? Why or why not?

He says that he cannot second-guess his decisions. He doesn’t know if the whole war was necessary, but he does know that we had obligations to the South Vietnamese that we couldn’t ignore.

Teacher Disciplined for “Santa is White” remark

In New Mexico, Cleveland High School students were told they could come to school dressed as a Christmas character. When an African American boy, Christopher Rougier, came to school dressed as Santa Claus, one of his teachers, whose name has not been released, said to him, “Don’t you know Santa Clause is white? Why are you wearing that?” This outraged the boy’s father. The teacher felt very badly about the remark and reported it himself to the school principal, as well as apologizing to the boy and his family. However, the boy’s father still feels that if this is the teacher’s attitude, it could affect his classroom and has pulled his son out of the teacher’s class.

I think this was a very, very stupid thing for the teacher to have done. Although no harm may have been intended, America is still fighting to get rid of racial prejudice, and for an adult to single out a kid, in school no less, which is supposed to be a safe learning environment, is absolutely inappropriate. My mom also thinks it was a really silly thing of him to do, and she is glad the teacher apologized to the boy’s family. She also thinks that it would be gracious of the boy’s father to accept the teacher’s apology if he has not already.

This article showed no bias. I thought both sides of the issue were fairly presented.