When will the average taxpayer realize they’re being cheated in many aspects? Not soon enough. At this rate, the U.S. economy along with the world economy cannot sustain itself upon such a dishonorable foundation. Money is being taken wrongfully, too much money, and it is going to the wrong places or is just outright unaccounted for. America will break her back trying to fix the world through endless spending, and once America’s back breaks, the world won’t ever be the same again.

The unsung war between the American people, the government and banks and big corporations is going on. The confusion that arises to simply operate one’s life financially is just too apparent for it to be accidental. It’s almost like dealing with the DMV, but worse.

According to NPR, The government is operated, now, not by the people, but by the companies who back the candidate the most. The influence is not from the people as much as it is big business. It costs a lot to get noticed on a campaign trail. Corporations are shaping America’s future, not for we the people, but for themselves and their ‘constituents’. Sending jobs overseas where it’s cheaper, and backing politicians who they know won’t interfere with their ways.

When Americans realize how badly they’re being ripped off, by their own government and their puppet masters; the corporations, I’m sure the cry will be for change, and not some Obama baloney change, but real change.

Some people see what is happening, but do not act. Others act without seeing, without seeing each other or what exactly is going on.

I hope we will realize that while we were watching TV, we were the prey of a threat closer and more damaging than Al-Qaeda or the Taliban. Maybe Americans will group together to bring about changes. Or maybe we will be passive, and once America snaps under the strain, wonder why movie tickets cost $152 or bread costs $60 a loaf (National Inflation Association). Some have predicted that foreign nations will soon ‘ditch the dollar’, instead of using the dollar to buy and sell oil, they will use other currencies.

Once this happens, all of America’s printing of the dollar will be useless and what America has been avoiding will catch up with us. Prices of fuel will skyrocket in America. The dollar will be useless, and once prices skyrocket the very systems implemented to make America a 1st world country will ultimately backfire.

I wonder when people will get tired of the nonsense and take their government back, out from the possession of corporations and give it back to the true employers: We the People.

Sincerely,

Jeremy Heitz ‘12

Dear editors,

Your article on the difference between Fairfield and Westport was right on the money.

For the 13 years that I have lived here, Westport has been a great part of my life, but it lacks the social opportunities we teens need to grow up.

There’s nothing to do here, except eat at fancy restaurants and shop at expensive stores.

I want Westport to be a place where teens can stay out later than six o’clock and have fun, memorable experiences!

I believe that bringing a movie theater into the town would be the best decision.

It would bring more people to Westport and would make the experience of being a teenager in Westport better. In addition, local businesses could use some more customers.

I never hang out in Westport.

Mr. Joseloff, RTM members, and other town leaders: make Westport less boring.

Sincerely,

Greg Weiner ‘14

Photo courtesy of www.sxc.hu

TO THE EDITOR:

The December 4, 2009 edition of Inklings contained a front page article entitled, “Smoker’s Choice.” 

While I know the intention of the article was neither to promote the use of marijuana nor to condone its use, some adults in the community who have seen the article have contended that it appears the article does just that, i.e., it encourages marijuana use as an alternative to the smoking of cigarettes.

I am writing to encourage you to prepare a follow-up that succinctly expresses your intent, which was simply to report the results of a random poll of students attending Staples High School, and was not designed to advocate the acceptability of marijuana use among students. 

In fact, within the article, contrary to the perception of the critics, you make clear that “today’s marijuana can be nearly five times more powerful and dangerous than what was smoked in the seventies….[leading] to higher addiction rates.”

I believe it important that you assert publicly in the next publication of Inklings that it is a commonly held belief among students and the administrative, teaching and support staffs at Staples High School that both marijuana use and cigarette smoking are harmful to one’s health and should be avoided. 

John Dodig,
Principal of Staples High School
Dr.  Elliott Landon,
Superintendent of Westport Schools

Graphic by Alix Neenan '12

Story 1:   10 years ago, when I  moved here from Massachusetts, I enrolled my, then pre-school, daughter in an after school science class.

After several weeks, in which my daughter attended class as the only girl amidst several boys, she asked if I could find a few girls to join her.  Universally the parents of girls I contacted told me that their daughters didn’t like science.  DIDN’T LIKE SCIENCE!  What is that about?  Kids love science.  They dig and splash, and collect and inquire, and get dirty and experiment all day if we leave them alone.

Story 2:  At the 2001 KHS autumn picnic simple face painting was among the day’s offerings. The choices kids could make about the face design they preferred were itemized on cards.  One card marked “BOYS” listed a flag and a snake, whereas the “GIRLS” card listed a flower and a rainbow. 

When I tried to explain to the mother running the activity that the card system sent an unnecessarily sexist message, limiting the choices kids would make, her response was, “They are just kids. They won’t know the difference.”

Finally, recent research shows that in the past 25 years or so our society has actually become more sexist, and the choices boys and girls make more restrictive. 

For example, boys and girls used to play together, build forts together, and share toys and activities in a way that is no longer true. 

It is hypothesized that the increased ossification of gender stereotyping has come with the advent of TV advertising (Saturday morning TV ads specifically, and the pink and black aisles of Toys R Us) that portrays all things girl as pink and frilly and all things boys as dark and aggressive. 

As these images have infiltrated our national subconscious, boys and girls have come to play with each other less, and have increasingly avoided behavior or toys that they perceive to be the exclusive purview of the other gender. 

Given the power of the media in our lives it is no wonder that despite Title Nine, and the many gains made since the birth of the  Women’s Movement, the behavior (including thinking and learning) of men and women, boys and girls continues to be unnecessarily limited and constrained by out-dated cultural forces.

My point here is that from birth, children  are taught what to like and what not to like, what it means to be a girl and what it means to be a boy; and parents very rarely realize that what they have taught their children may ultimately restrict their options and narrow their view of life’s possibilities (or that the video screens to which  children are exposed teach similarly potent lessons). 

It is my personal observation that by age 5 these patterns of behavior and gender identification are  well established.  It would take an amazing role model to help  kids grow beyond their sociocultural biases.  So maybe Ms. Comm and Mr. Corbo need to be talking to pediatricians and parents of preschoolers if they want to see change in the performance and interests of high school students.

Moreover, if students become more introspective about their interests, and consider the ways in which their behavior is culturally driven  the academic, intellectual, and professional  decisions they make might eventually reflect a  personally and societally satisfying balance between nature and nurture that.  

 ­­­—Jill Greenberg, Ph.D.

Click here to read the Boys vs. Girls Article that inspired Greenberg’s letter!