I think this “Godzilla” movie that is coming out soon is too secretive. I mean, you can’t even see what he looks like until after the movie comes out. You can only see like a hand or a foot. I can understand a little secretiveness, but this is a little too much. You can’t even get a T-shirt or anything until at least a week after the movie comes out.
Sean S., 12 Carol Stream
Unlike Mike
I just want to bring up the issue of Michael Jordan bouncing the basketball off of Mark Jackson’s head (April 21 Sports). I bet a lot of you out there are asking, “Why didn’t MJ get a technical?” Well, I will tell you why. Jordan has a reputation for being a “clean” basketball player, and because of this the refs will let him get away with a few things. Some may not think this is very fair, but if you think about it, it really is fair. He is being rewarded for clean play. And the reason why a “dirty” player would get tossed from the game is because they’ve already used up their “freebies.”
Dennis Rodman would be a very good example of a player of this sort. Though he has cleaned up his act this season, he still has the rep of a dirty player.
Dane H. and Kyle M. Wheaton
Earth year
I am one of the many members of Palatine High School’s Ecology Club. Unlike a lot of people, we don’t wait for Earth Day to do good things. Year-round we recycle cans from our school cafeteria. We also adopted a strip of Northwest Highway and clean up pollutants three times a year. During Earth Week at school, we sold buttons with slogans like “I Recycle” or “Tree People” and ecology-related stickers in the school cafeteria to raise money to donate for later in the year. Every year we donate to some cause such as adopting endangered species and helping the rain forests.
Chrissy M. Palatine
Power packs
I’m writing in response to your article on backpacks (April 7 Cover). I think backpacks are needed for certain reasons -not just for lip gloss and calculators. You need a backpack for a lot of things, although overloaded backpacks are not necessary.
If people can’t carry them, they’ll get pushed by accident or on purpose, and books, notebooks, pencils, etc., will get tossed around the halls. Then, they’ll be late for class. All because of some stupid backpack ban! Life is so much easier with a backpack.
Tracy D., 13 Carol Stream
Everyone hates backpacks at my school, including parents and teachers. Every day kids bring home an average of five 499-page books. We all complain of injured and sore backs. One day while I was waiting for my bus, I sat on the piano bench with my backpack on my back and started to play the piano. Within five seconds I fell backwards because my backpack was so heavy! I then weighed it and found that it was 20 pounds. The kids at Heather Hill Elementary School pray for a new invention that won’t hurt us.
Emily H., 10 Homewood
Moo-velous species
I read Dane H. and Kyle M.’s comments about cows (April 21 Backtalk), and I was infuriated. Maybe they are too young to realize what an ignorant comment they made. Why is it disgusting to put humans and cows on the same level? Biologists, scientists and enlightened people from all over the world have classified humans and cows “on the same level” for centuries. Just because you cannot communicate with a cow does not mean that you are genetically superior. Cows and humans have more in common than not. And the most important similarity is that humans and cows both have a central and peripheral nervous system, including pain pathways. This means that although cows may have a smaller brain than you or I, they can still feel as much pain as humans can.
I hope my letter will make you think twice about taking a bite of that “big juicy cheeseburger.”
P.S. If humans are so far superior, then why are we the cause of global warming, pollution and the destruction of the environment?
Aine C., 15 Wilmette
Mmm…cheese-burger…dead cow…how can you resist? Perhaps because you, Dane H. and Kyle M., don’t completely understand your opponents’ arguments. Cows’ only purpose to humans is to produce milk and meat. Of course, before there was man, what was the purpose of cows? To live, to be. Just as we do. Maybe cows do not belong on the same level as humans in matters of intelligence. But take the capacity for suffering the capacity for physical pain, which we know exists, and spiritual (pain), which very well could exist.
Because cows were not the first to overbreed and start a civilization, we took ultimate control over them. We keep them in captivity, kill them for our food, skin them for our clothing, abuse them and inject them with hormones for our drink.
Stop once to consider, as ridiculous as it may sound, how it would be if humans weren’t the ones to dominate the Earth. How would you feel? What is your capacity for suffering? It all changes now that you are the object of abuse and enslavement, doesn’t it?
Lliae B. Chicago
All God’s creatures
I think we still need to work on saving the animals (April 21 Cover). Like the little insects in the cave. Even though they’re little, they don’t deserve to die. I thought it was so sad that animals are dying because of us.
Lately, people have been better about saving animals. I still think they should worry about bugs and insects that live in caves and places we use up and pave over.
If I were in charge of building cities and houses, I would try to build around mountains and caves that have animals living there. We do have to knock down a few forests, but we shouldn’t have to cut down all the forests and fill in all the caves. We should build our houses on top of or around the caves.
I think it would be mean if an animal knocked down my house. Wouldn’t you get mad if an animal broke into your house?
John B., 11
Pathetic rumors
OK, I want to clear up something for all the people out there. Leonardo DiCaprio is not gay or bisexual. I think it is pathetic that all these guys start rumors about him just because they’re jealous. So he played a gay poet one time and kissed a guy. It’s called ACTING. He has never been with a guy before, because he isn’t homosexual. Personally, I think he’s hot, and I really don’t care what anyone else has to say. I think that people should just accept the fact that he is a talented actor and stop making up rumors.
Emily D.,15 Naperville
Leo undressed…
In response to Matt M. (April 14 Backtalk), uh, no. If you want to see Leo naked, watch the movie. The photos were freeze frames from the movie. He didn’t pose for nude shots to be printed all over the world. I don’t see what ego has to do with not wanting nude pictures of you printed. Leo doesn’t want those pictures to show because “Titanic” has made him more of a celebrity without privacy, and having those pictures printed would invade his privacy even more. But I don’t think that Leo should sue Playgirl for threatening to show them, he should sue those who already have used them.
Amanda F., 12
…and unmasked
I’m writing in response to the article about “The Man in the Iron Mask” (April 14 Cover). Wouldn’t they have some protective covering so he wouldn’t get an infection and ruin his popularity?
I would hate to see Leo with zits, because he might not look good anymore.
Jessica A., 12 Carol Stream
Bigger Backtalk? All write!
We’ve eaten up more than our share of Backtalk space recently with stories we just had to get in. But now your letters to us are piling up -so it’s time to spring clean! We’ll try to clear out our Backtalk files by devoting two pages to Backtalk next week. (Psst: You’ll either love or hate the letter from the kid whose dad says Marilyn Manson is very intelligent. And what about the letter from the 15-year-old boy who says there’s nothing wrong with his owning a gun? Or the one from the girl who says teenage boys are just jealous of Leonardo DiCaprio? Come back next week for the full stories!
———-
Write letters or send editorial cartoons to Backtalk, 5th Floor, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago 60611. We won’t use your last name, but you must include your full name, age and phone number (we may call to make sure you wrote it). You can also send us letters by e-mail (screen name KidNews@aol. com).
