And now we’ve completed the 7th run of #16tovote on the 16th! Our monthly 24-hour Twitter campaign to raise awareness of lowering the voting age! This one was a little low-key, where despite having a decent total tweets and retweets of about 208, number of participants was only 30. Nonetheless, the event still went on and still spread the word about lowering the voting age to a lot of people, even several people who’d never heard of the cause before and were delighted! The next one will, of course, be Thursday, September 16. But for now, here’s the recap!
youthrights Let’s get another #16tovote on the 16th started! Here’s Top 10 Reasons to Lower the Voting Age! http://bit.ly/cavxOT
youthrights Schwarzenegger wants to ban violent video games from youth. http://bit.ly/baOTE3 That is, from people who can’t vote against him. #16tovote
youthrights But funnily enough, Schwarzenegger’s home country of Austria lowered the voting age to 16 three years ago. #16tovote
youthrights Wondering what’s going on? #16tovote on the 16th is our monthly event to tweet a lot about why the voting age needs to be lowered. #16tovote
youthrights If you support lowering the voting age, and of course you do, speak up! And use the hashtag. #16tovote (more…)
Arnold is trying to take away your games. Don’t let him.
California passed a law that would ban the sale of all “violent” video games to individuals under 18. The case of whether or not this law is Constitutional is going before the US Supreme Court. Their ruling could have far reaching implications for how games are produced, who gets to play them and how they look. Even if you aren’t under 18 this court case could be just the first step to larger and stricter standards that will affect everyone. Jeff Green lays out why you should care. The Entertainment Consumers Association calls this case the “single most important moment for gamers, and the pivotal issue for gaming, in the sector’s history.”
Schwarzenegger: keeping violent video games out of the hands of our children since 1992.
No one on the Supreme Court has ever played a video game. None of the lawyers for either side have ever played a video game. These people are going to be setting down law that will affect tens of millions of gamers and young people across the country, but their only knowledge of video games comes from the testimonies of people like Andrew Schlafly, who paint video games as little more than realistic murder simulators.
NYRA isn’t going to let them get away with this. NYRA defends the rights of youth when they are challenged across the country. As gamers, we need to make it clear that video games are more than random violence and that no one should be denied access to them. NYRA is working on an Amicus Brief to submit to the Supreme Court, but we need your help.
Since we are one of the few organizations working on this actually made up of gamers, we need to work with the gaming community to strengthen our argument. The Supreme Court doesn’t realize the importance of video games. We need your testimonies about their social, artistic, and political value to help the justices understand just what they would be taking away if they let this law stand.
Political speech is treated differently than non-political speech. The more examples we can provide of games, especially violent ones, having some kind of political content the better. If we collect enough testimony to convince the court that video games have political value, their distribution will be protected under the First Amendment. This very well could be the silver bullet that saves video games in this case. If we convince the Court that games are political, not mindless, then we win. Simple as that.
You can be a part of saving video games. Leave a comment on this post describing your thoughts on the social, artistic and, especially, political value of video games. Together, we can strike this law down.
Today is the last day for me as an intern at NYRA’s office. But the battle for youth rights should never stop. Before involved with NYRA, I didn’t even notice that there are so many discriminations against the youth in the society. Everyone has been young. But as we grow up, we forgot how it was like to be young.
Among all NYRA concerned issues, I am particularly interested in lowering the drinking age. Before I came to the U.S., I have heard a lot about teen drinking issues especially the news story of former President Bush’s twin daughters got caught drinking alcohol. I think that story occupied the front page of the “International” section for a week. Maybe it is difficult for me to understand American teens’ desire to lower the drinking age because I grew up in a totally different culture. I have learned that alcohol is not just wine or beer that get people drunk or unconscious. Instead, certain type of alcohol can be used as a treatment for diseases. I cannot remember when was my first time to drink but I didn’t become an alcoholic because I drank at an early age. In fact, from what I have learned, young children normally don’t like the taste of alcohol. They prefer coke or juice. At NYRA, I was exposed to different kinds of youth issues in the U.S. If I was not interning here, I might still have the old thoughts toward American teens based on movies and TV series.
Working in the office of NYRA, I have learned a lot about not just youth rights issues but also how a non-profit organization operates. We have a saying in China, “Sparrow, although small, five organs all complete” (麻雀雖小，五臟齊全). To me, NYRA’s office seems to be a sparrow: it is small but functioning efficiently as those giant animals do, such as elephants or whales. Since it is a small office, you can always listen to the strategic discussion between the executive director and the director of development and operation. And, they encouraged interns to jump in and contribute their own thoughts. Moreover, I was encouraged to participate in several outreach director interviews which gave me to the chance to re-think interviews and candidates from the perspective of employers.
To me, it is a great experience working here. Today is the last day at the office. I remember a quote from my teacher a few years ago. And, I think it is suitable as the end of my story:
This is not the end.
This is not the beginning of the end.
Maybe this is the end of the beginning.
Dozens of NYRA members from all over the country came to DC this weekend for the biggest and most exciting NYRA Annual Meeting yet! We have about 100 pictures of the event up on the NYRA Facebook page. Here is just a sample. Click them to see the whole album. Be sure to “like” the NYRA Facebook page too!
Yesterday, NYRA members made it out to Warped Tour in Columbia, MD and did a great job spreading the word about the youth rights movement. Almost TWO HUNDRED new people signed up at the event. This was an amazing opportunity to promote youth rights, get more people involved and grow the movement. Warped Tour is a national tour of punk bands and an awesome venue to reach out to interested youth.
Here is a pic of Myah Coleman recruiting at the concert:
We’ve now had the sixth run of #16tovote on the 16th! As usual, we all got on Twitter and tweeted why we want a lower voting age, with the #16tovote hashtag. This was the second time it’s been on a Friday. It had a lot of the usual spouting of short talking points, and it even got a bit conversational here and there. The next will be Monday, August 16, of course. As usual, here’s the recap!
The fifth run of #16tovote on the 16th, our monthly Twitter campaign to raise awareness of lowering the voting age, has come and gone. Just like before, youth rights supporters on Twitter tweeted and retweeted a lot about lowering the voting age, using the #16tovote hashtag, spreading the word to all of their followers. While some of our usual participants were conspicuously absent, we got a lot of new participants who eagerly jumped into the fun! Also, since school is out now, some who usually couldn’t participate until late afternoon were able to get into it earlier in the day.
The sixth run will be, of course, on Friday, July 16. If you’re not already following NYRA on Twitter, do it now!
But for now, here’s the recap of the June edition of #16tovote on the 16th!
youthrights Hey, everybody! It’s time for yet another… #16tovote on the 16th!!! Here’s Top 10 Reasons to Lower the Voting Age - http://bit.ly/cavxOT
teh_maxh Yay, it’s #16tovote day!
youthrights #16tovote on the 16th is our day we tweet and retweet a lot about why the voting age needs to be lowered! With the #16tovote hashtag. (more…)
The fourth run of #16tovote on the 16th has been a success! Went about the same as last month’s, with about the same number of participants, and as usual they churned out some more great reasons, points, links, and other good stuff in support of lowering the voting age. Participants consisted of some veteran #16tovote on the 16th tweeters as well as awesome new ones! This is the first one that has been on a weekend, a Sunday, as the first two were on Tuesdays and the last one a Friday. The next one on June 16 will be a Wednesday. To join in the excitement, be sure to follow NYRA on Twitter for all the relevant info and good pro-youth rights stuff to retweet!
youthrights Don’t exclude and ignore teens. Educate them. Engage them. Include them. Lower the voting age! #16tovote
arclights It takes just a few months to get tired of #16tovote on the 16th. But I’m not as tired of it as, at 16, I was of not being able to vote.
youthrights Teens pay billions in sales and income taxes yet have no vote. Can you say “taxation without representation”? #16tovote
youthrights 14-year-old Alfie McKenzie voted underage in the UK election! - http://bit.ly/9I8LWe - Go Alfie! #16tovote
youthrights “Teens will vote like their parents.” Really? Someone might vote the same as someone else? That’s a reason for denying suffrage? #16tovote (more…)
I have no idea if this is legit, but today I noticed some stuff on Twitter that seems to be from a supporter of Fred Phelps and the hateful Westboro Baptist “Church”. Is it official? I have no idea, but this is what was said:
# @kpalicz Stop teaching youth to hate God,to say it is ok to be gay,and to rebel against parents
# @kpalicz I wish you change your life not to encourage the rebelious youth of the doomed America.WBC
# @youthrights Stop rebeling against your parents,you hellbound brats.The Laramie Project is a lie!Matt is a filthy faggot in Hell.
# @CalvinistKnight Listen troll.Alex Koroknay Palicz is a leader of the rebelious youth who kiss fag ass
# @youthrights God hates apostate youth.
# @youthrights God hates you rebelious disgusting youth
I’m still rather new and unfamiliar with Twitter, but the user who posted that is TruePuritan. This person has just 21 followers but has “tweeted” 1,721 times. Pretty much all hateful stuff the Westboro Baptist “Church” usually says. Have they really turned their sights on NYRA and youth rights?
A few days ago, you saw Alex’s great piece on Kyleigh’s Law. A day earlier, NYRA President Jeffrey Nadel made this video detailing our opposition to this horrible legislation. Enjoy!
Why don't you 
Here’s Top 10 Reasons to Lower the Voting Age! http://bit.ly/cavxOT
#16tovote
Schwarzenegger: keeping violent video games out of the hands of our children since 1992.
