Speak Your Mind: Your Opinion Could Be Worth A Trip To Spain

You can get more out of reading the newspaper than just information and entertainment - you might get a trip to Spain!

The Spokesman-Review’s Newspaper in Education program is co-sponsoring the Read & React contest with Parade Magazine, which sends 150 students throughout the country to Spain for a week in the spring.

Here’s how you enter: Read The Spokesman-Review for two weeks until you find an article or series of articles that spark your interest. Use the facts in the stories to form your own opinion on a subject of local, regional, national or international interest.

Clip out the story and write an editorial opinion giving your views. Essays must be no longer than 250 words. Judging will be based on depth of understanding, quality of analysis, originality and writing style.

Your deadline is Dec. 5. Get an entry form at any Spokesman-Review office or from your school counselor.

Don’t be afraid to ask: A parent and a teenager have at least one thing in common: Each thinks the other doesn’t listen.

At Spokane Teen Voices Unplugged, a public forum for teens last this month, several teens talked about the need for better communication between them and their parents. The Spokesman-Review would like to know more about where the breakdown occurs.

If you’re a teenager, what do you want to tell or ask your parents but feel you can’t? If you’re a parent, what would you like to ask or tell your teen? We’ll collect the thoughts you share and publish them on a future Perspective Page.

If you have a question or a comment, write to Doug Floyd, The Spokesman-Review, 999 W. Riverside, Spokane 99201, or leave a voice mail message at 459-5577 (ext. 5466). You also can respond by fax at 459-5098 or e-mail at dougf@spokesman.com. Please include a telephone number.

Prose, please: Don’t forget about Our Generation’s creative writing page, coming up in December. If you have a poem or short story you’d like published, send it to Our Generation by Dec. 1. Here are the rules:

1. You must be between 13 and 19 years of age.

2. Entries can be poems or short stories of no more than 1,000 words. You can also include a drawing or artwork (yours or a friend’s) to accompany your piece.

3. Only one entry per person.

4. Mail a copy of your work to Our Generation, Get Creative, 999 W. Riverside, Spokane, WA 99210. Include your name, age, school, address and phone number.