About Jonathan Gainer

Age: 16
School: Home-School
Favorite Color: Blue
Favorite Movie(s): Collateral, The Usual Suspects, Ocean's 11, Minority Report, Munich, The Good Shepherd
Favorite Food: Lucky Chamrs, Sushi
Favorite YPress Story: Benin

Stories by Jonathan

	Government By Jonathan Gainer, 14 As the first African country to transition from a dictatorship to a democracy, Benin has been hailed as a "beacon of democracy" by the British Broadcasting Corp. and has attracted admirers worldwide. The Beninese have former President Mathieu Kerekou to thank for that.
	Nation's democracy is in its infancy but growing By Jonathan Gainer, 14 As the first African country to transition from a dictatorship to a democracy, Benin has been hailed as a "beacon of democracy" by the British Broadcasting Corp. and has attracted admirers worldwide. The Beninese have former President Mathieu Kerekou to thank for that. Kerekou, who assumed power in 1972 and governed for more than 20 years, became a Muslim, a born-again Christian, changed his name
	Help from a royal couple By Mallory St. Claire, 16, Shelby Helton, 16, Jonathan Gainer, 15 About 600,000 Serbian youth live in poverty, often without adequate health care or schooling, according to UNICEF. Thousands don't even have parents to love or shelter them: More than 7,500 live in orphanages with little chance of ever being adopted. Spurred by racism, Serbs and ethnic Albanians have been embroiled in conflict over control of the region for more than a century.
	Brush with Bush was memorable By Millie Cripe, 13, Lawrence J. Pennington, 11, Jonathan Gainer, 13, Tommaso Verderame, 12, Andy Goldblatt, 17, Julie Kippenbrock, 13 Former President George H.W. Bush was in Indianapolis earlier this month to speak at Butler University. Six Y-Press members attended the speech and also were able to ask him a few questions beforehand. While a few approached this "brush with celebrity" with awe, others had braced themselves to hear what they thought would be some stock political talk. By the end, however, they all agreed the forme
	Young inner-city teens list community improvement and school safety as top concerns By Michelle Hu, 16, Viktoria Kreydenko, 12, Noelle Sercer, 13, Jonathan Gainer, 15, Mallory St. Claire, 16, Joe St.Claire, 14, Warren Stokes, 17 As the political gambits of the 2008 campaigns kick into high gear, involvement by youth is higher than in any election. According to the Pew Research Center, overall youth turnout - voters ages 17 to 200 for the primaries has increased five percent from the 2004 election.
	Young political activist: Portland, ME By Jonathan Gainer, 16 It took a while, but the Blunt Youth Radio Project has helped Gavin Bauer find his voice.