HW 25: Responding to Riverbend

I definately enjoyed reading about what Riverbend is all about, and I think that it is amazing how this girl can write about war in such a way that draws her readers in. The indroduction of Baghdad Burning by Soueif and Ridgeway, talks about how Riverbend is a girl from Baghdad who lives and shares her experiences of the wars in Iraq. Through reading her blog you are able to see things from her point of view by stepping in her shoes. It also speaks about how eventualy people get so invloved reading her blog that people start wondering if she will survive and how she is doing, as well as what she is doing the entire time. She also shares her encounters with her brother "E" who shares her tasks and thoughts. Throughout the rest of the introduction she talks about the different wars and what happens in each one. As far as Soueif and Ridgeway's account of the US invasion compared to my own is completely different. I never really understood or cared to pay attention to what is going on in the world. The reason for this is typically because I hate hearing about all the deaths and bad events that are occuring in the world because it just depresses me. I know that I am missing out on a lot of important things in the world but hearing such things as the ones that Riverbend has to go through just makes me upset. Soueif and Ridgeway write more about the facts and events from a factual point of view and more from experience and knowledge whereas I dont have any recollections or ideas about half of the things they talk about, because talking, and learning about war has never really been an interest or a priority for me.

HW 24: A Room Of My Own

According to chapters 5 and 6 of Virginia Woolfs, A Room Of Ones Own, she speaks directly of how women are gaining acceptance in the world. She talks about how women are now able to write books and have more roles in society. Woolf writes, " There are books on all sorts of subjects which a generation ago no woman could have touched. There are poems and plays and criticism ; there are histories and biographies , books of travel and books of scholarship and research , there are even a few philosophies and books about science and economics." She is basically saying how times have changed and now women can have roles in society. As far as having a room of my own, the one at my house would fit under this category. When I am in my room at home, this is the one place where i can just relax and not worry about anything that goes on in the outside world. When I am ther I can really think about everything and not worry about anyone bothering me if I need to think. My room is what makes up who I am, from the pictures to the trophies, to the colors on my wall.

HW 23: Jezebel/Eating For None

"With Apologies to Virginia Woolf"



After reading a blog called Eating for None which can be found on http://jezebel.com/gossip/eating-for-none/-314027.php I realized how blogs such as these refer to body images in the media, and the way that celebrities expose themselves is highly reflected upon the rest of the world. After reading the all these blogs I have found that the thing that catches the eye the most are posts such as these where they deal with celebrity gossip and catchy headings that make you want to read on, although a lot of information may be false. This site however is a very good place for women to state ideas and gossip, and write and publish what they want to talk about. However in a different time period such ideas would not be acceptable. In other words this is a very good way for women to come together and disscus important issues in the media and discover the femininity amongst eachother.

HW 22: "Patriarchy"

I believe that the reason why Woolf said that the paper proved that England is a patriarchy is due to the fact that men have more power than women. "A film actress had been lowered from a peak in California and hung suspended in mid air. The weather was going to be foggy." "The most transient visitor to this planet, I thought, who picked up this paper could not fail to be aware, even from this scattered testimony, that England is under the rule of patriarchy." (Woolf 33) This citation describes how England doesn't look highly upon women at all and the death of one woman doesn't mean anything whereas if a man died, this would be more of a serious issue. In this case women tend to feel useless, and unworthy. In comparison with the United States, I looked at the New York Times to see whether the paper would give a transient visitor to our planet the impression that the United States is patriarchy. On the front page of the issuse alone, the main topics of discussion where of issues concerning deaths of famous people, politics, bad relationships, gas prices, health and fitness, sports, and even new movies that are coming in the theatres. All of these ideas are of concern for both sexes not just one. In this case the United States is definately not patriarchy. Our country does not show as much concern over gender issuses as does England, which shows how everyone in society is fairly equal in rights and social status

HW 21: Dear Brother

Dear Brother,
A Room of Ones Own is definately a very difficult book to read. In the first chapter the main character deals with the problematic question of women and fiction. In thinking about this idea she comes to the sence that a women needs money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction, therefore she starts to explain the story of how this opinion of hers came to be. During this story she walks by a river and passes a college in which she comes upon a man who tells her that she is not allowed to step on the grass, making her feel inferior to the situation as a whole. She then goes through a series of events leading her to the library where she reflects upon the poetry of before and after World War One. She describes the changes and different styles of writings. She then describes how things would be different for women if from the start women werent so poor and if each generation of mothers had learned to save their money then their daughters would have enough money for an education. The purpose of this entire chapter in my opinion would be that in most cases not only do women tend to feel inferior to men, but in most cases they are that way. Men can have money and materialistic things where as women can't as much. I feel that the reason why an english teacher might consider this an important work because its shows the segregation of men and women and their rights as individuals. It always falls under the same category that women aren't as good as men in so many aspects, and this creates an issue in the world. I think this book is a great way to show how in many ways we have come so far, in terms of these gender issues. Once again I thought that this book was very difficult to follow along with but in the end the message is very clear and informative.

HW 19: "Web Of Influence"

I believe that the first paagraph of the text "Web of Influence" is important because it discusses how blogging is used everyday among people who like to share their opinions and ideas with the world. To put it in another way, Drezner and Farrell state that "Drawing upon the content of the international media and the world wide web, they weave together an elaborate network with agenda setting power on issues ranging from human rights in China to the U.S. occupation of Iraq." What this really means is that the media and the web together are two very powerful sources that can spread worldwide among other countries as well. Back many years ago blogging was mainly considered a hobby for people's entertainment, whereas today blogging is evolving into a new category where blogging is changing the world, especially in terms of changing the landscape fo journalists an policy makers (drezner, Farrell). People's respones towards political campaigns, for instance demonstrates one aspect as to why this one paragraph about blogging is important, as well as one aspect as to how blogging may effect the world.

HW 18: My Least Favorite Blog Post!

My least favorite blog I looked at is called, "Black women less likely to receive chemo." This blog can be found on http://feministing.com/ This blog was rather disturbing and upsetting to me. Racism is something that i feel very strongly about and in this case, it is an issue once again. "According to a new study, done by researchers at Wayne State and University of Michigan, black women are three times less likely to receive chemotherapy and five times less likely to receive Tamoxifen (a drug used to help treat breast cancer) than their white counterparts," states author Samhita. In today's world racism should not exist any more. The idea that black people will recieve less treatment than white people due to racial and ethnic backround is wrong. Everyone should be summoned to the same rights and treatment that is available. In reading this blog we are able to see how cruel this world can e towards people of different races and even just being able to see this is the first step in changing the world, which is exactly what blogs like these are doing. A blog such as this is a perfect example of how people can state how they feel about an issue, and decide where the topic will go from there.

HW 17B: "Sex, Lies, and Political Scrapes"

In reading both Interviews by Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, and Ana Marie Cox, I believe that Cox's Interview on her blog Wonkette is a lot more likely to influence the way I would vote in a coming election. The reason for this is because she tends to write more about truth and how she feels on a personal level, rather than writing about what people want to hear. I feel that without these aspects that Cox writes about, then people wouldn't understand or care to pay attention to the hidden things that go on behind the scenes. I do believe that Zuniga's ideas on political aspects are influential as well, but in this case Cox exlains more about the individual person and expresses things on a more personal level. Zuniga's writings are a lot more boring and he doesn't speak from the heart and how he feels, compared to how Cox is more realistic and optimitic.

HW 17: BODY ISSUES!

This blog explains how the need to be thin arond other women is becoming a problem. Body image is a serious issue around the world and is clearly stated on http://jezebel.com/gossip/body-issues/-307107.php. The main question being addressed in this blog is, "Why do women feel ok about their bodies until other women show up?" This especially relates to college students says Sanderson, who found that women in college tend to believe that they exercise less, and weigh more than the average person. This was my favorite post because, it really made me stop to think about how so many people around us everyday tend to judge eachother on looks and what the scale says rather than personality and every other good quality that we are supposed to look at in people. I really feel strongly about this issue due to the fact that this is the reason why so many young girls are now suffering from eating disroders around the world due to the effect of the media and taking jokes and comments to heart. I believe that blogs and articles such as these should open our eyes to the world around us, and allow us to learn to judge less. Is is especially an issue in colleges today because so many people care about the numbers on a scale rather than how they feel on the inside, as well as being healthy and happy with who they are.

HW 16: The 5 Pillars of Conversational Software

Scoble discusses how blogging became hot, through his ideas on the five pillars of conversational software. The first pillar mentioned is called the "ease of publishing." What he is refering to in this case is that blogging is a very easy, and quick way of being able to express yourself. It doesnt take long at all to make a blog post and then publish it. The second pillar is "discoverability." In this case what Scoble means is that blogs are meant for the public to see and respond to, anyone can view these posts so when a blog is discovered and catches the interest of someone, it is very easy to keep an eye on it and follow the blogs consistantly. Is is a common way to be discovered by someone on the higher end of the business scale or even someone who you've always wanted to meet. The third pillar is called "cross site conversations." This aspect in my opinion means if someone else is reading a blog, other can find the same one more easily and have a conversation with you as well. Scoble states "I could see who was linking to me with trackbacks." In this case it allows for more than one conversation. The fourth pillar contains information about "permalinking," where you can easily take a URL that is known and this will take you directly to the page in which is being looked for. This is almost like making a general search for something by simply using a key word and this makes it easier to search for something of interest. The last pillar that Scoble discusses is about "Syndication." In this case im not quite sure exactly what this term means, but in my opinion it means he can respond and read whichever blogs he wants. The Five pillars is something that Scoble believes has made blogging hot.

HW: 14 Denton Interview

In Nick Denton's interview, "Take an Obsession, Then Feed It" he explains how he doesn't think that blogging will take over other forms of media such as the newspaper, and television. To put it bluntly, Denton states "I dont think anyone's going to replace, anytime soon, the role of the New York Times in providing, for example, reporting from Baghdad. Weblogs dont have the resources to do that. So while I dont think blogs are going to change the structure of original reporting, they are going to supplant in some ways the editorial layer of the news." Ultimately I believe in the same ideas that the news and media have more of an effect on the population in terms of being able to communicate directly from one part of the world to another, with news from the war and other global issues. However in this case, blogging serves as the editorial layer of the news meaning that, blogging has as larger effect on determining what will end up on the front page of the newspaper the following day. Naturally this is a great way for companies to make more money, by making sure that the people have a say in what they believe is the most important and controversial ideas in the media, and this is where blogging comes in. Denton states, "So I think it'll be the editorial selection of the news business that weblogs will influence moe than the story writing itself." In conclusion, blogging will never overtake the mainstream media, but has changed the process in which things are done, and has allowed us to stop and realize how blogging has helped shape our world.