HW 29: Podcast 2

Gabcast! A Blog of One's Own #59

HW 42: Podcast 3

Gabcast! A Blog of One's Own #56

HW 35: Letter to My Blog Readers !

Throughout this time period of keeping my own blog in this class, I have learned many different things. By having a blog, I was able to communicate in a different way, by expressing how I felt about readings and certain topics to the rest of the world. I have become a better thinker an writer and have learned how important blogging is to the rest of the world and ones own personal being. I hope that someone else will be able to feel what I feel through my own posts, and see the importance of blogging and the amount of feeling that goes into it. I feel the most proud about my "Least Favorite" blog post, because I chose a topic that I was very passionate about and therefore the post had a lot of emotion and feeling in it. I believe that once this class is over I will definately keep my blog and refer to it from time to time, or I may even eventually add to it, I'm not quite sure yet what i would like to do from here. I definately believe that blogging had become the new form of technology that is being used in the world today, and it is a great way of staying in touch with te rest of the world, and it reflects of the type of person you are through your feelings.

HW 34: Responding to Riverbend

The custom of evening tea in Iraq Is very traditional and common in their culture. I found this topic specifically interesting. In the evening, most Iraqi families gather together for "evening" tea. No matter how busy the day, everyone will sit around the living room, and wait for tea. " Iraqi tea isn't a simple matter of teacups and teabags. If you serve teabag tea to an Iraqi, you risk scorn and distain. A teabag is an insult to tea connoisseurs. It speaks of a complete lack of appreciation for the valuable beverage(Riverbend 108). The process of making tea is generally a three stage process. The kettle of water is first put on the burner to boil. Then the boiling water and a certain amount of tealeaves are comined in a seperate teapot and put on a low burner until the tealeaves rise to the top and threaten to boil over(Riverbend 108). People drink tea with breakfast, at midday, in the evening, and often with dinner. "Our tea in Iraq is special because it is flavored with cardamom and served in istikans. Istikans are little glasses shaped like the number 8 but open at the top, and flat at the bottom. They are made of thin glass and sit in little glass saucers or porcelain saucers with intricate designs drawn on them. The color of the tea has to be just right, clear yet strong, preferably a deep reddish-rown color(Riverbend 109). Ont these occasions, they sit gathered around a small coffee table with a tray of tea and something simple to eat such as biscuits or bread and cheese. One person will pour the tea, and add the sugar. In most cases the discussion around the table consisits of the troops and war topics. Such a ritual as drinking tea in the Iraqi culture is often taken for granted in our own culture, although we do have our own rituals here in the United States.

HW 36: Gabcast

Gabcast! A Blog of One's Own #5



Episode 5

HW 33: Podcast

Episode: Challenges at a Girl’s School in Baghdad
Series: Alive in Baghdad
Date Published: May 21, 2007
Link: Challenges at a Girl's School in Baghdad

The general topic of this podcast is about getting an education. They interview a few 8th grade girls and a few teachers. In this podcast, there is a lot of discussion about how there is an all girls school who is in danger because the school is in a dangerous part of Baghdad. Therefore girls are deciding to leave because of the danger of thier lives rather than by their own free choice of wanting to stay and get an education. It is even becoming difficult to find teachers that actually want to teach becuase of this. Dispite all this violence going on around the school, the girls still feel the need to continue with their education. Jinan Jamal Mattmoud, who is the director of Al- Safina speaks mainly about the schools even surrounding the area and what the teachers and students have to deal with. Just by simply watching this podcast it is very clear as to the the amount of money that is actually put into the school systems. The walls are all faded with paint and the desks and classroos in general are very old and look like they arent really cared for and kept up nice and neat. The streets are all run down and old, ad seem very secluded. Someone watching this episode might learn the way Iraqi's live, and the challenges they have to face. This video is very similar to others that I have seen on Iraq. The atmosphere and settings all look very familiar. The thing that stood out the most to me while watching this podcast was the idea that girls were afraid to go to school because of how dangerous it was. We dont have to worry about things like that around here and I just that very unusual.

HW 32: Responding to Riverbend

After reading Riverbend's October 5, 2003 post she talks a lot about shopping for school supplies. In this post, Riverbend makes an interesting point. She states "Yesterday, I went with my cousin, his wife, and my brother E., to shop for school supplies for his two daughters, a pretty ten year old and a loud seven year old. Every year his wife, S., takes the girls to pick out their own pencils, notebooks, and backpacks but ever since the war, she hasn't let them step outside of the house unless it is to go visit a relative." (Riverbend 94). From reading this section I realized that we do things very differently over here in America. Usually going school shopping isn't an entire family event in most cases especially beyond the immediate family. She also states how the girls arent aloud to step outside unless they are going to visit a relative, which in my opinion is a very scary thought. I could never imagine not being able to do what I want to do when I want to do it. Another interesting point that Riverbend brings up, is when they are in the store and she starts talking about erasers. " We've all tasted an eraser at some point or another. In the end, we went with some strawberry shaped erasers that oddly enough, smelled like peaches.....S. said I was confusing the kids but I reminded her that they had never tasted strawberries anyway....her kids wouldn't know the difference." (Riverbend 95). This idea is very strange to even consider thinking about. The idea of not knowing what a strawberry looks like or even smells like. In this case coming across an eraser that smells like something very unfamiliar to some yet very familiar to our culture here in America.

HW 31: Responding to Riverbend

In the reading for this week, I became very interested in learning about "Depleted Uranium."Riverbend speaks about uranium as something that is in many Iraq households. It has been proven to have a large effect on the environment and has been proven to have an effect on the rate of cancer increasing. Riverbend talks about how babies are being born with one eye, three legs, or no face at all. After looking up more information on it, I found that it is weakly radioactive and an external radiation dose from depleted uranium is about 60% of that from the same mass of uranium with a natural isotopic ratio. Depleted uranium, commonly known as DU is “uranium remaining after removal of the isotope uranium-235 (wikipedia.com). DU is considered both a toxic and radioactive hazard that requires long term storage as low level nuclear waste. Originally, DU was conserved in the hope that more efficient enrichment techniques would allow further extraction of the fissile isotope; however, those hopes have not materialized. It is often used in the military for defensive armor plate and other applications. Depleted uranium is also used as a tamper in fission bombs and as a nuclear fuel in hydrogen bombs. After researching information on depleted uranium, I definately have a better understanding as to what Riverbend has been talking about all along. Th elink to this site is, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depleted_uranium.

HW 30b: Citizenship symposium 2

The speech that I went to see was spoken by Tom Lantos. His speech was about World War II and the Holocaust. In my opinion this was a very good speech, and it was very interesting as well. The topic of the Holocaust in general is a very sensitive and emotional topic for many, and in this case it was sad as well. The Holocaust is something that generally everyone knows something about, and in this case I am the most familiar with this war, more than any of the others. Tom Lantos was introduced by his daughter, Katrina Sweat, who presented her father, who happens to be the only Holocaust survivor to be elected to serve in the United States Congress. She spoke about how her father came to America right after World War II when he was 19 years old. He decided to run for congress in 1980. In 2006 he became a the head chair member of the foreign committee. Tom spoke a lot about American History and how freedom came to be today. In the conclusion of Tom's speech he spoke mainly about how the new president has a great deal of responsibility to uphold. Throughout this whole speech it is clear how much Tom appreciates his country and has a lot of respect for every aspect of America.

HW 30a : Citizenship Symposium 1

The Syposium that I attended was called "Citizens Gone Wild" and the speaker was Nancy Tobi. Nancy spoke mainly of democracy and how it came to be. Nancy grew up in Lexington, Ma. Throughout Nancy's speach she explained about the state of New Hampshire, and how their votes are counted.She discussed two ways in which votes can be counted, a hand count vote with community counters, and then the Diebold count which is eighty-one percent of how the voted are counted. One way to get the votes to be counted in an open meeting is to bring it up with a petition in your town meeting. The main discussion and point that I got out of Nancy's speech, is that hand counting ballots is a lot more beneficial and accurate than a machine doing most of the work. We may not think this to be the case but there are proven to be a lot more errors in machine counting than in regular counting. Basically Tobi is trying to get across the point of how our government is run, and how the Declaration of Independence has an effect on how the government is run.

HW 28: "An Open Letter to Riverbend"

After reading all of your blog posts up to August 30th, 2003 really opened my eyes to the world in a way in which I have never seen it before. I love how you put so much feeling and meaning into your blogs, this only makes me want to read more about everything you have to face on a day to day basis. Through your blogs I was able to feel in myself some of the heartache that you face, and this really makes me feel grateful for what I have in life. The fact that you constantly have to worry about where guns are being fired, the constant nightmares you have to deal with, and the frequent deaths you have to see, is something I cant even picture happenening or having to think about. The entire time I was reading your blog, all I could think about is how different our lifestyles are from eachother. Over here in America it seems like we have everything so easy, or atleast for me. I spend days complaining about things that have no significance to the meaning of survival at all, but yet for some reason I tend to think that this is okay because its the only thing i've come to know. Why is my country so concerned with the materialistic and always needing to be perfect and right, when you have to wake up everyday and deal with all these struggles? It doesnt make sence to me now and it never will. The strength that you have in youself to wake up everyday and face a new battle in your life is something I wish I could have, or to be even half as strong as you, is something I can only strive for.

HW: 27 Annotated Bibliography

Baghdad Burning is a book about a girl named Riverbend who writes about her experiences in Iraq as the war goes on around her from a day to day basis. The blogs in which she writes, become the main source for people around the world to read up on her about her experiences and status throughout war. The people around the world tend to rely on her for updates. The reason why this book relates specifically to the work that is done in class, is because the class relates directly to blogging and how blogging is changing the world. In this case the simple idea that Riverbend uses her feelings and ideas to share with the rest of the world, is exactly what we are learning in class. From this blog we are able to learn what it is like for a girl in Iraq to go through a period of war and difficulty, through her eyes. Being able to see things from anothers perspective, is a great way to feel what others feel and invision what others see, which is a great way to learn about anothers culture and way of life.

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.