HW 37 "Podcast #2"

Gabcast! A Blog of One's Own #31

HW 36 "First Blogpost"

Gabcast! A Blog of One's Own #9

HW 35 "Last Blog Post"

Having a class where I had to read about a certain topic in a book and be able to give my own opinion to questions on the reading and how I feel about what the author is discussing was really a lot more effective then just answering questions on what I read. I enjoyed being able to say how I feel, even if I completely agree or disagree with what the author is saying. I learned that I was able to speak my mind and give my own opinion and put it into words better through my writing. In the future, if someone were to read my blog posts would hope that by reading them they would be able to get something out of them. Maybe not learn something of what I read about in a story, but at least the style of writing and how I responded to another person’s opinion. The work on all of my blogs I am most proud of is the chapters of the stories I read and where I summarized what happened. From the book, “They Say, I Say”, it gave me many tips on what to always include in a summary and what’s not important. I probably won’t keep the blog posts that I have written about for the past thirteen weeks for this blog class. I won’t delete them, but I will always keep up just in case I need them for future reference to help me with another class. If I ever need some info from for example, the book “Baghdad Burning” I can easily log in and access a summary of the first few chapters of the book. I feel that this class really helped my writing skills and gave me a good idea on what is expected in an opinionated response based class.

HW 34 "Gold and Date Palms in Iraq"

“Gold is a part of our culture and the roll it plays in ‘family savings’ has increased since 1990 when the Iraqi Dinar began fluctuating crazily” (Page 100). Gold is played as a huge role in Iraq when it comes to the Iraqi’s jewlary. Since the value of the gold in Baghdad did not change, they transform their gold into all different sorts of jewelry consisting of necklaces, bracelets, earrings, etc. Usually the jewlary they receive isn’t bought at a store. People get them when they are married, have a child, or have a special event occur in there life where they would receive a gift. When they receive this gold they can either keep or sell it. “People pulled their money out of banks before the war, and bought gold instead” (Page 100).
Date palms are used for syrup which is used for rice, syrup used for bread and butter, sugar used for Iraqi sweets and vinegar. There are over 300 different types of dates. “Every bit of a palm is an investment”(Page 104). You can also use them to make furniture and some use the seeds to make beads. They are considered so important to the Iraqi people because they have so many different uses. In a typical garden of Iraq, you will always find a palm tree. Everyone has one. They are used to protect flowers in the garden. When the U.S. troops go and cut down these trees it is considered an appalling and terrible act to commit.

HW 33 "Challenge's at a girl's school in Baghdad"

The title of the episode of the “Alive in Baghdad” podcasts that I chose was called, “Challenge’s at a girl’s school in Baghdad”. It was published on May 1st, 2007. I provided a link to the episode I have just previously watched and it can be found at http://aliveinbaghdad.org/2007/05/21/challenges-at-a-girls-school-in-baghdad/ . This video is about an all girl’s school in Baghdad and is trying to help the Iraqi children educate themselves and better there life. This school is in a dangerous area of Baghdad. In this podcast they talk to students, teachers, and directors of the school. Some of the students tell this interview how sometimes there are explosions around their school and they find themselves not even being able to walk to school. Although the school is a good distance away from their homes, they are striving to continue their studies and do well. In the opening scene you see groups of girls and they show the inside of the classrooms in the building. There are not many but a few decorations on the wall. A viewer watching this podcast will learn what a typical all girls’ school in Baghdad is like. They will be able to see the differences of a classroom there versus one we are used to in the U.S. This video compares to other footage I have seen of Iraq in that all the schools and outside of the schools they have the same dress code and wardrobe. What I find most memorable about this video is the fact that even though this war is going on all around them, children are still trying to better themselves and going to school acting as if it is not as big of a deal than it really is.

HW 32 "School Supplies"

Riverbend starts off by discussing the first day of school and the first day of the new academic year (Page 94). School supplies were the main topic in which she explains her first day of school. The start of a new year of school for me is full of mixed feelings. I’m excited for a new year to begin but also sad because what usually a great summer I have has come to a fast end. When I was little, I loved going out to the store to buy all my new school supplies which consisted of new pencils, pens, notebooks, paper, folders, etc. Riverbend goes out shopping for her cousins’ daughters. Her cousin doesn’t allow her children to go out themselves because of the war that is still occurring and it is very unsafe as a child to be aimlessly traveling around Baghdad. Riverbend chooses a theme for her cousin’s daughter’s school supplies such as Lion King, Winnie the Pooh, and Barbie. I feel bad for the children who cannot go out themselves to pick out what they want, but they’re lucky that they have Riverbend to be willing to go out for them. As excited as she was to go out and purchase these things that they could not get themselves, the children ended up not liking the certain theme of Winnie the Pooh that Riverbend picked out, but instead wanted Barbie. If this war was not occurring, innocent children of Baghdad would be able to go out and pick exactly what they wanted.

HW 30 B "Blogging for all Citizens and Reporters"

Today I attended the symposium speaker “Blogging for all citizens and reporters”. There were two people that spoke today by the names of Mike Caufield and a guy that goes by the name of Jim. Caufield is a blogger in New Hampshire and also the Keene State College webmaster. Jim is the Keene Sentinel editor. Throughout this speaker they discussed blogging and journalism and what they feel these two mean to them. They discussed how blogging has a change in the attitudes of ownership and sharing of information. This can include music downloading, academic honesty, and plagiarism. They also discussed the different attitudes about politics. One quoted sentence that the man whom I didn’t get his name but he speaks throughout Keene State to students said “Young people today want to change the world. They are more interested in local politicizing than voting.” His view on blogging said that he feels that the comments made about blogs are more important than what is actually said in the blog itself. Mike Caufield was the next to speak. “The question is not are bloggers journalists, but how we create a median environment of the people. And if I were to answer this question, then I hope not.” I found this interesting because I completely agree with what he said. I feel that anyone can be a blogger. You write how you feel. Bloggers are not journalists. Caufield did his first online homepage in 1997. He wrote a sonogram of his daughter. He wanted to be a political blogger so he could educate people about Charles Bass and get him out of office. The next man Jim began to speak. He’s been a professional journalist since 1970. “Most people put more faith in what they read if there is a name attached to it.” Jim continued to argue that he likes to be presented with something that has its own facts so then he can make his own opinion.
This whole discussion today was very fascinating to me. I got to here different views on blogging and journalism and the types of people who can do it. Anyone can blog and anyone can become well known for it.

HW 30 A "Secret Daughter Documentary"

I attended the speaker on Tuesday night titled, "Secret Daughter" with June Cross. I found this documentary to be very interesting and it really intrigued me with facts that I didn’t know about what African Americans went through. Secret Daughter was about a girl who grew up where her mother was white and her father was black. They divorced when she was at a young age. She went through her life having a mother who was embarrassed to have a black daughter and it was considered shocking ad appalling to even be associated with them. Her mother would make up excuses for being around her; saying she was adopted or they were just watching her as a friend of their neighbors. One quote I found to be pretty appalling was about what people would say about her mother. “She says her society will drop her if they find out she’s her daughter”. I found this to be shocking because I thought to myself why would her mother ever marry a black man if she was going to be embarrassed of her own daughter in the future? June Cross also stated about her aunt and uncle that “their love helped her withstand the loss of my mother”. Since she lived with her aunt and uncle they treated her as if she was their own daughter. They helped fill the spot of not having a mother always there. One interesting topic that I listened to throughout this documentary was that her grandmother was completely ashamed of her being black. I don’t know how I would be able to go through life knowing that my own family was ashamed of me just because of the color of my skin. I really was fascinated by this film of June Cross’s own life and I find her to be a pretty brave person to be able to stand before us today and tell her story.

HW 31 "Al-Hakim Assassination"

When reading the past assigned reading in Baghdad Burning, I found a name that seemed to be significant to me and decided to research it. On Monday September 1st, 2003 when Riverbend discusses Al-Hakim in her blog(Page 43), she talks about him and about how his assassination was very significant. In the book they discuss how his assassination “was used as an excuse for vendettas, faction fighting, and more violence between Shi’a and Shi’a and Sunnis and Shi’a.” Since his assassination in Baghdad, they are blaiming all Americans and holding them responsible for the amount of security in this country. Since I knew the effects of Al-Hakim from what Riverbend discusses, I thought I would actually look him up and see what his background was. Ammar Al-Hakim had an uncle who died from legitimate security in Iraq. "Just as martyr Muhammad Baqir al-Hakim stressed in his last Friday sermon, [there is a] need to involve effective popular and political forces in preserving security and contributing to bring about security and stability in Iraq. This is because the truth of the matter is that these forces are more capable of knowing who the enemies are and who the friends are, most interested in preserving and bringing about security in Iraq, and closer to people. This, in turn, will make people have great confidence in these forces, give them information, and help them hunt down criminals and aggressors so as to bring about security."( “Leading SHI'A Comment On Al-Hakim’s Assassination”). What Al-Hakim is basically saying here is they need strong security in Iraq. After reading this article and getting a better idea of the type of people in this book that Riverbend discusses, I am able to get a feeling as to what is occurring around her and the awful events that are taking place.

http://www.rferl.org/specials/IraqCrisis/shia-comment.asp

HW 28 "Letter to Riverbend"

Dear Riverbend-
As a requirement for my A Blog of One’s Own Thinking and Writing class, I am writing a letter to you to discuss your recent posting from August 17th- August 30th 2003. The way you write about what is occurring all around you doesn’t make it seem as bad as I know it really is. The way you are able to incorporate a sense of wit and funniness into such a serious act happening all around you is unbelievable.
One part you discussed that I found to be the most interesting considering I am from America is your argument about your hatred for the U.S. troops. It seems like they are completely invading your privacy and you can’t do anything without being questioned. It’s extremely crazy how girls have to wear skirts to look less suspicious. I feel that your lack of independence that you and other women have is slowly diminishing since the war. I hate the fact that young children are being affected. Their not allowed to go to school and is wrong that their education has to be an effect of the fighting that is going on around you. It really bothers me how all the innocent people who have done nothing wrong are having such negative outcomes. It’s unfair and it’s very brave of you that you are able to take it on such a light note and make positivity of what is going on around you and your family. I admire your courageous acts and way of putting things in a lighter way.

Sincerely,
Heather

HW 27 "First two entries of Baghdad Burning"

“Baghdad Burning”
By Riverbend
The Feminist Press at the City University of New York, New The Feminist Press at the City University of New York, New York
Foreword by Ahdaf Soueif
Introduction by James Ridgeway
Copyright 2005

“Baghdad Burning” was written by Riverbend in the year 2003. As the cover states, the book is basically ‘A girl blog from Iraq’. The story is composed of short blog entries of a young girl in her twenties being on the outskirts of watching the war in Iraq and what she is able to witness and her views and opinions on the battle. I think that this book was written because it was a way for people to be able to understand what was going on in the war. As it says on the first page of the introduction, “And to many of her readers, these entries have become perhaps the most important source of news from Iraq”. From reading this book, I feel it’s beneficial and that I will be able to get a better understanding of the war of Iraq. I will be able to feel as if I was there through her reading what went through her mind and what occurred that she had witnessed. Some challenges that will go through my mind through reading a type of book like this is I feel that my personal views may change from seeing what the young girl had to go through from just being on the outside looking in.