HW37: Podcast number 2!

Gabcast! A Blog of One's Own #32



Recording number 32

HW 36: First podcast

Gabcast! A Blog of One's Own #5



Episode#5

HW 35: Goodbye

Dear Readers,

Over the past 13 weeks of my ITW:101 course, "A blog of one's own", I have learned many things. I have come to realize that blogging isn't as unimportant and insignificant as I thought it was. It can really change a persons life and help people when they are having a tough time. I have learned that their is a huge political and business aspect of blogging that helps incorporate as many people into campaigns and new businesses as possible. I hope that if anyone has the chance to read my posts about blogging, they will see that in the beginning of writing my first few blog posts, I clearly was not interested in blogging and I did not think that it had a point. Over time, I have come to realize that blogging isn't so bad. It's a quick and efficient way to find out about certain topics and hear other peoples opinions on topics that interest you. I feel as though blogging has opened my eyes to a different world of the Internet which is definitely excited. Throughout my blog I don't think that I produced any great and interesting work, but I would like to think that the fact that I learned so much about blogging was my best work. After the next few posts I'm sure my blogs will stop coming. I'm sorry to tell you that I just don't have the time or dedication to keep up with my blog without having it be required of me. I might occasionally come on and post a few jokes or an interesting story, but otherwise I doubt that anything will be kept up with. For whoever out there that has sat and kept track of my blog, I hope you enjoyed my entertaining posts and it has urged you to learn or write about some of the topics that I discussed.

Thank you very much.

HW 34: Gold & Date palms

In Iraq gold does not mean that you are an extremely wealthy person. Gold plays a part in their everyday culture. In 1990 the value of Iraqi Dinar kept changing value and caused it to become very hectic. When this happened everybody had their money exchanged for gold jewelery. All types of jewelery were bought, like, gold earrings, gold bracelets and god necklaces. "Women here call gold "zeeneh ou 7*azeenah (khazeeneh)," which means ornaments and savings. Gold can be shown off and worn, but in times of economical trouble, a few pieces can be sold to tide the family over." (Riverbend, 100) This action of transferring money into gold is like changing the currency from Dinar's to gold almost. If many people keep gold in their homes as their savings then it is almost like a new kind of currency. Especially if you can sell your gold when your not economically stable for money.
The palm trees in Iraq are very common. Palm trees don't seem as important anywhere as they do in Iraq. They Iraqi love the presence of all of their 500 different types of palm trees.
"A palm tree is known as a "nakhla" and never fails to bring satisfaction and admiration. They are the pride and joy of Iraqi farmers and landowners. A garden isn't complete if there is not a palm tree gracing it." (Riverbend, 103) The Iraqi people collect the somewhat 300 different types of dates off of the palm trees in the summer. Every date has a different taste, color and texture. Dates are not only used for vinegar, alcohol, and food, but they are used for brooms, baskets, mats, hats, bags and plenty more. The one thing that is liked by Riverbend the most is the fact that she gets beads out of dates. Not only are dates one of the prime resources in Iraq, but they represent beauty too. (Riverbend, 104) "Historically, the palm trees have represented the rugged, stoic beauty of Iraq and its people. They are a reminder that no matter how difficult the circumstances, there is hope for life and productivity." (Riverbend, 105) The palm trees give Iraq a sense of hope and security that as long as they are there, everything will work itself out.

HW 32: Burqas, Hijabs, and veils

On Wed. October 1st, 2003, Riverbend posted a blog that talked about 3 different types of things. She explained how people, including an anthropologists do not know the difference between a veil, burqa and hijab. She has read an article in the New York Times that presented this question to her. She talks about how much different the meaning of a veil or burqa is in Iraq as compared to in Afghanistan or Saudi Arabia . (Riverbend, 92) She goes onto to say that in Iraq the most common worn thing is a hijab and not a veil. A veil is only worn by someone who is an "extremism". (Riverbend, 92) A veil in English is called a burqa. In Iraq it is called a "pushi", or a "khimar". When worn it is a piece of cloth that covers a women's face and head, sometimes without covering the eyes. The hijab, as described by Riverbend, is much different than a veil. A hijab or "rabta" is a cloth that wraps around a womens neck and head. This can be wrapped in many different styles. Most women in Iraq wear hajibs if they are "covered". (Riverbend, 92) The hijabs can be any color and design. The hijabs can be worn with any type of clothing as long as they are long enough and appropriate. Women wear teh hijabs to protect themselves from sexual harrassment. Riverbend goes onto discuss another type of garment that is called the abaya. This is a long cloak like garment is worn by both men and women. Riverbend describes it as a "traditional graduation gown". (Riverbend, 93) Many Muslims wear the headscarfs because it is important to them in their religion. Not evey women in Iraq wears them. Nobody is forced to wear a hijab or a veil.

Riverbend. Baghdad Burning. New York, NY. The Feminist Press. 2005

Hw 31: Responding to Riverbend

The group Al-Qaeda was mentioned in Baghdad Burning by Riverbend in the blog post titled "Blog fights". (Riverbend, 44)I have always heard a lot about this group, but I never really knew much information about them. I thought that Al-Qaeda was a bad terrorist group formed by Osama Bin laden, but that is all I know. I wanted to know where they came from, how they developed and what they do. I found a website called FAS Intelligence Resource Program that discussed where, how, when and why Al-Qaeda was formed. The first thing I noticed was that ion the website they spelled Al-Qaeda differently than Riverbend. They spelled it al-Qa'ida. I don't know if it is common that the group has many different spellings, but I thought that was interesting. Al-Qa'ida, which means "the base", is a radical Muslim group that wishes to overtake all Muslim countries that they view as corrupt. This allowing their group to rule all Muslim countries. Al-Qa'ida now remains in small groups across South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. In the 1980's, Usama Bin Laden formed the Sunni Islamic group. Al-Qa'ida is an extreme group of Muslims that does not approve of non-Muslims. It was said in 1998 that the duty of all Muslims was to kill United States citizens, whether they be military or civilians. This was an issued statement under “the World Islamic Front for Jihad Against the Jews and Crusaders”. This statement is very shocking to me. I knew that the group did not like America but I did not know they were told that it was their duty to carry out the death of all Americans. This ties into the book Baghdad Burning because Al-Qa'ida is a widely known group in Iraq.

Pike, John. Al-Qa'ida (The Base). 12 Oct. 2005

<http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/ladin.htm>.

Hw 30: Citizenship Symposium cont'd

On Thursday, November 8th, I attended a second symposium speaking. This session was also at noon. I was privileged enough to listen to Congressman Tom Lantos speak about Freedom in America. His daughter was the one who introduced him and she introduced not only has her father but as her hero. This showed that Tom Lantos clearly was an inspiration and had a wonderful thing to talk about. When the Congressman began talking he talked about how he came to America originally with nothing. He came with 5 dollars in his pocket and salami in the other pocket, although salami was taken from him. He then began to describe how much better his life was when he arrived he. He started with nothing and gained everything. The main idea of this speech was "All men are created equal". Congressman talked about how much this was emphasized in the United States and how he enjoyed this aspect of our country. He says, "The image that I have of the U.S is the image that is present in so much of the rest of the world." He continued to state "I am passionately patriotic". During his speech he showed how patriotic and grateful he was for living here in the United States. Tom Lantos was very involved in foreign affairs, especially with the President of France. He spoke about a recent meeting he had encountered with the President where the President of France said, "America, did not teach men the idea of freedom, she taught them how to practice it." This engulfed the entire idea that Congressman Lantos talked about. America is about freedom and we should love her for that.

Hw: 30 Citizenship Symposium

I went to the Citizenship symposium on Tuesday, November 6th, at noon time. At this session Provost Emile Netzhammer introduced the idea of the symposium and talked a little bit about citizenship. Following the Provost was Mayor Micheal Blastos who lead into Nancy Tobi's speech. The name of her topic was "What kind of democracy do we want?". She discussed the different types of democracy in our world and who started them. She began by talking about Moses and how he lead his people in democracy. I thought this was the most interesting point because she went very far back in time to show how long democracy has been around and how it has benefited us since then. Tobi talked about different ways of holding elections in the United States. She seemed unbelievable passionate about democracy. The way she was speaking showed that she was very enthused about her topic. Her body language and tone of voice showed how much she really wanted all of the audience to listen and take her side.
"The vote is a personal expression to our nation and communities." This quote that Tobi said was contributed to the main idea of her speech because she focused on how important voting in a deomcracy was.

"An open letter to Riverbend (HW28)"

Dear Riverbend,

After reading your blog posts up to August 30th, 2003. At first I didn't know if I was going to be able to handle all of the things that you were going to talk about in your posts. I haven't really paid much attention to the war or the repercussion of it, but now I guess there is a first for everything. First off, I wanted to start out by telling you that your post descriptions get me excited to read every blog. I can tell when something good has happened or when your feeling down or when something chaotic has happened. This makes me want to read more and more all the time.
I was very shocked to see how terrible it is over there for you. I could never handle living in fear all the time and have to deal with all of the constant fighting. To be able to sit on your roof top at night and listen to the sounds of different guns with your brother and point out which kind they are amazes me. That shows how long this has been going on for. For a 13 year old and a 24 year old to know what type of gun is being fired in the middle of the night, it must be ridiculously violent all of the time over there.
In your post titled "Chaos" you mentioned how 400 women were abducted, and these were only the ones that were accounted for by the Americans because most of the time the male family members would go out looking without telling anybody. How did you deal with living like that? How could you handle knowing that such terrible things were happening and they could just as easily happen to you? I would never be able to live in that type of world.
My favorite thing that you said throughout your post so far was in your post labeled "My new talent". You stated,

"No one is 13 anymore. No one is 24 anymore...everyone is 85 and I think I might be 105."

This to me shows how run down everybody gets from the war. People who are 13 and 24 years old are forced to grow up so much quicker. And once they grow up they are forced to grow even older quicker. To live in such chaos and mayhem everyday baffles me and I could never cope with it. I am utterly speechless when it comes to how brave and courageous you are to handle this.

HW27: Riverbend

Riverbend. "Baghdad Burning: Girl Blog from New York". Feminist Press, New york, New York. 2007.

This book ties into the ITW101 course because it helps show the importance of blogs in real-life situations. Baghdad Burning is written by a 24 year old women named Riverbend. She lives in Iraq and felt as though she wanted to stat a blog about the war and what it was like to live in Iraq now. She starts off in her first post by saying that she was hesitant to start o blog because she didn't think that anybody would care enough to read. But she was wrong about that because many people read her blog daily, as stated in the introduction. I think that with this blog and book, Riverbend is going to teach so many Americans the other side of the story. I feel like many people are close minded here and stereotype all Iraqis as bad terrorists. From reading the first two blog posts, I also believe that Riverbend is not a terrorist. She talks about how when she first started up her blog and said that she was from Iraq, most Americans did not believe her. They didn't believe that she could be from Iraq because she was writing in English, had Internet access, and she even knows how to use a computer. This makes me think that a lot of the book is going to try to give an understanding to readers that Iraqis and not incompetent and they do know how to do things. This second blog post showed that she will give information on the political situation that was set up within her "new government".
Riverbend seems as though she is going to provide us with much more information about the war and the after-war that we would never know unless we lived in Iraq. This is exciting to me because I know nothing about the situation in Iraq, and I think hearing it from an insider's point of view and hearing what the Iraqi people were put through would be the best way to learn. Not only will this be informative to our political life, but it will support the impact that blogs has on certain people and how helpful they can be to the writer and how informative it can be to the reader.

HW 25 : Baghdad Burning

In the foreward of Baghdad Burning, Soueif did a very good job of pulling me in as a reader. Normally in books I skip the foreward or the introduction and jump right in, but with this book if I hadn't read the foreward I would have no idea what I was getting myself into. Soueif did an excellent job introducing Riverbend and her family. He gave me an idea of what to expect from Riverbend's blog. The foreward introduces Riverbend's family members and tells about their relationships with each other. The fact that Riverbend's blog is so widely read and that her reader's care so much about her and what she has to say makes me think to my self "Wow, this girl is really writing about something real." And in the foreward you can get a sense of the "real things" that she is going to be talking in her first year of blogs. In the foreward Soueif gives a quote that Riverbend had said in one of her blogs:

"There was a time when people here felt sorry for the troops. No matter what one's attitude was to the occupation, there were moments of pity towards the troops, regardless of their nationality. We would see them suffering under the Iraqi sun, obviously wishing they were somewhere else and somehow that vulnerability made them see less monstrous and more human. That time has passed." (Riverbend, viii)

This foreward gave me a glimpse of what I am about to read. I think that is a smart way of giving the reader a chance to see what the book is going to be like.

The introduction to Baghdad Burning, written by James Ridgeway, goes much more in depth in the relationship that the U.S has had with Iraq over the past years. His accounts go back as far as the opening years of the twentieth century. He talked about OPEC and the effect that is had on the U.S. He also mentioned the Gulf War and what part Iraq and the U.S took in that. Ridgeway gave a lot of number facts, such as, number of casualties or deaths, or how much oil was being sold and produced. This first paragraph pulled me in as a reader and along the rest of the introduction I kind of got lost. When he got to the description of the war in 2003, I felt a little less clueless, but not much. He described it as "the mission", which I understood. He gave an idea of what has been happening over there since 2003.

The accounts the Ridgeway and Soueif described are nothing like my memories. I have never been much into political situations and most of the time I have no idea what is going on in the world. I know that sounds terrible, but I don't enjoy learning about how many people we killed today or what kind of bombs were let off the destroy buildings. Those types of things make me depressed and feel for those people. I still feel for those people I just can;t deal with hearing about it so often. So in my opinion, my memories are absolutely terrible compared to both Soueif and Ridgeway. What I do remember, was September 11th, 2001. I don't think either of them could have the details and the vivid memory of that day that I have. I was in seventh grade in math class when my principal came on the loud speaker to tell us what had happened. I originally thought it was some kind of situational tactic the school was making us do. But when I found out it was reality, I freaked. Many of my best friends parents worked in the city, one of them being like a second father to me. I couldn't even describe how scared and worried I was and how terrible I felt for all the people who had to deal with losing loved ones.

HW 24: My special place

Virgina Woolf has a lot of opinions about the equality about men an women authors. She felt as though women weren't equally recognized or treated as novelists. She says "I had come at last, in the course of this rambling, to the shelves which hold books by the living; by women and by men; for there are almost as many books written by women now as by men." (Woolf, 79) This shows the change that occurred in history.


"There must be freedom and there must be peace. Not a wheel must grate,not a light glimmer. The curtains must be close drawn." (Woolf, 104)

This quote in the book applies to me in the complete opposite way. I do have a room that I can call my own. My dorm room is not just my room but I share it with my best friend. It's like she is the same person as me. When I need time to do my work she will do work with me. I always need my overhead light on above my desk because that is where I do most of my writing and reading. It helps me write and focus much easier when I have music on and luckily my roommate is the same way. My room is very colorful with teal, lime green and light blue colored sheets and designs all over the room. Everything in my room is very organized and not messy because that will distract me from writing and doing other work. When my roommate is in class and I have alone time, I will do miscellaneous things. For instance I will write letters to my other friends and do things that I need my own private time for. My room has a very warm, homier feeling to it with pictures of all of my friends everywhere. I feel as though I am using my room for what Virginia Woolf would use it for. I think having a space for myself to do my writing and thinking is exactly what she would want.

hw23: Jezebel/gossip girl

"With apologies to Virgina Woolf"

After looking through the posts on the site www.jezebel.com , I have come to the realization that it is mostly about women and different gossip from a feminist's point of view. I would have to say that I enjoyed reading the posts from the past weeks thoroughly. It gives such vivid and descriptive titles that help me picture the people in real life. For instance, the title of the blog "Paris Hilton Dresses Like a 3rd Grade Art Teacher" painted an image in my mind of a young women wearing an array of brightly colored clothing. And sure enough there was a photo of her in this very brightly colored dress that actually did look like a 3rd grade art teacher. Jezebel also allows women to speak freely and openly to the public in ways women were never able to do. It is fairly evident that even in the nineteenth century a woman was not encouraged to be an artist, but now they are encouraged and allowed to write and publish their own individual writings and thoughts more than ever before. Women on the Jezebel site are able to write about gossip, politics, scandals in the media and not be shunned for these things that they would have been snubbed or slapped for during the nineteenth century. All of the posts I read were written by woman. This is so uplifting for me to experience being able to see the equality between femininity and masculinity in this time period.

HW21: Hope this is Helpful

Dear Katie,

I know you need help with Virgina Woolf's A room of one's Own, so I'm going to try and give you an understanding from the information I took from reading it. This book is one of the hardest books I have read so I can understand how you had trouble with it. I will try to give you a quick synopsis of what happened and then tell you what I think it meant.
In the beginning of chapter 1, "Mary", the first character introduced, starts writing about women and fiction. She discusses the three different ways that she believes she could write about women and fiction. She says, "The title women and fiction might mean, and you may have meant it to mean, women and what they are like; or it might mean women and the fiction they write; or it might mean women and the fiction that is written about them; or it might mean that somehow all three are inextricably mixed together and you want me to consider them in that light". This quote immediately made me think that "Mary" was going to be a very analytical character. From that point on I took her to be like type of person that would over analyze situations. She then goes on to discuss the role that women have in writing compared to men and she states that women need a room of their own to be able to sit and collect their thoughts and write poems or novels etc. Mary then begins to describe the water front that she is by and the college and its surroundings. Throughout the entire chapter she seems to give much detail about her environment and the different things she observes. For example, " The beautiful October day was fading and the leaves were falling form the trees in the avenue as I walked through it. Gate after gate seemed to close with gentle finality behind me. Innumerable beadles were fitting innumerable keys into well-oiled locks; the treasure-house was being made secure for another night." (Woolf, 13) Mary also talks about how she ponders about the differences of how things were before the war and after the war. This goes back to her comparing men and women. Women were not looked at with the same equality as men then, as they are today. I think your teacher finds this book important because I think in chapters to come the issue of men versus women and the different outlooks people had on women will continue to come up. I think it will show just how important it is to have equal rights for women as for men. In my personal opinion, this was a difficult read so far and I think it will continue to get harder. The wording Woolf uses is very different and she uses a very extensive vocabulary. For me to be able to accurately interpret what she is saying in this book, I think I'm going to have to look more deeply into the underlying messages.

Good luck with your book report!
From,
Annie

HW 19:

Blogs across the nation have becoming increasingly popular. The popularity has even emerged in places where speaking out about politics is looked down upon in society. On page 93 in Kline and Burstein, Dreznel and Farrell discuss the impact of the blogosphere in Iran. Surprisingly, Farsi is the fourth most popular language used in the blogosphere. The Iranian government is not a big fan of blogging. Well that's what I take from the text. In the paragraph on page 93 he says, "Government efforts to impose filters on the internet have been sporadic and only partially successful." The blogging in Iran is a way for people to talk about politics freely and since the government hasn't been able to monitor it very well, they are able to continue doing it. My point is that blogging is very beneficial for people in Iran. Blogging has had a huge impact on certain peoples' lives there too. One woman they mention is Sina Motallebi. Her being able to blog about her imprisonment gave a few people in the English-speaking blogosphere awareness to help her get out. This, for instance, demonstrates the power blogging can have in Iran or anywhere. Especially in a country where you wouldn't think blogging would become popular, it has. I think that's awesome that it has had such a promising way for people to communicate to others.

HW18: Brutalizing 3 year olds

In the past seven days of Jezebel, I found an article that was extremely disturbing. Today at 5pm an article was written about three-year old children being raped in Congo. The article is called Hearts of Darkness: In Congo They Raped 3 year olds. (http://jezebel.com/gossip/hearts-of-darkness/in-congo-they-rape-three+year+olds-308412.php)
For me this was the worst article I have read so far. I was originally looking for a topic I didn't enjoy or something that wasn't very well-written for this assignment. But once I came across this post I could not believe the headline, I had to read more. The post starts off with the most gruesome quote I have ever read.
"Many have been so sadistically attacked from the inside out, butchered by bayonets and assaulted with chunks of wood, that their reproductive and digestive systems are beyond repair."
This is the worst blog I have ever read on Jezebel. Not because the style of writing, or because of the vocabulary chosen, but because what kind of sick people would ever do such a cruel think. Literally when I read this, my heart sank. The article goes on to say another very disturbing thing.
"And yeah, they do it to three-year-olds and generally burn the babies who are too young to rape."
I couldn't believe my eyes. The fact that they were punishing babies for not being old enough to rape too. The entire situation is the most disgusting, heinous thing I have ever heard of.

17 B: DailyKos or Wonkette?

In the two interviews in Kline and Burstein's Blog! How the Newest Media Revolution is changing Politics, Business and Culture, Zuniga and Cox discuss their feelings on there jobs with blogging and their blogging sites. In my opinion DailyKos proved to be more about politics even in the interview. When I looked at the site it seemed very informative about certain people, especially views on Republicans and Democrats. From the beginning of the interview with Cox, she hadn't started talking about anything that had to do with politics or elections. As I read on, it continued talking about stuff that I felt was very gossipy.
I would definitely much rather read information on DailyKos to try and influence and gain more knowledge on an election. Although for an everyday read, I would choose to read Wonkette because it seems more interesting and funny without boring me. I'm not very into politics so the gossipy column would pull me in as a read. But if I really wanted more knowledge that wasn't just bashing on different people, I would read DailyKos.

HW 17 : Are they really faking it?

I searched through the past seven days of Jezebel and I found and article that was a little risque, but very interesting. The new focus in the world these days always has to do with sex, money or celebrities. This article in Jezebel, http://jezebel.com/gossip/probing-questions/what-does-an-orgasm-really-sound-like-anyway-306844.php, discusses sex and if women are really able to orgasm or not. One of the quotes in this article that helps summarize it very well is:
"In bed some of them curse, some of them try really hard to remember to say the name of their partners, others use that time to acknowledge the existence of a deity, and some of us scream out of habit from years spent faking it."

This quote explains how women have discovered a habit of faking orgasms when in bed. They go on to discuss that men expect a lot from women. They expect women to understand and like sports, be able to talk without being annoying and of course be good in bed. This to me is very unfair to women. How are they expected to always be good at all three of these things? I think that this blog was written from a feminists point of view due to the fact that it discusses different views on making fun of men. The purpose of this post was definitely to show that most orgasms are faked and to inform men of it.

HW 16b: What makes blogging "hot"

In the interview with Robert Scoble he was asked a question about how "RSS" will help the evolution of blogging. The term "RSS" is a new term for me, but it means "really simple syndication". The way that Scoble speaks about these ideas shows how important he thinks they really are. The five pillars he discusses is what he thinks makes blogging "hot". The first of the 5 pillars of conversational software was "the ease of publishing". I feel as though Scoble was talking about how easy it is to publish a post and put your ideas and writings out there in the blogosphere. The second was "discoverability". By discoverability, I think he means that once your ideas and different information are posted they are very easily accessed and able to be discovered by others. The third idea Scoble talks about is "cross-site conversations". I think this helps make blogging "hot" by being able to go back to a person's page that was interested in your page. You may then discover another interesting blog or you are able to to know whose keeping track of yours. The fourth thing mentioned in the interview was "permalinking". This was another new term for me that I had never heard before. This allows you to get to another post very quickly and efficiently by isolating the URL. Last but not least, Scoble talks about something called syndication. He mentions how it has become more and more popular recently because people keep track of many different sites daily. I get the idea that this allows you to flip back and forth between the blogs that you are keeping track of very easily. These 5 pillars certainly are very important if you are a dedicated blogger.

HW 13 : Blogging is Beneficial for Business

Blogging has turned into a universal trend. People write about their everyday lives, tell stories or criticize companies. In my opinion blogging has turned into a huge advantage for different companies. They can get their consumers' feedback on certain products or even establish their own blog and make their products noticed. I used to think that blogging was more like an online diary, but recently I've come to notice that it can also be used to help companies become more successful.

" Think of the implications for businesses of getting and up-to-the-minute read on what the world is thinking. Already, studios are using blogs to see which movies are generating buzz. Advertisers are tracking responses to their campaigns." "I'm amazed that people don't get it yet," says Jeff Weiner, Yahoo's senior vice president who heads up a search. "Never in the history of market research has there been a tool like this." (Kline&Burstein 229)

This quote shows how companies are able to look up reactions to different products, or like the example used here in this quote, movies. Companies can see what is going on in their consumers' minds. This is extremely helpful to them. They can use the criticism to make their products better or at least take it into consideration. Blogging has definitely become more helpful to businesses rather than individuals who use it for social expression.

HW: 11 "Making global voices heard"

The blog I chose to view was Jeff Ooi's blog. His blog is called screeenshots. The style of writing is directly towards people in Malaysia. He uses the same grammar as we would use in the United States also. Jeff's topics are about all different kinds of things going on in Malaysia. It is there way of communicated different news stories about their country. I noticed one of the blogs was written by a guest blogger, so he is not the only one that reports different stories on his blog.

MacKinnon describes Jeff's blog as being very critical of the government and using his blog as a way to speak out and inform other bloggers of news thats going around so they can get the word out. From what I can see, his blog fits this exact description. His latest blog is about dispelling a rumor that had be running through Malaysia about a man's death. He sent out a blog on behalf of this man and his daughter so the rumors would stop spreading.
On the one hand I agree with Jeff that is it always good to inform your country of what is going on if the government isn't giving them much. But on the other hand I insist that it sounds kind of like a gossip column at some points.

HW. 9 An interview with Ayelet Waldman

In the interview "A weblog saved my life last night", Waldman takes about the effects that her blog has had for her. Clearly the blog has had a huge impact on her life. You can tell just from reading the title. The entire interview talked about her life as a writer and as a mom and her psychological disorder. She starts talking about how in the blogosphere people have to be able to make their writing "pop". She says, "There is a tone that you have to adopt in order to make your voice heard amidst the general cacophony." (Kline 310) I completely agree with this statement because people who write blogs will not get any comments or feedback if they don't have this tone that she is talking about. Blogging does recquire you to have the ability to pull a reader in by using the right language.
At the end of the article Waldman was asked about her children and what she thought it would be like for htem to read her suicide note from the blog that she left. Waldman responded by saying, "They're subject of my column, too, but this is something and this is something that people give me a lot of grief about. But its what I do." (Kline 314) I think that Waldman is mistaken because she overlooks the fact that her children could be deeply effected by them being a subject of her writing. If they had found the suicide note that could have effected them for life.

HW: 7 Freedom from parents

Many children have found comfort in being able to write about their lives online. I think this is raelly good for them to have privacy from their parents. All kids have some things that they don't tell their parents because they don't feel comfortable. This allows them to open up to other people and have confidence that their parents can't just stumble across it in their room as if it were their diary or personal journal. All teenagers need a way to vent about things that they don't feel is apprpriate in school or to talk about with their parents. Parents may be disturbed if they ever saw some of the blogs or online journals, but kids need to have privacy and make their own mistakes while growing up. In Emily Nussbaum's article, "My So-Called Blog" she helps show how strongly kids feel about keeping blogs:
J. has his Blurty journal for about a year. He called it "better than therapy," a way to
get out his true feelings- all the emotions he thought might get him in trouble if he
expressed them in school or at home. (Kline and Burstein 352)
Most parents wouldn't like to hear about the things their kids do behind their backs or what they write about on their blogs. But this type of communication is clearly helpful and meaningful to kids.

hw 6: top interests

My three groups of interest for the semester long research project are overcoming sexism, overcoming religious intolerance, and the standards that are put out for women. Sexism is a topic that I would be interested in learning about because it is something I can relate too. Most women can relate to some sort of sexist encounter. I feel that learning about this will be empowering for me because I am a young woman. The topic of overcoming religious intolerance is a big deal for me. I am extremely religious myself and I do not know what I would do if my religion was not approved of or discriminated against in this society. I have seen people make discriminatory slurs towards other religions and I would never want to experience that myself. The last topic that I would like to learn about is a topic that I added. I feel that the standards for women these days are posted everywhere. The news, billboards, magazines, the workplace, and even online, set high expectations for how women should look and present themselves. In my opinion these things should be changed in many different ways. I would really enjoy learning more about each one of these topics.

hw 5b: Blogging is like an online diary

On page 248 of Kline and Burstein's Blog! How the Newest Media Revolution is Changing Politics, Business, and culture, Kline writes about the power of blogging for certain people. He states that blogging has helped people gain careers in writing books and becoming authors. Along with this he mentions that blogging can have a life-changing impact. Kline mentions how people are able the post blogs about their own experiences and get support for things such as terminal illnesses, being a new mother or entering into a new career. In my own life experiences these examples seem as something you would write in a personal diary. I feel as though blogging is just the same. In my opinion I would not want to write my personal things online for everybody to have accsess to them. My life stories and experiences are personal and not for the world, or bloggers to have accsess too. I wouldn't scrutinize these people for doing it, but I peronally do not agree with it. I tell my friends and/or family how I feel about my own life and I could not share them over the internet.

I looked at all of the items in my room and found pringles. I realized that the old slogan for pringles is "once you pop the fun don't stop". This saying is very satisfying. My roommate and I have about 10 cans of pringles and each and everyone lead us to fun. The flavor is fantastic which makes us very satisfied. When I went on the site for pringles the background was the map of the world in red and yellow, which is the pringles signature color. It had a list of all of the countries that pringles was sold in so I clicked on the U.S. This brought me to a page that said, "pleasure every single pringle". This catch phrase used ryhme to oull customers in. In my experience the company has stayed strong to all of their slogans because prigles are fun. And none the less, but pringles are the best chips I've tasted. Not only does the U.S page have a good slogan, but the opening page does too. The little man that represents pringles eats them and the crisp of pringles is shown. I have noticed that pringles are a very crispy chip and in every bite a customer cannot resist more. The pringles company does satisfy everything that they promise they would.

(this has a new date because I originally posted it in the wrong blog.)

HW 3: Toward a More Participatory Democracy

In Kline and Burstein's Blog! How the Newest Media Revolution is Changing Politics, Business, and Culture, they discuss 12 key points of blogging. The one key point that I was most effected by was the fact that blogging is considered a global way of communicating. Until I read this I did not realize how popular and important blogging has become. It's shocking to read about the fact that even in France people post blogs about things they are unhappy about within their government and politics. The involvement with politics in blogging is interesting. I was never aware of how much blogging effected certain aspects of society. Within the key point Kline and Burstein mention many countries that pop up on different blog sites which shows how global blogging really is getting. The fact that countries like Iraq and Iran have discovered ways of posting blogs is awesome to find out about. Blogs going global is a great way of communicating to people in other countries too.

hw 2: Suprised to find out how global blogging is

In Kline and Burstein's Blog! How the Newest Media Revolution is Changing Politics, Business, and Culture, they discuss 12 key points of blogging. The one key point that I was most effected by was the fact that blogging is considered a global way of communicating. Until I read this I did not realize how popular and important blogging has become. It's shocking to read about the fact that even in France people post blogs about things they are unhappy about within their government and politics. The involvement with politics in blogging is interesting. I was never aware of how much blogging effected certain aspects of society. Within the key point Kline and Burstein mention many countries that pop up on different blog sites which shows how global blogging really is getting. The fact that countries like Iraq and Iran have discovered ways of posting blogs is awesome to find out about. Blogs going global is a great way of communicating to people in other countries too.

hw 2: Never new blogging was going global