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.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
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.
"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.
Monday, October 22, 2007
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.
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.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
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
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
Thursday, October 11, 2007
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.
Monday, October 8, 2007
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.
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.
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.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
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.
"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.
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