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.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
"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.
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.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
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.
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.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
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.
"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.
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
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