HW 27- Eye Opener

Riverbend, Baghdad Burning, Girl Blog from Iraq First Feminist Press Edition, 2005
Ahdaf Soueif, Foreword copyright 005
James Ridgeway Introduction copyright 2005

This book seems to be an eye catcher. From only reading the first few pages of the book, I am sucked in all ready. Riverbend, as well as Soueif and Ridgeway, really put the war into a new perspective. I have never really taken the time to reflect on the actions being taken over seas, but now not only do I feel for them but I respect them. We are set out to think of Iraqi’s as such bad people and have the worst possible stereotypes put out there for us to take hold of. It is so sad that we take in such negative images of them when they are not the problem. Riverbend is a civilian just like you and me and after reading this book you can really see that. This book is going to be a fast and excellent read for anyone and I can not wait to get started.

HW 25- Its crazy how much you learn

Foreword:

In the book, “Baghdad Burning”, by Riverbend, Ahdaf Soueif discusses the impact of the war on a “young Baghdadi woman as she lives through the war.” (Soueif vii) He goes over how Riverbend actually felt moments of pity towards the troops at one point, how ‘she saw them suffering under the Iraqi sun.” (Soueif viii) Riverebnd is not anit-american and this actually angers her when she hears that terminology. She believes in anti-bush or anti-war, but she supports America.

Introduction:

Riverbend is a young girl from Baghdad. She is in her mid twenties and lives in a middle class section of town with her mother, father, and brother, “E”. Before the war she had a job working with computers. She writes in her blog about her life in war. She does not discuss any of the typical ‘war events’ but more on the side of what is it life to live in war. Ridgeway states, “She sits on the roof to watch Baghdad burning and have learned to identify different types of automatic weapons by the sound of their volleys.” (Ridgeway xii) It talks about how Riverbend has to jump up in the middle of the night when she hears the electricity come on so they can try to get a load of laundry done. The Introduction then goes into background information about the country itself. The most interesting part was the more recent news in the sections titled “The 2003 War” and “Liberated Iraq”. “The 2003 War” discusses more about how the United States received false information about nuclear weapons in Iraq and how that is the supposable reason for invasion even though later found information states that Bush earlier in his term said he wanted to invade Iraq. In “Liberated Iraq” it talks more about how “the United States viewed the Shia as allies of the Ayatollah Khomeini and as part of an expanding mob of extremists determined to turn the entire region into some sort of unspeakable medieval theocracy. But the Shia are now monolithic by any means.” (Ridgeway xxii)

From what discussed so far in the book, the only part I can relate to is the information about the United States. I have always thought that the invasion in Iraq was in retaliation to 9/11 and a war on terrorism. I have never really been taught anything different therefore never took the time to look at the other side of the story. It is really interesting to read Riverbend’s perspective on the war and is making me think all the information I am missing out on.

HW 23- With apologies to Virginia Woolf

Different shades and reds, oranges, and yellows are all I see. Leaves are turning color, on a beautiful autumn day. The wind blowing and the cool air is flowing through me. Sitting here thinking about what I read earlier today. The frustration I felt took over me, while looking back at the articles. Everything I read earlier was gossip. Looking over the blog Jezebel, I really found all the women degrading to themselves. Celebrities do certain things fro attention and prove themselves to be dumb. We as women need to stand together and prove to the world that we are just as much equal to men. When I was told to that I was not able to walk on the grass, it frustrated me so much. Why would women act so ignorant? Why do women bring themselves down in the media? One article talked about how Paris Hilton was dressing lately. Why do we care about that? News in the media should be informative information and what we have been reading lately is not informative. They only thing it is, is a disgrace.

HW 22- Why are men so much better?

The definition of patriarchy is as follows: A society in which fathers are the powerful reasonable heads of their families and households, and by extension, a society in which men hold a disproportionately large share of power. This term is very common in Virginia Wolf’s, “A Room of One’s Own”. On page 33 in chapter 2 it says, “The most transient visitor to this planet, I thought, who picked up this paper could not fail to be aware, even from this scattered testimony that England is under the rule of a patriarchy.” (Woolf) This quote basically explains how today society is as a majority run by men. There has never been a women president or vice president here. Today women’s roles in the higher power systems are becoming more common but are still lacking shared control. Looking over news papers it is very apparent that ‘men rule the world’. Mostly all stories are written by and about men. Women are continually being overpowered and shut off from high power positions and the news paper is one of the best examples to prove this.

HW 21- Letter to Jeff

Hey Jeff!!!

I’m glad you’re coming to me for help! This is some improvement. I defiantly agree with you that this book is hard to understand. I had to read it a few times myself to fully get the importance of chapter one. The weird thing about this chapter was that the narrator isn’t Virginia Woolf. The narrator said that it’s not important who is writing this. However, Chapter one basically explains how she was asked to write and speak about women and fiction. She basically sits on the side of a river bank most of the chapter thinking about women in history. She talks about how one time when she was in college she was walking on the grass one day and a man came up to her and told her that she wasn’t allowed to walk on it. She also refers to another story when women were not allowed to be in a library alone. She said that they had to be “accompanied by a Fellow of the College or furnished with a letter of introduction.” The overall point of this chapter was to discuss how women’s role in history has changed and evolved over the years and how when asked to write about influential women she was confused about what to write about. That was pretty much what I got out of that chapter, but good luck! As your English teacher if you need any more help.

Much Love,

Leanne

HW 19- Is it really a huge influence?

After reading the chapter, "Web of Influence", I was caught on edge after reading the paragraph starting on page 92 ending on top of page 93. this paragraph explains how blogging can change countries. But what change? I was really confused on this paragraph and thats why it caught me on edge. My point is, I didn't understand where it was coming from. How can a blog change another country? Especially if not your own? It discusses publishing abuses but what abuses? What are they talking about? It also says that blogging can change "transitional networks", what? To put in another way, how can a little post on a web page change a country? In conclusion, I understand that blogging is becoming more and more popular as the days go by, but globally changing in the government? I don't think so.

HW 17B- I Vote DailyKos

After reading both blogs and looking over the web pages, for me, DailyKos would be more likely to influence the way I would vote in this upcoming election. I found Wonkette to be kind of annoying. I think that the way that they approached some topics wasn’t as interesting as the other one. DailyKos really brings out the truth in a lot of cases throughout political figures. Some say that it can be just gossip, but I think knowing who people really are in their personal life is a big factor on how they will withhold their position. I don’t really care about the jokes that someone makes, I would more care about how they present themselves all around. When DailyKos talked about a woman posting about her personal life anonymously and then being discovered, I find that more intriguing than how someone says they will handle certain situations. It is easier to judge someone one what they have already done in their life, than what they will promise for the future.