The attached link is to podcast number 3. The last one ! Thanks for reading my blog!
Gabcast! <a href=”http://www.gabcast.com/index.php?a=episodes&b=play&id=8538&cast=73900” target=”_BLANK”>A Blog of One’s Own #129</a><br><br><a href=”http://www.gabcast.com/index.php?a=episodes&b=play&id=8538&cast=73900” target=”new”><img src=”http://www.gabcast.com/images/linkplayer.jpg” border=0></a>
I have attached the link to my second podcast in which I talk about the holiday of Eid and my new views of the war in Iraq.
Gabcast! <a href=”http://www.gabcast.com/index.php?a=episodes&b=play&id=8538&cast=73010” target=”_BLANK”>A Blog of One’s Own #104</a><br><br><a href=”http://www.gabcast.com/index.php?a=episodes&b=play&id=8538&cast=73010” target=”new”><img src=”http://www.gabcast.com/images/linkplayer.jpg” border=0></a>
The link below is my first podcast responding to homework 42 although I accidently call it homework 36… Enjoy! It is # 89 on the list!
Gabcast! <a href=”http://www.gabcast.com/index.php?a=episodes&b=play&id=8538&cast=72657” target=”_BLANK”>A Blog of One’s Own #89</a><br><br><a href=”http://www.gabcast.com/index.php?a=episodes&b=play&id=8538&cast=72657” target=”new”><img src=”http://www.gabcast.com/images/linkplayer.jpg” border=0></a>
Reading about Riverbend’s culture is intriguing as you learn what items Iraqi’s value. Tea is especially important to them as they drink it throughout the day and always have a nightly tea time. (Riverbend 109). They do not use the typical American tea where you boil water and dumb it into a mug with a tea bag. They brew their own tea from leaves. In fact as Riverbend explains “Tea is so important in Iraq, that it makes up a substantial part of the rations we’ve been getting ever since the sanctions were imposed upon the country” (Riverbend 109). I found it interesting how important palm trees are for their useful dates. They use dates for many cooking items and other parts of the palm tree to make household items. (Riverbend 104). A palm tree is a type of investment for an Iraqi family and they take pride in the tree and the dates it produces. In a way it made me think of maple trees to a New Englander, as they produce both food products and the wood produces many other essential items for an American. Iraqi’s are more similar to Americans than we often want to realize.
The podcast I watched was titled “Iraqi teens work to help their families” and it was on the blog of Alive in Baghdad. It is Iraqi teens discussing their typical life style and work they must help do in order for their families to survive. There are several boys that appear in this cast, Hussein Kamal a fifteen year old carpenter, Mustafafa Malek Fathullah Ali a fourteen year old sixth grader that helps do carpentry, and Yousif a student in the College of Agriculture. Mustafafa, has been doing carpentry work with both his father and uncle since he was very young. He is a well established sixth grader with a vast understanding of his surroundings and the world in which we live in. The scenery is the particular environment the boys spend most of their time in. Either there homes or outside nothing appears much different than the United States. A viewer would understand how fast Iraqi children are forced to grow up. It really hit me of how privileged I am to be getting an education instead of having to work to provide for my family. These children have to live and work in fear and only hope for world peace.
If you would like to view this podcast click the link below of the October 15, 2007 post. http://aliveinbaghdad.org/2007/10/15/iraqi-teens-work-to-help-their-families
I looked up Ahmad Al-Chalabi, who according to Riverbend, was one of the people involved with the new cabinet’s swearing in process (Riverbend 49). I choose to research Al-Chalabi because there was not much written about him in Riverbend’s blog. According to Wikipedia he is a sixty- three year old politician. Has served positions as 1st Deputy prime minister, Oil minister, and Leader of Iraqi National Congress. He comes from a fairly wealthy family where he spent most of his life outside Iraq in both the United Kingdom and the United States. He received a degree from both MIT and University of Chicago. His reputation is quite suspicious at the time as he has embezzled 300 million dollars from a Jordan bank (Wikipedia).
Riverbend. Baghdad Burning. 1st ed . New York: First Feminist Press, 2005.
“Ahmed Chalabi .” Wikipedia . Wikipedia. 8 Apr 2008 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmed_Chalabi>.
Dear Riverbend,
As I read your well articulated posts I tried to think how my emotions would be in your circumstances and if I could be as strong as you have proven yourself to be. I cannot vision myself surviving as well as you are doing however it is hard to completely understand as I am aware you have no choice in the matter and survival is your only option. I felt a slight correlation between us as you occasionally add a hint of sarcasm to your true feelings something I am prone to do as well. As you were sitting on the roof with E, detecting the sounds of guns and said, “And it’s not something that anyone will appreciate on a resume…” I had mixed emotion as to whether it was acceptable to laugh. I understand why you made that reference for you have been robbed of your normal livelihood and focus much of your energy on protection mode of yourself and your family. I appreciate that you express you are not angry at the American people and that you even feel sympathetic towards American troops on different occasions. I could not blame you if you held feelings of hatred towards American people for I am sure it is the first thing correlated with this war in most Iraqi’s mind. I do not claim to know much of the events in Iraq, and when you discussed how your government officials were being selected by “occupying powers,” I was furious. Although there is nothing I can do for you as an individual the fact that you are making public of your words and thoughts allows Americans a different perspective. Hopefully with enough people reading this there can be some positive changes with our supposedly democratic government. Stay strong!
Best Regards,
1strong
Riverbend. Baghdad Burning. 1st. New York: Feminist Press, 2005.
This book suits our class very well because first off it is a book with text from an online blog. It is also has a female Iraqi author who is speaking out which fits well with the feminist tone of the course. It shows how powerful technology has become for a female in Iraq to release her thoughts into the world. In this memoire Riverbend the author is blogging about living in Baghdad during the war in Iraq. The reader can live vicariously through her words and get a heartfelt understanding of the struggles Iraqi’s face daily. It depicts problems in the American government but does not demean the American people in general. It is the other side of a war we cannot witness. Riverbend is brutally honest which is refreshing given the circumstances. This book is the closest many people will get to the war zone.
A girl only a few years older than myself has written a book reflecting like if Baghdad. She wrote this not in attempt for a book to be published or sympathy rather for sanity of living day in and day out in the midst of a brutal war. When it comes to the topic of the War in Iraq, most of us will readily agree that this affects many people. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question is, are we really aware of how much it affects the people of Bagdad. Whereas some are convinced that the United States is trying to help make their country a better place, others maintain that it is cruel and a waste of American money, and our Country’s morale. There is much discussion of the transformation of politics into the Iraqi War as can be seen in the introduction and preface of Baghdad Burning, A blogging memoir , “Everything changed in an instant for U.S.- Iraq relations- and for the well-being of the Iraqi people- when Saddam invaded Kuwait in 1990, and the United States responded with a brief but deadly war” (Ridgeway xiv). It is important to look at the relations leading up to the war as history is known to repeat itself. Aside from that however is the importance of the people struggling in Baghdad that have been stripped of their lives such as Riverbend. I in no way claim to be a history buff so reading the chronological events leading up to the war developed my understanding drastically. I really was intrigued by Ridgeway’s comment, “It remains unclear just who manipulated whom” (Ridgeway xxi). This comment was made in regards to Bush and Chalabi with references made about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. I feel the war is so complicated that I do not have enough inside facts to base my opinion. I do however know that something drastic must change for we cannot go on living in this continuous war.
Virginia Woolf examines that throughout time women eventually were able to express themselves without even having to use fiction. As women became able to express themselves it was evident that they were more than domestic items as Virginia notes, “Also, I continued, looking down at the page again, it is becoming evident that women, like men, have other interests besides the perennial interest of domesticity” (Woolf 83). I feel what Virginia Woolf wanted was for everyone to be able to fully express themselves regardless of their gender. She uses a room metaphorically as a place where one can always freely express themselves. I have many places where I am always showing my true character. Virginia talks about some points that Coleridge makes “ He meant, perhaps, that the androgynous mind is resonant and porous; that it transmits emotion without impediment; that it is naturally creative, incandescent and undivided” (Woolf 98). I personally feel that he is implying and Virginia Woolf agrees that a person who does not see the world as gender divided can take in the true essence and can has a clear perspective. I attempt to live my life this way however with media and other influences in society it is not the easiest task. Virginia Woolf would be pleased to see the trails blazed by women in the recent years.
