A Blog

http://www.gabcast.com/index.php?a=episodes&query=&b=play&id=8538&cast=73860&castPage=&autoplay=true

#125

“Tyra Tackles the Weighty Issue of Fatsploitation” <http://jezebel.com/384321/tyra-tackles-the-weighty-issue-of-fatsploitation>

Tyra talked to women who were morbidly obese, 500 pounds and over.  These women make a living modeling nude for lingerie adds, as well as ”squashing”.  “Squashing” is applying large amounts of pressure on a man with ones own weight”.  One woman charges $300 an hour to squash men. I would like to know why someone would pay the money to have themselves “squashed”.  The woman also claims that there is nothing sexual about “squashing” and that she is doing it mainly for fat acceptance.  #1 I think this is ridiculous because if it isn’t sexual then why does she have to be naked.  #2 Why is she posing naked on her website and charging money to get a subscription.  I think that exposing yourself for “fat acceptance” is not the way to go.  If you want people to accept you more, posing naked and “squashing” is not the way to go. 

The impact of blogging on communication is more important to me because it gives people the rights to blog about things that are important to them.  It is a way for people with the same beliefs to create a sort of support system and stand up for what they believe in.  A group of people’s beliefs is a lot stronger together than it is with just one persons word.  It allows a connection between people which is more important than the effects that blogging has on a business.  Blogs have been known to have a large impact on things like politics, social aspects, and many other things. 

http://www.gabcast.com/index.php?a=episodes&query=&b=play&id=8538&cast=73749&castPage=&autoplay=true #122

http://www.gabcast.com/index.php?a=episodes&query=&b=play&id=8538&cast=73746&castPage

#121

Two important things in Iraqi culture are date palms, and evening tea.  Date palms are very important to the Iraqi’s because it provides shade for citrus trees, such as lemons or oranges.  They also eat the dates and can weave them into baskets.  I think it’s wrong that they are cutting down such a useful and important plant.  Evening tea is a ritual in the Iraqi culture where they sit down around a table of family and friends and discuss their day.  This is a time for the Iraqi people to unwind and spend some quality time with their family and friends.  The Iraqi evening tea is like a family dinner in America.  I have learned that the Iraqi culture and the American culture have more in common then i thought.  I think it’s very interesting to learn about another countries culture and be able to relate it back to your own. 

Alive in Baghdad “Challenges at a Girl’s School in Baghdad” 5/21/2007 http://aliveinbaghdad.org/2007/05/21/challenges-at-a-girls-school-in-baghdad

The video talks about the challenges girls face coming to school during the war.  They talk to the principal of the school, various students, and a few teachers.  The principal in particular was wearing a white shall over her head and a red dress.  Her office was very plain, and so were the classrooms.  The outside of the school was tan and had a wire fence around it.  It looks like it was located in a city because there were lots of other building close to it.  From watching this video viewers learn #1 how important school is to these young girls and #2 and the challenges they face on their way to get to the school.  Some girls can’t make it to school on certain days because their is a road block, or there has been an explosion in their town and their parents are too scared to send them.  The most memorable thing i heard was when one girl was asked if she was ever asked by her parents to quit school, and she said yes that he parents have wanted her to quit for a while now but she won’t because her studies are very important to her. 

Abdul Aziz Al-Hakim in an Iraqi theologian and politician, and the leader of the SIIC.  It is the largest political party in the Iraqi Council of Representatives.  He became the leader in 2003 after his brother was assassinated by a bomb that killed 85 others.  He was the top candidate for the United Iraqi Coalition in January 2005, but he was not chosen beacuse the Aliance decided not to include theologians into the government. On December 4, 2006 he met with president George W Bush and made a commitment to help stop the violence.  

 References: 

 Nasr, Vali, The Shia Revival, (Norton, 2006), p.192

Dear Riverbend,

I have a new understanding of the war after reading your August blogs.  The war never felt that real to me because it’s not in my country, it’s in yours.  I don’t ever have to determine the type of guns that are being shot, or worry that my house is going to be raided.  The blogs give me new sympathy for what you are going through and makes it feel real.  I know that you don’t hate Americans but if some of the things that happened to you had happened to me i think i would hate the troops also. And even though I am an American I have mixed feelings about the war and the troops just like you do.  It’s a hard time to see what is right and wrong and take a side.  Also i think it’s so sad that women are not allowed to go out of the house alone anymore.  It’s like taking 1 step forward and then about 50 steps back.  Women have finally gotten equal rights and it’s sad to see that they have been taken away so quickly. 

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

The author of Baghdad Burning is a girl who calls herself Riverbend.  She is an Iraqi woman in her mid twenties who blogs about what is going on in the war.  Not always about the politics but how her and her family deal with it and how it affects their lives.  I will learn from this book what it is like for Iraqi women to go through this war, and also be able to experience and read about things that are not shown on the TV.  I think one of the major benefits from reading this book is that I will get to see how people go through everyday life in a war.