dabaskettblog

The foreward was written by Ahdaf Soueif.  It started to tell us about her and how she felt about the US occupation of Iraq, and how the reader should interpret the book. Then the introduction comes along and tells us a lot about “riverbend” the author of the book.  It gives us some background about her family being among the richest and oldest civilizations in the world.  then it moves on to talk about how Riverbend was during the Gulf War.   Then the author moves in to discuss Riverbends life during the terrifying times that were the 2003 war.  The writer of the introduction describes the Iraqi political structure currently as a “puppet show,”  where the people in power are fully controlled by the US.  The final bit of the introduction speaks of a liberated Iraq. \ In 2003 i was an 8th grader with no knowledge of what war truly was.  i heard things at the dinner table about the fact that we were at war, but my understanding of it was not complete.  I could not imagine being a soldier over there, even if this war is not as intense as others. 

When I think about the phrase, a room of my own, I think first about my bedroom at home, where I did most of my writing.  It was a cozy room with a refrigerator, a desk, and a television.  In one corner was a bed, and the other a coat rack and a dresser.  It was the room of my own until I moved out on August 26.            Then I came to Keene State College, where I was placed in a triple in Carle Hall.  One roommate had a girlfriend, and never left the room, and the other partied early and often, and would return to the room at 3AM on a Monday night.  This was not a room one my own.  I felt like Mary Carmichael on the last page of chapter five, no genious, writing in the confines that were not mine.  “but an unknown girl writing her first novel in a bed–sitting–room, without enough of those desirable things, time, money and idleness, she did not do so badly, I thought (Woolf, 94).”            The feelings I had of myself must have been how Woolf viewed women in her time, a person without a voice.  “It is fatal for a woman to lay the least stress on any grievance; to plead even with justice any cause; in any way to speak consciously as a woman (Woolf, 104).”            Then I started listening to Lupe Fiasco as I wrote.  No matter who was in the room, a roommate kissing a girl, or a drunk kid coming in at all hours, I could have Lupe coming through my headphones, and it blocked them all out completely.   I could write more freely now.  My articles and homework assignments improved drastically.  I was in my own world, my own room, now that I had music.

“With Apologies to Virginia Woolf” So there is this man named LeBron James and I guess he is sort of a big deal.  He scored 50 points the other night.  I don’t particularly see what is so special about the guy besides the fact that he is 6’8, 260 pounds of pure muscle.  Sure the guy is a physical specimen but he is no better than Candace Parker when it comes down to it.  Given the same opportunities, Parker would be an equal if not a superior to LBJ in the game of basketball. Parker will be foregoing her senior season at Tennessee to play WNBA basketball next season, but I’m not sure why there is a WNBA and an NBA, there should just be one NBA with both men and women.  The talent level is all the same, so I am pushing for equal rights for both men and women, or should I say, more rights for women than men receive.  All in all, LBJ is no big deal. 

From page 27, “women do not write books about men- a fact that [she] could not help welcoming with relief, for [she] had first to read all that men have written about women, then all that women have written about men.”            Virginia Woolf was saying that there is plenty of writings by men about women, but there were none that women wrote about men.Again on page 27 she says “the aloe that flowers once in a hundred years would flower twice, before I could set pen to paper”This statement is just purely sarcastic, no single person could live for 200 years, to write anything.  She is saying that a flower that aloes once in a hundred years would have to aloe twice before her pen set in to the paper.The third quote I got was from page 26, “But I should need to be a herd of elephants, and a wilderness of spiders…”This quote is ironic because it is her belief that these animals live the longest, and she will need these to sustain her writing.  All of her quotes reference the amount of time it takes for her writing to be completed.

            The blog I chose to write about was called “Goodbye Brett: Making Peace With Favre’s Final Days,” on deadspin.  You can read the article here.             http://deadspin.com/363603/making-peace-with-favres-final-days             This article was relevant to me because one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history has just retired, so I like to read all the articles I can about monumental events like these.  The way the writer did it was interesting, starting with commentary from what a potential packers fan would say, then getting into all the emotions they could potentially feel.            I personally have known about the historic Brett Favre for many years, since he was on the cover of Quarterback Clubs 98 for Nintendo.  For years, I mispronounced his name, Fav-Re, instead of Far-Ve, but hey that’s how it’s spelled.  Finally when I got a little older, I learned about him, and how he was actually drafted by the Falcons, before getting traded to the Packers for essentially a laundry machine over a decade ago (bet the Falcons wish they could have that one back). While his last pass in the NFL was an interception, his last season was memorable because it was his best is a long time.  His team was actually a Super Bowl Contender for the first time in years.  It was the only way Favre could go out.

            When asked to choose which blog I would read if I wanted to learn about politics, Daily Kos or Wonkette, I visited both websites, only to realize that I probably wouldn’t refer to either of them for political information.  When I want to learn about candidates, I visit sites like CNN, Fox News, ABC, etc because they are associated press websites and have exclusive access to information that blogs do not have.  They have interviews with candidates, and better sources.  Blogs simply are opinions that people have without citation. Between the two blogs, I would probably choose Daily Kos.  It seems like his blog posts are better written and considerably longer, and he seems more well informed.  Wonkette is more of a gossip site that doesn’t really inform you about what is going on.  It reminds me of a tabloid, the way it is laid out with the story titles that you read on it.  I still prefer the old-fashioned, main stream news sources when it comes to getting my political information.

The paragraph I chose in the interview “web of influence” was about the rise in popularity of blogs.  It listed some specific statistics about the rise of popularity in blogs.  In 1999, there were around 50 blogs.  Then it went from 2.4 million blogs to 4.1 million blogs almost overnight.  The estimated number in 2005 was over 10 million blogs.  The blogs today have content about everything, from sports, to politics, to anything you want to read about.            Blog is also an abbreviation, for the term “weblog.”  They are defined as “periodically updated journals, providing online commentary with minimal external editing” according to the book.

The foreward was written by Ahdaf Soueif.  It started to tell us about her and how she felt about the US occupation of Iraq, and how the reader should interpret the book. Then the introduction comes along and tells us a lot about “riverbend” the author of the book.  It gives us some background about her family being among the richest and oldest civilizations in the world.  then it moves on to talk about how Riverbend was during the Gulf War.   Then the author moves in to discuss Riverbends life during the terrifying times that were the 2003 war.  The writer of the introduction describes the Iraqi political structure currently as a “puppet show,”  where the people in power are fully controlled by the US.  The final bit of the introduction speaks of a liberated Iraq. \ In 2003 i was an 8th grader with no knowledge of what war truly was.  i heard things at the dinner table about the fact that we were at war, but my understanding of it was not complete.  I could not imagine being a soldier over there, even if this war is not as intense as others. 

Three things I need to be interested in, Social Networking, Hispanics, and the locations would be Central America.Social Networking is interesting to me because I use facebook on occasion.  I think I get how it works, but I’m sure there are more things about it that i dont understand.  I guess I am open to learning about that. The underprivileged group I am interested in is the Hispanics, in particular the baseball players.  There are a lot of baseball players in places like the dominican republic and puerto rico who sign contracts for low amounts of money by american baseball standards for the oppurtunity to come to the US.  sometimes they will have fixed marriages for a woman to get sent to the US too, but if the US finds out it is a fixed marriage, then they cannot come. its a sad process. peace.

Page 238 of “blog!” by David Kline features a line that reads “We confront the possibility that a new communications and  publishing technology-in this case blogging-will engender massive change in our society, most especially with the role and power of traditional mainstream media.”I reject the claim that the mainstream media is in jeopardy.  Blogs are somewhat of an underground source of media and while occasionally underground performers make it big, a la the way some bloggers make it into the media, i do not believe the entire music industry will go underground.The reading suggests that people will be more apt to believe something that is published by an author who uses a username online opposed to someone who publishes their name and picture in a newspaper, but i cannot support that theory.Blogs may be helpful in some situations but i question their legitimacy.  Mainstream media should prevail