HW 45: Third Podcast
Posted on April 27th, 2008 by jscott2
I chose to review “Iraqi Teens Work To Help Their Families” http://aliveinbaghdad.org/2007/10/15/iraqi-teens-work-to-help-their-families/ which was published on 10/15/07 and can be found on the “Alive in Baghdad” site.
This post focused mainly on the harmful effects the war has on children growing up in Baghdad. It stated how there are attacks on the country every day, some even killing innocent children without even meaning to. It also said how children sometimes have to stop going to school, no matter what age, so they can find work to help support their family in a desperate time of need. The blog didn’t mention one person, in particular, overall it focused on the children of Baghdad and the harmful environment that they are currently in.
From reading this post, people can look at the war from a different perspective. They can see how it effects the people who live there every day. The war killing innocent children, who just want to be able to go to school and get a good education and not have to drop out of school so they can work for their family. Viewing and reading this will make people more aware of the children that are suffering day in and day out just by living in Baghdad.
I decided to look up more information on Ramadi. (Riverbend, 61) According to Wikipedia, Ramadi is a city in central Iraq and it is west of Baghdad (which is where Riverbend is) and it is also the capital of Al-Anbar. It continued to say that it has been a focus point of terrorism against the United States and Iraq. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramadi) It contains about 700,000 people and is a very active location in Iraq. Because this is such a “hot spot” Riverbend included it into her blog because many important events take place here. It also contains a lot of the crucial information pertaining to the war, things that the U.S. News headlines don’t inform us of.
Works Cited:
Riverbend, Baghdad Burning. New York, NY: Feminist Press, 2005
Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2008)
As a reader you have to respect “Riverbend” for being able to step forward and speak her mind. You aren’t afraid to tell the truth and people have to give you credit for being so brave. You tell the truth, but the truth is reality and it needs to be heard. You are a twenty year old women who isn’t afraid to speak your mind. I love how you also respect that some people won’t like what you have to say. I absolutely love when you say “remember tanks and guns can break my bones, but e-mails can be deleted” (pg.10) It’s completely true and sums about how people’s reactions should be a couple of words. I also love how you related even the simplest conversation that you were having with your brother, to the issues going on right in front of you. Overall, this blog is very well written. It’s respectful but at the same time it expresses opinions so people can see how you truly feel.
Riverbend, Baghdad Burning. New York, NY: Feminist Press, 2005
- Currently I am taking a “Blog of One’s Own” class at Keene State College. In this course we observe and read many different types and uses of blogs. Baghdad Burning is a blog written in book form by a girl who lives in Baghdad and is experiencing the war first hand, and then documenting her experiences in her blog. She explains stuff in this book that only people who are seeing them first hand can explain. She’s a young women trying to live her life, but there is a war getting in her way. Many things that the news headlines of America can’t tell, are told in this blog. It is worth reading if you care about the war and want to view it from another perspective. It also shows how important blogs can be to show a different view point of issues going on in our world.
Baghdad Burning is an account of events from a young girl’s point of view. She decided to keep a blog and post about her experiences living with fighting and the war going on right outside her home. “Riverbend” is what she refers to herself as and we don’t very much information about her except that she is a girl in her mid-twenties living with her family in the middle-class section of Baghdad. As you continue to read you “begin to see things through her eyes and those of her family.” (pg.xii) It’s amazing to read this and hear things you’ve never heard before about the war. Things that the news headlines don’t tell us, things only people who are experiencing first hand can tell you.
When Virginia Woolf talks about a woman’s room she examines it with the domestic details. Looking around at my dorm room I could say that I have been given the potential to have a domesticated “women” type room but not the extreme. Pictures everywhere makes it more like home, since this is where I spend most of my time. Color adds to the room making it much more open and inviting for the constant visitors. I feel like I didn’t take great advantage of making my room a “womens” room because of the fact that it is a dorm room and we do have to move out but thinking about my room at home it’s much more like that. It has curtains, colorful posters, clothes everywhere, organization, books, magazines, and forms of communication. You walk into my dorm room you can tell that women live here because of the personality, color, and liveliness that exists within the walls.
“With Apologies to Virginia Woolf”
Women running for president. Who would have thought. One women finally gets the opportunity to put her foot forward and she pulls it back. If you are a woman running for president and some women themselves don’t like you then something must be wrong. http://wonkette.com/370904/girl-in-3-am-ad-taking-dangerous-measures-against-hillary A 17 year old girl showing her that shes wrong. I’m glad it takes a 17 year old to show the truth. All I could think is maybe women shouldn’t be president but considering the time women should get a chance. She may have genius ways but there are smarter people in the world that can prove her wrong, even if they are 17 years old. Given the chance though, she should try a little harder if she wants to keep the opportunity.