-Unfortunately since Iraq is going through such hard times, their currency fluctuates constantly. Because of this, families in Iraq have started to convert their family savings into gold; the value of gold never changes. Riverbend states that “Women here call gold ’zeeneh ou 7*azeeneh (khazeeneh),’ which means ’ornaments of savings.’” (Riverbend 100). In Riverbend’s post Jewelry and Raids, she describes how protective her aunt is of her gold jewelry. That gold jewelry is all she has, and she gives it to Riverbend and her cousin to wear and hide under their clothes so that if a raid were to happen, the soldiers would not find it.

Why are date palms so important to the Iraqi people?

-The country of Iraq has a significant amount of Date tree’s that can be found throughout out the area. There are many different types of dates that Riverbend describes, some being tart, some being sweet, used for either things like cookies and breads, as well as syrups and salad dressings. This multiple purpose fruit is not only significant to the diet of the Iraqi’s, but it also brings in a huge export revenue. Dates are exported to the Arab Gulf, as well as Europe, Northern Asia, and Japan. The internal market for dates is also big (Iraqmarshes.)

http://www.iraqmarshes.org/Activities/Agritask2.htm

Alive in Baghdad Series

10/15/07

http://aliveinbaghdad.org/2007/10/15/iraqi-teens-work-to-help-their-families

General Content:

This podcast covers the topic of teenage Iraqi children working to help their families financially. This video shows the interviews of three teenage boys all working to help out their families. One boy paints furniture, one is a carpenter, and the third goes to an agricultural college. Mustafa Malek Fathullah Ali, the carpenter, is 14 years old, a sixth grader. While listening to his voice, and reading the subtitles, the maturity of this young boy is clear. As he works on a table, possibly sanding it, the background looks almost all of a cement, dusty color. It looks as if other carpentry projects surround the space behind him.

Evaluantion:

While a viewer watches this podcast, most likely they will be struck by the great maturity these young boys possess. They all have been effected by the war in some way, and they all help work to support their families-even when they are at the age middle/high school students. One boy has learned the trade from his older brother, one does not understand why there is such fighting going on when the reasoning does not make sense, and one was born with a birth defect from the war. Compared to other videos, this video is in a way, very touching. It shows you the reality of what these young boys (and girls) have to do in order to survive. While children who aren’t first handedly effected by the war, can go to school everyday, socialize and play with friends, and be supported by their parents, these Iraqi children of the same age must work, not socialize, and support their parents. It’s a completely backwards situation. What I find most compelling about this video, as I’ve mentioned before, his how mature these young boys are. Most boys that age are incredibly immature, and probably would never even think of putting together a table, or painting one. It’s very obvious that these boys have had to grow up quickly, and they did it very well, the only sad part, is they will never be able to regain that childhood.

                After reading only the first few pages of the book Baghdad Burning based on your blogs from Iraq, my ideas have completely changed.  Being American, I was worried about the soldiers that risk their lives being in a place of war.  Of course I had thought about the people that actually live there, yet I never really thought to stop and look at it from your point of view.  That’s what your writing has done for me.  To look at your opinions on government officials like President Bush, it’s almost comical.  The fact that you feel like hundreds of Americans do, and he isn’t even your president!  Although you too, being affected by the war, are then in turn, affected by his decisions.  The first few sentences from a post you had, titled “Another Day” says “Normal morning.  We were up at early morning, did the usual ‘around the house things,’ you know-check if the water tank is full, try to determine when the electricity will be off, checked if there was enough cooking gas…”  That simple statement really made me think.  The fact that you look at checking to see if you have water or electricity as a sort of normal everyday occurrence is saddening, and humbling.  I would consider around the house tasks to be doing things like vacuuming, sweeping, and watering the plants.  I seem to forget, like I think many other Americans do what we have and what is available to us.  I’m glad that I have the opportunity to continue reading this book, and I’m thankful you decided to write your experiences, so that finally, others could look at the war in Iraq from a different perspective.

Sincerely,

Kelsea Laro

Book:  “Baghdad Burning:  Girl Blog From Iraq.”

Bibliography

Riverbend. Baghdad Burning. New York, NY: Feminist Press, 2005. 

                Baghdad Burning is a book made up of blogs written by an anonymous Iraqi woman who calls herself Riverbend.  This Iraqi women, in her 20’s, writes about the war in Iraq from a different point of view that most people can relate to.  She has grown up around the violence and terror and has lived through it all, unlike others who have not, she can share her story.  This book is shocking, upsetting, and yet intriguing, especially for an American reader.  As an American, you really only get a one-sided story; the story of the soldier.  The way Riverbend tells her stories, makes the reader feel as if they were there with her, as if they too were laying on her roof at night, listening to the sounds of gunshots in the distance.  Not only does the reader learn about life in a place of war and destruction, but Riverbend also explains different traditions and religious celebrations like Ramadan.  Riverbend upsets all stereotypes of Iraqi women when it comes to her intelligence, and the fact that she does indeed, have a computer at her house with internet access.  This book is sure to make the reader aware of how the war is affecting more than just the soldiers and their families. 

                I think that I myself have “my own room.”  I’ve grown up in a time where women are pushed, especially by other women, to do what they want; whether it be pursuing careers as a writer, a doctor, a pilot, or a hair stylist.  I’m lucky in that aspect.  However, I feel that if I could have a conversation with Virginia Woolf, she would be unhappy with how I use what’s given to me.  I guess what I’m trying to say is that I take advantage of things.  I think most people today do.  A women writer seems no more uncommon than rain in March.  Although there are still controversial issues when it comes to women being treated as fairly as men with salaries and things like that, women now have a lot more rights than they used to. 

Works Cited

Woolf, Virgina. A Room of One’s Own. Orlando: harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers, 1957.Woolf, Virginia. n.d. 

“Most bloggers desire a wide readership, and conventional wisdom suggests that the most reliable way to gain Web traffic is through a link on another weblog.  A blog that is linked to by multiple other sites will accumulate an ever increasing readership as more bloggers discover the site and create hyperlinks on their respective Web pages.  Thus, in the blogosphere, the rich (measured in the number of links) get richer, while the poor remain poor.” 

                In other words, the more people that work together and connect their weblogs, the more popular they will become.  The fact that adding another person’s blog to your own to expand the range of your viewers, for instance, demonstrates, that avid blog readers are interested in all types of stories, especially if they can find them through a weblog they are already familiar with.  Essentially, I am arguing that the more people tag on to other blogs, other people will be able to see theirs, then in turn making their way to the tagged blog and going on to read that.  The process is a big loop.  As the person reads the tagged blog, they will then see those of which have been tagged to that.  It expands the entire blogging world.

                Although Lodge made the claim that if Idaho’s surrounding states collected the data, there would be nothing different between them and Idaho when it came to child deaths.  However, I feel it’s a bit moronic to believe that.  Idaho is its own state with different people, different crimes, and different situation.  I’m sure that if you looked at children’s deaths between New Hampshire, and a more populated state such as New York or Massachusetts, the statistics would be nowhere near the same.  Every state should have to take their own data, and f-words blogger is right, if parents are committing acts or crimes that would lead to their child’s death, then of course they should be charged.