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Gabcast! A Blog of One’s Own #140

Episode #140 Baghdad Burning written by Riverbend
With Cailee, Kyle, Bryant

Gabcast! A Blog of One’s Own #113

Second Podcast with Bryant Hoard, Cailee Maestro, Kyle Roden

Gabcast! A Blog of One’s Own #98

My First Blog Post Episode #98
Baghdad Burning written by Riverbend
Kyle Roden, Cailee Maestro, Bryant Hoard

On the pages we had to read in Baghdad Burning Riverbend talks about some of the different customs in the Iraqi culture.  Two of the different customs that I read about were the importance of date palms and the importance of evening tea.  Riverbend talks about how date palms are found in Dhuluaya which is located near North Baghdad.  On page 103 Riverbend quotes “Orchards in many areas of Iraq-especially central Iraq-are most like oases in the desert.”  Riverbend says that a sweet syrup is produced from the date palms and many people use it for seasoning “Areg” which is an alcoholic drink. 

            Another very important custom to the Iraqi people is evening tea.  This is a time for the family to sit down together and have a conversation.  Riverbend says the families talk about everything from war startigies to politics.  Riverbend quotes “It’s hardly formal as it sounds…No matter how busy the day, everybody sit in the living room waiting for tea.”  I found this custom very interesting because in America we don’t really sit down with our families for tea.  In America dinner is the time we do this so I thought it was interesting that in Iraq the practice the tea custom.

The tile of the episode I watched was called “Iraqi teens work to help their families.” I found this viedo on the website www.aliveinbaghdad.org.  The date this was published was October 15^th, 2007.  The link where readers can view this podcast is called http://aliveinbaghdad.org/2007/10/15/iraqi-teens-work-to-help-their-families.  In this video it talks about how young children in Baghdad help their families make money.  Young boys were interviewed and they talked about how they work a full day to help support their family.  In this podcast three boys appear between the ages of fourteen-fifteen.  One person that I found very interesting was a fourteen year old boy called Yousif.  He attended the College of Agriculture where he did a lot of work for no wage.  Yousif was born with a birth defect.  He talked about how he suffered greatly from the war.  He also mentioned that he had many operations but nothing can really be done about his birth defect.  I feel like a reader can learn a lot from watching this podcast.  They can learn that they are lucky to live in America where many teens don’t have to work full time to support their families.  I think the one thing I find most memorable about watching this video is hearing how much the boys work to support their families.  They don’t seem to ever complain and I think this takes a lot of courage. 

Works Cited

1)      Baghdad Burning (text book)

2)      www.google.com

3)      www.wikipedia.com

While reading Riverbend I came across the name Al-Hakim and I thought it would be interesting to learn more about him. Riverbend mentions his assianation and how it was very important so I thought he sounded important and wanted to find out more about who he was. Al-Hakim had full power has the emperor at the age of only fourteen. He was very intelligent and a generous and described by the people very “pleasant.”  Al-Hakim was the sixth ruler of the Egyptian Shi’it. People said that some of his policies were abritury and harsh. He put bans of different types of vegetables and Shellfish.  Some of his religious beliefs affected Jews, Muslims, and Christians.  Although he caused some harm he also caused good. During the famine he gave food to the people. One night while walking Al-Hakim mysteriously vanished.  He hasn’t been seen since and many believe he was killed.

Dear Ahdaf Soueif and James Ridgeway,

            I really enjoy reading and learning about Riverbend.  I find this very interesting because I am learning about different things that I was not familiar with.  It is different because although I am also going through the war I do not see it up close and personal everyday because it is not taking place here.  Riverbend describes what she sees and I can not imagine how hard that must be.  I thought the part on page 12 where Riverbend clarifies that she does not hate Americans was very important because some people think that all people in Baghdad hate Americans which is not true at all.  She does say thought that she hates the American military for all the bombing that they are doing in her country.  This makes me very sad because it’s not that we want to kill innocent people but its what we have to do to protect our country.  It’s so hard to understand why this war is taking place but it is interesting to read about Riverbend and view her takes on it.

Annotated Bibliography

Baghdad Burning: GIRL BLOG FROM IRAQ-Riverbend

Forwarded by Ahdaf Soueif

Introduction by James Ridgeway

The Feminist Press

At the University of New York 1997

This book fits into the course in many ways.  It describes how blogging allows people to write and share their thoughts about the war in Iraq.  This book is about a young woman who they call “ Riverbend.” In this book Riverbend posts blogs about the war and her experiences has a person in Iraq during this time.  I think that you can learn a lot from reading this book, like the affects the war has on civilians living there and how woman are being treated in a different country.  The benefits from reading this is how it can make you think how lucky you are for living in a country where you feel safe and equal everyday.  This book allows us to see the perspectives from a woman living in Baghdad and lets us understand why blogging is so important.

Responding to Riverbend

            In the Forward Riverbend says that many people have very different views about the war in Iraq.  Riverbend says that the book Baghdad Burning is very important to read because it gives viewers the full picture of what the war in Iraq is really like.  In the forward Riverbend asks a lot of questions about the war and how many things anger her like how everyone believes the media.  She believes that blogging is an important way to get thoughts across about things such as the war.

            The Introduction talks a lot about the women Riverbend who writes her blog about Baghdad Burning.  We learn some facts about Riverbend but mostly we know that she is a young woman writing about her experiences in Iraq during the war.  On page seven Riverbend quotes “ war is something that is lived every day-and every night.  This is so important because although America is also in the war we do not see it because it is being fought in Iraq.

            In 2003 I remember finding out about the war from my parents when I got home from school.  I did not understand everything that was going on but I remember that it worried me.  My mother had very strong feelings about the war and didn’t think it was really the best thing to do. I remember watching the news and seeing things about it all the time.  I feel that some of my views are the same, but some are different because I don’t live where the war is taking place.