Three of us from the XI pod made our final pod cast refering to a powerful message from Baghdad Burning by Riverbend. You can listen in here…
http://www.gabcast.com/index.php?a=episodes&query=&b=play&id=8538&cast=74090&castPage=
I responded to the reading from Riverbend 148-176 in my second podcast! I did my podcast solo because I couldn’t find time this week to meet with my pod. So here it is…
http://www.gabcast.com/index.php?a=episodes&query=&b=play&id=8538&cast=73292&castPage=
Today we as in the XI pod made our first podcast!! The thing is I cant find it on the gabcast site and there are way too many podcasts on there to keep looking through. We as a group made our podcast about a section of the book Baghdad Burning by Riverbend. The section was on Ramadhan and it is located on pages 124 and 125.
You can now listen to my own podcast becuase I could not meet with my pod located at this site: http://www.gabcast.com/index.php?a=episodes&query=&b=play&id=8538&cast=73290&castPage=
So I found that the three questions we had to choose from were a bit confusing. I don’t remember reading about them specifically but in different forms of which the questions are asked. The first question was what is the role of gold in family savings in Iraq? My answer to this is that not many families in Iraq are classified as “rich”. “Gold” in family’s is rare but in the reading Riverbend was describing “S.” who was involved with the oil company in her community sneaking around to in a way hide the fact he had money. Moving to the third question is says describe the custom of evening tea in Iraq. I don’t recall reading about evening tea, but I believe it is referring to a peaceful night. The nights in Iraq aren’t so peaceful. Every one is worried about raids. Riverbend is describing a horrible experience she had with a raid that came during the night. So I don’t think many Iraqis’ are sitting down for evening tea to end their evening.
“Iraqi Teens Work to Help Their Families” 10/15/07 This podcast is a part of the series of Alive in Baghdad . You can find this podcast by the link provided. http://aliveinbaghdad.org/2007/10/15/iraqi-teens-work-to-help-their-families/
This podcast is about the youth of Iraq working to carry their families. Mostly carpentry was showed in this video and the boys said they had been practicing the carrier since they were little. Three different boys appear in the video and claim they had been taught by their fathers or uncles on how the job is done. Mostly they make tables and bedroom framing. They were often kicked out of the area they worked in so they were forced to work out of their homes. The surroundings appeared as dirt floor a little cement it’s really an enclosed area. From watching this podcast a viewer will take in the reality of what it is like as the youth of an Iraqi family. The struggles they go through and what they want the world to know. This video relates to most of the other footage because it really shows the reality of the war and the impact it has on all who are there. The memorable piece of this video for me was the pictures… actually seeing the boys work hard and have them tell about how long they have been practicing their work.
Reading Baghdad Burning I stumbled upon a name that was brought up quite a bit. I did not get interested in the name until Riverbend the author gave lines from a specific comment she received talking about this man. The lines are provided on page 52 and 53 mentioning a man named Donald Rumsfeld. “You should be thanking your lucky stars that Rumsfeld, and not Saddam, was in the Pentagon when your asshole buddies flew into it. Otherwise you and your whole family would be radioactive dust right now.” So I thought this was comical, the man is reading Riverbend’s opinions but at the same time does not want to hear them. I wasn’t really sure who Rumsfeld was so I did a little search for him and found out that he was the 21st Secretary of Defense and served his time from 2001-2006. He was responsible for directing action in response to the attacks on our country on September 11, 2001. The operations were Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Freedom. I got this information from whitehouse.gov and I feel as though it is very reliable.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/government/rumsfeld-bio.html
Riverbend, Baghdad Burning: Girl Blog From Iraq, 1st Feminist Press ed. 2005
Dear Ms. Riverbend,
I understand you have had a traumatizing month. I have heard similar stories from my cousin who is an American soldier over there in Iraq. His daily wake up call is usually an explosion, gun shot, or a terrified yell. You talked about the family friends that you had lost just over a few days. My cousin’s buddies have been shot out right in front of his face. I understand your feelings on the American troops and I am impressed that you do have sympathy for them. I want you to know that the troops have sympathy for you too. You may or may not believe it but inside they know there are innocent Iraqis praying for help, but at the same time as you said homeless, crazy Iraqis think they are tough and fire guns at them when our troops are forced to be in your territory. Believe me not all of them want to be there, but they have to do what there country asks of them. I am following along with your blogs and I feel for you and your families. Get back to me when you get a chance.
Melanie
Riverbend. Baghdad Burning: girl blog from Iraq/ by Riverbend; foreword by Ahdaf Souief; introduction by James Ridgeway.- 1st Feminist Press ed(2005)
This book fits into what we have been discussing this semest in our A Blog of One’s Own class. The literature written was first a blog before it was published here in the United States. An Iraq women wrote this and is expressing her personal feelings about the war along with day to day activity and struggles she goes through. She blogs from Iraq and received many comments and questions asking more personal questions dealing with families and religions outside of the war. The benefits that we will receive from reading this material are the array of opinions from an Iraq women living through the war on the other side. She is not safe here in America and that is obvious otherwise this book probably wouldn’t exist. This book will provide her many different opinions about America’s presence in Iraq.
After reading the foreword and introduction to Baghdad Burning I am a little interested in how opinionated this book will be. It said that the book doesn’t really focus on any other areas of the word except Iraq. This book is going to cover other topics than just the war though. Riverbend works through her blog and answers different questions so she related some of them into the reading. Topics such as: what it is like to be a women in Islam, savings and investments for them, relation ships between all the different religions, the education systems over there and many more too. In Graff it talks about how to write but without giving all opinion. There are strategies used with wording that makes the reading an easier flow and not so “one way.”
I would say I am not really sure weather my opinions with Riverbend are the same or different yet because it really has not gotten in depth. After getting through the first chapter or so I will definitely know where we stand.
“For books continue each other, in spite of our habit of judging them separately.” stated Virginia Woolf in her book A Room of One’s Own on page 80. This I do agree with and it stuck with me through the chapter because it is a part of today’s society. There is a lot of judgment and criticism on every piece of literature today. Due to this, I agree with Virginia Woolf in that “everyone” but not just women need a room of their own. Some where they can feel comfortable and not bothered by outsiders looking in. So do I have a room of my own? Yes I do. I have a place where I keep all of my special belongings and a place where I can go to reflect. I wouldn’t say so much here, but at home. I say this because there is no other place like my own room. The comfort and surroundings that I have had all my life can not be replaced. My room is as piece full as what Virginia Woolf stated in her book A Room of One’s Own on page 96, “A single leaf detached itself from the plane tree at the end of the street, and in that pause and suspension fell.”
