The foreward of the novel Baghdad Burningby Ahdaf Soueif is and introduction of the blogger named Riverbend and her experience with the Iraq war. She is a women living in the mist of all the action. She is experiencing the war first hand yet she is quite often receiving e mails and messages from people who fully support the war. She believes that those people who are sending these e mails are doing that because they know that they are behind a computer screen safe and all they can get back from it is another comment (Soueif vii). During this whole thing Riverbend is sharing this experience with her brother. This is a blog where she talks about her experiences with the blog world and people have a chance to comment back with their opinions. This book is basically her blog in novel form.
The introduction is written by James Ridgeway and he is introducing the young female blogger who goes by the name of Riverbend. It is described as a “girl blog from Iraq” (Ridgeway xi) He states that this novel about her blog will make you think and her war becomes your war (Ridgeway xii). Ridgeway also says that there is a lot of talk about politics in this novel and some of it is criticizing our current president George Bush. This novel is supposed to be a great read and some say that once your start reading, you will not be able to stop.
I don’t remember much from when the war started in 2003 but I do remember that we were learning about all the past wars in my social studies classed and it was brought up that we were at war with another country. All I can remember thinking was that it was so weird that we are going through all of the horrible things that I have been learning about the past wars. It was all happening in my lifetime, which I never thought it would. Now I think back and I realize that it will be my children who will be learning about the “war on terror” in their social studies classes.
“They shared a laboratory together…” (Woolf 83) is a quote from Virginia Woolf’s, A Room of One’s Own. In this novel, Woolf is describing some of the lives of women through the years and their ability to have freedom or in other words, a room of one’s own. I live in a college dorm therefore I share my room with one roommate. Although I am never here alone, sometimes I feel like I do have a room of my own. I have been friends with my roommate for many years, so we are very comfortable with each other. We respect each other. We have talked and if one of us needed privacy, whether it is to do some work or we just want the room to our self, that we would respect the other and try and give it to them. Although it is not like actually having my own room because I have to make sure that I keep my things on my side, etc.
Another quote from Woolf’s novel is, “The fascination of the London street is that no two people are ever alike,…” (Woolf 95) This is a very true statement. Everyone is different and sometimes having two people together that are very different can cause problems. I do not have that problem with my roommate. We get along very well and we love living in the same room together. Some people on the other hand don’t get along. They don’t respect each others things and they make the experience miserable. Having a room of one’s room can sometimes help people get closer to each other because it leaves no room for fights. Living alone gives people the opportunity to be an individual.
“With Apologies to Virginia Woolf,”
I began idly reading the headlines on Feminist blogs, I found some very interesting posts. I was thinking that back in the sixteen hundreds, women did not have a room of her own to write. Woman had few rights back then, therefore they might have felt like they have been getting criticized by men. As I reviewed a post about Hilary Clinton’s trip to Bosnia, it is shown that she might have slightly stretched the truth. I have seen her being judged by people many times but mostly from men. Because she is a women it is perceived that she is still not on the same level as the male candidate are.
Many years ago there weren’t many shelves filled with books written by females, there were more novels written by men. They had that time to sit down and write, privacy, and a room of one’s own. Women would never be able to write Shakespeare, is what everyone thought. But as time went on, and women struggles to write, those shelves began to see the covers of women’s novels.
After reading the second chapter of Virginia Woolf’s A Blog of One’s Own, I have noticed that there is some irony incorporate in her writing. She says, “but I should need to be a herd of elephants, and a wilderness of spiders…” (Woolf 26) She is saying this because she believes that these animals are the ones who live the longest and believing this will help her cope with thinks. Another ironic quote is when she says, ”how shall I ever find the grains of truth embedded in all this mass of paper…” (Woolf 27). This is saying that there is so much information in front of her that it will be much too hard for her to find what she needs. A third quote containing irony is, “one might as well leave their books unopened.” I believe that she is saying that when med are talking about women, they think that since they are more dominant, that there is no need for women to express anything. The men think they know it all. After reading this chapter and recognizing all the irony that Woolf uses in her writing, I have realized that she has a very imaginative mind. Many good writers are the same way and I think that is what makes writing more interesting.
An interview with Daniel W. Drezner and Henry Farrell in Kline and Bursteins book, “Blog!”, is discussing the dynamics between international blogs and media coverage. Blog is a shortened word for Weblog. According to Drezner and Farrell, blogs are mostly focused on the mainstream media, with some exceptions. Blogs can create debates and this can sometimes create controversy. But this is a way of communication whether people want to accept it or not. Some people would rather use blogs as a way of finding information instead of a newspaper or magazine. They might feel as if it is better because they can have a chance to respond back to what they read. They might have a question and the blogger or someone else can answer it. There are blogs for everyone. If you share a certain interest or you are just looking for a certain topic to read and maybe respond on, then you can find a blog about it. In the interview they are specifically pertaining to international relations. In other words, blogs are a good way to share your opinions about anything.
I think that this material is important because it shows that blogs are so universal. There is a blog for anyone. Drezner and Farrell are talking about international blogs versus media coverage. They are very different because media coverage isn’t always the important stuff. Sometimes we need a more professional way of getting our information to make sure that we get all the information needed and that it is all true.
After reading the interviews in Kline and Burstein about the elections, it is obvious to me that the interview with Ana Marie Cox would influence me the most. Cox calls herself a “failure” of a journalist but now she has become and outstanding blogger and she has a huge impact on on the blog world. She speaks about the more personal yet funny events that goes on in politics. Stuff that people want to hear about for entertainment. She was asked to cover the Democratic Convention for MTV and she was told that she had what it takes to be a television interviewer of such. She has a great sense of humor and she demonstrates that on her blogs and also in the interview in Kline and Burstein. She shares with u s that “Wonkette is her after too many margaritas.” That its not really her but people think it is and they think they know her. She also mentions that the quality of writing on blogs is not very good. This is because there is freedom, no need to edit and the fact that it can be done quick and people will know and understand what someone its saying on their blog. Hearing Cox’s humor in this interview and looking at Wonkette, I would say that she is more likely to influence my decision in an election for the simple fact that she states the truth and I can relate more to her then to Markos Zuniga.