sjf’s blog

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episode #90

I watched “Iraqi Teens Work To Help Their Families” that is part of the series “Alive In Baghdad”. It was published on October 15th, 2007 and can be found at http://aliveinbaghdad.org/2007/10/15/iraqi-teens-work-to-help-their-families/ . One of the people that appear in the podcast is Hussein Kamal, who is 15 years old and works in carpentry with his dad and does furniture painting, a skill that his brother taught him. It takes him an hour to get to work when it should only take a half an hour, because the route that they take is very unsafe. His interview looks like it takes place in a plain building, and they show some of the furniture that paints, a few benches. The other interviews look like they took place in a run down community, that is not well maintained. Another kid that is in this podcast talks about how its unsafe where he lives and he has been working since he was a child and is only in 6th grade. You can learn how the kids in Iraq live their daily lives and what they do for work, or atleast what they are able to do for work to try to help support their family. The kids talk about how the Iraqi people have suffered enough and to stop terrorism. I think an image that is stuck in my head is when the boy that is in 6th grade was painting the bench and had been doing that for years, and he was in a place that looked like a run down basement, surrounded with dirt and very unclean.

In “Baghdad Burning: Girl Blog From Iraq”, Riverbend in her entries from August 31-September 16, 2003 referse to Al Capone. She compares the living status in Iraq to Chicago in the 1920’s, “when Al Capone was running it: gangs, militias, fighting, looting, vendettas, dubious business dealings, and shady figures in dark corners” (52). Al Capone is also known as “Scarface” and was an  Italian American gangster who led a crime scene that was dedicated to the smuggling and stealing of liquor and other illegal activities during the Prohibition Era of the 1920s and 1930s. He was born in Brooklyn, New York and then moved to Chicago and became the boss of the criminal organization known as the Chicago Outfit. His career ended in 1931 after he was convicted by the government for income tax evasion.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_capone 

Riverbend,After reading your entries from August 19, 2003-August 30, 2003, I have learned a lot from the point of view of an Iraqi woman while the U.S. is occupying your country. I didn’t know that there were 9 candidates for the president of Iraq and they each had one month long periods. It’s also imaginable how it’s hard to be unable to sleep and wake up in fear. I think one of the best lines I read out of these entries was in Thursday, August 21, 2003 when you said “And keep one thing in mind–tanks and guns can break my bones, but e-mails can be deleted.” I liked this line the most because you were talking about how people were basically sending you “hate mail” and that everything you have been writing about is fake, and it’s true that if they don’t want to read it then they don’t have to. I can see how the American troops are frustrating to a lot of Iraqis, and the suggestion about bringing in UN peacekeepers would be a good idea but I’m glad that you show some sympathy for the young soldiers that are there because of the president’s decision. I enjoy reading your blogs from the other side and am looking forward to more entries.

Baghdad Burning: Girl Blog From Iraq. Feminist Press at the City University of New York. 2005. The author of this book is a blogging Iraqi woman from the city of Baghdad that informs her readers what her day-to-day life is in the heart of the fire.  She doesn’t tell her detailed daily life story, but she doesn’t just tell what the media covers and shows us, she describes what is going on in her community with no hesitations. She talks about what she thinks of the American soldiers and government, and what has happened to her country since the invasion in 2003. She describes how everyday is the same, hot, stressful, and never-ending. She gives her opinion on everything without cautiousness, the way it is in her eyes and in the eyes of other Iraqi citizens. The book has many benefits to it, such as learning about the culture of a country we are currently occupying, but it also has challenges such as the different names and religions that are used. In general you will learn what Iraq is like for the citizens of it, from the eyes of a woman.

In the foreword of “Baghdad Burning” written by Ahdaf Soueif it talks about the living status of the blogger, Riverbend. There are quotes from the book provided that help summarize her main points and her views on the war. One sentence that helped summarize her view on a leader that was running is, ”He’s the tasteless joke that Bush and Co. sent along with the soldiers” (ix). Soueif introduces you to some of Riverbend’s opinions about the war, especially since she is living in the center of the fire, Baghdad. In the introduction begins, James Ridgeway starts off by giving a little bit of a biography about Riverbend and how she isn’t blogging about what we see on the news everyday here in the U.S., but about what she sees when she sits on her roof each night with her brother and watches her city being destroyed. He describes basically what led up to the 2003 U.S. invading Iraq war, and says that Riverbend thinks the kind of government that the U.S. is trying to create is a “pro-American “puppet” (xx). My memories of the U.S. invasion is just remembering September 11^th, and how shortly after that our troops were sent to the Middle East because the terrorists that were involved in the attacks of 9/11, were from there and there were more of them. My impression is mentioned in the text as 1 of 3 reasons that President Bush said we were invading Iraq, which have all been proven false.

A room that I call my own is my room at my house. I have my own wing of the house kind of, my room, a guest room, and a bathroom with a connecting hallway and door, so it gives me a feeling of my own place and privacy. I like being in my room because everything that I need is right there, I have my computer and my TV. I mostly do work in my room and being able to focus without any noises is key for me. “But this creative power differs greatly from the creative power of men” (Woolf, 87). Woolf is saying that woman and men have different ways of thinking and that our creative ways of thinking are completely different than men’s. “It is fatal to be a man or woman pure and simple; one must be a woman-manly or a man-womanly” (Woolf, 104). Woolf is saying that not all women are as feminine as they are made out to be, and that all men are not as tough as they are thought to be. Women have to have some manly traits in order to be a normal woman in society. I think in my room I am able to do my girly things as well as my boyish things. I am also able to be creative and think about the things I want to.

The article that I read was from Jezebel, titled “Tips: Jesus Died On The Cross So Would You Tip Your Damn Barista.” It was about how our country is so focused on their 4 dollar coffees, but can’t spare change in the tip jar for the baristas behind the counter trying to make a living off of serving you a viente cafe latte. A California court ruling is now requiring that Starbucks pay 100 million dollars to its’ baristas, but the media seems to think that they don’t need to have extra cash in their pockets since the company is taking over the world with it’s outrageously overpriced grande mochas anyways. A barista really only needs to sell 2 drinks per hour to make the minimum wage at that place anyways. So is our population coming to the point of spending 4 dollars on some caffeine and not tipping, or should they tip to the people behind the counter and encourage greediness?

I recently read Chapter 2 in Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own, and the irony that she uses is demonstarted throughout this chapter. After she writes about women and poverty, she begins talking about wise men and she quotes Sam Butler and says, “Wise men never say what they think about women…Wise men never say anything else apparently (29).” This illustrates irony because wise men are known for saying smart phrases to guide other people, not judging women. I don’t think that wise men wouldn’t give their opinion about women if they were asked to. Another example of her using irony is on page 34, when she says ” One would have accepted the fact, as one accepts the fact that a pea is green or a canary yellow.” She shows her sarcasm through this quote and she is basically saying it’s right in front of you, accept the facts because they are evident. Another display of Woolf’s sarcasm is on page 38, when she says, “Great bodies of people are never responsible for what they do.” People that do something this recognized to have been great are usually responsible for their actions. It’s the exact opposite of great people are the type that say they are never responsible for their actions, trying to get out of it.

In “Web of Influence” the Foreign Policy article by Daniel Drenzer, he discusses how blogging has influenced politics, and the other way around as well. I chose to respond to the paragraph that begins with “Blogs are already influencing U.S. politics.” I think that this paragraph is important because it talks about how many people read the political blogs and I really think it has an influence on those people, and at least they enjoy it since they read it so much. It talks about how one thing that was not in the media, went into the blogosphere and resulted in a huge outrage. In short, I think that this paragraph quickly demonstrates how blogging has influenced politics and it should be interesting to see how much more influence they can have on the coming up elections.