M Blog

In the foreword to Baghdad Burning, Soueif talks a lot about the book and what it is all about. It talks about how the book has a serious impact, and is a very sad read. I liked how the foreword not only explains kind of what the book is going to be about, but it argues some of Riverbend’s exact arguments, such as when Riverbend reminds us, “We watch American movies, listen to everything from Britney Spears to Nirvana and refer to ever brown fizzy drink as ‘Pepsi’”(foreword, viii). They talk about the actual invasion in the foreword and also talk about some Iraqi culture, to slowly educate you before you read the actual book. In the introduction it talks more about Riverbend exactly, talking about how she has basically “made the war and occupation real in terms that no professional journalist could hope to achieve” (Introduction, xi). I like how it talks about her lifestyle, and how she has made such an impact on not only women in Iraq, but also many readers of her blog over in America. After reading the introduction it made me very curious and excited to read Baghdad Burning. It seems very intriguing to learn more about the war on a more personal level from someone who is actually going through it. I also liked the background the introduction gave about the Middle East, but I felt that it was at times too much to comprehend. I agree with both Soueif and Riverbend that the US invasion into Iraq has been devastating all over the world, especially in Iraq. I feel that the majority of my impressions on the war are the same as to theirs, yet I feel that they are also very distant because I am constantly surrounded by bias material here in the US, as well as the simple fact that I do not live in Iraq, and I am not enduring the same kind of pain that Riverbend has been going through. I am very excited to read this book!

HW 30:

I don’t know if I exactly have “A room of my own”. But I do have my own bedroom where I can go and no one will really bother me there, other than back home, I don’t think I have much privacy, especially at college. Woolf believes that every woman should have a room of their own to experience their own minds, to let themselves think and be able to study and learn by themselves. I think that this is a great vision, but I honestly don’t think too many woman in our society today have enough time to find a room that is completely and totally quiet, and not be bothered for a long period of time. I think that because our society is so fast pace, women have less and less time to “be alone”, its not that we don’t want to, but its just it is harder and harder to find, which I think Woolf would be very disappointed about, yet she would be happy that women in fact now have every right to be who they want to be, and they don’t have to hide their intelligence. Woolf would be very happy with the improvement of women in the society, in chapter 5 she says, “I had come at last, in the course of this rambling, to the shelves which hold books by the living; by women and by men; for there are almost as many books written by women now as by men” (Woolf, 79). This quote shows that even in her time period things were changing drastically for women, and I think if she were alive today she would definitely be shocked at how much it has changed from even then. In Chapter 6 she kind of talks about male authors and concepts, she says, “It is not only that they celebrate male virtues, enforce male values and describe the world of men; it is that the emotion with which these books are permeated is to a woman incomprehensible” (Woolf, 102). I think she basically thinks that males have taken over for the most part, and they’re writings focus on mostly male concepts, so women are left out. I think that even if not every women has a “room of their own” today, that Woolf would still be happy because there has been such a drastic change in how women are portrayed, and I think she would be shocked as to how much more respect women have, and can finally show their true intellect.

With apologies to Virginia Woolf:

The blog that I would like to ponder is from the website called, Jezebel. This very explicit site had many interesting blogs but one simply caught my eye. I began idly reading the blog which was called,  ELLE’s “Intelligent Women” Issue Is Kinda, Well, Dumb.”.  This blog talked much about how ELLE Magazine always has a certain issue about Intelligent Women, but like most other people in society, they chose women who “fit in” with society. This is ridiculous and makes me very angry. It talks about how the magazine always has their Intelligent Women be famous, beautiful models or actresses. This is outrageous, and makes me quiver with anger! There are plenty of very intelligent women out there, such as myself who could be put on this issue, yet we are left out. Why you ask?  Because men would like to see beautiful, “intelligent” women, they don’t care how smart they are in fact, only how beautiful they are. This is preposterous and needs to be ended. 

http://jezebel.com/372028/elles-intelligent-women-issue-is-kinda-well-dumb

After reading Chapter Two in Virginia Woolf’s, A Room of One’s Own, I found one really challenging element which I was very interested in which was, Patriarchy. I have been learning alot about Women’s Rights and Patriarchy in one of my classes this semester, so while reading this chapter it really came out at me. While reading the chapter I couldnt help but feel bad for the narrator becuase she was having such trouble understanding exactly what “Women and Fiction” meant. Patriarchy was a huge theme in this chapter I believe, it was constantly being brought up. The narrator says on page 25, “Why did men drink wine and women water? Why was one sex so prosperous and the other so poor” (Woolf, 25)? I think this was a major element in patriarchy in the reading. Why were men so prosperous and women not? Why are men able to have freedoms that women werent aloud to have, it all just doesnt make any sense. I found that the narrator wasn’t really sure what to do about patriarchy either, she didnt really have a set mindstate about how she felt about it exactly, and I got that vibe becuase on page 26, “Have you any notion how many books are written about women in the course of one year? Have you any notion how many are witten by men” (Woolf, 25)? I think that she knows that something is unfair, clearly but she also doesnt understand completely why women arent given the same rights as men. After reading Chapter 2 it is clear I felt very strongly about the element: Patriarchy, and the narrators views on it.

The paragraph that I found very interesting was the third paragraph on page 84. I found this paragraph very interesting because people were going crazy, worrying about if the Salem Pax was killed in bombing and attacks due to our military against Iraq. I thought this was a bit ridiculous, just because he was from Iraq and because our country was at war with them, if he didn’t write on his blog for two or three days people would automatically think something happened to him due to the war. I’m not saying, that it isn’t a reasonable suggestion, but not everyone who lives in Iraq is going to get attacked and hurt because of the war. I thought that this paragraph was very amusing because I couldn’t believe that millions of bloggers would freak out over something that little, or even more so over a blog. “Salem Pax was the most famous blogger during that conflict (he later signed a book and a movie deal)” (Kline, 84). I think that this quote is ridiculous personally!  He became famous basically because he blogged about politics during the Iraqi war, and lived there as well. I don’t think that should make someone famous at all.  In other words, people could move to places that have issues in our world and blog about them and gain many of readers, and then hopefully become famous? I just think it is kind of ridiculous.  My conclusion, then, is that if you want to become famous then maybe you should start getting interested in politics and war and move to Iraq, or other places with issues and start blogging about them, then maybe you can get millions of people to worry about you when you don’t blog for a week, and maybe even get your own movie and book! I think it’s ridiculous, personally.

I think that the blog that would influence me on which way to vote in a coming election would have to be Daily Kos. I simply say that because after reading both the interviews in Kline & Burstein’s book, I thought that Markos Moulitsas Zuniga’s interview was more professional, and he in reality had experience in politics and war.  Don’t get me wrong, I unquestionably thought Ana Marie Cox was very interesting, and I actually enjoyed reading her interview, she was funny and full of life, which makes her a good blogger I believe, but not exactly one that would change my mind for a political election.  Once I went on both the websites and looked at some of the blogs and articles I definitely knew that Daily Kos was a website where I would beyond doubt go to, to find political information and Wonkette is more of a place I would go to find some humor in our politics today.  Although I feel that Zuniga’s website may be a little bit bias because he is a Democrat and believes that deeply, I think that he does come out with the truth for both sides, and this would eventually have a stern impact on how I voted for an upcoming election.  I enjoyed reading both interviews and researching both sites, they were very entertaining.