HW 35: My Experience with Blogging

I have learned many new things from maintaining my blog over the past thirteen weeks of class. I have learned how to sincerely and honestly express my opinions and views about a particular situation or event. I have learned how to express my feelings through my writing and accurately get my point across to anyone who may read my blog post. I have also learned how beneficial and influential it can be to express your feelings and opinions on a blog where anyone and everyone can see them. This is a unique feeling to know that other people are able to read about your own personal views and possibly respond to them whether it be positively or negatively it is still comforting to know that your voice has an impact on other people around the world. I hope that people will read my blog and be able to connect with my views about the issues, which we discussed in class. Hopefully my blogs will provide them with a point of view which they may not have realized or considered themselves. I am the most proud of my progress as I continued to blog, I feel that my blogs became stronger and more personal. After this class I will not delete my blogs, I will keep them up. I am not sure if I will continue to blog, I have found that I enjoy blogging. Perhaps I will continue to blog about things that interest me and things that I am experiencing in my life. I do not think that I would ever blog about really personal information but I may continue to blog about books I am reading or questions I have with events going on around the world. I feel that blogging can be very beneficial to an individual and it allows you to experience the feeling of having a voice, which impacts other people, which would otherwise be impossible.

HW 34: The significance of Gold

After reading Riverbends blogs I have learned that gold plays a significant role in family savings in Iraq. The people in Iraq do not own gold for superficial reasons or because they are extremely wealthy. In Iraq gold is not considered to be a materialistic belonging, instead it maintains a deeper meaning. Gold is a significant part of Iraqi culture and plays an important role in family savings. The role of gold began years ago in 1990 when Iraqi Dinar began to significantly fluctuate. Due to this fluctuation Iraqi people decided that it would be much safer and smarter to convert their money into gold considering the fact that the value of gold did not change. Before the war they took their money out of the banks and used it to buy gold. They purchased gold in a variety of forms such as necklaces, bracelets, and earrings. Gold is cherished by the family and is only sold in small portion if it is necessary for the survival of the family. Also gold is an important part of their culture in the institution of marriage. When they get married the man gives the women a “mahar” also known as a dowry which is made of gold jewelry and when they married couple has a baby they are given gift of little gold trinkets. This proves that gold plays an important role and obtains great significance to the people in Iraq.

HW 33: The opportunity to be educated is taken for granted

The video pod cast, which I chose watch was called “Challenges at a Girls School in Baghdad.” This episode was part of the series of “Alive in Baghdad.” It was published on May 5, 2007. The link to this pod cast is http://aliveinbaghdad.org/2007/05/21/challenges-at-a-girls-school-in-baghdad/
In this video pod cast young female students and teachers at the school are interviewed. The video expresses the issues that the young girls are facing while they try to get an education. The director of the school, Jinan Jamal Mahmoud was interviewed wearing a very conservative red and white shirt with a Vail covering her hair and neck. During the interview she expresses her concerns about the girls and their chance to get a fair and worthy education. The pod cast also showed the young girls being interviewed. Surprisingly the young girls seemed to be optimistic about their education. They conversed with the interviewer very maturely and realistically. They portrayed themselves to be very proper and obtain good communication skills. These interviews proved that they are extremely brave and strong young girls. Despite their disadvantages such as the struggle of getting to school, the lack of supplies and the school building being very old and dirty they seem to appreciate and cherish their education. After watching this video pod cast it makes me realize how fortunate I am to be in a new, clean, well-supplied and secure school environment. I feel as if many people take their education for granted. This video helped me to understand the struggles, which these young girls have to go through every day.

HW 32: Did you get to go shopping for school supplies?

After reading the blog posts from September 19 through October 5, 2003 in “Baghdad Burning” I felt that the most interesting topic, which she discussed was about shopping for school supplies. Riverbend explains that shopping for school supplies is one of the most exciting experiences for young children. Unfortunately because of what is currently going on in the war it is unsafe for children to go outside on the streets. It is unfortunate that children are unable to even go outside their own homes because they have to worry about being shot at or being abducted. Due to these dangers this year, the children were not able to go with their parents to go school shopping. Instead Riverbend explained that she, her cousin, her cousin’s husband and E had to go shopping for her cousin’s two little children. The children had to stay at home and could not take part in buying their own school supplies. Most children were overly excited for school to start because due to the war it was starting late, and the children were anxious to get out of the house and be able to see their friends again. Instead of being able to walk to school on their own as the children used to in previous years they know had to be walked by their parents or other adults because of the danger, which surrounded them. There were many times where certain children were unable to attend school because the walk would just be too dangerous and life threatening. The parents coordinated meetings to discuss how to guard the school to keep their children safe. They also discussed who was going to provide the school with what supplies. The school was deprived of supplies such as chalk, chairs, and writing utensils. All of the necessary supplies had to be donated or provided by the children’s parents. This was very interesting to me, because I never realized how much I take school and all that it entails for granted.

HW 31: Donald Rumsfeld

Throughout these blog entries Riverbend continually criticizes Donald Rumsfeld. Riverbend had only negative remarks to say about Donald Rumsfeld. She made it very clear to the reader that she was against him and did not agree with his views and did not respect him. She felt that he was ignorant and absent-minded. I became interested in him because Riverbend was so passionate about her dislike for him, so I was curious what other people had to say about him. Donald Rumsfeld is the secretary defense, he has held this position for two non-consecutive terms and he has held this position for the longest period of time besides Robert McNamara. I then learned that many people do not admire Rumsfeld. It states that people feel as if he does not know exactly what is going on and he never addresses the issue directly but always finds a way to weave around the current issue. When I was searching Google to find out information about Rumsfeld I came across one website that consisted of a large number of quotes that were said by Rumsfeld. The website was primarily designed to make fun of all of the foolish things which Rumsfeld has said. These quotes prove that he is in-fact and ignorant man who exerts little knowledge about what is actually going on in the world, particularly in Iraq. The information, which I found on the internet and the feelings which people tend to have towards Rumsfeld coincides with the feelings that Riverbend expressed in her blogs.

Hw 30B: "Animation as Political and Social Constructions"

Three speakers, Jiwon Ahn, Sander Lee, and Mark Timney presented the symposium “Animation as Political and Social Constructions”. Jiwon made a presentation focusing on how gender domination is displayed trough paintings and animation. She provided many examples of different paintings and artwork, which portrayed a sense of a dominant gender. Sander was the next speaker who showed a clip made by Walt Disney. The clip included Donald Duck who played the character of a citizen in Nazi Germany. Sander explained that he found this strip interesting because Donald Duck is portrayed as a character who is known to have a temper yet in the film clip he is very obedient. He even says Hail Hitler thirty-three times throughout the clip. Sander feels that the film suggests that the Nazi government is so powerful that even those who are normally rebellious have no choice but to cooperate without resistance. He states that the film reinforces the fact that “The individual is powerless under Nazi control.” (Lee, Sander) He also showed another film clip, which was designed by The Warner Brothers. This clip includes the incident where Bugs Bunny encounters Hitler. This clip demonstrates the idea that Bugs Bunny is willing to risk his life to prove that the Nazi’s are cowards and Bully’s. Mark Timney gave the final presentation. He chose to introduce his topic by showing the audience a clip of an episode of South Park. This was an episode about the war in Iraq and the people who are for and against the war. The episode addresses the issue of good citizenship versus bad citizenship and what it wakes to be an active citizen. He explains that 55% of the shows actually have a moral theme and the others usually present a solution. This episode portrays the idea that people who want to be an involved citizen are willing to speak their mind and work hard to change something. In my opinion the most interesting part about this symposium was the presentation given by Sander. I was fascinated by how much meaning one-film strip can entail. I had never seen those filmstrips before and they were filled with so many different messages.

HW 30A: Citizenship Symposium

“The Media Mosh Pit: Journalists, Bloggers, and Citizens in the Dialogue vs. Diatribe Dance” was a citizenship symposium presented by Bob Steele. Bob Steele was a personal man with gray hair, wearing khaki pants and a green sweater. He often talked using his hands and making hand gestures. He presented his information very formally by using a slide presentation. He often made eye contact with the audience ensuring their engagement in the presentation. The main topic, which was discussed, was voting. He explained the variety of voting methods, which can be used in a particular election. Also he talked about majority rule and majority candidates. A few methods, which were defined, are the Borda Count, Pairwise Comparison, Plurality, and Plurality with elimination. Steele stressed the issue of the fairness condition. He referred to the Impossibility Theorem which states that the voting system that uses preference ballots that doesn’t violate anyone of Arrows Fairness Conditions does not exist. This implies that while each voting system attempts to meet all of the fairness conditions it always fails to violate at least one of the fairness conditions.

HW 28: The Citizens of Iraq

After reading further into “Baghdad Burning” I am now able to more clearly understand what is actually going on currently in Iraq. Before reading this although I was aware of the war and some of the events, which were occurring I was also completely oblivious to many significant events. Reading this has allowed me to grasp a better understanding of what it is like for the people living in Iraq. I was never aware of the fact that American soldiers are raiding houses, and that Iraqi citizens are struggling to live without electricity and enough food. Also the Iraqi’s are losing job opportunities to the Americans. Many Iraqi citizens are fully capable of partaking in work, which involves the rebuilding of Iraq, such as rebuilding buildings and bridges, yet all of these jobs are being given to the Americans. This takes away from any opportunity and hope that Iraqi citizens have of maintaining a job. I have realized that the people in Iraq are living in a constant and continuous state of fear. They are not able to feel safe in their own homes; they are forced to always think about the possibility of their lives ending at any time of the day. I now feel that the citizens of Iraq deserve a great deal of respect due to what they must live through each and every day. This proves that they are strong and resilient people.

HW 27: The Reality of War

Riverbend. Baghdad Burning: Girl Blog From Iraq. The Feminist Press at the City University of New York, 2005. This book is made up of the blog posts of a twenty-four year old girl living in Iraq who has lived through and survived through the war. Her posts are about her feelings, experiences and opinions about what is going on during the war. Through her blogs she explains exactly what the people of Iraq are going through everyday. She is a strong and passionate writer and captures the reader. She informs readers of situations and events, which she and other citizens have struggled through that the rest of the world was unaware of. She speaks the truth. Her blogs allow the reader to obtain a better understanding of what is occurring during the war. Most of the world is naive to what is actually going on. Riverbend’s blog entries make the reader realize how scary and dangerous the citizens of Iraqi are. The reader begins to understand that these people are living everyday of their lives in fear. They have to deal with the fact that any day they could be bombed or captured or killed. Her book allows the reader to form a strong connection with her.

HW 25: The blog of Riverbend

After reading the forward and the introduction of “Baghdad Burning” I got a clear idea of what the book was going to be about. Riverbend provides the reader with details about the war which people are experiencing in Iraq. Riverbend also provides personal information about her family and what it is like to be living in Iraq during these scary and dangerous times. Riverbend explains that she writes on her blog weekly about her daily events. The introduction focuses on the factors, which led up to the war and the reasons why the war is occurring. The introduction discusses the Gulf War and how it is had a major impact on the problems which Iraq is experiencing today. Iraq was never able to fully recover from the Gulf War, which is why they are still suffering with no electricity, food and scarce job opportunities. I was unaware of the severity of the implications, which the people in Iraq are facing. I feel that this book will provide me with an insight to the war, which I never had before.

HW 24: The Acceptance of Women

After reading the last chapters of “A Room Of One’s Own” I feel that Woolf believes that things are finally beginning to change for women. She demonstrates a sense of hope for the success of women. “I had at last, in the course of this rambling, to the shelves which hold books by the living; by women and by men; for there as almost as many books written by women now as by men.” (Woolf, 79) This statement proves that she has finally found a reason to believe that things are beginning to change. “Also, I continued, looking down at the page again, it is becoming evident that women, like men, have other interests besides the perennial interests of domesticity.” (Woolf, 83) She recognizes that women are writing and publishing books, which contain different ideas than men. They are able to express their own knowledge and opinions without basing it on the opinions of men. Since Woolf has written we have continued to make progress, women now maintain much more equality. Women are accepted in society and are able to freely express and publish their views. Women are not only able to publish their opinions, but they also receive respect and support. In the world today women do have a room of their own. There is no place where women are forbidden to go, women have the right to be anywhere, which men do. This allows a woman to find any place she wishes where she can best write without being interrupted.

HW 23: With Apologies to Virginia Woolf

It is pathetic that the act of rape has yet to be taken seriously. It seems as if women have failed to gain respect from society since the Elizabethan times. It is quite disturbing that rape still remains to be thought of as a shameless act. I resent the fact that men obtain the idea that they have the right to degrade women in such a manner. In my opinion rape and torture of women has been an issue for much too long. In the particular blog on Jezebel, Interview: Can Rapist Get You Off? Our Question About How Serial Rapist Jeffery Marsalis Got Away With It, Answered the issue of how rapists get away with their behavior is explained. The blog discusses the issue of how rapists manage to manipulate and take advantage of women. It discusses the issue of how rapists manage to continue these acts and remain free of punishment. I am baffled by the fact that society is still allowing these men to get away with this type of cruel treatment towards women. It fascinates me that men are thought to be heroic figures and of utmost importance despite the fact that they participate in these acts of brutal torture. Women have been portrayed as having no feeling or emotion of their own. They are considered to be the property of men. Men are considered to be the masters while women are expected to follow their instructions with no input or consideration of their own thoughts and feelings. I believe that these blogs indicate that the attitude towards the views of women has had very little progress.

HW 22: A Patriarchy in England

After reading chapter two I can clearly understand why Woolf claims that England is under the rule of a patriarchy. “Nobody in their senses could fail to detect the dominance of the professor.” (Woolf, 33) She makes this statement after carefully examining the paper and observing the strong male dominance. She recognizes how women are being treated around the world. The topics of articles in the paper make a strong statement, “Mr. Justice___commented in the Divorce Courts upon the Shamelessness of Women.” (Woolf, 33) It is understandable why Woolf makes such a strong statement about the paper after observing the type of articles, which are included in the paper. The paper directly indicates that The male is the power, money, influence and the ruler. I do not believe that the United States is under a patriarchy. I chose to look at the New York Times, and I noticed that each article equally represented men and women. Both genders were addressed in the articles and they both seemed to maintain the same level of respect and attention. I feel that unlike in England, in the United States men and women are treated equally.

HW 19: Advantages of Blogging

The network of blogging has become increasingly popular all over the world. Many factors contribute to the success of blogging. One of the main factors is the format in which blogs are written. ALTHOUGH SOME READERS MAY OBJECT that this format is unprofessional, I WOULD ANSWER that it is actually quite beneficial. The easy to read format allows readers to quickly obtain the important information incorporated in the post. EVEN MORE IMPORTANT is that the mainstream media is able to look at the most popular blog posts and incorporate that information in their articles. Also blogs have an advantage over the mainstream media due to their low cost of publication. FOR EXAMPLE blogs are able to reveal information before other media can even respond. IN OTHER WORDS the speed of posting new information is extremely crucial and beneficial to blogs. In addition blogs are also able to quickly correct or update their posts if they are confronted with an error. MY POINT IS NOT THAT WE SHOULD rely solely on blogs to provide us with our news, BUT THAT WE SHOULD be aware of the strong relationship which it maintains with the mainstream media.

HW 18: Horrific Rape Epidsodes In Congo

My least favorite blog, which I read this week, is called “Hearts of Darkness.” It was published in the blog of Jezebel on Monday, October 8. This blog was about horrific events, which are occurring in Congo. The blog post was extremely powerful and disturbing to read, it made my stomach turn. My heart breaks when I read awful stories such as this one. The blog addresses the unbelievable issue of children, as young as three-years-old being raped. The blog not only explains that these children are suffering the act of rape but they are being brutally and unmercifully raped. It is stated that “Many have been so sadistically attacked from the inside out, butchered by bayonets and assaulted with chunks of wood, that their reproductive and digestive systems are beyond repair.” This kind of torture is absolutely disgusting. I cannot imagine what kind of person would do this to an innocent child. It is devastating to think about the immense torture, which these young children have endured. Although we may never be able to understand the reason for these pitiful acts, it is the responsibility of us around the world that are capable of providing help to follow through with our efforts. The world will only become a better and safer place if we actually pursue our intentions of helping to save these poor and unfortunate children. This is an issue, which should not be put to the side, it needs to be dealt with immediately.

HW 17B: How Blogging Impacts The Way We Vote

In my opinion the blog “DailyKos” will be more influential to the way a person will vote in the upcoming election. This blog provides readers with all different issues, which occur in the political world. It informs readers of many important news features relating to the upcoming election. This blog is written by a man who is extremely passionate about politics and who maintains a strong viewpoint about certain issues. He is proud of his views and clearly states his opinions. This blog consists of issues, which are of interest to him. Yet, he manages to address opposing views and cover a wide variety of political issues. Although “Wonkette” provides a great deal of information about political factors, it focuses on one main topic, known as sexual scandals. This is a very interesting topic, which can greatly affect voter’s views of their political leaders. These personal facts about political leaders can largely impact the type of assumptions and judgments, which voters will make about them. Although this blog provides an excellent source of personal information I do not feel that it is as affective in the way people will vote because it does not contain as wide of a variety of topics about politics. Voters do not make their decision on who to vote for based on one sole topic, they need to be aware of a variety of different sources and situations.

HW17: How Women Fight

The blog which was one of my favorite posts this week was extremely funny. I could not help but laugh as I read the first few sentences of the blog. This particular blog was about the different styles of fighting between men and women. It discussed how each gender tends to portray different attitudes during a fight. This blog expresses the fact that many women tend to scream, make a scene and drag on the fight. It pointed out that in many cases this tendency drives men crazy and leads them think that women should be put on drugs to control these obnoxious outbursts and burst of emotions. I could relate to this statement because when my mother and I fight we tend to yell and scream at each other and we both drag the fight on. This always annoys everyone else in the household. I was surprised but glad to hear that this obnoxious behavior is actually beneficial to our health. This means that I am in good shape. The blog suggests that it is much healthier to always be honest and reveal your true feelings to your spouse or close relatives. Holding in your feelings and ignoring issues that annoy you is unhealthy. I found this blog to be funny and very interesting. It is something that I can closely relate and connect to.

HW 16: The Five Pillars of Conversation

Scoble states that the five pillars of conversation are considered to be the ease of publishing, discoverability, cross-site conversations, permalinking and syndication. Scoble believes that these are the five areas in which made blogging successful and popular. The first factor is the ease of publishing. This is proven to be true because anyone who desires to write a blog is able to. There are no requirements or standards, which have to met in order to create a blog of your own. A person does not need any type of training or special education in a particular area in order to write about it on a blog. Blogs are a place where anyone and everyone have the power to write about anything they wish and express their knowledge, views and opinions with their readers. This supports Scoble’s claim about the ease of publishing and the fact that anyone can publish anything they want. Next is discoverability, which means that by tagging your blog, or by giving it key words it is easily found and discovered by readers. Readers are able to type in any key word, which you have used in your blog tag and they will be able to find the blog, which you have posted. Cross-site conversation is another factor, which contributes to the success of blogs. This is where a blogger is able to see who is looking at their blog and therefore can read the blogs of their readers. Permalinking is where a blogger can set up their URL so that it is isolated and it immediately takes them to their post. This is beneficial to the blogger because they do not have to search for their blog they are able to easily access it at all times. Finally syndication has contributed to the phenomenon of blogging. This makes things easy for readers because it allows them to see a quantity of sites at one time. Also they are then able to expand their blog reading by using this source. In conclusion Scoble’s five pillars of conversation accurately demonstrate the success of blogging.

HW14: Are Blogs Taking Over Mainstream Media?

Granted the phenomenon of blogging will not occur overnight, I believe that it will eventually take over and replace the existing published newspapers. Although bloggers do not have any special training in the particular subject area which they are writing about, they provide a community and a human voice. In fact Denton states that he does not base his decision on resumes and he prefers to hire younger, less experienced writers rather than an experienced journalist. As a result bloggers do not struggle with the transition from writing for a newspaper or magazine to writing for a blog. Also this theory provides an opportunity for people to become successful writers who otherwise would have struggled getting a job as a journalist. Despite the fact that people do not have complete trust in information provided by blogs, the media has also made some mistakes. Furthermore bloggers are able to provide their readers with a direct insight from within the actual source. Therefore, weblogs will gradually build their audience reducing the dependence on mainstream newspapers. Hence, weblogs will inevitably become the main source of information and will decide which stories to cover.

HW 13: The Relationship Between Blogging and Business

In my opinion the impact of bloogging on businesses is more important than its impact on communication that is non-business related. Blogging may be very influential on businesses. The relationship between blogs and business is crucial to the success of both systems. Business can use blogs to their advantage and in return businesses will benefit blogs. Blogs provide support and advertisement for certain companies. “There is little to stop companies from quietly burying bloggers’ support, or even starting un-branded blogs of their own to promote their products-or to tar the competition.” [Kline, 226] Therefore businesses can manipulate blogs in order to benefit their company. Although some blogs may reveal negative information,, companies are able to control this issue by being aware of these blogs, tacking them and privately and efficiently dealing with them. Blogs also benefit from companies by gaining more readers. Also occasionally blogs have the ability to destroy or impair a company because they are able to form relationships with employees in a particular company and obtain inside information, which they can then reveal, to the public. Therefore the relationship between bloggers and businesses is extremely important.