After reading the foreword and introduction to Baghdad Burning by Ahdaf Soueid and James Ridgeway, there is a need to summarize what was said, and what I read. To start off, Baghdad Burning is a book, full of blog entries written by an Iraqi woman who we don’t know much about. In the foreword, all we are told is that she goes by the name Riverbend, she’s twenty-four, she has a brother named “E”, and a mother. (Soueid 1) Her blogs are written to give those who read them an idea of what it is really like to be in a country where the war is actually going on. She explains how it angers her when those who say they support the war are behind their computer in a safe environment, not having to worry about being killed from a war going on, “I wish every person who emails me supporting the war, safe behind their computer, secure, in their narrow mind and fixed views, could actually come and experience the war live” (Souied 1.) As I continued reading, I moved into the introduction. In my opinion the introduction seemed short, yet very detailed, somewhat in a sense, which was hard to understand. However, Ridgeway explains what is going on, when everything started, bringing the reader up to date. Ridgeway explains that the background is how everything happened beginning in the “opening of the 20th century” (Ridgeway xii.) The background starts us with Gulf War and what goes on afterward, all the way up to date to the 2003 War. In these two informative sections, Ridgeway explains the background behind each war, and what led up to it, along with some personal opinion. Ridgeway then explains the “puppet show” as to what Riverbend calls people who don’t know what they’re doing and are run by others. Ridgeway ends the introduction with Liberated Iraq, which he explains as the frustration to do with “the rise of religious fundamentalism in what was once among the Arab world’s most secular societies,” (Ridgeway xxi.)
In my opinion I found the foreword more tasteful and understandable than the introduction. Although the introduction was very informative, I have always had a problem with those who explain their opinion and what they consider sources in such intricacy, it’s hard to understand. It bothers me. I also am for the war for my own reasons, and I’m sure I would be uneasier if I was actually living in Iraq. I’m sure every soldier who fights for this country are for the war, but once they are there, they realize it’s a living hell, and they don’t want to be there. They know why they are there, however. I remember when this war started; I (in my opinion) believe it is for good reasons. I don’t’ understand why people want us to take the troops out of Iraq, because then more violence will continue in the US. Do we want that? Do we really think that there will be peace when we take out troops out? I feel terrible for all the innocent people being killed, and who am I to say something? I am just this person in the US who is safe, and no I am not there for the real live war, and I wouldn’t want to be, but I know we’re there for a reason. What bothers me is how I know the text is changed when they take quotes from the presidents speech by including … to take out certain words and then adding [ ] to change words to make it sound the way the writer wants it to and make the president look bad, I feel that we need to be careful when doing such things.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Thursday, October 25, 2007
HW 24: Now go to your room!!....What room?
Do I have a room of my own? In all honesty, even it being the twenty first century, I do not believe I have a room of my own. I say this because no matter where I am there are always distractions. My own room, which one would think would be a suitable room for myself to have time to ponder, is one of the main distracting rooms I could think of. I have pictures, which hold many memories- taking me back to different instances in my life – causing me to remember the exact moment the picture was taken. I have candles- different scent giving reminiscent smells to seasons or people, “she will go […] in the spirit of fellowship into those small scented rooms” (Woolf 88.) I have music- listening to lyrics- making me think of something or someone. I don’t have a room of my own, even in my whole house. Each room has such a significant amount of memories that I would get so distracted to be in there to have time to myself. I find this frustrating, “why do I feel that there are severances and oppositions in the mind […] what does one mean by the unity of the mind? (Woolf 97) yet beautiful at the same time- because these memories could be turned into fiction. Which is what I think Woolf would want for me as a woman. I think she wants me to be a woman of freedom and imagination. Which I believe I have been given, just in a different way. I have the freedom to choose whatever room I want in the house to use for my imagination. The truth is my imagination is on a foundation of my memories. This may be a different way Woolf may have wanted me to use my opportunity of a room of my own. But I think I’m putting it to good use.
Monday, October 22, 2007
HW 23: You've come a long way
With apologies to Virginia Woolf
What a difference. I am noticing that after reading certain posts from blogs that there is much more leisure in the air. I mean this in the most scrutinized way. How is it that over many, many years’ women are authors, and the context of written work is no longer about men and their judgmental opinions? It is remarkable to me to observe what is being written, who’s writing it, and what it is about. For instance, after leafing through such blogs as Jezebel, and Feminist blogs I’m finding that women write these blogs. I am finding these blogs are written on the matter of women. This is astounding! Coming from a time where a woman needed to “have a room of her own, let alone a quiet room or a sound proof room, was out of the question, unless her parents were exceptionally rich or very noble” (Woolf 52) Immediately I can tell that this world is more open to females and there roles. In fact, just the name of this one blog, “Feminist’s Blog” http://feministblogs.org/ happened to inform me that this blog definitely had some damage pertaining to men, and I was all for it. This blog wasn’t the only blog that had women authors and actually had articles pertaining to women. Jezebel http://jezebel.com/, another very popular blog that has to do with celebrities, sex, and politics really blew me away. I find it interesting how many years ago articles written would not even provoke subjects such as women and sex, especially in the same article. It has changed tremendously. For example in the blog Jezebel, there was a post called, “The Shenis, or, What Happens When Girls Pee Standing Up” This post gives me the extremes of both ends. No longer is society so “hush hush” on women, in fact all the posts are related to women in some way or another. While reading these posts I noticed that the topics are more open related. Taking this article I just mentioned for example, women are now written about. This article explains how women want the right to be treated like men, not only this but be able to do the same things, such as urinating while standing up, which I found quite comical. Long story short, this world has come a long way from when I was a writer. Women are authors, and can express what they want, even the fact that they want male genitals.
What a difference. I am noticing that after reading certain posts from blogs that there is much more leisure in the air. I mean this in the most scrutinized way. How is it that over many, many years’ women are authors, and the context of written work is no longer about men and their judgmental opinions? It is remarkable to me to observe what is being written, who’s writing it, and what it is about. For instance, after leafing through such blogs as Jezebel, and Feminist blogs I’m finding that women write these blogs. I am finding these blogs are written on the matter of women. This is astounding! Coming from a time where a woman needed to “have a room of her own, let alone a quiet room or a sound proof room, was out of the question, unless her parents were exceptionally rich or very noble” (Woolf 52) Immediately I can tell that this world is more open to females and there roles. In fact, just the name of this one blog, “Feminist’s Blog” http://feministblogs.org/ happened to inform me that this blog definitely had some damage pertaining to men, and I was all for it. This blog wasn’t the only blog that had women authors and actually had articles pertaining to women. Jezebel http://jezebel.com/, another very popular blog that has to do with celebrities, sex, and politics really blew me away. I find it interesting how many years ago articles written would not even provoke subjects such as women and sex, especially in the same article. It has changed tremendously. For example in the blog Jezebel, there was a post called, “The Shenis, or, What Happens When Girls Pee Standing Up” This post gives me the extremes of both ends. No longer is society so “hush hush” on women, in fact all the posts are related to women in some way or another. While reading these posts I noticed that the topics are more open related. Taking this article I just mentioned for example, women are now written about. This article explains how women want the right to be treated like men, not only this but be able to do the same things, such as urinating while standing up, which I found quite comical. Long story short, this world has come a long way from when I was a writer. Women are authors, and can express what they want, even the fact that they want male genitals.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
HW 22: Woolf Isn't Down with Patriarchy.
In Chapter two of A Room of One’s Own, Virginia Woolf explains her opinion that anyone who reads the newspaper would realize that England is under the rule of patriarchy. Woolf then goes on to explain how easy it is for one to pick up the paper and realize men are in charge, women are inferior to men. Woolf goes on to say that, “nobody in their senses could fail to detect the dominance of his professor” (Woolf 33) This sentence uses “his” instead of her or one, and professor was clearly directed toward men because women didn’t have jobs, they were poor. Chapter two extends from chapter one explaining more about how women didn’t have any say, they didn’t take a stand, they weren’t treated equally. Woolf makes her point every so clearly explaining, “his was the power and the money and the influence. He was the proprietor of the paper and it’s editor and it’s sub-editor.” (Woolf 33) It’s HE who makes it happen. Women were nothing but objects to the men. After searching around on the online New York Times Newspaper, I came to the conclusion that if a transient were to visit our planet they wouldn’ be given the impression that the United States is under a patriarchy. And my reasons are many of the articles are about both women and men. None of the artcles that I browsed had putdowns on either sex. Also, all the articles are written by men and women. This is my main reason I believe we’re not under a patriarchy. I believe if we were under patriarchy, men would compose the articles. I also believe the articles would be more sexist, and neither of these seem to be an issue.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
HW 21: Dear Sista Sal
Dear Sista Sal,
Reading Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own can be hard to understand with its complexity, don’t be fooled by it’s density, but rather look for the point behind it. Woolf explains through narration about her thoughts on Women and fiction. She explains right off her thesis that she believes that in order for women to write fiction they need money and a room of their own. (Woolf 4) Woolf addresses this question by trying to change people’s opinion that women have automatically become inferior to men. Woolf uses dramatized interruptions of women during their thoughts to show that women are constantly interrupted, held back, and unable to continue their thought processes, freedom, and what they want to do. This is where a private room comes into play in Woolfe’s thesis. Women need a private room to write fiction where they are uninterrupted and can think what they want. What Woolf wants the reader, that’s you sista Sal, to understand is that women being denied the right to think is part of the educational culture that has restricted the range of a women’s intellectual exposure. Not only this but throughout chapter one Woolf’s narrator has not only been denied her right to her imagination but the right to go certain places such as the library, the grassy yard, or only allowed on a thin sidewalk. These are examples of women not being able to have the freedom of a female mind. How can a female write fiction when she can’t use fiction in her own life?
Your teacher might have considered chapter one of Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own an important reading for you because it resembles what women went through and how far they’ve come. Women have worked so hard to have the status that we have today. We can write fiction, we can have an imagination, and we can be treated equally, for the most part.
I think the reading was dense and hard to understand at some points, but it helped to reflect on what I just read. Overall I understood the point of the chapter and I hope I helped ya out!
Your sis,Emaline
Reading Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own can be hard to understand with its complexity, don’t be fooled by it’s density, but rather look for the point behind it. Woolf explains through narration about her thoughts on Women and fiction. She explains right off her thesis that she believes that in order for women to write fiction they need money and a room of their own. (Woolf 4) Woolf addresses this question by trying to change people’s opinion that women have automatically become inferior to men. Woolf uses dramatized interruptions of women during their thoughts to show that women are constantly interrupted, held back, and unable to continue their thought processes, freedom, and what they want to do. This is where a private room comes into play in Woolfe’s thesis. Women need a private room to write fiction where they are uninterrupted and can think what they want. What Woolf wants the reader, that’s you sista Sal, to understand is that women being denied the right to think is part of the educational culture that has restricted the range of a women’s intellectual exposure. Not only this but throughout chapter one Woolf’s narrator has not only been denied her right to her imagination but the right to go certain places such as the library, the grassy yard, or only allowed on a thin sidewalk. These are examples of women not being able to have the freedom of a female mind. How can a female write fiction when she can’t use fiction in her own life?
Your teacher might have considered chapter one of Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own an important reading for you because it resembles what women went through and how far they’ve come. Women have worked so hard to have the status that we have today. We can write fiction, we can have an imagination, and we can be treated equally, for the most part.
I think the reading was dense and hard to understand at some points, but it helped to reflect on what I just read. Overall I understood the point of the chapter and I hope I helped ya out!
Your sis,Emaline
Thursday, October 11, 2007
HW 19: Long and Lengthy Article
After reading the long and lengthy Foreign Policy article by Daniel Drezner, I found that the first paragraph of the article had the most important information and it set up the rest of the article perfectly. But don’t misunderstand me. My point is not that the first paragraph is the only informative piece of information but the reason I chose this paragraph is because it was very informative. It explains the content of international media as well as the World Wide Web, and how they work together to make an elaborate network. (Kline and Burstein 84.) I concede of course that the ret of this article what somewhat hard to understand and follow. Nevertheless, the material is important because not very many people know the significance of how far blogs have come and what they are becoming. To put it another way, they are no longer just an online journal. Many people use these blogs for debating, important information, etc. This article was an eye opener to how blogs are expanding.
Monday, October 8, 2007
HW 18: My Least Fav Blog Post of the Week...yuck
Over the past few days I’ve been keeping an eye on the three blogs that I have linked to my original blog. I think it’s not hard to decide that my least favorite blog is “Arts and Letters Daily” http://aldaily.com/I chose this blog to write about because first of all, it’s not very appealing. The actual site just doesn’t catch my attention, it doesn’t seem interesting. Not only this but the articles aren’t very interesting either. Compared to Jezebel, the site isn’t trendy, it doesn’t have very many interested posts. Jezebel is fun to read, I like to got to the site on my own time. I felt forced to look at Arts and Letters Daily. As I look at it now while I’m writing this blog, I just think, “uh gross” to myself. I feel that it’s targeted towards an older aged group of visitors. This blog probably wasn’t a very good blog to keep an eye on to link to my blog. It’s just boring. An example of a post I didn’t find too interesting was “Some Like it Hot” http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2007/10/07/some_like_it_hot/?page=full This post was too lengthy, and lost my attention by the second paragraph. This alone made me not like the whole post in length. Furthermore, the subject of the post was just pointless. I felt that it was a post the one reads when they’re absolutely forced to. Who reads about hot sauces on their free time? I just didn’t like this specific post, or the blog in general.
HW 17B: Cox Wins Me Over ;-)
After reading “Blogging the Presidency: An Interview with Markos Moulitsas Zuniga” and “Sex, Lies, and Political Scrapes: An Interview with Ana Marie Cox” by Kline and Burstein, it wasn’t hard to side with which blog would be more likely to influence the way I would vote in a coming election. Now even though Markos Moulitsas interview was very professional and informative…It didn’t really catch my attention. I wasn’t interested. This is why I decided to side with the interview with Ana Marie Cox. Admittedly, her responses were short, however they were to the point. Furthermore, they gave the reader her, “badass” look. After all, it seemed like she was trying to give off this aura that she didn’t want to fit in, she didn’t want to be the typical journalist. By contrast, Cox wanted to be herself and anyone who didn’t like it, could take a hike for all she cared. In conclusion, her interview compared to Zuniga’s interview was more enticing and enjoyable to read. I felt that Zuniga’s was too lengthy, too formal. And maybe that’s what some people like, and would choose to read his blog and be influenced to vote for an election over Cox’s. Maybe his blog should be the blog that influences me to side with him…but I don’t. Ultimately Cox caught my attention and I enjoyed reading her interview, and would side with her any day.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
HW 17: Jezebel Says I Could Work At Hooters!
After keeping an eye on the blog Jezebel http://jezebel.com/ this past week, I chose to write about this blog for the homework assignment, HW 17. I chose to view Jezebel because it’s fun to read, keeps me interested, has some pretty funny blogs and comments, and I like the fact there are a lot of pictures. A specific post I thought interesting was about girls working at Hooters. The name of the article is “What Does It Take For A 32A To Get Hired By Hooters?” http://jezebel.com/gossip/breast-intentions/what-does-it-take-for-a-32a-to-get-hired-by-hooters-307020.php
This post was about, “what it takes (besides big tits!) to get hired as a down-home Hooters girl” ( Jezebel 1). This post had an interview of many different Hooters employees explaining how to get the job. Interestingly enough, they claim that to work in the Hooters in NY, you don’t need big boobs! All you need is an awesome personality…Very friendly and able to multitask. Sounds easy enough…Maybe I should try to apply considering my mom didn’t bless me with her bust. :-P I liked the article, it was fun to read.
This post was about, “what it takes (besides big tits!) to get hired as a down-home Hooters girl” ( Jezebel 1). This post had an interview of many different Hooters employees explaining how to get the job. Interestingly enough, they claim that to work in the Hooters in NY, you don’t need big boobs! All you need is an awesome personality…Very friendly and able to multitask. Sounds easy enough…Maybe I should try to apply considering my mom didn’t bless me with her bust. :-P I liked the article, it was fun to read.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
HW 16: An A for Jezebel!
After reading both interviews with Robert Scoble and John Batelle by Kline and Burstein, I thought it would be fun to respond to option A, “Who’s following Scobles’ rules of engagement..for the blogosphere?”
I first picked to view Jezebel off of the list for “Blogs I’m Watching” to compare a few of Scoble’s 20 principles to.
After reading a few articles from Jezebel I believe this blog lives up to a few of Scoble’s principles. For example it is very easy to see that Jezebel posts fast on both good and bad news. One can see this on their site because they have many positive and negative articles. There are articles on Brittney Spears and her children, posts on new magazines coming out, etc. It just has the lastest news, whether it disturbing (such as the article on abortion) or funny (drunk women being arrested and flashing police officers.) Another principle Jezebel follows from the 20 is having a thick skin. This means not to be too offended when people say bad things about the site, or what you’re writing on. Many people write negative comments about the posts because there are so many people in this world with many many different opinions. An additional principle Jezebel follows is using a human voice. All the posts are easy to understand and they don’t get ahead of themselves. They aren’t too “fancy” and you know “lawyers and PR professionals [didn’t] cleanse [there] speech” (Kline and Burstein 133). The posts are put up quick; they are concise, funny, and to the point. Lastly I’d like to point out that Jezebel has kept the same url which helps them keep their regular readership which is another one of Scoble’s 20 principles.
I am not completely positive on where Jezebel might not be following some of the 20 principles, but if I were to take an educated guess, I’m sure they aren’t telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Obviously this blog is about gossip, and gossip is never true. I’m sure there is accurate information, and posts based on “the talk around the town” but in my own opinion I can only imagine that all the posts on Jezebel are telling the complete truth. My last assumption about Jezebel not following one of the 20 Scoble principles would be linking to their competitors and saying nice things about them. I haven’t seen anywhere on the site where they’ve linked to their competitors, and this is why I came to the conclusion that that is one of the principles they don’t follow.I believe these principles of the Corporate Weblog manifesto are applicable to Jezebel, most definitely. I definitely don’t think Jezebel should be following different standards. They know how to catch the attention of the reader and keep it. They do very well! :)
I first picked to view Jezebel off of the list for “Blogs I’m Watching” to compare a few of Scoble’s 20 principles to.
After reading a few articles from Jezebel I believe this blog lives up to a few of Scoble’s principles. For example it is very easy to see that Jezebel posts fast on both good and bad news. One can see this on their site because they have many positive and negative articles. There are articles on Brittney Spears and her children, posts on new magazines coming out, etc. It just has the lastest news, whether it disturbing (such as the article on abortion) or funny (drunk women being arrested and flashing police officers.) Another principle Jezebel follows from the 20 is having a thick skin. This means not to be too offended when people say bad things about the site, or what you’re writing on. Many people write negative comments about the posts because there are so many people in this world with many many different opinions. An additional principle Jezebel follows is using a human voice. All the posts are easy to understand and they don’t get ahead of themselves. They aren’t too “fancy” and you know “lawyers and PR professionals [didn’t] cleanse [there] speech” (Kline and Burstein 133). The posts are put up quick; they are concise, funny, and to the point. Lastly I’d like to point out that Jezebel has kept the same url which helps them keep their regular readership which is another one of Scoble’s 20 principles.
I am not completely positive on where Jezebel might not be following some of the 20 principles, but if I were to take an educated guess, I’m sure they aren’t telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Obviously this blog is about gossip, and gossip is never true. I’m sure there is accurate information, and posts based on “the talk around the town” but in my own opinion I can only imagine that all the posts on Jezebel are telling the complete truth. My last assumption about Jezebel not following one of the 20 Scoble principles would be linking to their competitors and saying nice things about them. I haven’t seen anywhere on the site where they’ve linked to their competitors, and this is why I came to the conclusion that that is one of the principles they don’t follow.I believe these principles of the Corporate Weblog manifesto are applicable to Jezebel, most definitely. I definitely don’t think Jezebel should be following different standards. They know how to catch the attention of the reader and keep it. They do very well! :)
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
HW:14 Denton Interview, Concise and to the Point!
To put it bluntly, I really enjoyed reading, “Take an Obsession, Then Feed It!” the Nick Denton interview (Kline and Bustein). Despite the fact that the interview was really short, I liked it because it was to the point and kept my attention. For instance when Denton was asked why he claims “[he’s] not really sure there’s a real business in blogging – or at least [he’s] not really sure how big a business it will be yet [he’s] a blog entrepreneur”, he simply answers, “I don’t see why that’s controversial”. Regardless of how blunt he answers the hard interview questions, when he does answer these questions they make sense. For example when Denton was asked why he hires unknown writers for his blog sites he makes the reader realize that hiring unknown writers is the only way to go. That is, he explains how un-experienced writers want to write more, they are, “hungrier” (Kline and Burstein 152) to write for him. After all, he informs the reader that established journalists don’t do well writing blogs because it’s a different format (Kline and Burstein 152). Likewise he explains that bloggers don’t make very good journalists either…It’s not an easy transition. (Kline and Burstein 152). As a result of reading Dentons Interview, I learned that he is a very “to the point person”, and I really enjoyed reading his responses from the questions.
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