HW 37: Podcast about Eid

http://itw101.blogspot.com/2007/11/blog-of-one-own-33.html

HW 36: First Pod Cast!

Gabcast! A Blog of One's Own #16

HW 35: Calling all Readers!

Dear Reader,

This will be one of my last written blogs for my ITW class. It has been a journey over the last 13 weeks and I have learned so much. I never imagined all the neat things you could do on the internet. I got to create a wiki, make this blog and leaned more than I could imagine about virtual worlds. In doing my research paper I actually had to listen to my boyfriend talk about World of Warcraft for about an hour. That was probably the longest hour of my life. No, I’m just kidding. But I really hope who ever reads this blog in the future gets something out of it. I hope that by reading this blog that they understand that blogs actually are useful and you can gain a great deal of knowledge from them. HW 31 was probably my favorite post just because Ellen R. Sheeley, the author of Reclaiming Honor in Jordan posted a comment on my blog. I found it really exciting that other people outside of my classroom read my blog. I read the comment at home and I was yelling to my dad “Dad, Dad, an author of a book read my blog!” Ellen commented about what I wrote about Yanar Mohammed and agreed that women’s shelters in Iraq are important. She also added that in Jordan, there isn’t a single shelter for these poor girls and woman to escape. That was just quite sad that these women aren’t able to escape honor killings in their country. But thank you Ellen for commenting. I appreciate it! I definitely won’t delete this blog because I would like to referrer back to it for historical and sentimental purposes. If I find something interesting to post about what we have been learning in class I think I will post it on this blog just for others to see. So good-bye for now and I hope you all enjoyed reading my ITW blog. Thank you all for reading my blog!

Stephanie

HW 34: Riverbend's Cultural Experiences in Iraq

While reading Burning Baghdad the readers get to learn about Iraq’s culture through Riverbend’s eyes. In Iraq everyone drinks tea everyday. Riverbend exclaims “No matter how busy the day, everyone sits around in the living room, waiting for tea” (Riverbend, 108). Tea drinking is taken various seriously. It’s not just dipping a tea back in to hot water. To make the tea you first put the kettle of water on the burner to boil. Once the water is boiling the tea leaves and the water are put into a separate teapot on a low burner until the tealeaves rise to the top. Finally the teapot is set on top of a low burner setting to settle. There are hundreds of types of tea available in Iraqi markets. Riverbend says that the best types are from Ceylon. Iraqi people also drink tea from special glasses shaped like the number “8” called Istikans. Drinking tea in Iraq is very important in Iraqi culture. They drink it at breakfast, the afternoon and with dinner. Gold is also important in Iraqi culture. “Iraqi people don’t own gold because they are either spectacularly wealthy, or they have recently been on a looting spree….People began converting their money to gold--earrings, bracelets, necklaces--because the value of gold didn’t change” (Riverbend, 100). People in Iraq also use gold when a man and a woman marry. The man often gives the woman a dowry, a “mahar,” which is composed of gold jewelry. Gold is also often given to a family in little gold trinkets when a couple has a child. In Burning Baghdad, Riverbend explains her experience with the raids. On October 8th, 2003 the American troops were on Riverbend’s street. Her and her family feared they would take the gold jewelry. So the women in the family wore the jewelry underneath their cloths and put the rest in their pockets. That way if the troops did invade their home, they would not take their valuable jewelry. Luckily Riverbend’s home was not raided and their jewelry remained safe.

HW 33: A Pod Cast of a School in Iraq

I recently watched Alive in Baghdad‘s “Challenges at a Girl’s School in Baghdad” at http://aliveinbaghdad.org/2007/05/21/challenges-at-a-girls-school-in-baghdad/. It was published May 21, 2007. This pod cast was shot by Isam Rasheed and Translated by Qabas Al-Khafaji. “Challenges at a Girl’s School in Baghdad” talked to girls and teachers at a school in Baghdad. One teacher wearing a white head scarf and light marron lipstick was mainly featured. She said 225 students attend the Safina Middle School in Adhamiya, but just a couple of months ago over 300 girls attended the school. The woman said that “…Sectarianism and displacement has force some to join other schools.” She explains that this is the reason why there has been a great number of students dropped in all schools. When one student was asked if she was faced with any troubles on the way to school she said “Yes, sometimes when the Americans search the area.” The pod cast was shot at the school. The wall were bland and white with cracks and chipped paint. The classroom had desks, chairs and a chalkboard. The students all dress the same. The girls wore a long sleeved white shirt with a black dress over it and some wear headscarves. The teachers on the other hand wore colorful blouses. I learned a lot from this episode and I think others can learn from it too. Students there appreciate going to school and don’t take it for granted. I learned that one student said her family no longer wanted her to attend school because they feared for her safety, but the girl insisted on going. In America, I don’t think some children would necessarily choose to go to school if their parents did not want them to go. I found this quite memorable and touching. This footage differs from the footage you see on the news. I imagined the school to look a lot worse. On the new, they mainly show destructive property and violence, but this was different and allowed the Iraqi people to explain what they are face with in their country.

HW 32: A Pretty Horse with a Plait and a Bow…

In Riverbend’s, Baghdad Burning, Riverbend describes her experience school supply shopping on October 5, 2003. The day before her and her cousin‘s wife, S., went school supplies shopping for her 7 and 10 year-old nieces. “Every year his wife, S., takes the girls to pick out their own pencils, notebooks, and backpacks but ever since the war, she hasn’t let them step outside of the house--unless it is to go visit a relative” (Riverbend, 94). Riverbend, S., E., and an other cousin went to the stationary shop to look for school supplies. Riverbend and S., went inside while the men stayed in the car. S., was in a hurry so she went to go get pencils and crayons, while Riverbend went to go get copybooks. Riverbend took a Barbie and a Winnie the Pooh notebook. Riverbend also wanted to get fun erasers for the girls. So they got a strawberry eraser that smelt like peaches. It seems the Riverbend shops like Americans for school supplies. When I was younger, I remember having pictured notebooks and fun-shaped erasers. The only difference I see is that the men had to bring the women to the store to protect them and that the mother was too afraid of her kids safety to bring them to the store. Kids are kids though and what ever you pick out for them, just isn’t good enough. The 10 year-old girl was pleased with her school supplies, but the 7 year-old was quite unhappy with her Winnie the Pooh notebook. Riverbend tried to make matters better by telling the girl that it was a “pretty horse with a plait and a bow…” (Riverbend, 96). She was of course referring to Eeyore. The girl quickly replied that it was a purple donkey and “if I (Riverbend) liked donkeys so much, I could keep the copybook” (Riverbend, 96). Kids in America say sassy remarks like that just like Iraqi kids do. We not that much different, they just have a war in there backyard.

HW 30: Scott Ritter's Citizenship Symposium

Thursday night, I attend Scott Ritter’s, “Citizen Soldiers and Global Warriors: Challenges of Iraq,” as apart of the Keene State College Citizenship Symposium. The symposium started off with an introduction of Scott Ritter by Keene State College’s director of communications. Scott Ritter then took over the podium. For the first hour Ritter spoke. Then the next hour, he allowed the audience to ask question. Ritter was not her to talk to Keene State College to promote his position, but to tell his perspective. Ritter mainly focused on what it means to be a citizen, a solider and a global warrior. Ritter then spoke about how presidents are selected and in order to become president you must have millions of dollars. To this Ritter said “The system no longer works the way it was intended to work.” By saying this he is also referring to the people of the United State’s Constitutional rights and how the government has found a way to violate our 4th amendment right by tapping into our telephone conversations. The most interesting thing I learned was how different our country is. Our fore fathers intended for the country to be strictly run by the constitution and for everyone know it. Now people do not even now their basic rights.

HW 31: Responding to Riverbend!

While reading Baghdad Burning I stumbled upon the name Yanar Mohammed. Riverbend decided to watch “For Females Only,” a weekly program on Al-Jazeera. Yanar Mohammed is one of the three females that hosted this show. Yanar Mohammed is architect who has been living in Canada. She founded the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq. This organization has been based in Canada up until a couple of months ago and it is now based in Iraq. According to Riverbend, Yanar has claimed that “women’s equality couldn’t be achieved except through a secular government because and Islamic government would definitely hurt women’s rights” (Riverbend, 65). When Yanar left Baghdad in 1993 to move to Canada, she establish the Defense of Iraqi Women's Rights in 1998, which has now been renamed the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq. The Defense of Iraqi Women’s Rights opened a shelter in Iraq and saved over 250 women from death. Yanar has also been the director-coordination for the DIRW in 1998, 1999 and 2002. She is now a key speaker in the Organization of Women’s Freedom. When Yanar was asked what kind of actions is your organization taking she said this:

We plan to use all of this to create strong political voice. Our membership holds regular meeting to create awareness on women's rights and political matters. Most of our members then become more vocal and active members. The women who join us are taking increased leadership roles in their own communities and within the organization. Our first and most important project continues to be our women's shelters. These not only protect women in a range of situations, but they also issue a loud statement that honor killing, and violence against women cannot go on any longer. WE will safely house women in all sorts of situations (WHRnet).

Yanar Mohammed is a key in woman’s freedoms in Iraq.

"An Interview with Yanar Mohammed, Chair of the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq." WHRnet. October 2004. Woman's Human Rights net. 8 Nov 2007 http://www.whrnet.org/docs/interview-mohammed-0410.html.

Riverbend, Baghdad Burning. 1st. New York: Feminist Press at the City University of New York, 2005.

HW 30: June Cross's Documentary

At 7’ O clock last night I attended June Cross’s documentary and the discussion with June Cross as apart of Keene State College Citizenship Symposium. Here June Cross spoke briefly about her documentary, Secret Daughter. June Cross made this documentary “not because she thought people would want to hear her life story,” but because she wanted to get the message across about race. It was quite shocking to watch the documentary and seeing that her white mother had sent her to live with a black family because June’s mother felt that she would not be respected in the white world. After the film was shown, June Cross answered some questions. The most interesting this I learned from the film was that pain that June Cross went through in being a different color especially in this day of age. I also learned that the Cotton Club was performed by blacks and that whites would come and watched them even though they resented them. I remember in the documentary that June Cross would take the bus back and forth from her black family to see her mother and she described her life like the highway. She would watch the dotted lines go by, just like she watched her fantasies go by. At that time she was just a child and it was sad that she thought like that. It was also sad that her white family never claimed her as their daughter. She was either adopted or known as the child that saved from an abusive family. I enjoyed the symposium about June Cross. I found it very informational and interesting.

HW 28: "A Open Letter to Riverbend"

Dear Riverbend,

It’s is amazing to hear your story. I’m so used to hearing about the war from the United States perspective and it nice and informative to hear about the war from your perspective. I can’t imagine what you are going through. When I walk down the street I never have to think about what I’m wearing like you do. You said “Now, I don’t dare leave the house in pants. A long skirt and loose shirt (preferably with long sleeves) has become necessary. A girl wearing jeans risks being attacked abducted, or insulted by fundamentalists who have been ..liberated!” (Riverbend, 17) I can’t imagine how hard that must be. I wear jeans everyday and just to think that if I were in Baghdad wearing what I normally wear I could be attacked, that scares me. I also admire that you wanted to go back to work, but you were asked to leave because they didn’t want to be responsible if you got harmed because you’re a woman. That’s just crazy. I also can’t imagine how you live with missiles and bombs going off. Like when you were having the conversation with your brother on the roof and he ask how far away you thought the bullets were and you said “I don’t know… ‘bout a kilometer?” (Riverbend, 11). It’s sad because that’s a short distance away and yet you don’t sound concerned because you live in this war zone and your used to hearing it all the time. I just feel bad that you have to live like this. No one should have to live like you do and you say you have a better life than most woman in your country. I just hope that all this madness ends soon.

Your's Truly,
Steph

HW 27: An Annotated Bibliography for Baghdad Burning

Riverbend, Baghdad Burning. 1st. New York: Feminist Press at the City University of New York, 2005.

In A Blog of One’s Own: Women in the Digital Revolution, students will be able to learn from Riverbend’s Baghdad Burning. Baghdad Burning is a collection of blog posts that Riverbend wrote about her personal experience in her hometown of Baghdad. The reader does not know much about the author only that she is in her twenties, lives with her family and brother and she worked with computers. The reader does not know Riverbend’s real name. In the foreword and introduction of Baghdad Burning, the reader is give basic information about Riverbend, the history of Iraq and the 2003 War. In Riverbend’s post, she shares her opinions of the war and shares her everyday life with the reader.
Students of A Blog of One’s Own, can defiantly benefit from this book. Student receive a first hand experience with blogs and acquire knowledge of the war that is occurring in Iraq. Students will have some struggles with this reading because students are not all that familiar with the Iraqi lifestyle and the War. But by reading this blog students will achieve a better understanding of the everyday life in Iraq.
Baghdad Burning was published because the Feminist Press wanted more people to read this blog. However, Baghdad Burning was writing because Riverbend wanted to rant about her feelings towards the War.