HW# 37 Second podcast..

To read my second podcast go to the fallowing link,

http://itw101.blogspot.com/2007/11/blog-of-one-own-28.html

HW#36 my first podcast

To listen to my podcast on what I learned about Ramadhan check out http://itw101.blogspot.com/2007/11/blog-of-one-own-14.html

HW# 31 Burqas, Habibs, or Veils which to wear??

HW#31

While reading this section of Bagdhdad Burning by Riverbend I came across the words Burqas, Hijab, and Veil. I had an idea about what these things were, because I have seen a few people in my school wearing them, and had heard a little about them, but I never really know what they were, then I saw that there were three different types and I got really confused, so I decided to look them up.

I found the deffinition of all three on http://www.wikipedia.com/

"A veil is an article of clothing, worn almost exclusively by women, that is intended to cover some part of the head or face." (wikipedia-veil)

A burqa (also transliterated burkha, burka or burqua) is an enveloping outer garment worn by women in some Islamic traditions for the purpose of cloaking the entire body. It is worn over the usual daily clothing (often a long dress or a shalwar kameez) and removed when the woman returns to the sanctuary of the household (see purdah). (wikipedia-burqa)

Hijab or ħijāb (حجاب) is the Arabic term for "cover" (noun), based on the root حجب meaning "to veil, to cover (verb), to screen, to shelter. (wikipedia-hajib)

All of these terms are important to the book Baghdad Burning because they are part of there everyday lives. If they didn't already wear them everyday they now have to think about wearing them for their own protection. There is a lot that I didn't know about these headscarves. Like that it was an option and they didn't have to wear them, even thought it was part of their religion.

"Hijab, Burqa, veil." wikipedia. 2007. Wikipedia. 15 Nov 2007 http://en.wikipedia.org.

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

HW#30 "I love my country"

6 o’clock section: Thursday, November 8, 7:00-9:00. Mabel Brown Room, Student Center. "Citizen Soldiers and Global Warriors: Challenges of Iraq." Former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter.

12 o’clock section: Tuesday, November 6, 12:00-1:30. Main Theater, Redfern Arts Center. Welcome Address, KSC Provost Emile Netzhammer. Citizenship Day Proclamation, Mayor Michael Blastos. "What Kind of Democracy Do We Want?" Nancy Tobi.

12 o’clock section: Thursday, November 8, 12:00-1:15. Main Theater, Redfern Arts Center. "Citizenship and Responsibility." US representative & Holocaust Survivor Tom Lantos.
I went and saw all three of these citizenship symposiums at the Keene States Fifth Biennial World Affairs Symposium. I have to say that some where more interesting then others but I think I took a little out of each one of these symposiums. They all had a little lesson in them to learn.

The first symposium that I went to was the Tuesday 12 o'clock section with Nancy Tobi, her session was called "What kind of Democracy Do We Want?". Nancy Tobi is a writer for the Black Box voting companies. She talked about elections and how they are counted and how they "should" be counted. Nancy is a big believer in hand counting the ballots because the machines that are used have such a high rate of error. A lot of people believe that this is a hard thing to do because there are not enough people to count the votes, but according to Nancy it doesn't take that many people to count the votes. "You can count 700 ballots with 20 counters in under three hours." Now that isn't a lot of people and they are getting a lot done. She also believes that there is a problem with the machines counting because people can easily mess with the machines and change the votes, she also say that they people who made the machines that count our votes here in New Hampshire can't be trusted because almost all the CEO members have been in Jail for one reason or another. this really surprised me and many of the people around me because after she told us this there began little talks about this fact.

The second symposium session that I attended was Tom Lantos, Tom is the only U.S. representative that is a Holocaust survivor, and will be the only one. Tom's session was called "Citizenship and Responsibility." He talked a lot about how America has gotten a bad reputation in the past few years and that we needed to work on getting our good reputation back. He said that "other countries have only been looking at the bad thing we have been doing, they forget to look at all the good things we have done in the past to aid other countries in need." He then talked about how we went and helped when the countries in the Pacific Ocean were hit by the tsunamis and how much we give to aids research in Africa. I like his speech a lot, I think that the crowd that was there did as well because I don't know how many times they burst into applause.

I also went to the Thursday night session called "Citizen Soldiers and Global Warriors: Challenges of Iraq" The speakers name was Scott Ritter who is the former U.N. chief weapons inspector. He talked about the rights of being an American. He also talked about the difference between being a soldier and being a Citizen soldier and what it really means to be a Citizen. "Citizenship is something that has to be earned everyday." This made me think about me as an American, I questioned myself on weather I have shown that I have the right to be an American Citizen. I think that he actually got a lot of people thinking about how they are as Americans and what it really means to be a Citizen of the United States of America.

Scott Ritter, "I love my country"

HW#28 Open letter to Riverbend

HW#28
Open letter to Riverbend
Dear Riverbend,

Wow I never knew how much I didn't know, I mean I knew that I didn't know a lot about the war because I don't watch that much news. But as I sit here reading your blog I think about how much the american government is keeping from us. I feel like I didn't know anything, I mean of course I knew that we went over there for a war, so there are a few things that I could have expected like thegun fire, and the tanks being in the roads. But I didn't know that because of our presents in Iraq so much has changed for you. I feel like America knew nothing about your country and that your country didn't need any help in creating a democracy. Yeah democracy is a good thing but that doesn't mean that we should push it on other countries, expecially if they are doing fine running their country all by themsleves.

From the way the American news put it I thought your country was falling apart. I got the impression that the women in your country had no rights, I thought that all women had to wear hibaras, and I had no idea that anyone had jeans, I also had no idea that women had the abilitie to have a job.

Thank you so much for informing me on the thing I did not know about everything that is happening in your ccountry. I now know that I was not an informed person, this makes me want to know so much more about what is really going on in Iraq.

HW#27 Waking up

Baghdad Burning A Girl Blog from Iraq this is a real blog that a real girl in Iraq known as Riverbend wrote during the war on Iraq. Feminist Press at the City University of New York published it in 2005.

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

It gives us all a view of what was going on in Iraq form a person form Iraq. You get to know the country and how they had to live their lives on the edge of their seats.

"Waking up anywhere in Iraq these days is a trial. It happens in one of
two ways: either slowly, or with a jolt."

I think that this is a really good picture of what life was like to be living in Iraq. They give us information on how the presidential elections were held there in Iraq.

I think that this book is going to be a great read for this class because it is what my generation thinks of a blog being. A diary of a girl from Iraq, but it will also give us some political blogging and issues blogging, so you are getting a little of every type of blog that there is.