homework 42 my last pod cast

http://www.gabcast.com/index.php?a=episodes&b=play&id=8538&cast=51986&autoplay=true

My last pod cast is episode 49 on gabcast! enjoy!

hw 37 my second pod fast

http://www.gabcast.com/index.php?a=episodes&query=&b=play&id=8538&cast=50906&castPage=

this is my second pod cast, it is number 27 on the gab cast page for 11/27/07 on the groups account! enjoy!

hw 36 my first pod cast

http://http://www.gabcast.com/index.php?a=episodes&query=&b=play&id=8538&cast=50060&castPage=

My podcast is episode 23 on the group gabcast account! enjoy!

HW 35: Farewell Blogger.com

I am sorry to say this is my last blog I will be posting on blogger.com, in the beginning I was skeptical of blogging however; I have found it being most rewarding especially by using it to post homework assignments. I have learned that it is most important to have good time management in order to keep up to date with my assignments. A timestamp occurs on every blog posted with the date and time of its posting down to the second. Not only can my professor use that to determine how to grade my assignment and its timeliness’ but also that I am up to date with my assignments. With the rare occurrence that I am not, she can determine when I did my back work for her to grade accordingly. I have had to do many assignments and I am required to produce all of them printed in a portfolio at the end of the semester and having them readily available on blogger.com it will make this task easy to complete. For others, I hope that my blogs on the readings I have done in this class will help other people understand the authors when they read the books I blogged on. Not only will they help better understand the authors but an opinion on them as well maybe to help them gain their own. I am most proud of my blogs when we were reading Virginia Woolf, not only am I a big fan of her but I feel that I stood very strong with writing about how to perceive her works. I feel like it was a tribute in a way to her and what she has written and her interests as a woman of her time. To be honest, I am not 100% positive if I will continue to blog because I am no longer required to do so. However, I feel as though I will take advantage of blogger to blog and do the same analyses of books I have yet to read, to keep up the contribution of opinions and summaries for others. I will not delete or cancel my account or any of the posts already posted on it, I feel like that sort of thing is good to look back at to see the growth in my writing and such. Thank all of you have read my blog thus far!

HW 34: Evening Tea

When reading Riverbend’s Baghdad Burning October 9th through 29th I read about the tea tradition in Iraq. The tea is served to the entire family at once while sitting in the living room together, the making of the tea is something that differs however, who the tea is served to and the serving time is not. Tea is served in many ways depending on the family but there is a basic 3-step process that tea is made in Iraq. The water is boiled then tealeaves are added and lastly it is all put in to a different kettle and heated until the leaves rise to the surface of the kettle and allowed to settle again (Riverbend 108-109). Tea is never served by a tea bag, in fact that is considered an insult to Iraqi’s due to their expertise of tea and the way it is served. The drinking of tea together is their family’s way to have conversation and enjoy each other’s company. The conversations they have range from the current political situation of Iraq to what each of their days consisted of, they do this voluntarily and often look forward to their evening tea as a family. This is a custom I am envious of, I feel that it is a time some families may take advantage of and use it for other things where most if not all would benefit from a time such as evening tea to be together and catch up on their lives and events in their area. “Unlike the typical family conversation around the world ‘How was your day dear?’ doesn’t get at typical answer in Iraq. Depending on who is being asked, the answer varies from stories of abductions to hijackings, to demonstrations, to empty gas cylinders and burned out water pumps” (Riverbend 109). This is something needed both information wise and bonding, the time spent making sure they know what is going on and how they feel about it is so vital to their relationship as a family.

Schooling in Baghdad HW 33

I watched "Challenges at a Girl's School in Baghdad" from the Life From Iraqi's to You series from Alive in Baghdad that was shot on 5/21/2007, to watch this yourself go tohttp://aliveinbaghdad.org/2007/05/21/challenges-at-a-girls-school-in-baghdad/. This clip was shot in Al-Safina an all girls middle school in Adhamiya, a place that due to the violence in Iraq is often difficult to get to and attend throughout the year. The school itself is a run down concrete building with chipped paint and is very small compared to the number of students and staff within its gated walls. The girls wear uniforms and their traditional head peices at school and at the beginning of the year there was around 300 students and today their numbers have decreased to about a little over 200 students. The decrease in students is due to the displacement occurring in their areas which forces the students to either not go to school at all or go to a different school, this decreasing the number of girls attending Al-Safina despite how much the girls wish to be there instead. I believe that the point of this video was to drive home the fact that education in Iraq is something that needs improvement. The girls as well as faculty are scared to attend school, scared to travel there and are in fear once they get there due to searches, explosions, shootings and other day-to-day violence they witness. This school is doing the best they can under their current situation and believe that despite the range in experienced teachers they are working with the girls are continuing to improve their grades and their spirits with help of the administrator who spoke in the video. She was very hopeful for the girls in her school as well as her teaching staff; she believes that the “clever” girls will make a difference for their generation. I think that the most memorable part was that when one girl was interviewed she said she was determined and insisted on attending school as much as she possibly could, despite all that is going on around her she is determined to finish school. This shows that there is still a hope for this country, its people and that they are not completely discouraged and are not giving up, this generation of girls interviewed will make a difference in their country. The lesson learned is that despite where you are, what conditions you are under life still goes on and essentials of life such as education still need to happen and there needs to be more action put forth to better the education Iraqi children are receiving.

HW 32: Aqila Al-Hashimi

On Saturday September 27 Aqila Al-Hashimi was buried in the south of Iraq after being murdered by an unknown attacker though there are suspicions as to who was behind it, nothing is official. One of the accused is Al-Chalabi, who was also accused of having apart in the attack on the Jordanian Embassy, however Al-Chalabi rerouted his accusation to Saddam, which Riverbend believes is sort of a cop out. Al-Hashimi was said to be made an ambassadress to the Un for Iraq, which makes things peculiar now after her death the UN is pulling out its staff to do “security reasons” (Riverbend pages 84-85). Riverbend believes that everytime the UN pulls out its staff something bad is about to happen “…the UN is pulling out…we’re getting bombed” (Riverbend page 85) This is how she generally gauges the political situations in Iraq, if the UN is in its going good, if their out its going badly.

HW 30: Citizen Journalist II

I attended Jiwan Ahn, Sander Lee and Mark Timney’s “Animations as Political and Social Constructions” a lecture from the Citizenship Symposium done by Keene State College. All three presenters are faculty here at Keene State College and their presentations were to educate us as their audience about the actual role in animations in our society. Ahn portrayed the art of Anime and the ways of seeing it, Anime has many admirers from the elite to simple fans she states that the “fanatical art work industry is huge” and that the admirers not only collect but also do Anime art work. The purpose of the flat style they use in Anime is so that the female body that they so often use is not portrayed in the wrong sexual manner. They wish to keep the body more as a symbol and less as an arousing sexual object, they use the body accompanied with violence, nature and in provocative clothing if at all clothed. This style “may be seen as being exploitative toward young girls” because they are so exposed in most of the artwork. However, this fan-boy style is how they use their artwork to get people to see new types of gender representation and a new way of thinking about gender representations to the media and society as well. Lee used WWII cartoons to show how animation has been used in our society for political and informative ways. Showing Bugs Bunny and Donald Duck in areas of Nazi Germany working for or being chased by Hitler and his cohorts in the war. In both cartoons, they show that Hitler could be conquered by another highly powered state as the US and the Soviet Union. This was their way of showing what was going on during the times of the war as well as what could transpire from the war. Lee states, “I feel that Bugs identity is an interesting one in terms of the situation. I maintain Bugs has an ethnic identity, an American accent or an image of Brooklyn which is street smart, tough and ethic and his accent and the way he operates identifies him as a representative for the American Melting Pot to the German government.” This is was intentional, not ironic. Timney uses South Park to identify animation with our society, claiming that it not only is exploitive of our country, religions, is vulgar and has blatant sexual content but it also is “satire at its finest.” This show has the ability to cultivate behavior among its viewers as well as ask its viewers to compromise for greater good, to be active citizens and think critically, check facts, have an open mind and refine generalizations. All these things are built in to a show that degrades and mocks our country and its aspects yet at the same time “teaches” its viewers to be good citizens, that was our presenters point however not something I agree with.

HW 31 : Depleted Uranium

As I was reading the assigned section of Baghdad Burning, her blog from September 3 had information had never heard of before the bombing of in 1991 and more importantly the aftermath with depleted uranium (Riverbend, 47). Riverbend describes that the first bomb went straight through allowing the second one to blow up inside it, killing more then four-hundred people in the Al-Amriyah shelter on February 13, 1991. The bombs contained uranium, not only enhancing the explosion but also causing such a devastating repercussion that the affects are still being felt today. People contracted cancer and diseases that medicine could have helped if it was not “forbidden” due to sanctions placed on the country after the bombing that permitted the availability of medications, health care, books, clean water, and every day necessities. Birth defects were so high after the bombing due to the depleted uranium in their systems, babies were born with extra or less extremities and features coupled with mental and health concerns and disabilities (Riverbend 46-8). I had never heard of depleted uranium or the bombing that occurred in 1991, this is something that bothers me about our society, I was never taught about either of these and many other occurrences in our world similar to this tragedy. Therefore, this is what I chose to research to understand from the assigned reading. Depleted uranium a waste product of enriched uranium, and is radioactive. The use of this in weapons is even more detrimental due to its affects once released in to the air. It is not documented however; there have been cases where it appears that depleted uranium was a contributing factor to cancer in patients who had been exposed to the devastating airborne health threat (Wikipedia Foundation updated by unknown user on November 8, 2007). I regret not knowing about the tragedy in 1991 however, I am becoming more and more aware of situations as I continue to read this book, I am very great full to its author.

HW 30: Citizen Journalist

I attended a lecture through the Keene State College Citizenship Symposium in which the lecture was an unexpected topic however, it was an interesting topic, it was on the voting systems in the world. Dr. Vincent Ferleni gave us our lecture on voting this Tuesday in the Redfern Art Center, his lecture was called Get the Vote Out and proceeded to inform all of us in his audience of the history, basics and details of voting. Dr. Ferleni got his Bachelors degree from Notre Dame in mathematics as well as his Masters degree in mathematics from the University of Oregon; he currently is a professor here at Keene State College. His talk began with a short history about voting, it began in Greece around 509 BEC where the voters would vote for who they liked the least. Once that vote was tallied the person like the least was put in to exile for ten or more years, the voters broken pot was called ostraca which is the root word for ostracize which we use today. The next piece of history of voting is the how the simple voting method works, which is that there are only two candidates and in the end one winner, however in the event of a tie there is a coin toss. In the U.S, this has occurred in Groveland, Florida during the city council elections and the winner was determined through the simple shout out of heads or tails, this is the most interesting aspect of voting that I gathered from this lecture. He then described the four different voting systems, the first being the plurality method where the winner is determined by the most number one voted candidate wins. The next originated by Jean Charles de Borda called the Borda method in which the highest number determines the candidate winner received after tallying votes. The third voting method is the Plurality with elimination method where majority chooses the winner. This is when our lecturer said, “We tend to like majority rules.” The last method is called the Pair wise comparison method, the winner is determined through the highest number of wins in elections. The last thing he discussed was fairness conditions in which there are three. The first being the majority criterion, the second is the Condorcet condition named after its founder and lastly the independence of irrelevant alternatives criterion. This lecture was severely informative and lengthy in detail of the mathematics behind it, which was originated by Kenneth Arrow in 1921.

HW 28: An Open Letter to Riverbend

To be honest, I am not well informed on the happenings in Iraq and or the war. Reading what you have gone through and what you see on a daily basis and your thoughts on the war is completely new to me, I know what I see on CNN or hear from other people but that is where it ends. In fact, most people are not aware of any thing you go through or see, what you have written is not readily available information here in the states. I think it takes a lot of courage and ambition to write what you have written especially in the situation you currently live in. I am naïve to the situation as a whole, I do not know the current events in Iraq, and I do not know which countries are in occupation in your country nor their business there. I do not know how long, where, what the purposes of their occupancy is or anything other then that my cousins and loved ones are doing it and it is a risk of their lives to do so. Your book and blogs, however, have enlightened me about the situation you are in as an Iraqi citizen and what the impacts are on your life especially the impact it has on being a woman. Being a woman is something to embrace and be proud of, here in the US, women burned their bras to enhance their rights and lives yet for you, you are covered from head to toe and cannot show your pride of being a woman. Part of being a woman is embracing what you can do and your strengths and you cannot do that either, you cannot work and show your skills you cannot show off your body as a woman and feel the thrill it feels to know you can do something and do it well, that saddens me. The things you see and feel should not be shame and guilt for being a woman it should be accepted not punished by abductions and destruction of who you are. You should be free to walk the streets and go to the market just as I am, I do not understand the differences in our countries, I do not understand why I am free and you are not, I think it is preposterous. I am sorry I am so naïve and I am trying more and more to better understand and relate myself with your situation, country and the war. Thank you for what you are sharing with me, with everyone, thank you for being a woman not afraid to speak, thank you for who you are and I hope you stay this way wherever you are.

HW 25: I support the Troops

The foreword for Baghdad Burning by Ahdaf Soueif tells of Riverbend and why she wrote her book. What pushed her to do so was she needed to vent, and get it all off her chest about her opinions of the war and how it broke up her entire life. Blogging just was not enough for Riverbend, she needed an outlet to tell what exactly is going on in Iraq, granted it was not as geographically extensive as some would have liked it to be but it was an Iraqi’s view of the war. It affected every aspect of their lives, home, work, relationships, travel, life as a whole was disrupted and influenced by the soldier’s presence in their country. The introduction to Riverbend’s story written by James Ridgeway explains how extensive this book is, no professional could ever have or give the information she does in Baghdad Burning ergo her blog. She has the inside look no other Iraqi dared to speak about and no media could uncover, it is the unscathed truth of Iraq, the war and every impact and movement within the 2. Ridgeway tells of Riverbend’s background and history as well as her cultures history between the US and other relations and the history as a whole. He highlights the Gulf War and the statistics between the 2 wars as well as the 2003 War and its detailed news and impact. Giving Riverbend’s view on the “puppet show” put on by the US and its lovely president and government and her countries interactions. In addition, he bullets the new Iraq so to speak since 2003 and the new beginning it was given so to speak and the invasions impact and role within the society as it is today. To me these two insights are nothing like how I have seen the War in Iraq, I am in American tried and true, I am proud and support our troops, I love our freedoms despite the arguments and disputes within our country and amongst others. I know what I can about the war and my loved ones in it, I do not know exact dates, I do not care to. I was in math class on my way to comp. tech when disaster and tragedy struck our country, I was in the living room of my aunts house when I watched my cousin leave for Iraq, I was in a field at graduation when friends were announced soldiers heading to war, and I am here in the library loving what they are doing and who they are. That’s what matters to me, not the statistics not the politics, they matter so the accounts I just read and this book is all fine and good and solid but it is nothing to what I feel about the war.

hw 23: handbags from hell

With Apologies to Virginia Woolf

As I nonchalantly read about Anne Hathaway’s pitiable relationship that is covered by a handbag as said in the blog “Hath-Away” today on Jezebel (http://jezebel.com/gossip/hath_away%3F/-313742.php). Here the woman gets a handbag, a small insignificant gesture to cover up adultery as if it were a spill down the front of her shirt. Nevertheless, she takes the handbag, walks through New York City and smiles, smiles like there is no spill at all, because that is why he gave it to her. At least Anne got her handbag before her relationship got too serious, before she turned in to one of the most talked about Bridezillas of Britain on Jezebel (http://jezebel.com/gossip/hells-bells/return-of-the-british-bridezillas-313638.php). Anne and these girls have something in common, they are all walking through New York City toward something they cannot even enter, something only their husbands and boyfriends can enter into. These “bridezillas” and their hellish make up and demands because for once, on that one day it is supposed to be about them, not their husbands and his coat tails but her, and her wedding dress and expectations for the night. So they grab their handbags with clenched fists and Anne shows them exactly how to walk right up to that door, and with pride walk away. Because that is what women do, they pretend and pretend and pretend that they can one day walk through the same doors their men do, and they pretend with pride.

hw 22: women drink wine too

In chapter two of A Room of One’s Own, she shows her sarcastic side with no boundaries, side sweeping men and women differences and sly remarks on the livelihood of the two. By passing, the way women should be acting and doing exactly what they are not supposed to do by walking on grass and wishing to read a book, oh my Virginia Woolf must have been a hellish woman to write about this. (Chapter one) See the sarcasm? I believe that is her point, for you to know that how she feels about the topic at hand, gender roles for example, I believe she feels that women are put under men so to speak and thinks it is inappropriate. Women drink water, men drink wine. Water in those days was nothing compared to drinking wine, yet women could not drink wine just men. (Page 25) The women vs. men is something unending in the works of Woolf, I believe as she did that women are not subordinate to men, we are just as equal yet in the days of Virginia Woolf when you were to walk in to a library or museum the books available are overwhelmingly overpowered by male authors. (Page 27) It does not stop with brains and allowances, it continues to money and food as well. Women just get the raw deal according to Woolf; they are poor prune eating women. (Pages 28-36) I agree with Woolf that back in those days women were considered lower then men, however now a days I feel that there are more Virginia Woolf’s walking on grass and reading all the books they please. That is the most important thing of all, that women are no longer eating prunes and drinking water that they are eating fresh meats and drinking red wine!

HW 21: Helpin out my favorite niece!

Hi Leila,
I just finished reading chapter one of Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own and if you are ready, I will tell you what it means, what is important about it and how I felt about reading it!! I hope this helps!!! Virginia Woolf is asked to give her opinion on women and fiction. She replies that women need two things, money and a room of their own to work in, in order for fiction to be produced by women authors. Claiming how weighted this question is and that is has no true answer or conclusion Woolf takes us through a series of how she got to that point. The point being that she did not answer the question in full but touched upon the influences of women authors and their histories as well as the impact of the male role in society has had. I feel that it is important to know that she did not answer the question right out, she dabbled in to different authors lives, their pasts and the history of where she was, the university and the effects such histories have upon women and authorship in general. There is no way to effectively answer such a question, you could merely reflect upon it and as Woolf stated either accept or reject the manifestation. I hope this helps you better understand Virginia Woolf and better ready for what is to come later in this book!
Love you,
Your favorite Aunt

HW 19: iraqi's eye view

The third paragraph on page 84 discusses a blogger by the name of “Baghdad Blogger” from Iraq. His blog began so small and as more of a diary than anything else but what his blog really means is what life is like in a war zone, it is a newsflash for those of us who don’t know what it is like, it is his outlet to inform the world about what is happening in Iraq. For example, he tells about what really caused the three-day blackout in Iraq, it was a technological error not the US, not anyone or a country. It was a mistake by them, but that is not how the media portrayed it. Essentially, I’m saying that his blog is real. It is information from an Iraqi’s view of what is happening to his people in his country to and by his people. How can anyone argue what he has to say about what he sees on a daily basis? It is Iraq from an Iraqi.

Sex isnt going to cut it this time HW 17B

In consideration to voting and the ability to sway ones vote, sex and the relationship status of anyone in Washington does not affect whom I want to run our country. What affects my vote is how apt they are to do so; they are experience, views, ability to multi-task despite how mommy that sounds it is key in doing ANYTHING well. Therefore I’d have to say that despite the hilarity in Ana Marie Cox’s interview and weblog there is nothing but entertainment and scandal behind her writing, true it is raw and real fact but it is not liable information on whether or not they can run a country it is who they are sleeping with this month. And if you were to ask anyone truly concerned about our country, a troop for example, they are not going to base they’re opinion on who they want deciding they’re duties on what sex they like best and with who. It is above all of that nonsense, it is what makes a person able to stand up to the job of being in charge of X number of Americans lives every day. Knowing that when he wakes up it is his job, his responsibility to make America, America and keep its pride, health and well being up to par. My vote is going to be for what I learn from someone like Markos Moulitsas and his weblog Daily Kos. The facts given to us by him are what makes presidency real and important, it’s the history behind them, truth they tell, lies they’ve told, experience under they’re belt that allow us to weigh them properly and chose who is going to be the next person to be in that White House.

hw 18: shamefull and shotty blogging

I hated the blog “Latest News” (http://www.bloglines.com/myblogs ) Goodnight and Bite me: Katie Couric’s Big Mouth by the Fracturing Team. So what Katie Couric had an interview, people have interviews every day yet this time she was answering ridiculous questions therefore her answers were a bit out of the ordinary. Nevertheless, the author of this blog chose to expose her interview in a way that was not only horribly written and random but offensive to her as a person, it made her look like she gave a horrible-random-interview when really she did not. She is a respectable woman with credentials this blogger only wish he could dream of, which in lays the problem with blogging, it takes things none of anyone else’s business makes it huge in a way that is…trashy. If she made an unprofessional statement shame on her, but turning it around and claiming it will ruin CBS by giving it a new street slogan is a bigger shame on you.

blogging for dummies hw 16

The five pillars of conversational software according to Robert Scoble in Kline and Burstein’s “Blogs: Humanizing the Face of Corporate America” have the potential to be difficult to understand if you are not a blogging aficionado. So to break them down for me and the rest of the newbie’s of the blogging industry I am going to translate these pillars in to laymen’s terms. The first pillar is about how easy it is to post things on to a blog and have it be instantly published for all to see on the web. The second is how to get your blogs discovered by others or for you to discover other blogs by using things such as tags, that allow your site to be accessible that much easier. The third is what you would do to see who is looking at your blogs, see who is interested in what you are saying or see what you have in common with other bloggers. The fourth enables you to go directly to another site and the fifth is how you, on your own terms see everything you want to see and when you want to see it! Blogging isn’t terribly hard once you are passed all the jargon of the industry, it starts with just the simple click of a mouse and you are on your way to becoming a part of the evolutional blogging world!

Rock of Love...Play on love HW 17

Every Sunday night in Holloway 100b six girls would sit waiting for the next elimination on VH1’s Rock of Love! A few weeks went by and the final elimination came about and we watched as Heather was eliminated followed by an embarrassing exit. Little did we know that as we were watching the show she was posting a blog on My Space informing viewers exactly what happened that night. On the blog, Jezebel there was a post on how everything was edited by the TV station. She told about how almost everything we saw was either edited from other times or not said at all, like all TV, it was made to make people interested not to portray the truth. Heather had in fact not said she’d “love to” share Bret Michaels with Jess, they did stop when he wasn’t feeling good out in the sand dunes and everything portrayed about her was false and made her look like a bad guy while Jess was made to look like an angel. Personally, I feel like her post on My Space is fake and edited, I do not believe that any of that is actually real despite our addiction to watching the show every Sunday night it is still fake. You cannot believe anything you see on TV or read on My Space. However, I am glad that Jezebel had something up about how it was all edited and that someone is admitting that it is all TV magic.

the rise and fall of the..media...hw 14

Actually after reading Nick Denton’s interview on “Take an Obsession, Then Feed it” I agreed with the majority of what he said. Indeed the blog industry is booming, there are more blogs on the web then I can count and their reader popularity is gaining on the readers of mainstream media. Although it makes me sad to think our beloved newspapers that have been with us for all time are decreasing it isn’t like weblog’s are something bright and shiny new, they too have been with us for quite some time and are just now turning the cusp of becoming something amazing just as newspapers once did! According to Denton “everything that is, and that will be, has been before” and that is exactly true, there were pamphlets then newsboys yelling on the corner to get a newspaper and then came the internet. Ultimately, there will always be some of all of those things in our lives, one may be more prominent then the other but they will always all be there. In short the mainstream media is starting to decline in reader statistics as blogs are gaining but the battle between medias will never end and there will always be a newspaper, blog, pamphlet, and news channel despite the rise and falls they all will go through.

Blogging for Iran

Hossein Derakhshan is a blogger whose blogs are becoming a main source of press in Iran along with many others. Derakhshan is from Canada and his blog hoder.com is responsible for Persian and Iranian blogs popping up. This is giving those people a chance to speak their minds, and understand others on web logs. Unfortunately, these blogs are monitored and filtered by the Iranian government who feel that they are power is being challenged by these people. I chose this blog because it is a prime example of how important freedom of speech is and how much speech is limited around the world. It is not acceptable for a common person in Iran to have a blog but it is crucial for presidential candidates to ensure his popularity. The posts on this web log are news based, they are the information the public needs to know about, and they are quick, exact facts. His writing style is quick and to the point, the posts are information packed, political, and worldly. I think that this blog is less scary and intimidating to the government of Iran that MacKinnon portrayed it to be and it is more and more informative to the people reading the blog as to what is going on in the world as a whole not just in Iran. It is close to what I thought it to be, it is more information and fact based then speaking the mind then I anticipated after reading “Making Global Voices Heard: An Interview with Rebecca MacKinnon” but it is still for the Persian people of Iran as well as now being for others who speak either English or Persian. Of course, many will probably disagree with this assertion that this blog and blogs in general are a way for one to be able to speak freely and give and receive information on events and facts going on in the world however this assertion is not going to change my mind on this blog and other blogs ability to reach people through free words.

Ayelet Waldman and my views on blogging

After reading the Ayelet Waldman interview by Kline and Burstein I do feel a sense of understanding with what she is saying, how writing things raw and uncut can feel cleansing, therapeutic in a way. I do not know much about bipolar disorder, I do not understand taking pills to balance your emotions, to balance your life but I do understand writing. You can let yourself dive in to the deep sea of freedom, of verbs and nouns unscathed by anyone else, out there for you to grasp on to and put in to such form that frees your soul. Blogging is a way of writing, a way of getting that therapeutic feeling that someone, somewhere is listening to you, or at least that is the impression I was given by Waldman’s response. I have never blogged personally or read any other then what we have written in class, I see downfalls and I see advantages after reading this article. I feel that it is a bit demoralizing, frightening and creepy to know that you do not know who is reading what you are writing, what they’re intentions are and if you are safe despite the heartwarming story she portrayed about how blogging saved her life. I’m of two minds about Waldman’s claim that blogging is as amazing, affectionate and life changing. On the one hand, I agree that it is a way to get those unrefined thoughts out and in front of you. On the other hand, I am not sure if I still believe it is safe to be writing to such an audience as blogging does. Despite my reservations, I believe that this is a good case in which blogging is not as bad as I presumed it to be and feel it may be a good thing for some people.

Ayelet Waldman and my views on blogging

After reading the Ayelet Waldman interview by Kline and Burstein I do feel a sense of understanding with what she is saying, how writing things raw and uncut can feel cleansing, therapeutic in a way. I do not know much about bipolar disorder, I do not understand taking pills to balance your emotions, to balance your life but I do understand writing. You can let yourself dive in to the deep sea of freedom, of verbs and nouns unscathed by anyone else, out there for you to grasp on to and put in to such form that frees your soul. Blogging is a way of writing, a way of getting that therapeutic feeling that someone, somewhere is listening to you, or at least that is the impression I was given by Waldman’s response. I have never blogged personally or read any other then what we have written in class, I see downfalls and I see advantages after reading this article. I feel that it is a bit demoralizing, frightening and creepy to know that you do not know who is reading what you are writing, what they’re intentions are and if you are safe despite the heartwarming story she portrayed about how blogging saved her life. I’m of two minds about Waldman’s claim that blogging is as amazing, affectionate and life changing. On the one hand, I agree that it is a way to get those unrefined thoughts out and in front of you. On the other hand, I am not sure if I still believe it is safe to be writing to such an audience as blogging does. Despite my reservations, I believe that this is a good case in which blogging is not as bad as I presumed it to be and feel it may be a good thing for some people.

what parents should know hw 7

Middle school aged children are exactly that they are children. Not only are they in the period of their life when things are awkward to begin with but add the internet and all its insecurities there is bound to be issues. Any form of blogging whether personal diaries, social, news, jokes, or communication at that age is inappropriate if it is unlimited. What they see, share and know should be monitored until they are aware of their surroundings, reactions and most importantly themselves. If a child is on a web log without parental consent and observation there is the chance of them getting in to severe trouble. Sharing “too much information” (page 351, Nassbaum) as said in terms of what is going on to the internet, the misleading-contradicting internet; is something that all children are apt to do once starting a web log. They get anxious, excited and eager to get going and make a name for themselves, to belong to it and put themselves out there for the first time. Once they put that information out there, there is no way for them to take it back or hide it, it is not private despite what many may think, it is not anonymous it is out there and anyone can get their hands on it. This is a huge fear especially in parents when their young middle school child is on line blogging his “life” to God knows who God knows where. Granted every child needs to feel attention in some form other then from their friends or parents, it needs to be done in a safe and healthy manor and if they need help or someone to talk to the internet is not the place to do it, it is not safe or healthy.

“Peer into an online journal, you find the operatic texture of a teenage life with its fits of romantic misery, quick change moods and sardonic inside jokes. Gossip spreads like poison. Diary writers compete for attention, then fret when they get it. And every parents fear is true.” (Emily Nussbaum page 351)

That alone should scare parents in to monitoring what they are son or daughter is doing on line, it should be a wake up call to all parents whose children have access to the internet! It is not safe. It should be monitored and have an age limit, have securities, monitoring and not be so easy to log in to. It should not even exist to a 12 or 13 year old, it should be for the 20 + who know the consequence and facts and can handle what could become of their life when they blog personal information.

newspapers are forever hw 5b

After reading, “I Blog, Therefore I am” the discussion of newspapers and mainstream media is a reoccurring them that I find a semi-depressing matter. There are many paragraphs and statements revolving around the decline in reading/viewing of mainstream media. On page 241, Kline demonstrates that despite the decrease in newspaper reading and TV viewing that people still use it as their fall back, their reliance for information on the world today. Claming that blogs on the news and happenings in the world are primary news sources when actual mainstream media is their source of information! How can newspapers and other media types have such a decline when bloggers themselves are using they are information for their blogs…if bloggers want to become the next and best media source they need to start getting the news for them instead of using the media they are slowly devastating. Once they deplete the news, as we know it, what will they use? How will they rise to the occasion of being the primary news source for America? When reading the numbers that read or do not read newspapers or books in our country is it saddening to see the numbers are decreasing however I feel the need to contend the fact that newspapers are dying, I believe that they are not dying I believe that the emphasis that they deserve is dying. Newspapers are more then blogs can ever be, they are existent, concrete and something that has been and will be forever a reliable source of media whether or not the blogging industry that sucks it dry for information survives or not.

What I'm interested in HW six

In reading over these topics of interest in order to get ideas for our semester-long research and writing project I found many options for my paper. To be honest, in the first section I had to look up and ask questions on what they actually were, I am not up on my technological jargon. I found quite a few that caught my eye after I looked them up! Such as aggregators because I love music and being able to have it at the tip of my fingers at any moment is amazing to me, also being able to receive and listen to music from all over the world! Emails and instant messaging is something I am addicted to like every other teenager on this campus! It is our way of communicating instantly and efficiently, not to mention the cute smiley faces! As for my last interest in this section, the bulletin boards are proving to be extremely handy! As for empowerment of marginalized groups…to be VERY honest, I have not put much thought in to them before. At all. However, I looked in to them, tapped in to my knowledge of them, and found two that I would like to take a deeper look. Overcoming religious intolerance/barriers between people of different religions is something that peaks my curiosity on account that I am Catholic and with the scandals and accusations it is very difficult to be a practicing Catholic without judgment or comments as well as many other issues within and involving other religions. I also tied in the last topic with this one; I want so badly to move to Europe when I am older, particularly France. I am starting to look in to what it takes to be a citizen and the tolerance and rights in that country is something I am extremely concerned with, want, and need to look in to for the near future!

HW IIII option two

Upon searching for an item in my room to investigate a promise made for millions of consumers my roommates made the decision for me when we all sat down to play UNO! Being a rainy evening and the hills not starting till 10 we all couldn’t resist the enthralling game of UNO! On that bright red shiny box sat eight yellow words, “Easy to pick up…impossible to put down!” The promise of the Mattel Company for this fun loving card game for all ages is accurate for the game, after playing with my roommates for forty-five minutes I full understand how easy it is to pick up and impossible to put down! We laughed the entire game and bonded throughout the game as well! On the Mattel website UNO is portrayed as “America’s # 1 brand of family games! Easy to play and fast fun for everyone!” Every game in the Mattel industry is given the title as being “the games that are just right for you” combined with their bright and attractive packaging the games are hard to resist! I know the six of us have a hard time resisting UNO and feel that they keep their promise in every game we play!

HW III: responding to reading

This inside look at how blogging has helped or shall I say molded our “more participatory democracy” takes the reader though exactly how it boomed. How blogging hit the high road in to the life of those campaigning and those following campaign trails. Beginning with a slow start to fame and enduring the criticism from many mainstream media participants blogging has influenced many American politicians as well as people interested in them. Kline shows how political blogging gained fame with their ability to gain interest and knowledge more quickly and efficiently than the rest, the attraction to the blogs spread like wild fire through the web. Having the ability to release information untouched by other media forms on topics ignored by even our President. For example the pictures and information on our troops and action in Baghdad, not only did our own media not even touch on it but was bewildered with the amount of money it would take to track the story. A local Baghdad blogger posted the story in full, spreading it throughout the blogging industry for all to see, costless and full of information readers wanted and needed to know about OUR troops, but it was too costly for OUR media to cover. Blogging is free, it takes only time and information to do yet it is criticized by so many both on line and accounts stated in this excerpt from Blog. As read in “Toward a More Participatory Democracy” countless politicians have benefited both monetarily and fame wise due to blogging, it has given names to so many on the campaign trail. More then 28 million readers in 2004 visited the top ten political blogs, more so than the numbers watching or reading about it on the mainstream media. Blogs proved to influence interest and teach voters, even after the poll it kept up their interest and attention. Many people assume that blogging is set for the younger demographic however after reading this it is proven that reading and taking part in blogs is for everyone. I believe that every political party should take advantage of this source for at least a piece of their campaign; it would be foolish for them not to. Just looking at the amount of people logging on to political blogs in 2004, this should be incentive enough to make a blog for any campaign. However I do wonder how much of the information on blogs is factual on account that blogging is the new form of communication for everyone…couldn’t there be false information being posted as factual. I feel that there is a lack of security with the web and has a potential for disaster with putting political and personal information out there.

HW II: responding to reading

Reading magazines is something I believe every woman does monthly if not weekly, whether in the check out line, doctor’s office, at home or at work. A woman feels compelled to read about what is in a magazine. There is so much information not mentioned on the news or in the news papers that is interesting to so many…celebrity life, gossip, burning questions, sex, the typical Cosmopolitan magazine cover stories and much more not dared by most. Bloggers dare. They put themselves out there and write about sex, they write about the everyday burning questions and they write to the women standing in the check out lines when they are at home. Kline and Burstein project the possibilities that say its okay to write or blog about the topics less talked about but constantly thought of. In “From Cave Painting to Wonkette” they state that it will become the celebrities themselves telling those interested about their personal lives, answering questions and promoting the way they want to be promoted. It will become the celebrities. It will become the viewers. They will become one on line together blogging and reading. I myself am addicted to trash magazines, the ones that only come out once a month…if they were to be blogged about, or blogged by those I am reading about it would be more real, more raw, uncut gossip “straight from the horses mouth” so to speak twenty four seven! No waiting in check out lines just to read how Britney’s doing or going to the doctor’s office to see what’s new from Vogue, it is on-line, all the time just for us trash readers!! It is the new wave of blogging, the new wave of media, the new way for us to “coexist” as celebrity and everyday Joe.