hw30: podcast number one!

http://www.gabcast.com/index.php?a=episodes&query=&b=play&id=8538&cast=49707&castPage=&autoplay=true

hw35: blog readers

Over the past thirteen weeks, I have been working on my blog for our ITW class. I have learned so much during this period of time about keeping a blog and what it means to blog. Before coming into this class, I only had a small idea about blogging and what it was used for. I always just assumed it was for some type of social networking and a way for people to express their feelings about stupid, meaningless things. However, throughout this course I have learned that blogging can be used for many things, such as getting to know new people, finding out new information and basically just speaking your mind about a certain situation. If someone were to read my blog, I think they would most likely get information about the books we have read and they would get to see my opinion about our readings and how I really didn’t enjoy doing most of them. I really don’t foresee myself continuing on with this blog after the semester is over. I never really got into blogging and I don’t feel as though it really benefitted me or will ever benefit me in the future. Although I did learn a lot about blogging, I do not believe that I will ever use it again after this class, sorry!

hw:34 gold and tea

Gold is important to the families in Iraq because it plays a role in family savings. Riverbend states that "people began converting their money to gold- earrings, bracelets, necklaces- because the value of gold didn’t change" (Riverbend 100). Gold is so important to the families in Iraq that when they know their home is going to be raided, they often try to cover up any jewelry worn by them so it won’t get stolen by the troops. Riverbend also states that when troops invade their homes, they don’t think Iraqi people "like that" can own such nice things. But the thing about the gold is that most families receive it as a gift, like we do here in the United States. As with gold, tea is a very important thing to the Iraqi people. Tea is drank at all meals, breakfast, lunch and dinner. Riverbend says that the process of tea differs from family to family but regardless of the family she tells us "if you serve teabag tea" to an Iraqi, you risk scorn and disdain- teabag is an insult to tea connoisseurs. It speaks complete lack of appreciation for the valuable beverage" (Riverbend 108). Riverbend goes on to explain that the importance of tea to the Iraqi people, she says that it makes up a vast majority of the rations they have been getting because of the war. I think it is a good thing that even during the war and hard times, the families can sit together and have tea and some sort of normalcy during the day.

hw31: donald rumsfeld

While reading Baghdad Burning, Riverbend constantly mentions Donald Rumsfeld. The constant resentment and anger towards Rumsfeld made me curious about him. Although I have some idea of the things he has done in the past and where he stands in our society, I thought it would be good for my knowledge to look him up and investigate a little more. I found that Rumsfeld is the 21st Secretary of Defense under President George W. Bush. While doing research, I also found out that Donald served in the US Navy from 1954 to 1957 as a naval aviator and flight instructor. Rumsfeld worked for the Nixon Administration, Ford Administration, Reagan Administration and finally the Clinton and Bush Administrations. I found it interesting that in March of 2005, a lawsuit was filed against Rumsfeld by eight detainees who said they were subject to abuse and torture by US forces. I found most of my information about Donald Rumsfeld on Wikipedia. By learning these new things about Rumsfeld, it makes the assigned reading a little easier to understand, and it makes it easier to see why Riverbend could have such anger toward him.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Rumsfeld

hw30: citizenship symposiums

On Tuesday November 6th and Thursday November 8th, I attended two citizenship symposiums at Keene State College. Tuesday's symposium featured guest speaker Nancy Tobi. Nancy was born in Lexington, Massachusetts. Lexington is known as the birthplace of American liberty. Nancy said that growing up in Lexington made her aware of politics and democracy. Throughout her speech, Nancy spoke of different types of voting techniques and how they are used. The Diebold machine counts each vote by machine, and hand counting is as simple as it sounds, the votes are counted by hand. Tobi mentions that 81% of New Hampshire uses the diebold method, which to me seems more credited and easier to do than hand count massive amounts of votes. Nancy was very adamant on getting her point across about the difficulties when it comes to voting, she hopes that in the future things will get easier for our nation.
On Thursday, I attended another symposium given by a US representative and Holocaust Survivor, Tom Lantos. Tom was introduced by his daughter, Katrina. As with any daughter, Katrina had very positive things to say about her father and their relationship while she was growing up. Once Lantos took the stage, he spoke of his experiences while growing up and how difficult it was for him being an immigrant and not really accustom to the way this country works. I found Tom’s speech very powerful because it shows how much people take our country for granted sometimes, although there are things going on here that can change.

hw28: an open letter to riverbend

Dear Riverbend,
After reading all of your August posts in Baghdad Burning, it makes me really think about how hard life is for Iraqi people. I never really thought about the changes that were made once the war started. As I continued to read your entries, the more I started to feel bad for you. I could not imagine going along life, not having to worry about anything then the next thing you know, your house is being invaded and you can’t even walk down the street without having to worry about someone attacking you for no reason. The thing that made me most sad while reading about what happened in August is when you said how you and your family have spent the past few nights sleeping in jeans with any type of identification in them, in fear of having that night be your last night in this world. What I have trouble wrapping my head around is why you and your family can’t get out of the country and try to get away from all these problems going on around you. I guess I can’t really sympathize with you or anyone around you, but I still understand how hard that time can be for you and your family.