HW42: Podcast

Hello, this is Kelly, and we are the Beta Pod from Keene State College ITW 101. We are using Baghdad Burning as a reference for this podcast.

Hi, this is Sarah. The passage that left the biggest impression on us from this weeks reading was found on page 262. Riverbend basically says that Bush gives repulsive speeches and is sheepish-however he makes an attempt to sound sincere. The people of Iraq are not big fans of President Bush.

Hi, this is Lori. Student next semester can expect to learn first hand what it was like living in Iraq during the war.

Hey, this is Hayley. The students can also learn from the book that what is shown on Television is not half as bad as it really is.

Hi, this is Emily. Thank you for listening to us, have an enjoyable evening! Peace out.

Hw 36: The Beta Pod's first PodCast

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

HW35: A letter for you

Over the past semester, we’ve been keeping blogs. Here, we’ve written about books, other blogs, things that we’ve attended, etc. Throughout maintaining this blog, I’ve learned so much about the Internet, and how to use things. Before this class I had never even heard of blogging before. So it was kind of difficult to use one without having any knowledge of who could read it, and knowing that someone could actually respond to it. I hope that someone who comes along my blog actually learns at least something from it. Maybe they’ll learn about Riverbend, or about Virginia Woolfe. After this semester, I’ll most likely never post anything again. It’s not that I don’t like it it’s just that I probably won’t have time to. I don’t like the idea of having someone comment on my own opinion, or life if I started writing about that. I just don’t like the idea of it. As of right now, I think I’ll stick to Facebook.

HW 34: Cultural Differences

In Baghdad Burning, Riverbend mentions that gold is very big in family savings in Iraq. The way she makes it seem is that, people have gold to sell, because the price of gold never changes. So when people get married, the man gives the woman gold jewelry, also known as a “mahar” or when a baby is born the gifts are usually little golden trinkets that the parents can either keep or sell. Riverbend explains “People began converting their money to gold-earrings, bracelets, necklaces-because the value of gold didn’t change. People pulled their money out of banks before the war, and bought gold instead.” (Riverbend 100) This is why gold has such a big role in family savings, because gold is the savings, there is no money. Riverbend then discusses the custom of evening tea in Iraq. “In the evening, most Iraqi families gather together for “evening tea.” It’s hardly as formal as it sounds… No matter how busy the day, everyone sits around in the living room, waiting for tea.” (Riverbend 108) She says that the tea in Iraq is not like having tea here. Here, we use teabags, in Iraq they go through a three-step process just to make tea. “Tea is so important in Iraq, that it makes up a substantial part of the rations we’ve been getting ever since the sanctions were imposed upon the country. People drink tea with breakfast, the drink tea at midday, they drink tea in the evening and often drink tea with dinner.” I don’t know about you… but I didn’t know that tea was such a big thing.

HW33: Challenges at Al-Safina Middle School

The Podcast that I decided to watch was called “Challenges at a Girl’s School in Baghdad” this was shown on May 21st 2007. Here is the link that I found the Podcast on: http://aliveinbaghdad.org/2007/05/21/challenges-at-a-girls-school-in-baghdad. It first tells us about the Al-Safina Middle School in Adhamiya, Baghdad. The topic that is covered is how children face challenges getting to school. The people shown in this podcast are Jinan Jamal Mahmoud (Director or Al-Safina), Samirah Izzi Ali (Physics Teacher), and two students. One of the girls shown in the podcast, is wearing a hijab, and answering questions on how she gets to school. One of the students shown said that she wasn’t afraid of the explosions anymore because she’s so used to hearing them. The scenery is basically the classroom, but the school doesn’t look like a school here in America. The paint on the walls were chipped, and the classrooms were too small. From watching this video, I’ve learned that it must be really hard for students in other countries to go to school with all these explosions, raids, and shootings going on around them. I could never imagine having to live with that. I think that’s the most memorable part for me… when the student said she’s so used to hearing the noise, because it shouldn’t have to be like that.

HW 32: Akila Al-Hashimi

On September 21st 2003, Riverbend wrote about Akila Al-Hashimi, here she tells us that as she was walking out of work, two pick-up trucks with armed men, cut her off and opened fire on her. They thought that she was walking with “body guards” but they were only her brothers. Anyway, Akila had been taken to the Al-Yarmuk hospital, “where her stomach was operated upon, and [she was] then shipped off in an American army ambulance to no one knows where, but people say it was probably the hospital they have set up in Baghdad Airport. (Riverbend 75) After Riverbend explains this to us, she explains whom Al-Hashimi. Al-Hashimi was one of the “decent members on the council.”(Riverbend 75) She lived in Iraq and had worked in foreign affairs in the past. Riverbend then states, “It’s also depressing because of it signifies-that no female is safe, no matter how high up she is…”(Riverbend 75) She also says that Al-Hashimi was not only female, but didn’t wear a hijab, and was the first real “foreign representative” of the new government.

HW 31: Responding to Riverbend

During the reading, from Baghdad Burning, I became interested in Al-Hakim (Riverbend 43). I did some research on the Internet and found out that he was an Iraqi theologian and politician and the leader of SIIC, the largest political party in the Iraqi Council of Representatives. His full name is Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, and he was born in 1950. He was also a member of the United States-appointed Iraqi Governing Council and served as the president in December 2003. He was the top candidate listed for the United Iraqi Coalition during the first Iraqi legislative election of January 2005 but has not sought a government post because the Alliance had decided not to include theologians in the government. The reason I chose him was because Salam had sent Riverbend a post on her site saying that they were going to have an Iraqi blog-fight. (Riverbend 43). This “blog-fight” was going to be over Al-Hakim’s death. This interested me.