HW 26 "eager to read"

While reading the foreword by Soueif it made me really eager to read about Riverbend’s blog. Soueif really focused on telling us how the book was written and how Riverbend really explains and lets us into her life. Soueif states that “Baghdad Burning brings us as close to the war in Iraq as it is possible to be (page 1 foreword)”. From what I understand after reading Soueif is that Riverbend writes blogs almost weekly on her everyday life, which isn’t in fact so ordinary. She talks about how Riverbend sits on the rooftops with her brother “z” and watches Baghdad burn. Soueif lets us know before reading the book Riverbends feelings on Ahmad Chalabi, Riverbend states “I stare at him when he gives his speeches on television and cringe with the thought that someone out there could actually have thought he was representative of any faction of Iraqi society”( pageix). In the introduction written by James Ridgeway he focuses on what and why this war is actually going on. He talks about the background of Riverbend’s culture. He then gets in conversation about the Gulf War and how that leads into the 2003 war. Some of the things he talks about shock me because I never really knew much about the war. I will be honest I don’t keep up with the news and what is going on in the war even though I know it is important to do. One thing that was most surprising that I read was when he stated that ‘The Bush administration appears to have determined to go to war against Saddam as a primary foreign policy goal well before 9/11. Maybe I am just being naïve but I always thought we went to war because of what happened during the tragic events of 9/11. I think my impressions of the War are more like the way Soueif writes about it. I didn’t know all the details and problems that lead us to war like Ridgeway writes about. All I really knew is that we invaded Iraq and many were killed. All I knew and still know today is that I think it needs to end, I think it is time to get our troops home.

HW 24 Do you have a room of your own?

Do you have a Room of Your Own?

I think I do have a room of my own. I am not talking about my own room at home or my dorm that I share with my two roommates, but a place or a state of mind where I can go and just think without holding back. Virginia Wolf’s message is that women must have a room of their own in order to have the freedom to create. “The rooms differ so completely; they are calm or thunderous; open on to the sea, or, on the contrary, give on to a prison yard; are hung with washing; or alive with opals and silks; are hard as horsehair or soft as feathers- one has only to go into any room in any street for the whole of that extremely complex force of femininity to fly in one’s face (Wolf, pg 87). Everyone’s room is going to be different because that is what makes it yours. I don’t think any women would have the same room because all women think differently. Wolf also states that “ I am talking about the common life which is the real life and not of the little separate lives which we live as individuals- and have five hundred a year each of us and rooms of our own; If we have the habit of freedom and the courage to write exactly what we think"( Wolf, pg 113). Women are now starting to get freedom in our world. We are now getting the chance to write what we feel and act how we would like to act. I think a room of my own is the freedom that I have. I have freedom to go where I would like or wear what I want. It has not always been that way especially for Virginia Wolf. She always knew that that was what women needed in order to step forth in the world and I think the life that women live now at least in the US do have a room of their own.

HW 23 "Has anything really changed at all"

“With Apologies to Virginia Woolf”

I am in disbelief of what I am reading. I don’t know wether to be filled with happiness or sorrow. A women hitting a man and getting away with it, well that seems out the question. I do belive that men think they are less vonurable to get hit so why not hit them? I know to some that might seem cruel and inamaginable but from what I had to go through in my past I am in shock. Don’t get me wrong I think there has got to be a better way to work things out, but it is suprising to see how the roles are starting to change. Well back in my day women were getting beaten from their fathers, loved ones, and just men in general for not following “female roles”. It seems to me now that things are starting to change. Women have had enough of the orders and unfairness that they are treated with, its our turn for people to start taking us seriously and if that means hitting a man to wake him up a little bit, then for all means wake him up!. I think this blog is quite histerical until I came across one of the readers who stated “Notice how when women are in abusive relationships they tend to blame themselves, but when a guy gets smacked by two different girlfriends, feminism must be at fault? Yeah.” I started to have relapses of when I had to give a speech on women and fiction. Maybe things aren’t changing in the macroscopic view of things. I mean sure some minor thing might be changing but when you look at the bigger picture has anything really changed at all?

HW 22 "Patriarchy dead or alive"

Patriarchy OptionWolf states " The most transient visitor to this planet, I thought, who picked up this paper couldn’t not fail to be aware, even from this scattered testimony, that England is under the rule of a patriarchy (page 33)". She says this after looking at a newspaper that was previously left on the table. She states that on the front page of the paper it says things like "Mr. Justice___ commented in the Divorce Court upon the shamelessness of Women (page 33)" and "Actress had been lowered from a peak in California and hung suspended in mid air (page 33)". I can see why Wolf would state such a powerful comment. I think that because Wolf is starting to really look at Women in Fiction she is starting to notice how they are being treated all over the world. When i looked on the Boston Globe website to look at a newspaper here the first thing i noticed was the way it looked. There were a lot of pictures of men on the front page. I couldn’t really tell by reading the articles that i would state that the US is patriarchy but it’s something i do notice. Right now i am in a Women’s Studies class where we go over this topic all the time. Its kind of hysterical in a way to think about how many things are left unsaid for women and the way that the male gender still does run alot of the way we live. I do however think that it has got a lot better and that women are starting to take on more roles in our government like Hillary Clinton running for president. Women i think are starting to take a more powerful stand, but i do still think men are the more dominant figure in our society.

HW 21 "Trying my best to help" Virgina Woolfs reading

Dear Emma,Reading Virgina Woolfs book is a very difficult read. I don't know how much help i can give you because i myself had probably just as hard of time reading it. After reading chapter one i picked up a couple of things. It seems to me Virgina Woolf might have some kind of problem, social problem but i am not positive, it might just be the way i read it. In chapter one the narrator has been asked to present a lecture about women and fiction. She is indecisive on the way to answer that. She feels the need to talk about women in general the need for a room of her own. I think she means maybe independence for women to write about what they feel or want. She asks you the reader to call her Mary and I think the setting is on a riverbank. She sits there and thinks about what women in fiction mean. A lot of the chapter i think she is going back to her past and recalling certain situations or events that help her ponder the idea of women in fiction. Your teacher might want you to read this because it is a different type of reading. It will be good for you. I myself have never read anything quite like Virgina Woolfs writting but i think it will be a good learning experience. It is really difficult to read and understand. If you

HW 19 Influencing US politics

The paragraph i concentrated on was on page 85 in Web of Infulence. It was how blogs are already influencing U.S politics. Consider Jimmy Or , the white house internet director, for characterized the "blogosphere" as instrumental, important and underestimated in its influence. For example the chapter talks about how Trent Lott, who resigned as U.S Senate majority leader because "inflammatory comments he made at Sen. Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday party". The chapter talks about how there wasn't much attention about this on the news and mainstream media but the blogosphere was full of it. To take a case in point, i think blogosphere covers alot of different types of news then the mainstream. My conclusion then, is that the blogosphere is becoming really popular all over. It is influencing U.S politics in more ways then one. It also is influencing U.S politics more then the main media which is a pretty big deal. I what if people actually just go on blogs to find out the news instead of watching the television.

HW 16 Favorite Blog of the week

I know the assignment was to pick a particular blog, but i couldn't find just one that i really liked. I will tell you however my favorite site for blogs is definitely Jezebel with the link, http://www.jezebel.com. I like reading about all the gossip and crazy, random information she writes about. Jezebel is easier for me to read then the other blogs because its something i actually enjoy reading. It is basically like reading a magazine online, its great! She writes a lot about celebrities and their dare i say interesting lives. She also writes about such random things like "snuggle parties with adults". I did read one of her blogs about Dieting in the UK which was actually surprisingly some what serious but still easy for me to read. I also came across one of her blogs today that was talking about how theres actually a costume this Halloweens to be an anorexic girl. I wish i would have read that one before i submitted my "most depressing blog" cause i couldn't believe the pictures and the article i was reading. I mean i know it has its comical side, but i am sure it was degrading to some. So in conclusion my favorite blog site is definitely Jezebel because its easy to read and also pretty interesting.

HW 18 "depressing blog of the week"

The blog i choose was from jezbel the link is http://jezebel.com/gossip/food-for-thought/-308155.php. I choose this blog not because it was written poorly or because i didn't like the way the blog was showed i choose it because it was a depressing topic. I thought it was interesting to read about but after reading it i was like, wow that's really depressing. The blog was about dieting and weight conscious teenage girls and boys. Its says that "over one-third of 13-18 year old girls in the UK are on diets or have dieted recently", i thought that was crazy! Its not just girls either the blog also states that " 14% of boys admitted to dieting and 25% ate fewer then 800 calories a day". When i was reading the blog posts from other people it came across how alot of boy wrestlers do starve themselves so that they can get into a underweight group or braquet. Anyways this was the least favorite blog post i read this week and i hope that this issue gets better espically in the UK.

HW 17 B-> Could the answer be both?

Which blog would be more likely to influence the way you would vote in a coming election?
I think i would be more influenced by Markos Moulitsas Zuniga because it is more serious and i think more important then the information that Ana Marie Cox writes about in Wonkette. However the answer that i would like to answer this question is would be both. I would be influenced by both these blogs, i think reading both of them would keep me informed about different things in the election. The Daily Kos is very serious and is a liberal blog advertising network. Wonkette is completely different. I really liked reading Ana Marie Cox's interview because she was so down to earth and that is exactly what her page is like too. She does not use all formal words or phrases she writes as if she is a teenager writing about gossip. She says things like "Oh, and she put up some remarkably crappy personal web pages in 1999." or "Well, she went to Pat Robertson’s college, so she’s a Jesus-freak nutbag." I would read her page to find out all the gossip dirt for the election but i would read The Daily Kos to find out the major issues around the election and whose doing what to stop it. So i think a mix of both these blogs would be good in influencing the way i would vote for the election.

HW 16B-> explaining the 5 Pillars

I chose to focus on the five pillars of conversational software because they were something that i was confused about and wanted to research them a little better. The first one that Scoble mentions is the "ease of publishing", i thought this one was pretty easy to understand. The ease of publishing means that it is really easy to blog and to publish your work. Its basically just the click of a button and your published. The second pillar is 'discoverability'. Scoble states that " it helps with tags and pings that let services like PubSub and Feedster get on top of the blogosphere". So if i had to put it into my own words i would say that discoverability lets you discover everyone else's blogs and lets you see whats going on in the blogosphere. The third pillar is cross-site conversations. I think this is the part about blogging where you can see what people are writing back about your blogs. Scoble says this is "where i could see who was linking to me with trackbacks". The fourth Pillar is permalinking. When i typed permalinking into Google to see if i could get a definition a British blog popped up. The blog was called TopGold and it talked about permalinking and how you need to have feeds to have a blog. I guess permalinking enables users to click through directly to a review of interest. The last pillar that was mentioned was Syndication. Syndication is the sharing of content among different websites. Thats where the name RSS comes from, really simple syndication. Wikipedia states that RSS is a family of wed feed formats used to publish frequently updated content such as blog entries.

HW 14 Interview with Nick Denton

To summarize the “Take an Obsession, Then feed it” , an interview on Nick Denton, he pretty much talked a lot about the topics of blogging that we have been going over in class. Specifically he talks about how people are losing their interests in newspapers and now looking for the top stories on blogs. Also, a point of his that I thought was interesting was when he talks about hiring an unknown writer for his blog sites rather than hiring someone with records in media. For example he says “ So when looking for new writers , we don’t look for resumes, and we don’t look for great clips, which are often less a guide to somebody’s writing ability then they are a guide to the editorial ability of the person whose been line- editing them”. In other words I think that what he is trying to say is that it’s hard going from being a journalist and trying to write on blogs because it is two totally different styles of writing. Although it is true that people say blogs represent more of an evolution than a revolution Denton states that “Sometimes an evolutionary process can be dramatic enough that it has the effect of a revolution”.