Hw 35. letter to blog readers

Dear blog readers,
Over the last 13 weeks I have learned several things from maintaining my blog and completing my homework assignments. I have learned to express myself in any way I would like. The blog is my opinion, you can agree or disagree. I have learned that a blog is truer than any other source of writing. Bloggers are normal people just like you and me voicing their own opinions. I hope that people will get an understanding of who I am and what I believe from reading my blogs in the future. Since I have started writing blogs I am most proud of how my writing has improved. When this class is over I think that I will continue blogging on topics that really interest me. I will save my posts to look back on my first blogging experiences. At this point I would like to tell you that taking a blogging class has opened my eyes to a new world of writing for me. Writing is no longer papers you are forced to write. It is a way for people of all kinds to voice their voices and opinions in our world.
alex

Hw 34. Gold and Palm Trees in Iraq

The role that gold plays in family’s savings in Iraq is that it is a very important part of their culture and has been since 1990. This started when the Iraqi Dinar began fluctuating. Many of the people started to convert their money into gold such as jewelry. People took their money out of the bank and converted it into gold before the war and bought “zeeneh” what women called gold instead. This is good because gold people can wear gold as jewelry to show off but can always be sold when in need for extra money. When Iraqis couples get married than man gives the women a dowry usually containing gold jewelry. When a baby is born the gifts are usually gold trinkets so the parents can sell. As you can see gold is a very important to Iraqi people Riverbend planned went over this phrase in her head in case the troops came to her house. “Take the money, gold and gun, leave the computer”. (p100) Dhuluaya a area near Sammara, north of Baghdad. This area is famous for their date palm, citrus trees, and grape vines. Many people in this area make their living by caring for these orchards. These trees are the pride and joy of many Iraqi land owners. These trees are very handy in the winter. They are used for birds and other animals to stay in. the leaves of the trees are used to make baskets and furniture. The palm trees are also used to provide shade for the citrus trees. “Historically, palm trees have represented the rugged, stoic beauty of Iraq and its people”.( p103-105)

hw 33. children go to work.

The title of my episode is “Iraqi teens work to help their families” by alive in Baghdad. It was published 10/15/07 you can find this episode here: http://aliveinbaghdad.org/2007/10/15/iraqi-teens-work-to-help-their-families/ this episode generally discussed how young teens need to go to work in Iraq to help their families survive. Hussein Kamal appears in the episode. He is 15 and helps his dad at work everyday in the carpentry business. Life is hard for them. he now has to work from home because the have tried to shut them down so many times. The background consisted of where they worked which was usually outside working on furniture. They begged for people to stop encouraging terrorism and bombing in Iraq because they have suffered enough. The viewers may learn how hard it is for Iraqi children in today’s world. I find how sad this pod cast is most remunerable, that Hussein has to work his whole youth away just to survive.

HW. 32 KBR

KBR stands for Kellogg, brown and root, a subsidiary of Halliburton. It was founded in 1919. to the oil and gas industries it was the second largest provider. Halliburton bought the Houston based brown in 1962. They then bought the dresser industries in 1998 which led to the petroleum company in 1988. Dick Chaney served as the CEO until 2000. He left only to run for office. Chaney has over 33 million in stock and sold it under public pressure for 30 million. $709,320 of Halliburtons money went to political contributions and 95% of the money went to republicans. There are also many scandals that took place. A federal bankruptcy court gave Halliburton more time to review the 30,000 dollars in clams. Halliburton inherited the claims. KBR also has a record of overcharging taxpayers and was sued for 6 million. There were many contracts in Iraq one being to put out oil fires and to help pump and distribute oil, another being work related to operation Iraqi freedom, another to get rid of chemical weapons in the region the last to feels and house U.S troops in Iraq.

Riverbend, Baghdad Burning. New York 2005 .78

Hw. 31 the Al-Amriyah shelter bombing

The event that I choose to do more research on that Riverbend mentioned in Baghdad Burning was the Al-Amriyah shelter bombing. Riverbend mentions that the bombing of the shelter occurred on February 13, 1991. The shelter was a populated residential area in Baghdad are. She explains how the first bomb drilled through the heart of the shelter and the second exploded inside killing many women and children. Many family members frantically went from dead body to dead body looking for their loved ones. (Baghdad Burning, 46) I think this is so sad that these people trusted the shelter to live in during these hard times. These people were yearning for safety. They certainly did not get it here. When I researched more on the bombing of Al- Amriyah I found out that it killed more than 408 civilians and that the U.S. government claims that the attack was based on signals and human intelligence reports suggesting the bunker was a military command site. I also found out the United States was responsible for this bombing and their failure to warn them that this bombing was coming was a huge broken law of war. At 4:30 am the morning of Febuary13,1991 two F-117 stealth bombers each dropped a 2,000 pound, laser-guided, GBU-27 munition on the shelter. The shelter still stands today as a memorial to those who died. Umm Greyda,is a woman who lost eight children in the bombing who has now moved into the shelter to help create a memorial. She now serves as its primary guide.

Hw. 30 2nd Syposium

The symposium on Tom Lantos U.S representative and holocaust survivor was very interesting to me. The holocaust itself is a topic that I am very fascinated with, and for him to be the only person in the U.S to have survived the holocaust and become a congressman it’s amazing. The symposium started with Tom Lantos’s daughter Katrina Sweat introducing him. She told us that tom came to the U.S after the Second World War at 19 with absolutely nothing. He ran for congress in 1980. In 2006 he became the head chair member of the foreign committee. When Tom came out he talked firmly about freedom in America and how they wanted to begin a whole new era of U.S relations. He is a firm believer in our country and has high hopes that the people who are running it will continue to make us proud. One of the quotes he stated that really caught my eye was “people whom we have done so much for forgot about all the positive things and are only remembering the negative things”.

Hw 30 Citizens gone wild

I attended the symposium on Tuesday called “Citizens gone wild” talked by Nancy Tobi. Nancy talked mainly about the government and how and who run it. The name of the presentation was “What kind of democracy do we want”.She talked about taking control over our democracy. Nancy is the founder of blockboxvoting. Nancy grew up in Lexington Ma. The slide show she presented was called citizens gone wild. It was about the two different types of techniques the state of New Hampshire used to count the votes. These were called hand count and Diebold. There were a lot of errors with the method Diebold. Diebold is machine that counted the votes and the hand count method was when the citizens counted each vote by hand. Nancy believes that the votes should be counted by hand. She also talked about how New Hampshire has free and open elections. Nancy really stresses that she wants to change the voting system for the better not only in New Hampshire but in America itself. She explains how there are many crimes that take place in the voting system as of right now. She really says that we need the citizens’ to help make these changes possible.

hw 28 Letter to Riverbend

Dear Riverbend,
I know you wrote your blog for a place to vent about how the war was affecting your life. I know from the reading that you have found comfort in your blog, and that it helps you express your feelings about what is happening around you. I know you never thought you would get so many responses from your blog but since that this war started in our lifetime and we are fully aware of what the circumstances, we can really relate to your blog. We are more likely to want to know what is really going on in Iraq. We know many people who are fighting in Iraq and are risking their lives so your blog really interests us because we want to know about the war coming from an average girl like yourself. You writing about waking up to loud explosives and how the electricity goes off on a regular basis really brings us to feel like we truly understand what is going on. Because I am now a blogger I can really related your blog. I think it really helps many people understand what is truly going on in Iraq. I thank you for writing your blog because most of the things we here on the media is false. Your blog is true and we can interact and listen to your stories.
Thanks again.
Alex Tuttle

Hw 27 Baghdad Burning

Baghdad burning by Riverbend is about a young girl who is growing up in Iraq with the war surrounding her. Riverbend’s blog is about a young girl who is growing up in Iraq while the war is going on. She tells us her day to day life and the horrifying events she has to go through. She writes this blog to share with people the experience of the war in Iraq from first hand experienced. She is very relatable because she is a young normal girl who is going through horrifying times. She writes an online blog that explains her daily life and how the war is affecting her and her family. This blog that Riverbend writes is important to our class because her blog explains what is going on in a different part of the world. Many people can read into what she is saying and feel as if they are really in Iraq. It also shows us the technology of the blogosphere world today.
Baghdad Burning. New York: First Feminist Press, 2005.