Tuesday, December 4, 2007

HW 33 Respond to a Podcast

Our pod cast was unable to work. But we did it on time, and you are aware of that. So this blog is to let you know we'll be watching it in class on Thursday. Thanks

HW25: Responding to Riverbend

In the foreword of “Baghdad Burning” the book introduces a character by the name of “Riverbend.” She is a 24 year old woman, but that is not her real name. She blogs with the “fake” name “Riverbend” so that people aren’t aware of her real name. She talks about certain topics and the US, so her name is better off unsaid anyway. In this, we go on to learn that Riverbend has a mother and a brother named E. In the introduction the author talks about Riverbend’s life and talks about how Riverbend and her brother would sit and listen to tanks and gunshots. As he explains Riverbends life he gives a brief background on the history of the war. He talks about the Persian Gulf War and the 2003 war. Riverbend talks about how the wars really affected her and the women I nher country of Iraq. The introduction gives the reader background information and historical facts about Iraq and the war over their oil. "American government and industry issued warnings to the public of the impending dire shortage of petroleum, paving the way for higher prices to support more U.S. exploration and development (Riverbend xiii)."

HW 24: A Room of One's Own

Virginia states that “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). Basically, Virginia is stating that all women should have a room of their own. Not necessarily somewhere you sleep or live, but some where you can be yourself and have independence and freedom. No one’s room is the same because all women think and act differently, even if just in the smallest way. Women are just starting to get more freedom and I think Virginia believes that women are coming far, and will start to have more and more rights soon. A room of one’s own is a women’s place to go. It’s where I can wear and do what I want, and have the freedom to think how I want. People are starting to come to that realization.

HW 24: A Room of One's Own

Virginia states that “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). Basically, Virginia is stating that all women should have a room of their own. Not necessarily somewhere you sleep or live, but some where you can be yourself and have independence and freedom. No one’s room is the same because all women think and act differently, even if just in the smallest way. Women are just starting to get more freedom and I think Virginia believes that women are coming far, and will start to have more and more rights soon. A room of one’s own is a women’s place to go. It’s where I can wear and do what I want, and have the freedom to think how I want. People are starting to come to that realization.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

HW 32- Kellogg, brown and root

KBR and other foreign contractors in Iraq is what I chose to summarize. KBR stands for Kellogg, brown and root, a subsidiary of Halliburton. “They handle construction and engineering services or the energy community.” KBR was founded in 1919, and in 1997 KBR was sued for 6 million dollars because they charged the American army too much for plywood. This is the second largest provider compared to oil and gas. Dick Chaney served as the CEO until 2000, but he left to run for office, and he had over 33 million dollars in stocks until he sold them for 30 million because of the pressure of the people. $709,320 of Halliburtons money went to political contributes and 95% of the money went to republicans. Some of the contracts in Iraq were to put out oil fires and to help pump and distribute oil. Also, another one to get rid of chemical weapons in the region.

HW 30 Symposium

The second symposium, on Thursday,I went to was spoken by a man who survived the holocaust and was the only survivor to be elected for congress. His name was Congressman Tom Lantos. I didn’t catch the title of this, because he mainly spoke about his life and different situation that happened throughout. Tom came to American at the age of 19 and attended the University of Washington in Seattle. Before he came to speak with us, I found it very interesting that he was JUST speaking with the president of France. At one point Tom states “America did not teach men the idea of freedom, she taught them how to protect it.” The theme was Citizenship and a quote Tom stated by Mark Twain was “Citizenship is what makes a Republic.” Tom believes that that country and congress are divided and that there are two goals for the new president: To domestically bring the country back together, and to internationally rebuild the status and respect for the U.S. I found this symposium much more interesting and I thought Tom was a good speaker.

HW 30: Tuesdays Symposium

I attended a symposium for the first time on Tuesday, and the title of the symposium was “Citizens Gone Wild, Taking Control of our Democracy.” Nancy Tobi introduced this topic to us and mostly talked about the government and how she felt. She presented us with a power point, slideshow and talked about black box voting. New Hampshire uses two different techniques to count the votes for presidency, Diebold and Hand counting. She explained that the Diebold is a machine that counts the votes for us, but she went on to explain that it is not always correct, and it can mess up the vote counting. Nancy, herself, believes that votes should just be counted by hand because she wants to “help prevent unwanted presidency.” As soon as she started talking about politics and our president, I got aggravated because I don’t like when people discuss politics and he’s clearly our president for a reason, so it bothers me when people bash him. Anyway, I won’t talk about my feelings toward President Bush, that’s a person issue. But to finish up, she talked about how NH is a free and open election, and how she wants voting to change in American.

HW 35- My Blogging Experience.

I can’t believe we have been blogging for 13 weeks now. I feel that there is so much I have learned. I’ve learned the meaning of blogging and how it is a way to express how I feel via online text. It gives people a way to read what I have to say about a certain topic, situation or event and gives them the opportunity to agree or disagree, as well as leave a comment. I’ve learned that maintaining my blog can be a hard thing. I felt “on-top of things” at the beginning of the semester, and then I lost it. I have a lot of catching up to do, but I learned that blogging can actually be really fun. I hope that when people read my blogs from this past semester, they found them interesting and I hope that in the future if I keep blogging they will find my topics interesting and they will hopefully agree with what I have to say. Maybe one of my topics will change the way people view controversial issues, for the better. I feel best about the way my blogs have improved; this has convinced me to keep blogging. When this class is over I don’t think I would necessarily keep blogging about text we have been reading in class, but about thing I find interesting. I won’t delete the posts I already have going, but maybe adding to what I have already, is what I will do. At this point I feel like the class went really well, and I got a chance to figure out what blogging is. Now, when anyone asks me what it is, I’ll be able to tell them, because “what is blogging?” is a very popular question. Overall, blogging has been a good experience for me, and I have been able to express my voice for people to read.

Monday, October 22, 2007

HW 23: "With Apologies to Vigginia Woolf"

After getting the chance to read through Jezebels Blog I found many blogs that speak about different women and gossip about them, making assumptions or snap judgments. I do enjoy the “dubious gossip” from time to time, but when will women be treated equally? When will we be aloud to do and say what we want? Naturally, this site is full of false information or information they think is true based on pictures etc. However, on the contrary it is truly a great feminist blog. What is the latest gossip? What are people wearing? What are women doing? Who are the latest couples? All of my questions are answered on this site and I find it very informative. www.Jezebel.com is a great feminist site.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

HW:21 Responding to Woolf

Dear Lori,
I know you had a lot of trouble with the reading you had to do in Virginia Woolf’s “A Room of One’s Own,” but I’m here to help you understand what you read and hopefully feel comfortable enough with the material to continue reading on. To start off, this chapter is about the importance of women and fiction. It starts with a narrator who is sitting and wondering about women and fiction. She talks about all these thing women are not aloud to do like, walk across the grass, walk into a library alone with out a man at the university. This certainly shows how women were treated. Then the narrator goes on to see a cat without a tail and that seems really odd because she keeps jumping around but the cat makes her think back to a time before the war. Basically, this chapter is talking about how certain social classes have changed so much over time, especially women. This chapter talks about women and fiction and how the author states that "A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction." This gives the reader a chance to think about this and see how far women have come over time. I hope you have a better understanding of the material, I know it was difficult but keep reading and I’m sure it’ll start to click!

Love, Amy

HW:19 Blogging and Foreign-language texts

I feel that the second paragraph on page 89 is important because it talks about how blogs are “supplying unfiltered eyewitness accounts about foreign countries.” What Kline really means is it is not like the information on the news when we do not know what to believe, blogs are eye witnessed and they are writing everything they see and not what they want us to think. This paragraph is speaking very highly of blogs in general; blogs are really starting to “take over.” In other words, they are overpowering the news papers and government studies by providing summaries of these foreign-language texts and making them easier to read. I feel that when I started this class, blogs weren’t even something I knew about, but now they are becoming more and more popular. My conclusion, then, is that blogs are really starting to evolve and change the way people read information from newspapers to the “man on the street” or blogging.

Monday, October 8, 2007

HW 18 YIKES!!!

http://jezebel.com/gossip/save-the-children/mommy-can-i-be-a-whore+from+hell-for-halloween-308279.php

After looking through Jezebel’s blog I found some awesome blogs and some weird ones as well. I usually look for articles I would be interesting in and not typically ones that I would dislike, however, this week I did find an article that I was both interested in and found extremely disturbing.
Since when do children dress as whores for Halloween? I read an article called “Save The Children: Mommy, Can I Be A Whore-From-Hell For Halloween?
By Jennifer on slutty costumes, which informed the readers how Halloween costumes have gone to an all time extreme. Although very short and to the point, I still find this article to be very disturbing because kids are being exposed to so much these days, that I would never have seen when I was a kid. Also, these costumes are being targeted to girls not boys because as she’s says “boys have a lot of simple, innocent options….” and girls don’t?? What happened to little girls dressing as witches or princesses for Halloween? Jeeze, this article freaked me out because I wonder what it’ll be like when I have kids and they want to be hookers for Halloween at the age of 5. Yikes!!

HW17B Cox and Zuniga

After reading both interviews and getting a chance to look at both blogs, I would have to say I would be more likely to vote in an election with Zuniga’s influence. Mainly because of the reading, I would have to say that Zuniga seems to have stronger points and a much more professional approach to interviews. With that said, I would take his opinion much more serious than Cox’s because she seemed so naïve and unprofessional. Cox’s interview was so interesting to read because she was so blunt and seemed so young with her responses. Also, Zuniga’s blog has much more information, and Cox has videos and not much information, so I wouldn’t make a huge decision, such as an election, based on Cox’s views. Overall, I wouldn’t really let anyone make my decisions for something so big as an election, but I would take their views into consideration and Zuniga just seems to be the more informative one.

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

HW 16A Jezebel follows the principles

The blog I chose is Jezebel because the blog posts on there are very interesting. Some of the 20 principles this blog follows are principle 1: “tell the truth. The whole truth. Nothing but the truth. If your competitor has a product that’s better than yours, link to it. You might as well. We’ll find it anyway.” In this blog there are a lot of links and all the information is true and trustworthy. Also, Principle 2: “ Post fast on good news and bad…” this is shown a lot on this blog because they inform the reader with good and bad news. Some examples of the bad news are: Forever 21’s new clothing, and the information on Angelina and Brittany. Lastly, Principle 16: states “Never lie. You’ll get caught and you’ll lose credibility that you’ll never get back.” I feel like this web site is trust worthy, like I said, and I know they are following this principle because even if it’s just an opinion, they are still stating the truth, whether good or bad. One of the principles it may not follow would be principle 17: stating “If you have information that might get you a lawsuit, see a lawyer before posting…” I feel like this may not follow because some of the blogs are based on certain magazines and if the information in the magazines in false then the blogs could get caught by certain people for displaying false information, even though they might have stated it is false, or if they are just making fun of the person. I feel like blogs should follow these standards because it could run into issues if they all decide to just post and do whatever they want. Where this sort of sets some limits and guide lines.

HW 17: Forever 21's Attempt at Fancy Fails

http://jezebel.com/gossip/the-good%2C-the-bad-%26-the-ugly/forever-21s-attempt-at-fancy-fails-306715.php

Basically in this Blog the author Jennifer is writing about the new line of clothing coming out at Forever 21, which is targeting all different types of groups and styles. Some of the styles she mentions are “Vintage Couture” “60’s pop vibe” “012 Luxe” etc. She goes on to say that not all the clothes are appealing, “The good the bad and the ugly” she says. This quote basically describes what she talks about in the Blog and how she shows different examples of each. The good being some things like: The Modern Art Tulip Dress and the mystical forest sweater tights. The bad being some things like: The mystical forest lurex sweater dress and the royals countryside cable sweater coat. Lastly, the ugly being: the rear view modern tunic and the dandy dolls satin keyhole mini dress. Overall, I looked at the collection of clothing because the blog provided a lot of pictures, and I would have to say I agree for the most part and this blog certainly makes me want to go to the store and see if they are selling these outfits.

HW14: Responding to Denton

After reading Denton’s interview I felt like he knew exactly what he was talking about and his wording was very easy to follow along with because I also found myself agreeing with him a lot. He talked about blogging and his experience with hiring non-journalists and how they are better “because the unknown are hungrier and because often a track record in print journalism is no advantage in writing a weblog.” Similar, when they look for new blog writers they don’t look for resumes either. Consequently, “writers who are good web bloggers often don’t do well when they try to make the transition to magazine journalism or newspaper journalism.” Also, I agree with Denton when he states that the attention paid to blogs is unhealthy and unnecessary. Furthermore, as the interview goes on I feel like his personality was a little cocky when he uses words like “Obviously” as he talks to the person interviewing him, which seems rude. In addition to thinking people pay too much attention to blogs he also states that “I think it’s reasonably obvious that weblogs are going to unbundle the existing newspaper publishing business.” On the contrary, he doesn’t think it’s going to happen anytime soon. To summarize, I would say I agree with Denton and his views on blogs.

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

HW 13: Blogging and your Business

“ Fair Enough. But even if GM doesn’t pay for positive coverage in blogs, just consider the possibilities in the new footloose media world. There’s littler to stop companies from quietly buying bloggers’ support, or even starting unbranded blogs of their own to promote their products- or to tar the competition.” (Klineand Burstein 226)

I feel like this quote explains why it is important for businesses to have blogs or why they can impact a certain business. Blogging can be used as advertising for companies that have something to advertise, like GM, or it can be use for editorial purposes. Some people may find this as an issue, however, ultimately, what is at stake here is that if a business is going to advertise, then blogging is a great way to do that. Blogging can help a business and advertising can as well. So this is certainly going to impact a business in a good way, which is why i think it's more important for businesses to have the impact of blogging.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Blogging Around The World

I chose to view North Korea Zone. It looks like a normal blog with a picture at the top of a statue. It seems that the same two people blog on this page. Michael Rank and Timothy Savage. The information they blog is informal in a sense and it also talks about different issues. Some topics are “Who Does Your Nails,” talking about how Korean’s have been doing nails in the US for years. Also they talk about flood damage, and they have links to interesting photos that are a photo gallery in North Korea. Basically Rebecca talks about how the blogs are controlled and owned by communist parties. I don’t feel they are owned by communist parties anymore, maybe they were at first, but this blog seems to have a mind of it’s own and the writers certainly speak freely about how they feel or what they find. Reading this chapter made me believe that blogs in other countries were monitored and they didn’t have freedom of speech. This blog demonstrates a little bit of a different view for me. I feel like Timothy and Michael speak out real situations going on in North Korea and they are also displaying photographs, and providing more information. Someone who would disagree with me may say that this blog isn’t written only by Timothy and Michael, but it is monitored and possibly changed/controlled by others.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Agree to Disagree

After having the chance to read, “Punching Holes in Old Faded Mirrors” an interview with Arianna Huffington, I had the opportunity to apply Graff’s chapter four methods of agreeing and disagreeing. Overall, I would have to say I mainly agreed with Huffington; however I did disagree with her at times. To start off, I’d have to say my feelings on this issue are mixed. I’m of two minds about her claims on blogging. On the one hand, I agree that “Blogs have made a huge difference because they have broken the monopoly of the mainstream media” (Huffington), but I’m not sure if I agree with her views on the actual media. She believes that “while the mainstream media is covering the story it’s as thought nothing else exists.” (Huffington) Basically saying that they only cover or focus on one story at a time. I don’t think that is true because the news covers so many different stories at one time, not just one specific story. I agree that blogging is exciting because “we don’t know where exactly this is going to go” (Huffington), a point that needs emphasis because many people believe that blogging will come and go quickly. I also agree that “you don’t need to reach everybody in order to have an impact”, because my experience with blogging in class has shown that only the few people in my class check it out and that confirms that it can still have an impact with out the world seeing it. Overall, after reading any section in this book, it really is agreeing and/or disagreeing, and any view point is welcomed.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

"My So-Called Blog"

I feel that when a child is in middle school they are old enough to monitor themselves. If a parent wants to check out what they do on the internet but still give them privacy, then that is fine. However, invading someone’s space is uncalled for, and parents need to learn that. Children should be monitored, middle school students shouldn’t. I remember when I was in middle school my mom would sneak up on me and look over my shoulder, and I would hate that for two reasons, one: because I hate when people read anything over my shoulder, and two: because I hate that she was being so nosey. If middle school students are going to talk to their friends online, search the web, write in blogs, or do any other online activity, then I think they’re old enough to make decisions. Parents may feel that their children are losing personal privacy by giving out information, for so many different things, however, “For many in the generation that has grown up online, the solution to fight this technological loss of privacy, but to give in and embrace it: to stop worrying and learn to love the Web.” (Kline and Burstein 351) Everyone, especially parents of middle school children, need to stop worrying about the Web and learn that it can actually be a very good thing. I know when I was in middle school, I didn’t do anything wrong on the internet, so I would have the same trust with other middle school students, at least until they break that trust.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Disagreement

David Kline and Dan Burstein argue that blogging is something that people are fearing because it uses such a different language and the fact “that millions of nonprofessionals are speaking out about matters that they (according to their betters) know little about.” They make a statement that people were once worried about the telephone when it first appeared, as well. However, I disagree with this completely because the way the telephone was invented and the way it has escalated to such a necessity is something that will never happen with blogging. Especially with things such as: emailing, instant messaging, text messaging and all the different types of social computing technology out there. Blogging, to me, doesn’t seem to be important and honestly, I believe that it will eventually come to an end sooner or later. Whether it is important information or not, it’s just a person sitting at home writing similar things and stories the news papers and news are talking about. David and Dan claim that blogging will become a new phenomenon however, I disagree and I wouldn’t listen to someone “sitting in his pajamas in front of his computer.” Overall, blogging is just a way to express yourself, and information you've researched, and I feel that it will end sooner or later. Oh well...

Pg 151- Paragraphs 3 and 4

Semester Long Project

To get started on my semester long project I choose a few topics off the list of choices. There are many different social computing technologies out there and the few that I am interested in are: text messaging, social networking serviced, and instant messaging. I have the privilege of having unlimited text messaging so I’d say it’s obvious that I love to text and that is something I’d like to research. Along with social network services because Facebook and Myspace fascinate me, from the way they were developed to the way to can communicate. Lastly, Instant messaging will be an interesting one because a lot of people have instant messaging and I love to sit and talk with people, whether they be next door or miles away.

The different kinds of empowerment of marginalized groups that I choose are: Overcoming homophobia, overcoming racism, and Rights and empowerment of people with HIV/AIDS. These are three topics that have always been interesting to me. Overcoming homophobia would be an awesome thing and I’m sure researching it would be very interesting. Overcoming racism has been something that’s been going on for a LONG time and researching that would also be nice. Lastly, researching the rights and empowerment of people with HIV/AIDS is very interesting and something I ‘d like to find out about.

Geographical areas also plays a role in this semester long project, and the two places I choose to research at the US and Africa. I feel that although people think they know a lot about the US it’s still very interesting to learn something new and then realize it’s going on in your country. As for Africa I feel that would just be a good second choice.

Monday, September 10, 2007

The Snack That Smiles Back...Goldfish :)

I looked around my room and decided to look on the Pepperidge Farm website because my room mate had goldfish in the cabinet. The snack promises that “Everyone loves goldfish crackers-tasty, fun, wholesome treats. The snack that smiles back!” I feel like the snack does deliver this promise because the goldfish DO actually smile back when you eat them. Also, after eating goldfish I don’t see how people could dislike goldfish because they really are tasty and fun. Some people may not like them, but over all their statement is true because most would eat goldfish. When I was a child, I use to think that goldfish were an awesome snack, but in reality children aren’t aware that goldfish are wholesome as well, and their promise really is delivered because it is a baked snack, which parents love. There are “multiple varieties of deliciousness- try them all.” This website implies that there are many different kinds of goldfish and Pepperidge Farm products which are delicious and in my opinion, I would have to agree!

Thursday, September 6, 2007

Blogs Blogs Blogs!

After reading these pages I have gotten the chance to answer one of my main questions in the beginning of this course; What does blogging have anything to do with politics? Many people write up blogs before an election and they use them to try and persuade different viewers. A lot of times it really works and the blog changes the political election based on people viewing and reading them. I find that fascinating because before reading this book I had no idea what a blog even was, and now I’m getting the chance to write my own and read about blogs that have or could, essentially, change the world.
I find it interesting that 45 percent of Americans don’t believe what they read in the newspapers yet they use something such as a blog to help them make decisions on important situations like elections. How trust worthy are blogs and what exactly are people writing that make decisions for others?
Because of all the false mainstream media information people are declaring that blogging is bringing us ‘back to the future.” Blogs are giving us true information and they are providing it way before the mainstream media even gets a chance. (Ex: TheMemoryHole.com provided Defense Department photos of caskets of the soldiers who had recently died in Iraq.)
Blogs are also helping the world. “Central to the Internet-enabled campaign strategy first developed by Trippi was the unprecedented ability of blogs to serve as fund- raising vehicles ect.” (Kline & Burstein) Dean went on to raise 45 million dollars online for an organization fund-raiser and people continued to follow in his foot steps afterwards.
Blogs are becoming more and more popular “...A lot of people are even afraid to open their door to strangers. But they’re not afraid to talk to people online.” Blogging seems to be the new thing on everybodys mind.

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Relating Burststein's 12 key ideas to an issue.

2. Blogs are particularly interesting because they marry so much personality and attitude with this complex mix of software technologies.
Burstein’s second idea states that “…we can have more technology without necessarily becoming more depersonalized and alienated as a society.” (Burstein) Also it mentions how individuals are able to use bogging as a tool to voice their ideas that have never or may never be heard. Using these two thought I can closely relate this to online web sites such as: Facebook.com and Myspace.com. Where we aren’t letting thses depersonalize any relationship, but rather using it as a way to communicate and voice our thoughts to one another. Websites like Facebook.com and Myspace.com have aloud people to communicate through typing. These typed words can also be expressed verbally to discuss what may be going on in the Myspace or Facebook world. In some way it may even bring people closer because it is giving people something to talk about these days. Just like Myspace and Facebook, blogging has become something that everyone talks/knows about. It gives individuals a way to express themselves as well as keep in touch, and there is nothing wrong with that. Also, having such things as computers and telephones have proved that we aren’t depersonalizing anything because people still have verbal conversations, so as Burstein stated it wouldn’t make a difference if more technology were used.