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.

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.