The delta pod will be bringing their pod casts in on thursday so you can hear them

HW 35 Goodbye Blogging

To the valued readers of my blog,
Soon my life as a blogger will be coming to an end and I will be finishing up my ITW class. This experience has taught me so much and I have grown so much since my first blog. I have learned many important lessons while blogging over the past couple of months. Not only have I grown as a writer and learned more about freedom of speech and writing but I have learned life lessons. Maintaning my blog every night was something that became part of my routine and I had to learn time management and how important it is not to fall behind. These are lessons I will need to further my career as a college student and in the real world. I hope that after reading my blog, people will rethink their opinions on certain topics. I hope that they will venture to new websites and check out articles, authors, and other blogs I have wrote about. After reading these articles and blogs, I hope they will have a new outlook on life just like I did. My proudest blogs are defintley the ones about the Iraq War and about the novel “Baghdad Burning”, from that book I have learned so much about the war that I never knew. I hope after reading my blog people will want to go out and buy that book. After this class is over I will keep my blog. I do not think I will continue writing but I will definitely keep it there for citing purposes. Over the course of this class we read so many great pieces of work, I want my blog to be there to look back on. To my readers, I hope you all enjoyed my blogs because I have enjoyed writing them for you. Blogging is a great way to express yourself and I encourage everyone to take ten minutes out of their day and just try it! Thank you all for reading!

Sincerely,
Noreen

Hw 34 Typical Tea in Iraq

After reading the next installment of blogs in Riverbend’s “Baghdad Burning” I learned about the custom evening tea in Iraq. Riverbend explains that this isn’t as formal as it seems although tea is very important to her culture. “Iraqi tea isn’t a simple matter of teacups and teabags. If you serve “teabag tea” to an Iraqi you risk scorn and disdain a teabag is an insult to tea connosisseurs. It speaks of a complete lack of appreciation for the valuable beverage (Riverbend 108). She then goes on to explain the three stage process which includes boiling water and adding a certain amount of tea leaves to another kettle. Finally, the tea leaves are boiled and the tea kettle is placed on a low burner. This routine differs from family to family. Tea in Iraq is very important to their culture, tea is drank at every part of the day and also sold by many people for money. It is a big profit for Iraqi people and there are many different kinds of tea. The color of the tea has to be just right before the family sits down and enjoys evening tea. When evening tea begins the family sits around a table and talks about what is going on. Riverbend states “before the conversation officially begins you can hear the gentle music of small steel teaspoons clinking against the itiskan or teacup as the tea is stirred. Ulike the typical family conversation around the world “How was your day dear?”doesn’t get a typical answer in Iraq”(Riverbend 109). After this riverbend explains how it depends on who your asking the question to be cause the answer differs.

Pod cast Iraqi teens work to help thier families

The pod cast that I watched was entitled “Iraqi teens work to help their families”. It was part of the alive in Baghdad series and published on October 15th 2007. You can find this pod cast at the site: http://aliveinbaghdad.org/2007/10/15/iraqi-teens-work-to-help-their-families/. This pod cast mainly discusses how male teenagers in Iraq are working or helping support their family. The first couple of boys were working in carpentry with family members and had learned how to make doors, bedroom furniture and tables. They became skilled carpenters to help make money for their family. Another boy that the pod cast features is going to college for Agriculture and plans to help make money for his family. He explains how his commute to college is not secure and very dangerous. He also discusses how he does not have a job at home and this impacts his life greatly. This boy stuck out in my mind because it seemed very different from all the rest. All these boys have one thing in common and that is they have to live with the way everyday. They talk about how much it has impacted their families and why they have to work so much due to it. The scenery is mostly back yards that look very much like the desert. Also, they show a lot of furniture being built by the young men and houses in the background. A viewer might learn more about Iraqi culture after viewing this pod cast and what is it like living in a country that is at war. I find the young boys opinions most memorable about the pod cast. They talk so strongly about how people need to stop letting terrorists get away with horrible things and how the war needs to come to an end. They all agree that suffering has to stop and I think this a common thought throughout the world.

Burqas, Hijabs and Veils (hw 32)

After reading further into Baghdad Burning I learned about Burqas, Hajibs, and veils. The main thing I learned from reading the past couple of entries from riverbend are the difference between a burqa and habib. A veil covers the whole face and head and is the same thing as a burqa. In Iraq it is referred to as a burqa and in Europe it is referred to as a veil. A hijab however, is just like a scarf. It is usually worn over the hair and neck but can be used in a variety of different ways (Riverbend 92). After reading further into Riverbend’s entries I found out the Hijab’s are becoming more of a fashion statement then a necessity to cover womens faces. They come in an array of different styles and colors although most only wear black and white. Hijabs in Iraq can be worn with anything, skirts, pants and jeans as long as they are appropriate. This is very different from what I first thought. I thought hijabs had to cover most of a Muslim woman and that they could not be seen in public without them. Now, I know this is not true. I also learned Muslim women do not wear Hijabs because they have to (Riverbend 93). They wear them for religious reasons and because it is the correct thing to do in their minds.

Hw 31 SCIRI

When I began reading this part of Riverbend’s blogs I came upon something called the SCIRI. I knew this had something to do with politics and Riverbend seemed not to like it so I decided to look it up. In her post she shows another blog that mentions the SCIRI and is saying if you agree with them you are an Iraq clone(Riverbend 43). When I looked up SCIRI I found that it is a political party in Iraq. SCIRI stands for the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution. It is now known as the Supreme Islamic Iraqi council. The party is now run by Abdul Aziz al Hakim and it used to be run by his brother (Wikipedia 2007). Finding out all this information really made it easier to understand who everyone is that Riverbend talks about. It is so confusing trying to learn all the political parties and all the different members of the government. Riverbend is so knowledgeable of the government in Iraq and in the United States. At some points I believe she knows me then I do about the U.S. government.

"Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council." Wikipedia. 2007. Wikipedia. 13 Nov 2007

Riverbend. Baghdad Burning. first. New York: The Feminist Press, 2005.

Hw 30 Two lectures at Citizenship Symposium

This week I attended two lectures at the citizenship symposium. The first one I attended was the introduction of the symposium then a speech by Nancy Tobi entitled “What kind of democracy do we want? It started off with the mayor declaring it citizenship day the Tobi took over. Tobi is the creator of blackboxvoting.org. and also a resident of New Hampshire. The theme of Tobi’s speech overall was distrust. Her speech mainly focused on how Diebold voting machines are making a lot of errors. She said that they make up almost 5 percent of errors in voting today. One thing that really impacted me was how dedicated Tobi was to the cause. She was very serious when she went through her power point and gave many examples of places where there were miscounts and where recounts had taken place. The example that everyone is familiar with is the presidential election where votes had to be counted several times in Florida. Numerous errors could have taken place and the recount ended in a different president being elected. Another good point she mentioned was that the more recounts that are taken the more room there is for error. Tobi really opened my eyes to a lot about our democratic government. She used the term glitch which meant in her words a mistake in the counting of yes votes. I found this interesting, glitch seems like such a small insignificant word when in reality a presidential election is a huge deal that shouldn’t be called a glitch. One quote I liked from the power point was “the ballot is stronger then the bullet” said by Abe Lincoln. This really fit in well with Tobi’s message and presentation.
The second seminar I attended was entitled “Citizenship and Responsibility”. Tom Lantos presented this who was a holocaust survivor born in Hungary. One point I found interesting was he will be the only person to serve on congress that was a holocaust survivor. A quote that inspired me was people whom we have done so much for forgot about all the positive things and are only remembering the negative things”. This quote meant a lot to me. It really explains was the United States is going through. The U.S. gets a lot of bad press but no one wants to show the good press about how the U.S. has helped so many countries. This was one of Lantos’s main points. Lantos speech overall was very inspiring he was a man who had nothing and got everything. Being a holocaust survivor is an incredible thing to accomplish and I have great respect for anyone who overcame such a horrible incident. One part of the symposium that really touched me is how his daughter introduced him. She discussed his background and Lantos went on to talk about his election in 1980 to congress. He was proud of the United States and still believes in our country.

An open letter to Riverbend (Hw 28)

Dear Riverbend,
I find your blog extremely inspiring and informative. I feel that your blog is the only place I can find out true information about the war in Iraq. You are very unlike newspapers and reporters because you tell the straight truth and do not hate against either side of the war. I commend you for this. The most shocking part of your blog was when you said people were sending you hate emails. I couldn’t believe this. Living in the United States I know how judgmental and cruel people can be but I was truly shocked. Being a blogger myself I think the point of having a blog is to be able to express your own feelings. If people do not agree with this, I think they should just keep there mouth shut. When you spoke about the stifling heat and how the power went out almost every day I really felt for your situation. I feel blessed to have these amenities that most take for granted. When you speak about guns going off and how you can identify each one and who’s firing it, I was appalled. This is something I could never get used to as a teenage girl. You are so strong and courageous in your blog and I admire how you only tell the facts. Thanks for writing such inspirational works.

Noreen Scott

Hw 27 Baghdad Burning

Riverbend. "Baghdad Burning, Girl Blog From Iraq." New York: The Feministe Press (feministepress.org) 2003.

“Baghdad Burning” is a novel composed of blogs, written by a girl who lives there. All you really know about her at first is she goes by the name Riverbend and comes from a middle class family in Baghdad. This book is extremely informative because it gives you another look at the Iraq war. People in the United States are so used to what the government and newscasters say but they are not always correct. The information we here in the United States can be a very twisted truth. Riverbend gives a very realistic point of view about the war but never expresses hate for Americans or the troops. Her reason for writing the blog is solely to inform people about what is really going on. She does not have a bias opinion. This book relates a lot to our class because it is primarily about blogging and women. Riverbend is an extremely strong woman who proves the point that a woman can have a say.

HW 25 Pro American Puppet Goverment?

Today was the first time I picked up the novel Baghdad Burning by Riverbend. After reading the foreword and introduction I am extremely excited and eager to start reading. The first thing that really caught my attention was the foreword written by Ahdeif Soueif. A quote from the foreword made me realize how real this novel is and how this is written by a woman on the other side of the war. “There was a time when people here felt sorry for the troops. No matter what ones attitude was to the occupation, there were moments of pity towards the troops, regardless of their nationality. We would see them suffering under the Iraqi sun, obviously wishing they were somewhere else and somehow that vulnerability made them seem less monstrous and more human. That time has passed” (Riverbend viii). Although, this comment is made by Riverbend, Soueif expresses how important this part is and it really attracted me as a reader. Moving on to the introduction it began with a synopsis of the history of Iraq over the past two decades. Ridgeway then goes on to talk about how Riverbend believes that the United States wants Iraq to be a pro American puppet government. This was one of the more interesting parts of the introduction because I sympathize and agree with Riverbend. A part of Ridgeway’s introduction that got to me was when he states “Once you are into Riverbend her war becomes your war. You begin to see things through her eyes and those of her family. You read in the news about a raid on a section of Baghdad and immediately you want to check her blog. (Ridgeway Xii). This really excited me about reading the novel and made me want to read more. This book seems to be like a lot of the blog’s I’m watching
Once you start reading you often want to check them to see what is new.

Hw 23- Return of the Bridezilla

With apologies to Virginia Woolf
“Cleopatra must have had a way with her, Lady Macbeth one would suppose had a will of her own Rosalind one might conclude was an attractive girl. Professor Trevelyan is speaking no more than the truth when he remarks that Shakespeare’s women do not seem wanting in personality and character” (42-43 Woolf). This to me also relates to the article I read on the blog entitled Jezebel. The article “Hells Bells Return of the British Bridezilla’s” portrays women in a very demoralizing way. We should be thankful all women do not act like this. Although I fear of women being put down in writing I am pleasantly happy to see women being able to choose their own husband. Arranged marriage is a thing of yesteryear. These women however are les then satisfying to my taste. I feel as though freedom is taken for granted now. In the article these women are being made fun of for being able to choose what they want to do. I pray that women do not take freedom for granted. It has been so hard to gain for me. The concept in this article seems a bit foolish although. Putting on your wedding gown to raise money for charity, it’s ludicrous to me. I do not understand how these concepts relate but I am left with a feeling of content because of the freedom these women exuberate.

Hw 17 repost

The blog that I enjoyed most this week I found at Jezebel. This blog has proved to be my favorite so far just because it’s so fun and interesting. The blog I read was entitled “Gossip Girls say: If it’s true its gossip”. You can get to this page by clicking http://jezebel.com/gossip/tweenage-wasteland/gossip-girls-say-if-its-true-its-not-gossip-306550.php It was all about the new series Gossip girls that is based on a series of books. I was attracted to this article because I read these books prior to the television show coming out. The article was about how interviewers went into Manhattan to a publicity event for the new book and asked some teens and young women if they gossiped. I absolutely loved how women responded. The title of this article is what one woman said and others responded in the same manor. Some stated that it’s not gossip just informing people of what’s going on. Even I know and can admit that I gossip. My favorite response came from a sixteen year old girl “Yeah, I only talk about people behind their backs. But I don't make up lies. And I only do it sometimes." This shocked me completely. It scary to think that young girls actually think this is acceptable. Although I found these book to be completely addicting I hope they are not teaching young girls to gossip.

Hw 22- The evolution of the Patriarchy

The definition of Patriarchy is a society in which fathers are powerful responsible heads of their families and households, and by extension, a society in which men hold a disproportionately large share of power. Chapter two in “A room of ones own” proves this statement very well. The paper proved that England is a patriarchy because it demoralized women. It was all about how women were in divorce court and how a female actress was being lowered from a peak. Virginia Woolf says it best when she states “Nobody in their senses could fail to detect the dominance of the professor. His was the power and the money and the influence(Woolf 33). She goes on to state more about the professors power but her point is that the paper shows that men hold everything and women have nothing. They are only something to write about but hold no actual status. After reading this chapter I visited the New York Times online. I believe that a foreign visitor to our country would not think this is a patriarchy. The times looked at many issues like the election, world issues, and pollution but did not demean women. However if you were to take a look at a magazine like US weekly I believe you would have a different perspective. To me the United States holds some factors of a patriarchy but overall is not. We have come so far since the times of this book. Women no longer have to be escorted by a man everywhere they are slowly gaining there independence and freedom. Sadly, today in some situations women and men are still unequal but I believe that in the future this will all change. In short, there will be a day where patriarchy’s do not exist.

Hw 21- Reading Woolf

Dear Brother,
I know that the novel “A room of One’s own” by Virginia Woolf might come off as confusing but it is a very valuable piece of literature. Woolf discusses the relationship between women and fiction very well throughout the book. She first discusses her thesis statement which is “"a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction."(woolf). The narrator then goes on to discuss the university and her surroundings. I know this part can seem confusing but it shows many crucial ideas. A woman can not enter the library without a man at the university which just goes to show how women were treated back then. This novel is so important because it talks about how life was in the past and how women were treated. Women today have gained so much freedom and you can tell that just from the first chapter in this book. I know it might sound confusing but if you take your time to read it, it really is astonishing. It was so hard to believe this was actually how people were treated just because of there gender. Good luck with the reading and if you take your time i know you will enjoy it!
Noreen

HW 19- Blogging Globally

Reading the article “Web of Influence” was some what challenging for me. I choose a passage on page 85 about how blogging can affect global policies. The paragraph states that although blogs can have an affect on political issues, it cannot influence global policies. Although this paragraph presents facts and statistics, I believe that this will soon change over the next twenty years. According to Drenzer “only four percent of online Americans refer to blogs for information and opinions. The blogoshpere has no central organization and its participants have little ideological consensus. Indeed an October 2003 survey of the blogosphere conducted by Perseus concluded that the typical blog is written by a teenage girl who uses it twice a month to update her friends and classmates on happenings in her life”(Drenzer 85). This really shocked me because after researching the blogging world I’ve found its so much more then teenager’s blogging there opinions. After reading the novel Blog! I’ve found and researched many blogs on global problems, social problems and gossip. To put it another way, the blog world is growing rapidly and I think the world needs to realize sooner or later that global politics will become a part of the blogosphere. If a blog is big enough it is able to catch on and spread. Once it is spread all over the world the possibilities are endless. Essentially I am arguing that, so many people have opinions on global politics that I think they should be heard. My point is blogging never hurt anyone, it just made people’s opinions be heard.

Hw 18-Destroying Women

The blog written on October 7th 2007 entitled Destroying Women really affected me. Posted on the Feministe blog by Jill it was mainly about rape in Congo. I didn’t dislike this post because it was poorly written or did not display information well but more because it was so sad It can be found at http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2007/10/07/destroying-women/. Alexandra Bilak comments “It’s gone beyond the conflict,” said Alexandra Bilak, who has studied various armed groups around Bukavu, on the shores of Lake Kivu. She said that the number of women abused and even killed by their husbands seemed to be going up and that brutality toward women had become “almost normal.” Malteser International, a European aid organization that runs health clinics in eastern Congo, estimates that it will treat 8,000 sexual violence cases this year, compared with 6,338 last year. The organization said that in one town, Shabunda, 70 percent of the women reported being sexually brutalized”. This part was the most shocking to me. I feel like the United States has worked so hard to not demoralize women and we did not even realize that it was happening all over the world. This article saddened me because it opened my eyes to the fact that so many other parts of the world are in need of help and guidance. If this help and guidance is not received then how are they expected to get better.

Hw 17B- Daily Kos

After reading both interviews and viewing both blogs I decided I liked Markos Moulitsas Zuniga’s blog better entitled Daily Kos. Furthermore, Daily Kos would influence the way I voted in this election more because it was based on the facts. After viewing Wonkette, I found that it was composed primarily of gossip. It had embarrassing videos of candidates and gossip about there lives. The Daily Kos blog focused more on the facts and about the upcoming election. In addition, I liked how Zuniga had a first hand insight on the Iraq War. Since he was a soldier in the war he could express his feelings better then a regular blogger could. His blog was very liberal and anti war. Since I share the same feelings on the topic I leaned towards his. In short, Zuniga’s blog was more relatable and would be more likely to influence the way I voted.

Hw 16B Discovering Discoverability

Ease of Publishing
Discoverability
Cross-site conversations
Perma-linking
Syndication

At first glance these five terms come off as a bunch of confusing words. But at a second glance and after I read “Humanizing the face of Corporate America” An interview with Robert Scoble they started to make sense. Scoble refers to these five terms as the “Five Pillars of Controversial Software” and in his mind these are the five ideas that made blogging so hot. The first of the five pillars was the ease of publishing. This suggests that blogging is simple and easy. It is not like creating a book or writing an essay. You simply can write whatever you want and feel and with a click of a button it is published. Discoverability, to me, is being able to discover new websites and different things through tags and sites on blogs. Cross-site conversations is basically just linking your blog to others that are alike. This is great because if someone is looking for a certain topic they can find it all related together. Fourthly, there is perma linking which I was unsure of. It suggests that it has something to do with isolating a URL. In other words picking out a certain link that will take you directly to something your looking for. Lastly, there is syndication where a weblogger can subscribe to others blogs and follow them. This is just like bloglines that we use in our class. In short, there five pillars shape blogging and its popularity.

Nick Denton Interview hw 14

“Take and obsession, then feed it” was an interesting interview to read. Despite the fact that Nick Denton the interviewee is not actually a blogger it was very compelling. Actually, Nick is in charge of popular blogs like Gawker and Wonkette. Furthermore, I found what Nick say’s about unknown writers to be very true. Likewise, I like how he makes the comparison that you can’t turn a journalist into a screenwriter. He says there are mediocre people who end up getting amazing jobs and there are talented people who don’t. Blogs give these amazing writers jobs. Nonetheless, a blogger can not always be a journalist, it goes both ways. In addition, I found it shocking that Nick’s site are growing at about 20 percent a month. In other words, in the next five years blogs will have a larger impact on our society. As a result, more people will be looking at web blogs, creating them, and going on them. In short, everything about blogging is growing. Hence, the business that Nick Denton is running today.

hw 13- To technologically advanced?

The assignment for this blog was to decide whether blogging in business or the impact of blogging on communication that is not business or profit related was more important. At first that was a hard question to answer. Blogging is becoming so important in the business world that it can determine whether an individual or business is successful. After reading “Blogs will change your business” by Baker and Green I came to the conclusion that it would be important in communication that was not business related. Communication between people in the most important way of spreading news. Individuals spreading there feelings and emotions in a non business atmosphere can say so much more then a business blog in my opinion. Baker and Green suggest that “Sure, most blogs are painfully primitive. That’s not the point. They represent power. Look at it this way: In the age of mass media, publications like ours print the news. Sources try to get quoted but the decision is ours. Ditto with letters to the editor. Now instead of just speaking through us, they can blog. And if they master the ins and outs of this new art like how to get other bloggers to link to them they can reach a huge audience”(Baker 224). This quote really helped me make up my mind. Ordinary people have so much power through just one online blog. They can also influence many other people. The best part about this is the topic can be anything. Looking outside of the business world blogging can be about so much more. This is rather scary because it is a new way for people to communicate without really seeing each other. In this technologically advanced world communication is key, so people need to be able to express there ideas. I hope that over the years people will be able to learn more ways of communicating there ideas through blogs.

Hw 11 Interview with MacKinnon

After reading Rebecca MacKinnon’s interview I decided to look up her blog entitled North Korea Zone. The website in general is very plain. It makes it purpose clear which is to educate about North Korea. I like how it talks about many different aspects of North Korea, everywhere from politics to art. The blog has about 8 authors who all have different views of North Korea. They are united in believing that they want people to become educated. The style of writing is relaxed but formal, in my eyes it is very readable. The blog doesn’t overwhelm you with so many fancy words that you can’t grasp what its saying. Since this is MacKinnon’s own blog I think that is still corresponds to her opinions about it in her interview. The only expectation of mine this blog did not fulfill was I felt it would be more factual instead of opinionated. After all many people have misconceptions about North Korea although I believe after reading this blog people will be more informed about what really goes on. They will be educated on more then just the politics. This blog is great because it talks about all different aspects of the country.

Hw 9- Waldman Interview

First I would like to start off by saying this was my favorite narrative I’ve read yet. The interview with Ayelet Waldman was attention grabbing and very interesting. I found what she said about women’s blog’s to be very fascinating as well. I think blogging is a totally different way to express yourself then writing. Waldman is the author of six books and still found it necessary to write a web blog. Waldman is right when she says blogging is like a confessional. It’s a way to let out your feelings which many people find hard to do. Although I agree with Waldman up to a point, I cannot accept all that she says. I find her remarks on how snarky people have to be, to be false. I feel like in the blogging world you don’t always have to be rude and aggressive to be heard. That’s the great thing about blogging anyone can be heard for anything. I love how Waldman describes the infertility blog as an inspiration to her to blog. She describes this blog many times in her interview. A part that stuck out to me was when she describes how many people feel such immense pain and write about it in this blog. She says the female blogging community can also let out such emotion and love in certain blogs. I feel as though this is why so many mothers and women blog. It is a place to feel accepted and nurtured. Many women long to feel that way. Overall, this interview really opened my eyes to many other blog’s and to see blogging in a different light.

Hw 7- Preteens and Blogging

To start off this blog first I would like to say I disagree with the statement “Parents should not monitor everything that their middle school children write online”. Middle school is a crucial time in a pre teens life where they can be influenced by many other peoples thoughts and ideas. As teens grow older and hit high school I believe that parents should truth them enough to hope that they are not harming themselves by using the internet. Younger pre teens however are more impressionable. This day and age you hear of many young children being kidnapped or raped because they are talking to rapists and older men on forums. Also, pre teens are getting the wrong ideas about sex, drugs, alcohol, and eating disorders from websites and blogs. I do not think parents should ban there children from using the internet or check every little detail of there life but I do believe there should be restrictions. A parent should never make a child feel uncomfortable about expressing his or her thoughts but should let them know how dangerous the internet really is. Everything you read is not always true. Although I disagree with this statement I do believe that blogging is a good way for kids to get out there feelings. Blogging can give a child a great sense of fitting in. Emily Nussbaum’s narrative “My So called Blog” shows this. “J’s sense of private and public was filled with these kinds of contradictions. He wanted his posts to be re read, and feared that people would read them, and hoped that people would read them, and didn’t care if people read them. He wanted to be included while priding himself on his outsider status.”(Nussbaum 353). This part in Nussbaums’s article makes a very good point. To “J” a blog is way of expressing himself and feeling accepted. To a kid who feels very unwanted in school this could be a great community to belong to. Overall, children should be allowed to express themselves but parents should still know what is going on in there life.

Hw 6 Intrests

For my semester long project I hope to study three social computing techniques. The first one is instant messaging. The reason why I am so interested in Instant messenger is because I have used it since I was in 6th grade and I would like to research how many others have as well. I also plan on studying social networking services like face book and my space. I have an account on both of these websites and I would like to learn what kids in parts of the U.S and outside of it go on. For the final social computing technique I choose blogging and web blogs. This a new thing for me and id really like to learn more about it. The three groups I choose were overcoming sexism, overcoming homophobia and overcoming ageism. To many times in our world today people are judged on there gender, sexual preference and age. I would like to learn more about this. I would like to study people from North America, the United States and Europe. I choose The United States because it is where I am from and I would like to get to know more about the people in my country. I choose Europe because although there culture is different they share a lot of the same ideas with the United States. I hope to learn a lot of new ideas, concepts, and information through this project.

HW 5b- Blogging versus the Media

A part of “I Blog, Therefore I am” that I disagreed with was that blogging will be more then a fad and will not die down unlike newspapers. Kline suggests that newspaper will become less and less popular although they will never completely go away and that blogging will increasingly get more popular. The author insists that “but for the next 25 years at least, one can safely bet that the mainstream media, reinvigorated by blogging and by a closer and more transparent relationship to readers and viewers, will not only survive but will maintain the upper hand over what is now thought of as the emerging blogging media, when measured in terms of power, influence and revenues” (Kline 243). As of right now I do not agree with this statement. To me blogging still seems like just a fad. It has not proven itself otherwise. To compare it to newspapers and TV is a bad idea. Blogging is now where near as powerful as something like The New York Times. Maybe, far into the future it will be but for right now I disagree. Many people in the world are still so unfamiliar with technology that it can not completely take over.

HW4 opt 2-Juicy

After reading Kline’s “The voice of the customer” I choose to talk about the brand Juicy Couture. I mainly choose this brand because I believe a lot of there advertising is very misleading although it works very well. On the back of the label it says “made in the glamorous USA”. Juicy’s main goal is to make there clothes seem so amazing, glamorous and comfy that you have to have then no matter what the price of a pair of sweatpants is. Although I am an owner of many Juicy items I feel there is a lot more hype over there clothes then there should be. Within a year there was even a whole in one of the shirts I had bought. When you visit the Juicy website at http://www.juicycouture.com it appears that if you wear Juicy you will become a more beautiful fashionable even younger looking person. It also gives you the idea that if you wear juicy you will be more like royalty. Juicy promises that there clothing is top of the line and worth the price but in my experiences they were not made well and ripped. You would think that if you spent 100 dollars on a sweatshirt it would not rip after a year!

Hw3- my views on "Towards a more participatory democracy"

After reading Kline’s “Towards a More Participatory Democracy” I was shocked by all the information I never knew about the relationship between politics and blogging. I’ve always believed that the media plays and important role in the campaigns of politicians but this article really opened my eyes. To sum up this article, it spoke about how political blogs have a big affect on campaigns. It also talked about how so many Americans do not believe in the media and how many people in politics look down upon blogging claiming that no one looks at it. What really surprised me about this reading was how many big events in politics were first announced in blogs. Many people assume that when something big happens in politics they first hear it on the TV or in magazines. After reading this article, I learned that “It was the conservative Powerline.com blog that first published information exposing as forgeries the documents that Dan Rather used in his 60 minutes story on President Bush’s service in the National Guard(and yes, Rather soon resigned as CBS Evening News anchor as well.)(Kline 12).” This came as a shock to me because now it turns out bloggers are turning into the best most truthful journalists out there. I also found it interesting that bloggers themselves are actually people working in politics. It’s shocking that some of these blogs are actually people exposing there coworkers. I wonder how many other blogs are run by people who are famous that we never even knew about.

HW2- Blogs go Corporate

In Dan Burnstein’s “From Cave Painting to Wonkette: A short History of Blogging” he mentions that blogging will become corporate. As one of his 12 ideas he states “The interaction of business and blogging will be many-sided and multidimensional. Business is obviously being changed in a number of superficial ways as a result of these trends (Burnstein xxiii).” I completely agree with Burstein’s ideas on this topic. Blogging is become such a big part of our world and it is now starting to break into the Business world. One blog I saw talked about restaurants in my hometown, comparing them to each other and saying which ones were not recommended. Believe it or not this had a huge effect on where people in my town started eating. Living in a relatively small town word spread quickly. Soon everyone new which restaurants were good and which didn’t make the cut in the town. One bloggers opinion had such a large impact that a restaurant started losing business because of this.
On the other hand corporations and businesses are also gaining from blogs. They can advertise there businesses and try to sell them to the best of there ability. Businessmen and women are soon finding out that blogging can be just as useful as advertising in magazines, on the radio or on TV! I believe that sooner then we think blogging will be a vital part in the survival of businesses.