Letter to Next Semester's Class

Letter To Next Semester’s Class

In A Blog of One’s Own we spent a maximum of forty minutes on each blog assignment. The main focus of the assignments is the reading aspects. You need to do them or else you won’t comprehend the in-class discussions as well as gaining a better understanding of the topics. It is crucial that you do the reading because you can then help answer questions in class as well as be able to continue on with the assignments. Often times, you might feel stressed because of the workload. For example, the number of books you have to read at once. This becomes difficult when trying to manage your time, and make sure that you complete the homework as well as worrying about homework for your other classes.
The instructor expected a lot from the class. We would start class right on time and we were never let out early. This was so that she could give us all the needed material as well as making sure we went over the reading. Her expectations were high but reasonable. This is a writing class. There is going to be a lot of reading and writing. However, she would go over each reading assignment, and answer any questions you might have. This is why participating in class was very important to her. She would often encourage the class to get involved and would praise group discussions. This class was very affective and useful. It teaches you a lot about your self worth and about pushing yourself to the limit.

HW 42: Third and Final Podcast!!!

The Delta pod is having some problems posting their podcast online. The members of the Delta Pod will bring their laptops to class and present it then. Thanks

HW 40: Second Podcast on Baghdad Burning

The Delta pod is having some problems posting their podcast online. The members of the Delta Pod will bring their laptops to class and present it then. Thanks

HW:36: My First Podcast

The Delta pod is having some problems posting their podcast online. The members of the Delta Pod will bring their laptops to class and present it then. Thanks

HW 35: Letter to my blog readers: almost over

I can't believe that this is almost one of my last blog posts. This class has been an eye-opening experience for me. I never realized that blogging was such an important part of people's daily lives. It amazes me that I wasn't aware of the blogging community and all that it offers. Maintaing my blog over the past thirteen weeks of class has been somewhat difficult but it's also good because it has allowed me to stay focused and write my posts on a daily basis. Either now or in the future, I hope that someone who reads my blog posts will be able to learn a little bit about me and what i'm all about. I believe that blogging is important in that sense, it connects people, and is a record of how you feel at a certain time or place. It's almost comforting to know that what you read will be kept safe, and able to look back on. I'm very proud of my blog and feel that people who read it will understand how important it really is to me. I am most proud of opening up my soul and being able to talk about things that I normally wouldn't be able to. I am somewhat of a shy person so I usually am not willing to state my mind or opinions. However, with blogging, I have found that my personality has changed. I stand up for what I believe in and how I feel because what I say and what I believe is what really matters most. I am hoping that I will maintain my blog and begin to ask my own questions and post my own blogs without the assitstance of others. I wasn't able to really get a lot of comments so i'm not sure if people have viewed my blog, but I hope to continue it. I don't want to delete it because I am very proud of what I have written about. I wish to tell my readers that I hope that they have learned a lot through reading my blogs and have found them to be very informational and interesting to read. I have really put myself out there and I hope that it shows in my posts.

HW 34: Importance of Evening Tea

In the evening, most Iraqi families gather together for evening tea. "It's hardly as formal as it sounds... No matter how busy the day, everyone sits around in the living room, waiting for tea" (Riverbend 108) Riverbend goes on to explain the importance of tea in her culture. She states, that, "Iraqi tea isn't a simple matter of teacups and teabags. " (Riverbend 108) She says that it is an insult to serve "teabag tea" as she refers to it, because it speaks of a complete lack of appreciation for the valuable beverage. Having tea in her culture is a chance for everyone to slow down their day, and take time to talk and hangout with their families. It defines them and is what brings them together each and every day. It is part of their tradition and routines. In her post, Riverbend in a lot of detail, explains the process of making tea. What is very important is that this process is different for each family. Every family has their own, personal, way of making it.

"First a kettle of water is put on the burner to boil. Next, the boiling water and a certain amount of tealeaves are combined in a separate teapot and put on a low burner just until the tealeaves rise to the top and threaten to "boil over." Finally, the teapot is set on top of the tea kettle on a low burner and allowed to "hihder" or settle" (Riverbend 109)

One of the things they sell the most in their culture is tea. They sell it at the market and Riverbend recalls buying the tea. Then, with her family, she comes back and starts the process of making it. From there, they make the coffee before they start formal conversations. For her and her family, the tea is an event which brings her family together and is something they can look forward to each and every day. Also, every time they do sit down for tea, their is a different topic discussion so you look forward to it.

HW 33: Respond to a Podcast, Challenges at a Girl's School in Bahdad

I am responding to Challenges at a Girls School in Baghdad. The series title is "Alive in Baghdad. The link is Challenges at a Girl's School in Baghdad. The main focus of this podcast is about getting a decent education. In this series they interview a few girls who are in the eighth grade as well as their teachers. The questions are pretty basic and pretty normal such as how far their school is from their home and if there are any type of explosions that occur near their home as well as around their school. This podcast really made me think because one of the girls explains how her school is extremely far from her school and her parents even try to discourage her from going because it is difficult to get there each day for school. The walls of the girls school are very plain and this podcast is most likely filmed in the girl's school as well as in the streets of Baghdad. In America, I know that I especially take my education for granted. Most days I wake up and I don't even want to go to school, let alone get a good education. It seems that my education is something that was given to me and by no means has a significant affect on me. However, going to school and getting a good education is crucial to getting a job when you're older. I can't imagine what these boys and girls have to go through. It really makes me appreciate my education and the life I am living so much more. It is gratifying to know that I am so blessed.

HW 32: Summarizing Riverbend

I read the following pages required for class, pages 70 to 97. One of the main things that Riverbend talks about in these posts is Aquila Al-Hashimi. On her september 21, 2003 post she writes about how there was an attempt on Akila Al-Hashimi's life. She mentiones how she had heard about it for a long time and were hearing it on the news. Riverbend states, "She lives in Jihad Quarter and was leaving for work yesterday when two pick-up trucks with armed men cut off her car and opened fire on her and her "bodyguards" - her brothers." (Riverbend 75) She said from there that the neighbors and the gang began shooting at each other. Akila was taken to Al-Yarmuk hospital. She had to have her stomache operated on and was then shipped off in an American army ambulance. This post was very emotional to read because Riverbend mentiones that, "It's depressing because she was actually one of the decent members on the council" (Riverbend 75). She was living in Iraq and worked extensively in foreign affairs in the past. She goes on to explain how everyone thinks there's different people who could have done this to her. She says, "Of course, right off, before they even started investigations said, it was Saddam and his loyalists!" (Riverbend 75) However, she says there has been bitterness towards her by some of the more extreme members of the Governing Council. The most important part of her post was her sincerity for her and for her health. She says, "I really hope they find whoever did this, and I hope the punishment is severe" (Riverbend 76).

HW 31: Responding to Riverbend

For this post, I read the required pages of Baghdad Burning and came across one of the posts on page 54. It was about a man named Abu Ra'ad and how he was killed. I was very interested in the story she told about him and decided to go and research him on the internet. In her blog post, Riverbend writes that his name means "father of Ra'ad." He died on April 10. He had a wife and three kids. She says, "At 10 am, he got into an old Toyota, said a prayer, and headed out to see his family. He never came back" (Riverbend 42) . When I researched about him the articles that came up where about his death and how they are laying out new and improved rationales for why we invaded Iraq. Riverbend's post is about the civilizans that were being taken hostage and how she was experiencing everything first hand. I personally found this post to be particularly interesing, especially about the man she mentions, because it is a different side of the story. Also, Riverbend talked about how she visited his wife and the results of his death. The information that I found on the interenet didn't really speak about his wife or family in detail. However, it was more factual, similar to the facts stated in her post. Her post explained how they traced his routes and where he had been in the following places before he died. I found the information to be very helpful because it allowed me to see another side, and see how people over there were also kidnapped. The title of the website, was lies.com » The Death of Abu Ra’ad.

HW 30: Symposium; Thursday

Today I attended a symposium at noon. The symposium that I went to on Thursday was about a very important man named Tom Lantos. He was a U.S. representative and holocause suvivor. This symposium in particular was extremely interesting to me. The very important part of this symposium was learning that Tom Lantos is the only person in the U.S. to have survived the holocaust and become a congressman. The main speaker for the event was his daughter Katrina Sweat, who introduced him. Being his daughter, she told us a lot of facts about his life. For example, she said that he came to the U.S. after the Second World War at 19. He started off with absolutley nothing and ended up with everything. His speech was very interesting because he has a very positive outlook and attitude on us Americans and on the world today. I enjoyed sitting through this symposium because he was very motivational and intelligent about it. For example, he states, “People whom we have done so much for forgot about all the positive things and are only remembering the negative things”. He believes in our country and with all that he went through it is nice to see that he still has so much respect for us and really values what matters most in his life. I thoroughly enjoyed it and him.

HW 30: Citizen Journalist: Tuesday

Today I attended the symposium for the noon to one thirty session. It was part of the Keene State College Citizenship Symposium. I found this lecture to be especially intriguing. The title of the session was "What Kind of Democracy Do We Want." The main topic was about the presidential race, how we vote, how politics is changing, and how young adults are becoming more and more interested. Today was the Fifth Symposium of World Affairs. Three thousand copies of the United States documents were copied. The provost spoke first. He introduced the Mayor and spoke about how the state of New Hampshire itself is a community. The mayor spoke and stated that today, Tuesday November 6, will official be known as "Citizenship Day" in Keene, New Hampshire. His hand and official seal was on the document and he physically presented it to the college. After the Mayor the first speaker, Mike Welsh spoke about how his students feel about politics. This was very intriguing because I could relate to many of the things he talked about. For example, he explained how young people are motivated to vote because of the impact on the votes that occurred in Florida. He also stated that they feel that when things get close in an election, the numbers become less important and the two sides efforts become more important. Young people feel that politics and power are what really matters most. He then introduced the main speaker of the event, Nancy Tobi. She is the founder of blockboxvoting.org. Her organization advocated hand counting ballots. She is a New Hampshire resident and founder of the, "Democracy of New Hampshire, Election Defense Alliance." The name of her lecture was "Citizens Gone Wild: Taking Control of Our Democracy." She began by relating how the wind at her back is Moses. She is a descendent of Aaron and described how Moses was a leader of a democratic movement. One of her main topics was on the government and constitution.

"Government is the servant of the people, and not the master of them. The people in delegating authority do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. We insist on remaining informed so that we may retain rights." - Bev Harris

Her main argument was on that of secrets and how through the development of checks and balances their is transparency among government. She stated that the government derives its power from the people. She also compared the constitution and government to that of New Hampshire. In one slide she presented many different articles of the constitution which all state that government power derives form the people. The government must be open, truthful, and excessive to the people. She kept restating how all the power resides in the people. One of the other most important things I found interesting was when she stated, “Politicians are like diapers." What she meant by that is that they need to be changed regularly. There are a lot of crimes that occur in the elections and changes need to be made now, before things get much worse. As she said, "There is sunlight at the end of the tunnel." It just might take us a while to get there, but we will and can make a difference.

HW 28: Open Letter to Riverbend

Dear Riverbend,

You wrote about the war of August 2003. Personally, the war is something hard to relate to being on this side of it. All we can do is watch the news, listen to the radio, and hear the horrifying stories. There is no way of knowing the facts from the lies. The one thing that I do feel is that I am personally connected with you because I have seen how it has affected many people on this side of the world as well. Although, I have not personally gone throught it up close and first hand as you have, I still can sense the pain. I really apologize and feel sorry that you had to go through all that you did. Being that I am a young girl myself, I feel that we probably might have gone through the same things. I didn't have any families involved in the war, but I did see how many of my friends and neighbors lives were changed by the impacts of the war. It was a brutal affair and one that affected each and every person it touched. It's unique how much the war can bring people together. By reading your book I feel a special connection to you. I have never really been one that is for violence and fighting but you need to protect those you love around you. You're writing is especially unique because you lived through the war and I got to see how it impacted your daily life. I cannot imagine going through what you went through and lived through. It really touches my heart because it is so much easier to be on this side of everthing and see what is happening and feel the pain. However, to read about it, especially someone that is so similar to myself really touches my heart. You're blog "Baghdad Burning" is especially important because I can tell that you put a lot of effort in to explaining your story. A lot of people will be able to feel you're pain and relate to you and I think that is something extremely powerful.

HW 27: Annotated Bibliography of Baghdad Burning

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

The book, "Baghdad Burning" written by a girl named Riverbend is a very imformitive because it takes you on a journery through her lifef the life. The young girl, or author, refers to herself as Riverbend and she began reporting her experiences as a civilian observer in Baghadad through the use of blogging in the beginning of August of 2003. The whole book is a serious of blog posts in which she explains what is happeneing around her. This is very important to our class because the class is primarily focused on blogging and women. Also, in the class, "A Blog of One's Own" we have been learning the positive impacts that blogging creates. Especially with a touching subject such as the war, blogging allows people to state their opinions on the war through a post and have others comment and share their feedback as well. This book is really interesting to read because it is wrtitten by a young girl who, she herself, saw eye witness accounts and states things in her posts which would have been otherwise unknown to the average American. I also believe that the book is powerful because it is written by a girl author. Often times, war stories are told by the strong men that fought in battle, but this book is different. It is told from someone who is Iraqi and was there when everything was going on. Also, this "blogging book" reflects on events that were both personal and political. She sometimes will write about the impact the war had on her family and other times, about how it affects the social problems and different views. She writes to defend her culture and even describes how it is similar in some ways. Why anti-Americanism is basically not fair or equal, and how much it angers people in her culture to see things this way, and still going on. The benefits of this type of book is that great deal and amount of insight that once can learn from such great writing. On the other hand, it does present the challenge of fully allowing yourself to be emersed in to the writing and take everything that she is saying and writing about as honest and truthful.

HW 25: Responding to Riverbend

The foreward is a very short description written by Ahdaf Soueif explainining the blog of Riverbend. It is written before the introduction which gives some background information. He focuses on the blog, "Baghdad Burning" written by Riverbend. It allows the reader to associate more on the emotional level than the physical with the war in Iraq. Her blog is also important because she incorporates the reader in to her daily life and throught the posts is able to share some of her family history as well. He then goes on to explain the purpose of the book and how there is a fair amount of politics when it comes to the issue of war and this book. The book is meant to change the minds of those people who do not know or understand the Arab and Muslim people living in the world around us. The introduction on the other hand, is written by a man named James Ridgeway. He goes in to much further detail about the young women, "Riverbend" who calls her blog "Baghdad Burning." His main point was to emphasis her background and culture which is what makes her so unique and what captivates others to read her blog. He describes the reasons for our American troops going overseas and fighting in the war for oil, and other such things. He then does a flashback to the Gulf War and after to show how over the years our country has continued to fight violently with others, and how the results are devastating. More importantly, the 1991 Gulf War left Saddam Hussein in power, which we all know, ultimately led him to punish the Iraqis and commite further attacks and damage. Finally, what he almost talks the most about is the 2003 War. He states that the Bush administration determined the war to be a "mission that was accomplished." However, this is not the case at all. "The United States never gained enough control to restore any sort of order" Ridgeway 16) What shocked me the most was the facts and details that he listed. The maximum number of civillian deaths was 17,000 by late October of 2004. I remember that when we first went in to Iraq there was a lot of confusion and fear because as a country we did not know what we were up against facing. In the text most of things that describe the war are very factual and descriptive. What was very interesting for me to read was about Saddam and how he was a Sunni Muslem. Ridgeway states, "Saddam is a Sunni Muslem, and his political apparatus was largely managed by a middle class of educated Sunnis, most of whom lived in an area around Baghdad referred to as the "Sunni Triange" (Ridgewater 22) Personally, not knowing that much about the war, my own opinions of it are very different than what I read because I gained so much more knowledge about it than I had ever known before.

HW 24: A Room of One's Own

How I have a room of my own is on a deeper level then just the physical. I believe that I do have a room of my own. Virginia Woolf described this in chapter five when she stated, "For women have sat indoors all these millions of years, so that by this time the very walls are permeated by their creative force" ( Woolf, 87) For women, this enables them to have thier own creative power, and it is this power which is a woman's own room. She also talks about the importance of women not being ignorant but taking a stance for themselves. It is her goal that we act for what is right and just for us. In chapter six, Woolf states that, "There must be freedom and there must be peace. Not a wheel must grate, not a light glimmer. The curtains must be close drawn. The writer, I thought, once his experience is over, must lie back and let his mind celebrate his nuptials in darkeness" (Woolf, 104). It is not the importance of materialsm that makes up a person's room it's their own opinions and ideas that make it their own. Woolf wants for a woman her room to be a reflection of who she is. My basic room has four walls, furniture, is very color and has familiar things. However, on a deeper level my room is my own space. A place for me to explore and let my mind wander off. In the last two chapters of the book, Virginia Woolf spoke a lot about the difference between men and woman and the difference between the sexes. I personally agree that each of us have our "own room". However, it is different for each and every person because it is whateverwe want it to be. I personally agree with the narrator in that women have had a lot less freedom then men have, especially when it comes to writing and expressing their own thoughts. Therefore my very own room is where i can think deep about everything that has happened over the past few years and how it has shaped me as well.

HW 23: Responding as Virginia Woolf

"With Apologizes to Virginia Woolf"

When I came across a website on the computer titled Jezebel at http://jezebel.com/. Here there was one article in particular which caught my attention. It was titled, "Otherwise Engaged" and I was throughly disgusted with what I read. Is it still the exception for women to be so mistreated compared to men? It is not up to the man to choose her life. As it was in my time, it was the exception for women of the upper and middle class to choose their own husbands, and when the husband had been assigned, he was lord and master, so far at least as law and custom could make him. All the conditions of her life, all her own instincts, were hostile to the state of mind which is needed to set free whatever is in the brain. However now the man is taking his power to far. The woman needs room to breathe. We should be thankful all women do not get caught up in such foolish games. Although I fear of women being degraded in writing I am pleasantly happy and suprise to see women being able to choose their own husband. Arranged marriage is a thing of the past and something that doesn't occur very much anymore. I still strongly believe that it the woman is important in her own right too. Imaginatively she is of the highest importance; practically she is completley insignificant. It saddens me to see the way in which my actions, and woman are still being mistreated. I still deeply feel that their right is being taken for granted, that the right of freedom is being too easily overlooked. Fiction is like a spider's web, attached ever so lightly perhaps, but still attached to life at all four corners. Just because theses mere mishaps are occuring more and more they eventually will lead to something dangerous that will and can spiral out of control. I hope that day never comes.

HW 22: Chapter Two (Woolf) Under the Rule of Patriarchy

The definition of Patriarchary is a society in which fathers are the powerful responsible heads of their families and households, and by extention, a society in whcih men hold a disproportionately large share of power. After reading chapter two of, "A Room of One's Own" it was very clear that Virginia Woolf supported this very well in her writing as well. The point of her paper is how men have everything and women have nothing compared to them. She states, "Nobody in their senses would fail to detect the dominance of the professor. His was the power and the money and the influence (Woolf)." In other words, it is quite clear that man have all the important things and rights such as power and money and it seems foolish of a woman to try and fight for the same things. Due to this, she is talking and proving how England is a partiarchy. According to Virginia Woolf women seem to be the center or main source of everything that is going on or needs to be talked about, and it is the men that take the inititive to make it noteable and obvious to others. For example, in this chapter it was all about women and one prime situation in which they were in a divorce court and a particular female actress was being devalued. After I read this chapter, I went on the internet and went to the New York Times website. However, I found the site to be extremely different than what I had just read in chapter two. I personally believe that, it wouldn't give a "transient visitor to our planet the impression that the United States is a patriarchy" because it is too hard to tell. The website mainly had topics and pictures that were government related, as they should be. It discussed speeches, elections, and everyday events and situation between the United States and our foreign counterparts. One of the major differences that I would like to state, is that compared to the book the United States has taken great leaps and overcome a lot. In the first chapter of the book, the main character or narrator is unable to walk on a certain part of the path because at that time, women we're not allowed to walk there, only men. Being a woman myself, I know that although there are still some minor differences between men and woman, overall we have been given the right to vote, own property and have good paying jobs that are of the same equality as men. Eventually, I believe that patriarchy will be diminished to nothing.

HW 21: Chapter 1, A Room of One's Own (Woolf)

Dear younger brother,
After reading chapter one in, "A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf it is very clear the importance of the chapter and how Woolf tries to explore the idea of women and fiction. In this chapter, Woolf was asked to speak on the topic of Women and Fiction. This is the beginning of the chapter where she suggests her thesis that, "A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction." She says, she must take a detour through fiction: "I propose making use of all the liberties and licenses of a novelist, to tell you the story of the two days that preceded my coming here—how, bowed down by the weight of the subject which you have laid upon my shoulders, I pondered it, and made it work in and out of my daily life." After this, the essay is written in narrative. The narrator in the story sits on the banks of a river at Oxbridge pondering the question of women and fiction. She compares it to a metaphor by comparing her ideas to fishing. As soon as she gets a "bite" a university security guard enforces the rule that women are not allowed to walk onto the grass. She hurries back to her place on the gravel path and says that her "little fish" of an idea was lost. From there, she views the univeristy and surrounding buildings. She describes the wealthy, "And thus by degrees was lit, half-way down the spine, which is the seat of the soul, ...the profound, subtle, and subterranean glow which is the rich yellow flame of rational conversation." Her attention is then distracted by the sight of "a cat without a tail, something very unusual to see to the common eye. However, it triggers her brain to a time before a war. She also, describes a meal at a place called Fernham. She continues to jump from one place to another. However, i really enjoyed the end of the chapter because it is when the narrator ponders why whether or not women have always been poor. She then thinks how different things would be, "If only Mrs. Seton and her mother and her mother before her had learnt the great art of making money and had left their money" for the education of their daughters. The importance of this quote is that it emphasizes the transformation of our social classes, especially women, over time. I believe that this chapter was extremely informational for people to read because it entitles them to ponder the same questions and ideas that the narrator possesses. It also would be influential for someone who is interested in English and writing because she references many different authors and books in her examples. Many people could relate to these and be able to make their own opinions about her thesis.

HW 19: Applying Graff Chapter 10 to Drenzer & Farrell's "Web of Influence"

I choose to pick a paragraph from "Web of Influence" which is about blogging and how it ties in politics and the media's reaction to it. The paragraph described how, "The most noteworthy was CBS News' acknowledgement that it could not authenticate documents it had used in a story about President George W. Bush's National Guard Service that bloggers had identified as foreigners." (Burstein and Kline 90) The importance of the paragraph is that it showed the parallels in the decline of journalism and the post also goes on to explain whyt here are so many problem between what the media broadcasts and the actual truth, which is often posted on blogs for people to comment on. "Their often blatant partianship discredits them in many newsrooms." (Burstein and Kline) In other words, the main point that I got from reading this paragraph, and mainly why I chose to post a comment on it was because it was explaining how blogs influence people and provide information that most people won't normally tend to focus on, let alone, read about. "It was really just the first time people could read about them." (Burstein and Kline 90) I found this to be very true. Often what people read in posts on a particular blog is something that attracts their attention or is part of another post so they wouldn't necessarily have choosen to read about it. My point is, that I personally feel that blogs are very important for this reason. Yes, blogs have their own problems but for the most part these problems are what people want to know about. For example, a Professor at Yale University named Jack Balkin said, "The blogoshpere has some built-in correction mechanisms for ideaological bias, as "bloggers who write about political subjects cannot avoid addressing (and, more importantly, linking to) arguments made by people with different views." (Burstein and Kline 90-91) Everyone wants to read about the faults or problems that are occuring in the world. It is what draws people in and somehow makes them feel better about their own lives. Drenzel and Farell both state that, "The reason is that much of the blogoshpere is devoted to critizing what other people have to say." (Burstein and Kline 91)

HW 18: Least Favorite Blog Post of the Week

When I went to the link for, “Blogs I’m Watching” I clicked on the link to one of the blogs that I've been watching. The name of the blog was Feministe at http://feministe.powweb.com. I went through the posts over the last seven days and came across a post about the war in Iraq. The title of the post was, “Torture in the USA” filed under Racism, Torture, Assholes, Crime, Race & Ethnicity. It was a very serious issue and extremely hard to stomache when reading. The post described how there is a lot more violence and problems going on in American then we are even aware of. In the post, it states, “People kept in secret foreign prisons without access to lawyers or rule of law aren’t the only ones being tortured – our domestic prison stystem condones torture and abuse as well.” (Jill- Feministe) The post then goes on to describe how prisoners are being treated unfairly in prisons. Personally, I am someone with very mixed opinions on the war in Iraq but I know for a fact that I completely disagree with the way in which our military was sent over to Iraq and the way that they are being treated and handled. We need to respect them for human beings and realize that they are giving up their lives to protect the lives of others and their country. I didn’t really enjoy the post, not necessarily for the way in which she spoke about the war and the people who fight in it everyday, but just the gruesome and disgusting tactics. It is hard to say what is true and what is not but it is definitely somewhat unbelievable to believe that anyone could ever be treated this way. The post really made me rethink my thought on the war in Iraq.