Group Six: "Baghdad Burning"

This blog is written by a girl living in Baghdad. She's just a citizen, but this is what makes the blog interesting, because everything she writes is about her own experiences and her own views. She is unconnected to the war, but directly exposed to the results of it.
This particular post is about a wall being built in Baghdad, how Sunnis and Shia weren't always in conflict, that it's a result of the war, and how things have become so bad that she and her family have decided to become refugees and leave the country.


http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/2007_04_01_archive.html

Group 5: What A Billion Muslims Really Think

Different from the previous blogs, this author's perspective is that of an everyday civilian with no direct military or family ties to Middle Eastern conflict. Khalid Jarrar, a young man living in Baghdad has written many posts depicting his point of view as he observes the Iraqi War. While this particular blog is very short and to the point, the reader is able to grasp a good idea of the author's attitude concerning his beliefs towards America and the recent study he describes. Though the background is simple and he focuses more on the opinions of the general population, the blog leaves much to be implied about his own thoughts.

Is the author merely stating fact resulting from the survey, or is he subtly berating Americans for their beliefs about Muslims which are proved opposite? Do the results of the survey match up to what most Americans would typically believe of Muslims?

http://secretsinbaghdad.blogspot.com/2008/03/what-billion-muslims-really-think.html

Group 4: Neurotic Iraqi Wife

This blog is similar to the previous blog, since it is written by a wife. It differs in that she is an Iraqi wife. She says the her husband is helping to rebuild the country, while she is living in Abu Dhabi. She writes about her daily life and all the challenges that come with it.

Most of her posts deal with personal things, but one blog in particular speaks about her political views and opinions on President Obama's inauguration. She speaks about the specific language used in the speech and how that made an impression on her and "HUBBY."

How does an American election impact the views of the Iraqi people? Why does she call herself a "neurotic Iraqi wife"? Looking at the comments, do you think her thoughts about American politics have much influence on the American people?

http://neurotic-iraqi-wife.blogspot.com/2009/01/obama-day.html

Group 3 Blog: "Waiting in Boston"

This blog addresses the issue of being separated from a loved one by war. However, it isn't from the perspective of a soldier out in the middle east. Instead, this blog is written by a soldier's wife. She descibes the challanges of being separated from her husband for months on end, then sharing a few weeks together before getting pulled apart again.

The blog has a strong emotional impact, with many posts written like letters to the author's husband. This link is to a particular post in April of 2005, when her husband was deployed after two weeks at home. Even though she enjoyed that brief time together, the pain of separation still hit the author very hard. The previous two blogs were both fascinating, and I think that this one portrays the same issue of separation from the opposite side. We've spent a lot of class looking at how war impacts the lives of people who are right where the battles are taking place. I think it's interesting to see what it does to the people at home when their loved ones get taken away from them.

http://waitinginboston.blogspot.com/2005/04/your-gone-again.html

Group 2 blog: Time Alone

This is a blog by a soldier who shared his spiritual life, talking about his feelings when he was alone with God. Just like "the soldier in combat sneaking a look at his wife's picture", though the blogger lacked the religious experiences, he was never absent from being with God. And knowing that God is in him as well as in others, he joyfully realized that he was not alone at all.

This blog is rather moving. I think his thoughts is a consolation for a soldier whose"heart often feels as barren as most of this land", and I wish his joy with God would accompany him throughout his time in the army.

Here is the link of his post:
http://shawn_richardson.typepad.com/my_weblog/2005/09/time_alone.html

Hope you enjoy it.

Response 1

**not sure if this is where I was supposed to post this but, I'm doing it!**

In the blog ‘A Storm in Afghanistan,’ the blogger uses many visual cues to connect with the reader. The color pink is very noticeable, as well as the picture of his wife and the reference to his family in his dedication. Pink is the background of the blog, as well as the color of the titles and also the counter that tells you what time it is. All of these are significant to the reader because the background pink suggests his wife died of Breast cancer, which gives the feeling of compassion to the reader. Also, the title and time counter being pink could signify hope, connecting with the color for breast cancer. Hope for his family to read the blog, so he can be remembered if anything bad happens in Afghanistan. The clock being pink also correlates with the meaning of hope, the counter could be in the color for his family to watch and think to themselves, ‘if it is this time today, than our family member only has this certain amount of time left until he can come home for good.’ Pink is a very important color for this blog and gives the feeling of optimism and happiness. If the author had chosen black it would seem the blog would be more depressing.
The quote under the picture of the blogger’s late wife, speaks volumes to the reader about the bloggers religious stance and patriotism. The quote, ‘on wings of eagles,’ shows the blogger is more of a patriot of the United States before he is a religious man. If our blogger were religious, the quote would state ‘on wings of angels’ but since the word angel was replaced with eagle, he is showing his patriotism. The eagle is a rare, magnificent bird that signifies our freedom that we have in the United States. It shows that he believes his wife is now free from all worldly possessions and any pain or suffering she may have had while alive. Ellicia is on the wings of eagles, she is free. Also, being on the wings of an eagle could mean that she could fly to wherever our blogger is and watch over him. While our blogger serves our nation, he in turn serves his wife of the wings of the eagle.
The purpose of this blog is for the blogger to reach people. The blogger wants the world, as well as his family and friends, to know who he is, know what his thoughts are and be able to remember him if the unthinkable happens. The blogger posts to allow others to enter his mind, to feel his pain and know the emotions he is feeling. In the specific blog we were asked to read, the blogger is happy and feels blessed to have been able to take part in his child’s birth. He is blessed to have been allowed by the army to stay home when complications occurred. This blogger is clearly very happy with the way things turned out involving his leave of absence from the Army.
While the blogger is happy in this post, there are other posts that suggest frustration with the Army and sadness from the loss of his wife. He uses three dots throughout his posts to imply his sarcasm or to influence the reader to take the time to look at what he has just said. Upon seeing the three dots, as a reader we should investigate why the blogger put these dots. Why after he said ‘the war is over’ were there three dots? Because the war is not actually over. The blogger wants us to realize there are still troops in Afghanistan that the public cannot believe what the media is portraying. He states the war will not be over until all member s of the United States Army have been removed.
Our blogger is very interesting, I can’t wait to continue reading his blog and analyzing what he is really trying to say. He gives us information that we as readers may not otherwise be able to obtain. Also, as a united states citizen it intrigues us to know what a member of our military things about the war he is fighting in. It is interesting to know how he is feeling, his own personal struggles, and his emotions about the things going on in a war zone.

Week 1 Blog "A Storm In Afghanistan"

Here is a blog by an Army soldier who posts about his time away from home as well as his personal life. He talks about things like the birth of his child and his wife's battle with cancer.

http://kafstorm.blogspot.com/2005/04/gift-from-army.html

This is a link to a specific post from April '05, but you can access any post from the menu on the right side.

I find it compassionate that that the Army let him stay home an extra two weeks to see the birth of his son.

Enjoy!