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
This blog is very interesting. On the side it says, "I am an Iraqi woman who absolutely adores her HUBBY, but HUBBY is too busy rebuilding the country." This seems filled with resentment yet she keeps saying how much she loves him. I also found it interesting that the Iraqi wife calls her husband "hubby" and always capitalizes it. This might represent that he is more important than any other thought she has. I appreciated her positive attitude toward Americans. She seems very hopeful that Obama will change this in Iraq along with in the U.S. I find it interesting that this blog has so many comments. I think the author is significant because it provides a different perspective on a well known position. The image behind the words help set the tone of the blog post. The woman seems to be searching for something maybe her husband?
ReplyDeletei agree with jackie in that the blog is interesting and seems to have attracted a lot of political attention. however, i couldn't really get into it. for one, she does capitalize "hubby" non-stop, which for me, is extremely annoying. i felt myself almost saying that word with a tone of sarcasm and resentment whenever i would read it. secondly, she has so many links to other political blogs and posts that she follows that i was tempted to read them rather then finish her own story. and lastly, i found her username to be.. i don't know. i agree with jackie again in that it's nice to see someone with a positive outlook on things, but she's so critical towards bush and so pro-obama that it turns me off. (i'm not much of a political person anyways...) however, trying to figure out the prompt as to why she calls herself a "neurotic iraqi wife..." maybe it's because she's so obsessed, for lack of a better word, over the fact that her husband is gone, or maybe it's because her ideas about government seem to be rather different than the people around her and she feels like a "crazy" outsider, as seen in "children's shoes.."
ReplyDelete*"children of shoes"
ReplyDeleteI would agree with Katherine when she says she couldn't really get into the blog. For one thing the background of the website makes it difficult to actually read what this woman is writing. And she tends to talk a lot about her dead father after his death, which by reading the post was in August 2009. She starts to just dwell on his death and pulls away from her HUBBY. It is an interesting blog though, you get to see the ideas and life of an Iraqi woman and the troubles that she is experiencing throughout the war in the Middle East. I'm not much of a political person either, but I think this woman is pro Obama, because Bush declared war, and took this woman's husband from her, and made him have to start to rebuild his country.
ReplyDeleteThis is a special blog since its written by an Iraqi woman, not American. she expresses her political views upon Obama administration, and also cite her colleagues' viewpoint. The post I interest the most is the one called "Their Days of Fear...". I was really amazed by her understanding on the fact that most highly educated engineers got a special visa to go to US, some of them even end up serving for US. As a person lived in Iraq for a long time, she understands the hardship those people face, and she keeps in touch with them on facebook to see how they are doing. I sometimes have the same feeling since it happens a lot in China. A lot well educated students go to US for graduate education then stay in US. It's very controversial in China. It's very understanding of her to say" as a last resort after losing all hope in finding a job that can feed their families.".
ReplyDeleteFirst off, I'd like to say that I find this blog interesting because it offers yet another new perspective on the Iraq war. But that's essentially what I've felt about every blog thus far, so I'll try to focus on a different aspect of this blog for my response. Rather than say why I thought it was cool, I'd like to touch on one thing that bugged me a little.
ReplyDeleteI get the impression that the author deliberately plays up her own "Iraqi-ness" with various aspects of the layout. Every page displays a large picture of middle eastern architecture. The color scheme is a mix of light and dark browns, reminiscent of desert scenery. Almost all of the text is even in Papyrus typeface, giving it a sort of hokey look of antiquity.
The blog is directed at an English-speaking audience, which I assume would consist primarily of westerners. For that reason, I believe the blog's author uses this style as a sort of ethos. That is, she implicitly suggests a vague sense of middle eastern culture and tradition to add an extra touch of credibility. It bothers me a little because it feels unnecessary.
The author is perfectly credible and compelling in her writing. She doesn't need to make every page scream "I'm from Iraq" for me to be interested in what she has to say.
Brown background color and the photo seems taken in an ancient palace, these elements offer me a sense of deep history and exotic culture. This is the first difference I could feel compared with those previous blog, to be honest, this style really arouses my interest to go on having a thorough look.
ReplyDeleteThe Iraq woman who seems lives in America really presents us an excellent blog. Every post she wrote looks more like a specialized article than a simple and casual blog post. The post named "Children of shoes" affected me mostly. I find that she's good at depicting daily life as a finely crafted story like using the form of dialogue and third person type. I think this sort of style could indeed make readers wanna continue. It's very interesting and attractive.
Finally I just feel like this is much more like a blog talking about political science rather than Iraq war. However, the neurotic Iraqi wife does do a great job mixing those various subjects. Politics with some war elements, she's bring us into a fresh perspective towards those serious topics.
The visual elements of the blog make it the most unique and most interesting blog by far. The background image of what looks like it could be a temple or a grand hall, along with the brown color scheme and the text that looks similar to an ancient script, creates the sense that the blogger is distant and very far away. These visual elements suggest at first that the central theme is something of a Middle Eastern country, or certain religious views: both of which most Americans could not relate to.
ReplyDeleteBut when one reads the blog, the author sounds similar to an American. She is an active woman who loves her "Hubby", and who is also up to date on the news, among other things, in the United States. This blog is a real surprise and is very enjoyable because of her passionate and inspired writing
The first thing I saw when I entered the website, was the grand hall and the 'neurotic wife' looking somewhat off into the distance. This image made me feel kind of peaceful, and I took a moment to just enjoy it. But when I stated reading her blogs, I noticed her humor and I felt like I just could not take her seriously. Then again, under the circumstances and the stress she must be experiencing I suppose humor is the only way to deal with it. It was an enjoyable blog that combined silly little phrases or the way she emphasized certain things with real issues she went through. It was the kind of blog where she was just letting her mind breath and unloaded all the thoughts she had stored in there.
ReplyDeleteWhen I knew it’s a blog of an Iraqi wife, the first thing that came to my mind is a blog by a miserable woman telling about how poorly and tragically she’s living during the Iraq War, while trying to make her tone calm. But soon I realized what a silly guess it is. Iraqi wives who are really poor and needy may not even have computers to post articles. Even though they have, they must be busy surviving rather than making blogs.
ReplyDeleteThen as I saw the title and the background image that gives the blog a holy, religious and mysterious atmosphere, I never expected the woman write about her life and politics in such an optimistic and lively style. Maybe her excitement covers religious elements, but they can be felt in other posts. They have to be, as there has to be a reason why the background seems so religious.
The way she begins the article is appealing, as if I were pulled into her situation immediately. She focuses on politics most of the time, which I don’t feel confident enough to talk about, and which seems to attract a lot of commentors. She didn’t illustrate the political issue directly, but it can be suggested when she uses a bunch of words describing its effects.
What’s more, it seems that she worships her husband who is to rebuild his country. And using “HUBBY” makes her a little pettishly charming, especially when it’s in capital letters. Same feeling when she stresses “…his new wife, ME!” (new couples, no wonder…) This seems inconsistent with her seriousness in her political thinking, but that’s fine. She shows her alternating personality.
I also read “Children of Shoes” which is more interesting than “An Obama Day”. I like her way to describe what she saw, like writing a mininovel. I also acquire some political knowledge in a relaxing way. First comment by a German is amusing and moving somehow. He tends to take the responsibility spiritually of all of these due to his nationality. But the second commentor eased his blame and I agree her saying that the problems in Middle East has been for centries.
Anyway, this is such a fascinating blog. I’m sure there’re still a lot of sttracting and compelling things in it.
I must say that in our blog plan so far this blog interests me most, I feel like I’m already a colse friend of the blogger, sharing her happiness and flaws of daily life, morever, her political opinion. Above all, it’s her passion for life, the rich of her emotion, her wit and knowledge that appeal to me most.
ReplyDeleteWhy she calls her husband ‘hubby”? she defines herself as an Iraqi woman who absolutely adores her HUBBY, and she defines her hubby by his job “ HUBBY is too busy rebuilding the country.”. All are vague definitions.and what does she mean by defining herself as “neorotic”? I like Katherine’s interpretations of the word “neurotic”, because I myself try so hard to interpret it . I also notice that not even the blogger’s “hubby” ,but also her dad call her “neurotica”. I think that’s characteristic trait of the blogger, so dynamic ,so passionate towards the world and her family.
I can see that she’s a very well educated woman and her blog is very popular. To my knowledge, the chances of Iraqi women to get access to education are far smaller than that of most countries. But this woman knows at least 3 languages, which is phenomeal(her mother tongue, good command of English slangs and even some French in one of her blogs). She also has multi-culture background, she struggles through the difference between shia and sunni, she works internationally(seems like she works near Dubai). What distinguishes her with other soldiers’ wife is her keen observation of political issues. Just like other classmates mentioned, there are many links to political blogs. She’s such a woman of diversity and good education, I would be very pleased to get acquainted with her!
I have read several posts by Neurotica as she likes to be called and the one that is the most interesting to me is the 21st century murders. Not only does this blog give a reason for the title neurotic Iraqi wife, because the war and hate a destruction in the Middle East will drive anyone crazy but it is a very controversial issue that many people commented on. After Nueroticas friend was killed by an Israeli missile attack that was aimed at Hamas she unequivocally denounces Israel as well as Hamas but many many people take offense to the idea that Israel is in the wrong. The general idea is that how is Israel supposed to just lie down and take Hamas' continuos attacks on their citizens. Nuerotica tries to explain that she believes both sides are destroying the chance for peace by continuing the offensive war strategies. As a believer in Peace myself I understand where she is coming from and what she means but its shocking how many people are advocating for more strikes by israel.
ReplyDeleteWhen looking at this blog the first thing that stood out was the imagery on the background. That alone did a lot for me. Before I read the article I though it was going to be all about middle eastern woman and their struggles. But as I read it it was much more than that. The woman speaking actually has a since of humor that I truly did not seem coming. Also I think that all people can relate to the article not just middle eastern people. I really enjoyed reading about her daily life and how she went about explaining it. This is surly my favorite article thus far.
ReplyDeleteI found this blog interesting because it's not from an American't view or even a soldiers view; it's from an Iraqi wife. Immediately the background of the blog drew my attention. It set the tone for all her writing, sad, hostile, and lonely. I also agree with previous blogs that it's difficult to read at some points because the background and font color clash. By the way she put HUBBY in all caps really emphasized the importance of her husband to her. Even after she realizes she has lost him, she continues to write in her blog like he can read it. At one point she talks about how she wishes she could have been a writer, to give a voice for her people. This could be one of the reasons she continues her blog because this is the closest thing to her reasoning for god putting her here.
ReplyDeleteI don't fully understand everything in this post. However, I really like how personal the entry is. The use of the word "HUBBY" and lack of attention to grammar gives me a sense how real the text is. It seems to me that her "HUBBY" is described vaguely - that what he's doing is not specifically defined. Saying things like "ooooops, hehe" makes it seem as though I'm in an online conversation with her, which I like.
ReplyDeleteI think the background of the blog is really interesting. It was the first thing that struck me upon looking at the blog. I think it's symbolic in several ways, two being that 1) there is a woman alone, husband-less and 2) there's a path leading into a bright light, which could signify hope, going along with her idea that Obama is bringing good change (assuming I'm interpreting the post correctly).
I actually really like this blog. There's something about the way that she writes that sort of... draws you in. A lot of people seem to also really like her, or be completely annoyed by her, but I think that it's at least better than not caring at all.
ReplyDeleteAnd from the sheer amount of comments she's gotten I'm assuming that others feel the same way.
I was really confused for half of this blog...she writes in a really informal way but I don't really understand what she is trying to get across because of that...who is Hubby? -is that some kind of short form for husband? Maybe I'm just confused because I'm Canadian...haha just kidding. From reading over a lot of the other responses, people seem to like how she writes in a different manner than in most blogs, but I think her points would be more pronounced if she had written in a more formal way. I agree that the start of the blog draws the reader in, but after the first few sentences I was lost. I also didn't really like the ending of it because it seemed like the conclusion was so unmatched with the rest of her piece; it sounded cheesy to me. I'm sure the writer was not trying to please anyone with her syntax, and this is probably just a good way to let out her feelings and share her emotions with others but I preferred previous blogs because of the way they are put together. However, I do really like the set-up of the blog, as the background and colors really interests me.
ReplyDelete