“Bullets change governments far surer than votes”

Looking back on what I’ve written about this semester, from Searching from Debra Winger to When Heaven and Earth Changed Places, there is an undeniable common thread between them: each work has made an attempt at breaking down the traditional mindset of an issue with a new perspective.

Riverbend’s Baghdad Burning is no exception. Taken directly from her blog of the same name, these entries detail the life of a 24-year-old Iraqi girl living in Baghdad. Despite an obvious bias, Riverbend’s presence in Baghdad during the American occupation provides invaluable insight into affects of the American presence in Iraq from the opposing perspective. With a certain degree of anonymity, Riverbend is able to discuss the occurrences of Iraq and give her true opinion of the political leaders without censorship. Her descriptions of day-to-day life of Iraqis in Baghdad and the troubles they face during occupation offer a glimpse into the misperceived Iraqi culture. With that being said, both her anonymity and occasional irrationality end up being major faults in the legitimacy of her blog. A measure that was undoubtedly taken for her own safety—the use of a pseudonym—ends up ruining some of her credibility; readers accepting of the accuracy of her personal life may find it difficult to trust the facts she uses when discussing the political aspects of the occupation. Riverbend often sounds like an expert, leaving readers wondering how a computer programmer is so knowledgeable about the U.S. actions and political leaders. Maybe she researched it with her spare time, or maybe she has an undisclosed family member involved in some of the occurrences. Regardless, the political aspect and anti-American sentiment may turn off the more patriotic readers, forcing them to put the book down out of disgust instead of leaving with a heightened sense of education on Iraqi suffering. In publishing her blogs without editing, however, Riverbend was able to keep her perspective legitimate, harsh criticism of America and all. The repetitiveness of her blog, while at times frustrating for readers, seems to solidify its accurate depiction of Iraq from her perspective; while readers may get tired of hearing about the electricity being shut off, the reality is that Iraqis had to experience the repetitiveness of their troubled lives.

In terms of the blog’s level of bias and accuracy as a representative of the Iraqi people, Baghdad Burning could’ve been improved. The infuriation that infiltrates Riverbend’s writing at tense times, such as after the prisoner abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib, often leaves her with a jaded perspective that comes off as irrational. But from the perspective of a reader, Riverbend’s lack of objectivity, most noticeable towards the end of the book, also serve as a representative marker for the anger towards the U.S., legitimate or otherwise, that began to consume Iraqis. If analyzed not purely on the basis of Riverbend’s writing—and given some understanding for the included emotion, Baghdad Burning can serve as an incredibly useful tool for beginning to comprehend the Iraq War from a perspective other than the American bias fed to us by both the government and the news outlet.

I thought the quote for this entry was quite appropriate for the subject matter. It's from a movie with "war" in the title. This one's much less of a classic, however. Any guesses?

My Research Topic: "If war produces one thing, it's many cemeteries. And in cemeteries, there are no enemies."

For my research paper, I'm going to look at Oliver Stone's Heaven and Earth and compare it to Le Ly Hayslip's autobiography When Heaven and Earth Changed Places. More specifically, after I watch the movie, I'm going to pick a section of it and analyze what techniques he used/how he went about adapting the corresponding part in the book. I'm still trying to figure it out a little, and I'm sure once our other paper is finished I'll be spending more time researching this one.

"All the great themes have been used up and turned into theme parks."

After reading the first couple pages of Lost in Translation, I was upset. After dealing with Meatless Days for my presentation the day before, I thought I was in the midst of another story that had too much forced meaning and too little relevant plot to make me care about whatever the author felt like sharing. Meatless Days can do that to people. When my group led the class discussion on the frustratingly pointless excerpt, most people had the same reaction: what is she talking about? In the end, I was in awe at how a story that centered on food could turn me off so incredibly much.

So I guess it’s not surprising that when I started reading Lost in Translation, the discussion of the word “river” that dominated the first page would worry me. But as I forced myself onward, I realized that this story had something that Meatless Days had lacked: plot. It’s a wonder what context and a storyline can do to one’s…story. Remarkably, there are many similarities between the two stories, yet they had vastly different effects on me as a reader. For starters, both autobiographers are going through cultural identity crises--Suleri (Meatless Days) alternating between life in the U.K. and Pakistan, and Hoffman (Lost in Translation) as a Polish immigrant to Canada. Both women also chose to use the topic listed in their title as the medium with which they could tell of their troubles—Suleri with food, Hoffman with words. But this is where the two authors take off in separate directions. For the sake of brainstorming for my paper, I’m going to focus on Lost in Translation.

As I continued to read her story, I realized that Hoffman has a candid ability to evoke a specific emotion in the reader. This is most obvious when she conveys the sense of awkwardness she feels in numerous social situations. Most people, aside from maybe the top tier of comedians, have all felt the embarrassment of telling a joke that is followed by silence instead of the anticipated laughter—Hoffman’s description of the fast-food scene is one that people in general, not just immigrants, can all relate to. After a slightly rough—though far from pointless—beginning, Hoffman was able to hold my attention for the duration of the passage. By the end of the story, I was reminded that you can’t judge a book by its cover, nor by a different story you read the week before.

My friend’s flying in to the airport soon, so I think I'll leave the more in-depth discussion of the excerpt for my paper.

And, as usual, the title for today’s post comes from another great movie. Major props if you know this one (hint: it's from 1990).

"This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished."

I’ve been reading a blog titled Pinko Feminist Hellcat, and all I can wonder is how many other times in my life I’ve had a reason to do such a thing.

As a member of an extremely technologically literate generation (I’ve heard it called Generation “M” before, as in media) I find it strange that it’s taken a class assignment for me to enter the World of Blogging. I’m not saying that I’ve been the technological equivalent of my grandma for the past decade (who has probably never heard the word blog before), only that I’ve never had any interest in posting my life on a page for all to see. Nor did I ever have any interest in reading the rants of someone I’ve never heard of.

But there is a significant benefit to the world of bloggin that even I can’t ignore—the rapid spread of news and ideas. The ability to share our opinions has allowed our generation as a whole the potential to become vastly more knowledgeable and well-read. Unfortunately, blogs also allow us to spread ignorance, hearsay, and, at its worst, hatred.

With that all said, I can finally talk about Ms. Hellcat. I guess the reason that I chose this particular blog, beyond the convenience of having it listed on the “Blog This!” article given to us in class, is that the blogger seems to be an honest commentator on social issues. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for women’s rights, but sometimes the motivation behind some of the more outspoken feminists can be a little intimidating and come off as shortsightedness. But Ms. Hellcat doesn’t seem to fall into that category: first, there’s the name: Pinko (Wikipedia tells me the term comes from the symbolism behind the color red as representative of communism—pink, essentially, refers to a watered down version of socialism), Feminist (self-explanatory), and Hellcat (apparently, she just likes the word). Creativity points right off the bat, but on another level, Ms. Hellcat is completely open with her views even in the blog title. And although all of her entries have a leaning towards women, she seems to be interested in discussing a wide spectrum of social issues as opposed to 1) a universal hatred of men, and 2) the mistreatment of women. She’s concerned about racism (Mexican women being mistreated based on race) and the type of man that would write sadistic threat letters to feminists. Ms. Hellcat seems to be outspoken, yet within reason, and has a directed sense of feminism instead of just an abstract perception of the concept. This should be interesting.

Oh, and by the way, this post’s title comes from one of my favorite movies. If you figure out what it’s from, go watch it and thank me later.

Who am I? "For the present your friend, tomorrow your host, and for the short time formality stands between us, the Count of Monte Cristo."

Before I really get into the juicy stuff about my life, I'd like to add a little disclaimer: I'm new to this whole "write your life out for everyone to see" business, so it might take me a little bit to warm up to this concept. I guess we're about to find out.

Despite what my display name shows, my real name is not actually "Alejandro." But since we were told that we could use an alias, I figured it was the only time in my life that I would have a legitimate opportunity to pretend that I had a cool ethnic name like Alejandro, the name that my roommate guessed my middle initial stood for. In fact, my name is actually Corey, and I'm not Latino at all. I'm Caucasian, and on the surface fairly ethnically bland. I'm from California, and I've actually been kind of disappointed that I haven't met anyone yet who's asked me if I go surfing every day or how many celebrities I've met. In case you were wondering, I've only been surfing once in my life (a lot harder than you would think, but it's pretty damn fun) and I've probably had no more celebrity contact than you have. When I'm not at college, I live in the East Bay, about 45 minutes outside of San Francisco. I love where I live and how beautiful and accessible it is, but when I compare San Francisco and D.C., D.C. appeals to me so much more. Maybe it's the fact that I've been to SF so many times and has lost its novelty, but it's also a much dirtier city than D.C. But then again, if you had asked me a year ago if I thought I'd end up going to GW, living in a city and only blocks away from the White House, I would've told you that I had no interest living in an urban environment. My, how things change. I can't imagine going to a school without so much happening around it. In the past week, I've already seen Barack Obama and Alan Greenspan speak, and I have practice for the GW Ultimate Frisbee team on the National Mall. Thus far, I have absolutely no regrets about choosing GW.

But let's talk more about me--it's not that I want to be selfish, but more about getting credit for this assignment so I can move on to other homework. I love all kinds of music, but I can't stand country. And in case you haven't been able to tell from the title of this entry or my blog, , I love movies....a lot. When I found out two of our four papers were going to be movie reviews, it calmed my nerves, which were still shaken from the realization that I was in the "Women's Autobiographies" UW20. Like most people I know, I didn't check the theme of my UW20 before I signed up because I didn't understand how much the theme affected the class. Little did I know, that theme would be the center around which the entire class would be based. My roommates cried for me a little when they found out, but there was mostly laughter all around. But as I've obtained a better understanding of what we'll be doing in this class, my apprehension has all but disappeared. I might even venture to say that I'm a little excited. Regardless, I've embraced the class, and hence the title: I am Jack's effeminate blog. Enjoy.