Katelyn Temple
Professor Nina Perez
WST 3015
April 4, 2010
Personal Narrative Blog
Riverbend is a woman who blogs about her life in Iraq during the U.S. occupation. Riverbend is a courageous woman. A woman who chose to share her story and to tell the world what life for an ordinary Iraqi citizen (let alone female) is really like. It would be nearly impossible for someone like me to understand what life would be like in a war-torn country. Especially since I consider myself to be extremely lucky to live the life I was given.
In her blog, Christmas in Baghdad, dated December 26, 2003, she discusses a typical Christmas in Iraq. Also discussed is how Christmas is celebrated during the U.S. occupation in Iraq. Riverbend speaks of her Christian friends and how they normally spend Christmas. This year, no Christians living in Iraq wanted to draw attention to them by decorating. People were too scared to drive to mass at night. She also discusses the traditional Santa Claus and how he is depicted in Iraqi culture. She discusses how Christmas was not typical in 2003 because of the sirens, gunshots, bombs, and planes. In chapter ten of our text, Women’s Lives: Multicultural Perspective, women in the military is discussed. “Perhaps one of the most far-reaching effects of war is the normalization of violence in everyday life…” (504). This is a true statement because Riverbend states in her blog that she expects the sirens, she knows if the gun fire is “theirs” or “us”, she expects the war because it is what she has grown to accept.
The narrative gives great insight into Iraqi culture, food and customs. Most of the information provided by Riverbend was completely foreign to me. I was amazed by certain things she wrote, maybe I am too American or uneducated. As an example, she tells about an evening with no electricity. They all sat on the floor, talking while Christmas candles provided light by sitting on a coffee table. Something like a coffee table, to me, is an Americanized thing. We have coffee tables because we sit in our living rooms, drinking coffee and reading coffee table books. She speaks of the date-balls they were eating and about a telephone conversation. Chapter eight of our text, Women’s Lives: Multicultural Perspective, discusses how “developing countries have thousands of years of tradition” (375). We ignore these traditions when we attempt to “globalize” these areas of the world.
As Riverbend states on her own blogspot.com blog, “Girl Blog from Iraq... let's talk war, politics and occupation.” (Riverbend). I would classify this blog as personal, political and educational. On a personal level, Riverbend is able to connect with the world to share her experiences. On a political level, Riverbend is defying her culture by speaking out. She is becoming to face of an unseen, unheard of gender in Iraq. And finally, on an educational level, Riverbend is accomplishing a great feat. Riverbend is education people like me, someone who was unaware that there were even Christian’s in Iraq, about the culture my country is waging war against.
Professor Nina Perez
WST 3015
April 4, 2010
Personal Narrative Blog
Riverbend is a woman who blogs about her life in Iraq during the U.S. occupation. Riverbend is a courageous woman. A woman who chose to share her story and to tell the world what life for an ordinary Iraqi citizen (let alone female) is really like. It would be nearly impossible for someone like me to understand what life would be like in a war-torn country. Especially since I consider myself to be extremely lucky to live the life I was given.
In her blog, Christmas in Baghdad, dated December 26, 2003, she discusses a typical Christmas in Iraq. Also discussed is how Christmas is celebrated during the U.S. occupation in Iraq. Riverbend speaks of her Christian friends and how they normally spend Christmas. This year, no Christians living in Iraq wanted to draw attention to them by decorating. People were too scared to drive to mass at night. She also discusses the traditional Santa Claus and how he is depicted in Iraqi culture. She discusses how Christmas was not typical in 2003 because of the sirens, gunshots, bombs, and planes. In chapter ten of our text, Women’s Lives: Multicultural Perspective, women in the military is discussed. “Perhaps one of the most far-reaching effects of war is the normalization of violence in everyday life…” (504). This is a true statement because Riverbend states in her blog that she expects the sirens, she knows if the gun fire is “theirs” or “us”, she expects the war because it is what she has grown to accept.
The narrative gives great insight into Iraqi culture, food and customs. Most of the information provided by Riverbend was completely foreign to me. I was amazed by certain things she wrote, maybe I am too American or uneducated. As an example, she tells about an evening with no electricity. They all sat on the floor, talking while Christmas candles provided light by sitting on a coffee table. Something like a coffee table, to me, is an Americanized thing. We have coffee tables because we sit in our living rooms, drinking coffee and reading coffee table books. She speaks of the date-balls they were eating and about a telephone conversation. Chapter eight of our text, Women’s Lives: Multicultural Perspective, discusses how “developing countries have thousands of years of tradition” (375). We ignore these traditions when we attempt to “globalize” these areas of the world.
As Riverbend states on her own blogspot.com blog, “Girl Blog from Iraq... let's talk war, politics and occupation.” (Riverbend). I would classify this blog as personal, political and educational. On a personal level, Riverbend is able to connect with the world to share her experiences. On a political level, Riverbend is defying her culture by speaking out. She is becoming to face of an unseen, unheard of gender in Iraq. And finally, on an educational level, Riverbend is accomplishing a great feat. Riverbend is education people like me, someone who was unaware that there were even Christian’s in Iraq, about the culture my country is waging war against.
(words: 505)
Works Cited:
Baghdad Burning. Riverbend, 26 Dec. 2003. Web. 05 Apr. 2010.
Kirk, Gwyn, and Margo Okazawa-Rey. Women and the Military, War, and Peace, Women's Studies. Women's Lives Multicultural Perspectives. 5th ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 2010. 493-510.
Kirk, Gwyn, and Margo Okazawa-Rey. Women Living in a Globalizing World. Women's Studies. Women's Lives Multicultural Perspectives. 5th ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 2010. 371-391.
Hey Katelyn,
ReplyDeleteNice choice with the blog, I picked the same one. I agree with you that this blog goes into detail with culture when explaining about their traditional rituals around Christmas. I could not imagine spending a Christmas during a war. Riverbend did an excellent job on explaining exactly how different that year was verse the rest. I also liked how she translated the phone conversation so we could understand how important and meaningful it was the them when they actually heard from a family member. Great job on your blog!
- Seabury Stoneburner