Shawn's

The thesis of this piece, "A Soldier's Thought," is to uncover that the lives of American soldiers hold more truth than just their title, (known for providing defense). In the blog of “A Soldier’s Thought,” Zachary Scot Singley writes about his experience in Iraq. He talks about his frustrations, anger, and sorrow as he hopes for it to be over, “It sickens me how much anger and death exist over here…. but what can we do?” The individual in this piece is Singley and other depressed American soldiers, while the system is the upper power, whoever responsible for the war. This relationship connects with the thesis because American soldiers have no power over their actions. They may have a voice, but that voice will make no difference. Singley’s writing is very detailed and emotional. He talks about his feelings a lot. The way he describes it makes it realistic and honest for the readers. This blog seems familiar with “Baghdad Burning,” because they both are descriptive and honest. They like to explain their thoughts about the conditions they are in. Their intention is to be heard and to have someone understand. The blog overall is straightforward. It does not have any weakness or does not need any clarification. A new word I picked up from reading this is “deployment,” which means to position (troops) in readiness for combat, as along a front or line. (dictionary.com)

Marcos's Post

The series of blogs is about “a soldier who struggles in Iraq”. The individual is the soldier and the system is the war. He says before he went in to the war, he was a hard nose republican and believed in the government. As his time in war grows, he realizes his government isn’t as prefect as he thought. He doubts his government and their plans for Iraq. The writer who is actually the soldier writes with short sentences. He sometimes curses in his writing but it is to emphasize a point. He also used rhetorical questions; for example when asking if it was normal for him to enjoy the sound of missiles being launched. He also asks questions and answers the normal responses to them kind of like Sarcasm. I once talked to an old veteran. He told me the exact date he killed a man and then he told me the exact date he started praying. They were the same dates. I feel like the writer and the veteran were having the same doubts but one from a religious aspect and the other from a spiritual aspect. The piece is pretty effective and it shows the soldier’s concern towards the Iraqi people. The soldier writes very well and clear. An improvised explosive device (IED) is a bomb constructed and deployed in ways other than in conventional military action

Nick Rashid

Nick Rashid

2/18/2009

Reading Response 5

The thesis of this blog entry would have to be “Another Day in Iraq also known as another mind altering experience.” I decided to make a statement that I thought best suited what I comprehended from reading this blog. This statement might sound flimsy, but it can easily be back up with much information. The author of the blog consistently talks about how he is a soldier in service to the U.S army and all of the lives he’s taken in the name of war. The blog entries keep changing and it seems as if with each day, the solider digs a deeper hole in his mind of all the inhumane activities he’s participated in. The thesis is developed from the confrontation of the people at the Tigris river. This tells you that being overseas in this situation has taught him to resort to primitive actions such as survival of the fittest. This is just the beginning because later on he starts talking about how the sounds of bombs being fired from his side to the enemies was soothing and helped him sleep, simply because they had nothing to worry about since they were the ones with the big guns. It seems as if this solider has a struggle with himself and what he’s become because he asks many people, including himself if they’re proud of what he’s done. All these mind altering experiences eventually lead him to become wiser and sharper, as he states when he’s done with his 5 year stay in Iraq.

The individual in this blog is the soldier that is writing about his experiences in Iraq. The system in this situation would have to be the Army because he serves them and does what he is told, even though he eventually figures out what they’re doing is wrong and inhumane. The conflict between the individual and system is relevant to the thesis because as time passes as the soldier continues his service, he learns that he is changing and all the insane things he’s done. The experiences actually lead him to become wiser and a more understanding individual.

A technique that I noticed that worked quite nicely in the authors writing was being descriptive about the event, not so the visual part, but the part where he makes the reader think about what he says and what he’s actually doing. One example of this includes the beginning post where he talks about people he sees near the river and how he takes them out even though they might have never been a threat, but hey, better to be safe then sorry right? Another post he makes that is interesting is the one labeled “Red,” because it talks about the “true colors” of the world and how when you’re younger, you’re isolated from the “real world.”

I would compare this to the many war movies I’ve seen where soldiers start to think differently because they’ve been away so long. Eventually all the soldiers in these movies either end up going crazy because of all the carnage they’ve seen or they come out a much wiser individual, as seen in this blog. One movie in particular would have to be Jarhead.

These blog posts are extremely effective, even though the length is quite short. In my opinion, writing that is short and to the point is a lot more appealing and makes you think a lot more, than if you are presented with a bunch of information.

A word that I was not familiar with was IED. After going on Yahoo Answers, I figured out it meant Improvised Explosive Device. This definition fits in perfectly within the context the word was stated.

Reading Response #5

The thesis in this text is about a man from Pakistan. He lived in the Bronx, and he was working in a restaurant and returned to his village. Taliban fighters wearing masks, accused him of being an American spy and kidnapped. The writing technique that author uses is informative, because the article tells us and what’s going on in the U.S. and Pakistan. Also the author uses very strong words that grabs everybody attention. That showed me how the man felt, when he was kidnapped by Taliban people. I compare this article to a news story that was going on in Colombia, a women who got kidnapped by a group of Colombian soldiers that was sent by the leader of Colombian soldiers. She was kidnapped for six years. Recently, about 6 months ago she has been released. In my opinion, I would be so scared because in your mind the first thing you think about they are going to kill me. You don’t what’s going to happen to you in that moment. The meaning of this article, is to be very careful at what you do and how you do things. Also the people who are around you. The one part of this article that left me thinking, was why they kidnapped him, and who sent them to kidnap him. Also how did they find out, that he was in New York. The part that wasn’t clear to me, was where did they keep and how long was he kidnapped for, and how was he released.
The word that I need a definition was Taliban.
Taliban- A Muslim fundamentalist group in Afghanistan.

Manish Pandya

I think the thesis of this internet blog is that life sucks during war and that being away from your family and friends is very had especially during the holiday season. He is very upset that his daughters are crying and that his wife is at home alone taking care of everything by himself. The individual in this piece would be Sgt. Zachary Scott-Singley and the system he would be involved with is the Iraqi and American governments. The two of them are the systems because they are both fighting against each other causing him to be put into the situation he is now in.
Some tricks he uses is personal experience. He shows us how everyday life is for him and how he struggles to get by. I think that is a very effective and good way to write for this kind of topic.
We have read something very similar to this in Baghdad Burning, although the woman in that was just a civilian and he is a soldier they are basically both experiencing the same tension and grief. I think the overall effectiveness of this is very good as I have mentioned earlier because he uses his own life to catch our attention as readers and to get us to see what he really has to go through as a active soldier fighting a war. One new word I read in this was mortars. A mortar is a muzzle-loading indirect fire weapon that fires shells at low velocities, short ranges, and high-arcing ballistic trajectories. It typically has a barrel length less than 15 times its caliber.

The Reading for Homework

The links I provided below did not work as smoothly as I'd hoped. Here are more direct links to entries on this person's blog:

read this

and read this

and read this

and read this

and this

and then do your RR.

Moving forward . . .

Today Ali asked me about some deadlines, and I realized that we need this updated schedule. The deadline for your FD is March 3!

Here's our upcoming schedule:

Feb 19
Turn in RD2
Discussion (leaders)--on "A Soldier's Thoughts" (link below under "Tuesday's Class" post)
Review, catch up
HMWK:
1. By Saturday, post your latest RR on our blog (as a test)
2. Before Tuesday, read the RR posts and respond with a short paragraph (connections, ideas, links, etc.)
3. Read from ND (Intro and Ch. 1—just to page 21); do RR of the info so far; Leaders?

Feb 24
Get back your RD2
Partners assigned
Go over comment-guidelines
Discussion (leaders)
Consider: do you want to add ND ideas to your essay?
HMWK:
RD3 (4 complete pages)—e-mail to partner, e-mail comments back, copy me on all messages
FD is due March 3
Finish ND Ch. 1; do RR; Leaders?

Feb 26
Discussion (leaders)
Begin North Country
HMWK:
RD3 e-mailing, FD

Mar 3
turn in FD
Watch North Country
HMWK:
Do RR on the movie—but just post it on the blog before Tuesday at 5 p.m.; Leaders prepare to discuss movie by reading the posts

Mar 5
Discussion (leaders)
Intro to Narrative Essays
Six-word memoirs
Review of our theme(s)/texts
HMWK:
Post a six-word memoir on the blog
Post a six-word response to someone else’s memoir
Read the Narrative Essay description again and freewrite for 20 minutes
Read e-Reserves (Fence); do RR; Leaders?

Mar 7
Discussion (leaders)
More Narrative Essay stuff
HMWK:
RD1 (3 complete pages)

Mar 9
Peer Review
Catching up, time? writing exercises
HMWK:
RD2 (4 complete pages): we'll discuss the deadline for this as a group

A news story for our theme . . .

Read this.

Tuesday's class

We'll be looking at this feature from nytimes.com and considering this piece of art . . . and connecting them to: our theme (individual vs. system) and to our other texts/individuals (Hattie Carroll, Gregor Samsa, Riverbend, Stephen Elliott, etc.).

Also: the homework for Thursday is 1) complete your next RD (should be 3 pages) and submit to me by 8 a.m. on Thursday for comments, 2) do RR4 on this blog: A Soldier's Thoughts . . . read about five entries.

Revision to our February Schedule . . .

As I mentioned twice in class, I accidentally mis-labeled the dates in our schedule. I have corrected the next few weeks and will post a new version for March shortly. The schedule after Spring Break is completely correct.

Feb 3
Discuss Kafka
More Definition Essay
List of word-ideas
Sentence Structure
HMWK:
Kafka pts. 2 and 3; RR (2); Leaders?

Feb 5
Discussion (Leaders)
In-class writing for Def. Essay
Grammar Issues
HMWK:
RD1 (2 complete pages)—due at 8 a.m., in class, Tuesday
Bring Rules with your draft

Feb 10
Peer Review
Grammar Issues, Rules
HMWK:
RD2 (3 complete pages) is due to me Feb 19
Read news at nytimes.com; find a story that links to our theme; do RR (3); Leaders? (there will be a general news discussion)

Feb 12=NO SCHOOL

Feb 17
Questions about RD2
News day
“Faces of the Dead” and “Miss America”
HMWK:
RD2
Read blog entries (address and info will be on our blog); do RR (4); Leaders?

Feb 19
Turn in RD2
Discussion (leaders)
Review, catch up
HMWK:
1. By Saturday, post your latest RR on our blog (as a test)
2. Before Tuesday, read the RR posts and respond with a short paragraph (connections, ideas, links, etc.)
3. Read from ND (Intro and Ch. 1—just to page 21); do RR (5) of the info so far; Leaders?

Check here again for the revised schedule. Sorry for the trouble.