i finished reading the short story "Escape from Saddam" and thought that this was another great short story that the group picked out for us to read. i like the stories that are real and very descriptive, because it is something that you remember, its not fake or put on its real and is happening. They also make you think. i thought that it was sad how the main character did not want to be in the army but had no choice. he had been called for duty in the army and if he did not join the army then he would be labeled as a deserter. how sad, to not have a choice of your life. when the uncle Saad described what would happen if you did not join the army i was scared for him and the families.

" If any of my colleagues were caught deserting during the Iran Iraqi war they were shot in front of their relative and the families had to pay for the ammunition. they were told it was their fault their sons were being execute because they had allowed their children to grow up into opponents of the regime. "

How sad that the family would have to watch their child die.

Another part in the story that i had to think about was when it said " The officers could not have cared less about our mental education it was our physical education with which they were most concern.

when the main character had to crawl under the barbed wire in 60 seconds while an officer was firing a a machine gun, i would panic. when the main character did this in 68 seconds and the officer wanted him to follow him, i thought that he did a good job for his first time, i had no idea that the officer was mad. then when i read how he beat him up and then said " Next time i tell you to do something in 60 seconds do it in 60 seconds, understood" i was angry and wanted to beat the officer up :)/

What a great family (Army) if their clothes became dirty they were hosed down and then had to wear their wet uniforms.

in class we watched a film called " Waltz with Bashir" this was such a great film. thiw film was a documentary but not like most documentary. this film was almost like a comic book with its pictures and the way it was set up.this was a great animated movie. i believe that this was a smart thing to do because most documentaries are slow and boring, but this film was like a movie. i kept wondering what was going to happen next. i believe this was a great way to show what and how the characters were thinking. something that i thought was key in the movie was when one of the characters was in the tank and the other officer in the tank with him asked him what they were supposed to do, what they were supposed to shoot at. the main character said he did not know, just keep shooting. These soldiers were in the war but had no idea what they were supposed to do , what they were fighting for! i also thought that in the beging when the soldiers were at their destination and they all grabbed their guns and began shooting, at nothing. then a random car with civilians drove to where they all were they shot at it not know what they were doing. they had killed those innocent civilians becasue they did not know what they were doing and becasue they were scared. i also liked how the main character who was doing the documentary kept having the same dream and thoughts about the war but could not remember what had happened. The ending of this documentary was very difficult to watch, it was real and is happening. seeing those women cry and wondering what had happened made me want to cry for them. just seeing the look of pain on their faces was very hard to watch.

A while ago we watched a short film called "Talk to an Iraqi This American Life" i really enjoed watching this film because you had the opportunity to see how an Iraqi answers any questions. i thought that it was very brave for the main charcter, haider Hamza to set up a booth labled "Talk to an Iraqi" knowing that so many citizens have questions about the war. i really enjoyed seeing and listening to everyones concerns and comments. i especially liked listening to the little girl who appologized.Even though her father is in the war she still feels bad. i was caught off guard when the Haider Hamza was on the beach and 2 soliders came up to him and asked him to take off his glasses off and then he put them on, just to make sure that he was not lying. i dont know if i could have sat and set up a booth in the middle east saying "Talk to an American".

our class also read the short story "beheading the cat". i really enjoyed reading this book and knew that the "women" he was talking too was some sort of spirit, ghost. the spirt ends up being his aunt who wants to match him up with a wife. the way the aunt explains the wife was not like a wife but more like a servant or slave. She kepts saying that your wife will do whatever you want her to do. i thought that it was sad how the aunt was demeaning women, isnt she a woman, was she not demeaning herself? Abdul is having trouble dealing with traditional arranged marriages, but values his aunt comments.i really liked how nadine played the part opposite of what hte aunt was trying to convince abdul to marry. Nadine was confident and knew what she watned.

our class had just read the book "Does my head look big in this?" This book was about a 16 year old girl named Amal who decided to wear a hijab. Amal thought about her decision for 4 days. our class was talking about the time she gave herself deciding on if she watned to wear the hijab. we were talking and thinking that 4 days to come up with a decision is a big deal! i dont think that i have thought about a decision for that long, so this was a big deal for her. when Amals mother did not want her to where the hijab i thought about my guest speaker, Gulunar when she did not want her daughter to where the hijab yet. i belive that the reason why they did not want them to where the hijab at that age is becasue thats when they are concidered grown up, they are not kids anymore.:( Especially at the age of 16 your a teen now and a junior in high school. This is definatly huge because at that age there are alot of teasing and immaturity. and for Amal to decide to where it at that age it is alomost like she wanted to remember that day. She put her religion first and did not care what would happen because of her decision. to me this shows who she is. she is very confident, sure of herslef, positive, patient...even when it came to boys she put that on hold because of her religion.She knows who she is as a person!

I really enjoyed the film Arranged. i thought that it was a great introduction to their topic, East mets West. I really liked how these two women met and interacted with eachother. i thought that the principal at the school was a great example of western culture and how we sometimes look at the East. i liked how one of the women left her house beause her mom was driving her crazy about her arranged marriage. i thought that it was great how she went to her cousins house and asked her what she thought. the cousin could not live in her house anymore because of her family, so she went of and lived the way she wanted to. she became westernized, wearing what she watned, saying what she wanted, and lived the way she watned. She then invited her cousin to a party to have her see what it was like. i new that she was going to feel awkward and out of place and unconfortable. i think that this was a wake up call for her that life at home is not all bad. i think that she appreciated her culutre more because of the party.
i loved the activity that the two women did in their class about allowing and knowing others differences and to be accepting of them. i believe that this shows students not to judge because you are different. i really enjoyed this film! great Start GROUP!!

Last week our class finished reading "Memed, My Hawk". Our class had a discussion about this book. This book was about a boy whose family is being starved and punished by a controlling landowner. He then ends up killing the landowner and his nephew. The boy goes to his uncle and tells him that he needs to tell him something. The boy confessed to his uncle that he had killed them, and his uncle was happy and proud of his nephew. PROUD? killing someone. i do understand that this man was a very mean landowner but killing?? nobody has the right to kill. the boy is then has no other option but to live in the mountain side becoming a brigand
when i think of an outlaw i think of the tv show Bonanza. this is an old tv show that takes place out west in Texas. the people have guns and horses, bandannas.

The guest speaker, Professor Mustafa Mirzeler was very useful and different. He talked more about the history with the Middle East( Turkey) and related it to his personal life living there which i thought was very great and something that we could see and relate too it was almost something that we could visually see, and i am a big hands on observing learner. i liked how Mr. Mustafa told us that the book memed My Hawks author was from his home village and how the story takes place in his village. i also like how he told us how his town was labeled as a poor village, but he said that he never felt poor, he always had food and clothing.Another part that i liked was how he said that mulberry trees were the important/deciding factor when deciding where to live. The question that you would ask when you wanted to claim the land was "how many mulberry split here?" When Mr. Mustafa said that he does not want to go back to his home land because it would sadden him i felt sad. Everyday everything around us changes, Everything has to be better than before!

Next Mr. Mustafa talked about the honor killings.He said that Honor is very important. To me i think of my name and what it stands for. My name reflects on my whole family. So if i do something wrong my whole family will suffer from it because we all share the same name. Another thing that he talked about was how family members get forced into killing.. FORCED??? You are not forced to do anything. It is up to you whether you do something or not!! i look at little children and how peer pressure plays such a huge part in their lives. i thought it was sad how if you did not go through with the killing then the townspeople would go and take your family/women and rape them...HOW Cruel!!! What a great community! The last thing that caught my attention was how he explained how he was supposed to do an honor killing on his own sister.WHAT!! How sad! how much pressure for a 10 year old...you dont want to disobey your father but its your sister.you love them both what do u do?? i wonder what he would have done?? i couldn't do it, i know that!! my family is so close, my siblings are my best friends! i am so glad that God opened another door for that family!

In class we watched a video called Women on the front line. This video was very disturbing and to me is very wrong.This movie was about honor killings. killing people for honor is just not right. Killing is killing. murder is murder. You are still taking a life. When they went to go look for the young girls grave i thought that it was very sad how they could not even find where she was buried. How sad! i cold not even think of the thought of killing any one in my family. i love my family.Yes we sometimes get into fights or maybe they might disappoint me or i might even disappoint them but going and killing them or they killing me is way to extreme and out of the question, way out there. Family is always there for u no matter what happens. And why is it only women that are killed?

i just finished watching the movie Paradise Now. This film was very interesting. I myself have negative views on martyrs. I do not like how martyrs say how it is Gods will.. God does not want us to commit suicide. This is considered a sin! How do they think that committing suicide is considered being heroic or courageous. to me committing suicide is the cowardly way because that person does not want to deal with life and its struggles. Another thing that i do not understand is how martyrs or people in the middle east are mad and angry with the system and then go and commit suicide and kill others with them inst that the same thing as what they are mad about to me this is considered as being a hypocrite " do as i say not what i do" How does their idea of settling something better than what they are mad about? Why end your life trying to make the world better and thinking that when you do commit suicide that things will change. If things change don't you want to live through the change.There is always a light at the end of the tunnel. When i think of martyrs the first thing that comes to my mind is 911..All of those innocent people died so that the martyrs could make a point. i am just so lucky that no one i new was in the building or the planes. i thank God everyday that i am alive and living. I live life to the fullest each and every day because i know that is what God wants me to do!

The two short stories we had to read were interesting and made me think. The family was so mad and swore threat the wife robbed them of their legal rights. It seemed that the family was made because their father married a younger woman which i think that i would be a little worried to.I think that it was sad that the father was bribing to divorce his wife if they went to get a lawyer. When a family gets a divorce are you looked down upon? i think that it is sad that the dad and the brother fought so much. How the dad spit in his sons face,and how the brother threw something at his father drawing blood. Me and my family sometimes have our arguments and disagree on something but i dont think that i could throw something at my family. How sad that the dad called the police and the brother was taken to jail and then died a year later. To me Family should not turn on one another. you should stick together. After the dad passed away the family was just worried about where the dad had the key to the cupboard so that they could get their inheritances. I believe that money can tare a family apart everyone wants their fare share. i liked how the end when the daughter saw the women who "Stole" their fortune and how she was not mad she simply said "i remember you...perhaps you remember me?"

I finished reading Gold Dust! To be honest i did not know what to expect when reading the first couple of paragraphs, but as i kept reading i became interested and could not put it down. In the book i liked how Ukhayyad and his piebald camel had so many adventures together. i also liked how Ukhayyad related so much of his life to God and if God was testing him. Ukhayyad i feel knew that good would come out of any situation he was in because of his faith. i am a christian i believe that God tests us everyday and puts many challenges in our paths in life we just need to have patients and know that everything happens for a reason and have faith and this is what i believe Ukahayyad had. i liked how Ukhayyad and his camel were there for each other in the desert. i also like how this book was descriptive like in the desert. To me this shows the truth and the reality of life in the desert and how hard it is live in the desert.i did not like the ending! I almost cried when they had the piebald camel. i thought to myself, Ukhayyed and his camel had been through so much and the men were killing him/ torturing him. i think for my next paper i am going to write about either life in the desert and the struggles that are present in peoples lives or about how when Ukahayyad received the camel when he entered manhood so what boys have to do to enter into man hood or maybe both..

I thought that it was great that the group had Mr. Mougazy( srry if i spelled it wrong) come in and talk to the class. I thought that it was crazy how there are more women in universities in the middle east than men. i also liked how he talked to us about his education. I can not believe that he spent 12 hours a day studying. 1 exam with 15 subjects for their final. What drive and dedication. I did not know that their social structure was based on education. i also thought that it was crazy how he said that if you can get "OUT" everybody is on your side, everybody is happy for you.
"Half meal for dinner the rest is sleep, Not enough food and you are exhausted."

Our class had a field trip last Thursday to a mosque right near Western. I was really nervous and did not know what to expect. As soon as we walked inside i looked to my right and saw a room that had showers. I think that they wash before they pray to cleanse themselves. Before we walked into the prayer room we took of our shoes. our speaker then started to explain how they pray and why women pray in another room. this is something that i did not know. We then walked around the mosque looking at all of the different rooms. We then went into one room and just talked for a good hour. our speaker talked to us about the history of his religion. While we were discussing the history of the religion there was an announcement that we all heard that was spoken in Arabic.it was cool hearing what was said over the speaker. After our discussion we had some treats, some mango juice and dessert pastry. When we were leaving me and mary saw our speaker walk into the prayer room and his face was wet so me and mary thought he washed his face to get ready to pray..one thing that got my attention was that our speaker has a wife and a bran new baby, and he lives her and i think he said that his family lives in Pakistan.. i dont know how he does it...i miss my family like crazy and i only live a 1/2 hour away...

Relationship Between Homosexuality in America and in the Middle East

We are supposed to compare homosexuality in America to the middle east. one thing that stuck out to me was when the mane character asked a guy if he could interview him for his documentary. the guy said no and walked away he did not even give him a chance to explain what his film was about. i think that this relates to homosexuality in America, people don't give them a chance they just walk away. Another part in the movie where i thought there were some similarities between America and the Middle east was when the mane character had an interview with a gay guy and he said that "people in school just don't understand." he also said he came to terms with himself and stopped lying to himself and he said that he told his mom and that she did not understand. i feel that this is so true in schools.

About my project

i did not get the opportunity to go see the play 9 parts of desire because they were sold out..bummer!So i was sad about that! but the good news i work at Arcadia elementary school and there are 2 women who i work with who are from two different parts of the middle east. One of them said that she would come into our class and talk to our class about women in the middle east!! i still have to talk to the other women but how cool would that be to have two different women come in and talk to us about women and life in the middle east especially since they are from two different areas!

i thought the movie Blood and oil was very interesting and eye opening movie. I have known that one of the reasons that we have been there is because of the oil. i could not believe that America was going through 20 million barrels a day and 90% of its patrolium and we used 1/3 of our oil from the war. i thought that it was interesting how Roosevelt met with the man from Saudi Arabia and how he made a deal with him saying that he would protect them if he could have their oil. We made this plan even though we what type of people lived in Saudi Arabia, Monarchy. A place where women are treated with no respect and are not treated fairly. But we overlooked this and provided military training over there because of our deal receiving oil. We provide money for them to help them once again because of the oil. SO everything is based around the deal:OIL. i believe that our interest in the middle east is because it relates to the oil. i thoiught it was huge when mike klaresefan said that we will never be free of danger from the middle east until we pull apart the military that has been there to protect the oil!

I started to read the book" the waiting list" which was one of the book to read for our project, women in the middle east. i ended up not choosing this book to read because it was not what i was looking for.But we have decided to watch the movie called Two Women (1999. i believe that this will give us a better understanding of women in the middle east. Also My group is going to go see the play performed at WMU Theater called 9 parts of Desire. I also believe that this will give us a better understanding of women in the middle east. i was glad to hear that our teacher sent us all an email to go and see this play. I was also glad to hear that he other students from our class went to go and see the play i am really excited to go and see this play. You should go and see the play too!

I found this video

Women in the middle east is my groups project. At first i went to youtube and typed in women the middle east. i then saw these two girls who were smiling and happy and thought that it was going to be a happy video, i was wrong. This video turned my stomach upside down. I was so angry when watching this video. I just want to warn you that this video is very up front and out there so don't say i did not warn you. i know that this does not mean all men and women are like this but to just see a this just makes you think wonder.

EXTRA

I work with an Arabian women and i came into work one day talking to her and saying, " im starving," and she told me that she had been fasting. I felt horrible complaining that i was hungry when here she is fasting. She told me that it was no big deal, you get used to it. She also told me that she has tea and hard boiled eggs with some type of noodle that she makes and eats that, she then wakes up at 4 am and eats the same thing for her breakfast and then does her prayers and then goes back to bed. She then wont eat from 5am to 8pm.

I then talked to her again today and she brought up the subject of the war and how scared she was of going back home. She also was talking about how an Arabian student that i work with cant be near her friend who is also of the same ethnicity because of family issues. But when these students go out for recess they play and hug, they love each other. The moms got into a fight while attending church. I think that it is sad that these students are friends but only get to hang out at recess because their moms are fighting.

Chapters 3& 4

My favorite part in the book was in chapter 3 when the dad grabbed the son (author) and told him a secret. i feel that this part showed the dads character. The dad trusted his son with the secret that they were going to pick up Harbi at the train station. The dad needed someone to talk too and he chose to talk with his son. When i read this i thought of my dad and how we have a close relationship. My dad and I share secrets, i tell him something that i only want him to know about and he tells me secrets that he only wants me to know about. Another favorite part of mine in chapter 3 was when the author was driving the carriage with Harbi and his dad. The author was going so fast through town that some of the town members were like " we are going to tell your father about this," and what they did not realize that the father was there the whole time. The author i feel at this point felt like he was really an adult, he had the responsibility of driving the carriage to there destination without anybody knowing what they were up to. If i was in the authors shoes, i would be so nervous and scared knowing that my father was counting on me to get him to a destination. That is a lot of responsibility!

REEL BAD ARABS

our class watched watched the film "Reel Bad Arabs" which was very interesting to me. This film talked about how in movies the bad guys are played by "Arab people or actors. i never noticed this until we watched the film. The film also talked about the Disney movie Aladdin. i love Disney movies and Aladdin is one of my favorite Disney movies. In the film the director had the lyrics to Aladdin. The lyrics talked about how your ear would get cut off, i never heard this version and later found out that the lyrics had been changed. I thought that was very interesting that aladdin is a Disney movie and they were going to have the bad version in the movie where little children sing along.. i was shocked!

Aladdin - Arabian nights Lyrics Album: Send “Arabian nights” Ringtone to Your Cell Oh I come from a land, from a faraway place Where the caravan camels roam Where it's flat and immense And the heat is intense It's barbaric, but hey, it's home [Original first verse (1992-93):] Oh I come from a land, from a faraway place Where the caravan camels roam Where they cut off your ear If they don't like your face It's barbaric, but hey, it's home } When the wind's from the east And the sun's from the west And the sand in the glass is right Come on down Stop on by Hop a carpet and fly To another Arabian night Arabian nights Like Arabian days More often than not Are hotter than hot In a lot of good ways Arabian nights 'Neath Arabian moons A fool off his guard Could fall and fall hard Out there on the dunes

chapters 1 and 2 read

LOOK HOW CUTE HE OR SHE IS!!

I just finished reading the first two chapters in the book Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery by Bahaa' taher. I am really enjoying this book because it talks about the different culture something i know little about. i thought that it was crazy how the Bey abused Harbi, tying him up to the tree and beating him almost to death. I think that it is sad how Aunt Safiyya hates Harbi and wants to kill him now after killing the bey when the bey almost killed Harbi. i also thought that it was sad how Aunt Safiyya was teaching her son how to hit and hurt somthing by using a donkey.