I finished reading Women and Gender in Islam today. I enjoyed it and thought it was an informative introduction to the topic, but I would be interested in reading more recent scholarship since it was published in 1992. Leila Ahmed, the author, even said herself that several of the topics she touched on required more research and discussion but that the material was not available when she was writing. For that reason, she also focused more on Egypt in her discussion of the last few centuries, and I would like to know more about Iran and Iraq, given the current political situation and my own geographical location.
I wish I had taken a larger variety of classes in college than I did – by the time I took feminist theory, the remainder of my schedule was already set in stone because I was trying to finish up three majors. However, I thought the readings we did on global feminism and women in developing countries were fascinating, and wanted to learn more. Ahmed raised a concern that one article I’d read in college also addressed, though in that case it was about India. The problem is the way that colonialism, Westernization and nationalism mixed and conflicted with each other, and how they used and effected women for their causes. Due to the way “feminist” ideas were used by colonial powers to rationalize their position, feminism has been made “suspect in Arab eyes and vulnerable to the charge of being an ally of colonial interests” (167). For example, Ahmed references British general consul Cromer to illustrate this. While in Egypt, he and other Western men used women’s position in society to justify colonization, even though in Britain he was a member of an anti-suffragist club (obviously, he couldn’t have been too concerned about women’s equality). The West simply expressed their misogyny differently, but of course being the ones in power, the Westerners felt theirs was the more dignified culture. The veil was one example of a practice that the West found uncivilized and oppressive. In opposition to this view, later the veil would serve as a symbol of nationalism for some. As Ahmed notes, “it was in this discourse of colonial ‘feminism’ that the notion that an intrinsic connection existed between the issues of culture and the status of women . . . first made its appearance” (244). Instead of attempting to change their society from within as Western women had done, colonialism wanted Muslim women to reject their own culture in favor of the West.
The article about India discussed how this type of legacy was still affecting women today, and how feminists in India often were accused of rejecting their culture in favor of Westernization. There are other historical examples of how traditions that are judged and abhorred by the West become matters of nationalist movements as a direct result. When female genital circumcision was first outlawed in Kenya, another one time British colony, some girls grouped together and did it themselves because they felt they were being denied an important right of passage. As mentioned above, the Western judgment against this practice later made it more difficult for women within the culture to speak against it without being accused of becoming Western. Maybe I should see if I can find a copy of the book that article was in on Amazon. Speaking of which, anyone have any good recommendations for books? Novels, gender studies, post-colonialism, etc? Amazon only gives me so many recommendations, and since it tends to focus on my most recent purchases, I don’t always think its recommendations are necessarily that accurate.
I really wish I were back in college – I miss being able to discuss the books I’m reading with people. Here, I either end up just going on to the next book in my stack, or end up trying to discuss and explain them to people that don’t really care or don’t know what I’m talking about. I read Me Talk Pretty One Day recently, and a few of the passages were very funny – I was trying to tell someone about one or two of them, and he just looked at me like I was crazy/ asked stuff that really didn’t have anything to do with the humor. On the other hand, the person I talk to most out here tends to disagree with everything I say (because it’s fun), so at least I’m getting practice arguing and justifying my positions. That’s kind of good, I guess. Maybe. Also rather obnoxious.
Enough about books – probably should mention something about my life. I’m still in Iraq – only a year to go! It’s like I’m almost done with my practice deployment and about to start the real one. Obviously, I’ve had time to do some reading, but unfortunately, I haven’t watched too many new movies. There’s not really much of a movie theater here, and whenever I’m in my room, I currently prefer watching DVDs of TV shows (preferably with the play all option, which Buffy unfortunately doesn’t have on all its seasons). I finally got the last disc of the second season of The Office, and now I’m just waiting for someone to order the third season so I can borrow it. I also watched 30 Rock so I’m now caught up on Must See TV. That’s still what they call it, right? I remember after NBC lost Friends (of course, it should have ended about a season or two before it did), it seemed like Must See TV didn’t have much to offer. I guess that’s changed. There’s one show I have absolutely no desire to own on DVD – they’ve shown so many reruns of Friends that I would be perfectly happy never seeing another episode. So much for talking about Iraq.
Friday, October 19, 2007
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Still Here
I've lost all concept of time. It's not that the days fly by here in any way, but since they all seem basically the same, it's hard to tell one day from another or have any idea of how long it's been since doing anything - translation: that's the excuse for not updating; I didn't realize it had already been more than a week. Of course, there's not really much to talk about either.
I got a package from Amazon with the second seasons of Weeds and The 4400, so I put my reading on hold while I finished those up. I also watched most of the 2nd season of The Office (I borrowed it from someone but he hasn't given me the last disc yet). Now I'm waiting on Heroes to come out on DVD so I can check that out, and see if it's as good as everyone says.
We had our first officer's call this past week. I don't think I'm ever going to be able to enjoy karaoke again - it's one thing to go to a bar and do it voluntarily, and an entirely different thing to watch people be forced to sing. Also, at a karaoke bar, the people singing are really more background noise since you're hanging out with your friends, while at the officer's call, the performers were basically the center of attention. I guess alcohol usually helps as well, and non-alcoholic beer just doesn't have the same effect. I have also determined that I'm never going to go to salsa - they offer it once a week at the MWR, and every single time I've had a meeting or something else going on - this week I thought I'd actually be able to go, and that's the time we had the officer's call.
Speaking of alcohol, I got a letter from my grandfather today with some rather interesting and useful advice - avoid alcohol so it won't affect any decisions I might have to make while under pressure. Considering that alcohol is kind of, well, ILLEGAL, I shouldn't have too much of a problem doing that. I guess being German, he doesn't quite realize the rules the US military has, but it's still kind of funny. Also, since his letter started saying, "I hope you're doing well considering," I'm kind of surprised he'd think there'd be bars in the area.
Other than that, my bad luck/klutziness streak continues:
Remember my horrible door that I discussed earlier? Well, the saga continues. I lost my key while walking (I knew I didn't trust the PT short pockets!), and had to have the RNU guy break me into my room. He put in an emergency work order for me to get a new lock or door, which means they are supposed to come in two to four hours to fix it. They didn't. Of course, considering how badly the door was sticking, I'm pretty sure anyone unfamiliar with my door, just would have assumed it was locked if they'd tried to open it. I finally got a new lock yesterday, and I'm not sure if they did anything else, but it hasn't been sticking as badly lately.
I also lost my glasses. I had an extra set, but I really liked my other ones.
And yesterday, my computer screen basically went out. If I try really hard, I can see what's on it, but as one of the computer whizzes in the company explained, the lamp or something went out, so I need either a S-Video screen to hook it up to the TV, a monitor, a new screen or a new computer. As if I know where to get any of that stuff. He said something about tigerdirect, so maybe I'll look there - it's just online shopping really doesn't do it for me when I have the computer for half hour blocks, and the connection's slow.
I got a package from Amazon with the second seasons of Weeds and The 4400, so I put my reading on hold while I finished those up. I also watched most of the 2nd season of The Office (I borrowed it from someone but he hasn't given me the last disc yet). Now I'm waiting on Heroes to come out on DVD so I can check that out, and see if it's as good as everyone says.
We had our first officer's call this past week. I don't think I'm ever going to be able to enjoy karaoke again - it's one thing to go to a bar and do it voluntarily, and an entirely different thing to watch people be forced to sing. Also, at a karaoke bar, the people singing are really more background noise since you're hanging out with your friends, while at the officer's call, the performers were basically the center of attention. I guess alcohol usually helps as well, and non-alcoholic beer just doesn't have the same effect. I have also determined that I'm never going to go to salsa - they offer it once a week at the MWR, and every single time I've had a meeting or something else going on - this week I thought I'd actually be able to go, and that's the time we had the officer's call.
Speaking of alcohol, I got a letter from my grandfather today with some rather interesting and useful advice - avoid alcohol so it won't affect any decisions I might have to make while under pressure. Considering that alcohol is kind of, well, ILLEGAL, I shouldn't have too much of a problem doing that. I guess being German, he doesn't quite realize the rules the US military has, but it's still kind of funny. Also, since his letter started saying, "I hope you're doing well considering," I'm kind of surprised he'd think there'd be bars in the area.
Other than that, my bad luck/klutziness streak continues:
Remember my horrible door that I discussed earlier? Well, the saga continues. I lost my key while walking (I knew I didn't trust the PT short pockets!), and had to have the RNU guy break me into my room. He put in an emergency work order for me to get a new lock or door, which means they are supposed to come in two to four hours to fix it. They didn't. Of course, considering how badly the door was sticking, I'm pretty sure anyone unfamiliar with my door, just would have assumed it was locked if they'd tried to open it. I finally got a new lock yesterday, and I'm not sure if they did anything else, but it hasn't been sticking as badly lately.
I also lost my glasses. I had an extra set, but I really liked my other ones.
And yesterday, my computer screen basically went out. If I try really hard, I can see what's on it, but as one of the computer whizzes in the company explained, the lamp or something went out, so I need either a S-Video screen to hook it up to the TV, a monitor, a new screen or a new computer. As if I know where to get any of that stuff. He said something about tigerdirect, so maybe I'll look there - it's just online shopping really doesn't do it for me when I have the computer for half hour blocks, and the connection's slow.
Friday, September 14, 2007
Just Another Day
As you may have noticed, my blog has been hijacked by spam. Whenever I end up on a computer that actually lets me log into blogger, I usually spend most of my time deleting the entries rather than updating. For some reason, only half the computers at the MWR let me get in the blog; the others say something about cookies being disabled. I also can only sign into amazon from one or two computers, so as long as I don't want to order anything or update my wishlist, it works but as soon as I get to the sign on page, the internet page shuts itself down. I'm going to try disabling the ability to email myself entries and see if that will cut down on the advertisements for weight loss and stronger libidos even though that will limit my options for updating.
We had our first OPD (officer professional development), and the topic was OPSEC, so naturally blogging came up. I guess my blog will now be reviewed quarterly to make sure I'm complying with all the rules and not giving away vital information. Of course, I think I already learned my lesson about that.
I finished reading The Time Traveler's Wife a few days ago. I'd seen in the bookstores but never really been interested until I saw it on a list of recommended books on Pajiba. I actually liked it even though at first, I had some misgivings. It was well-written and interesting from the beginning, don't get me wrong, but the idea that the woman had met her future husband when she was six and he was forty bugged me, especially since he repeatedly visited her in the past and taught her things. It seemed too much like he was shaping her to fit into his idea of the perfect woman and who she should be. I still liked the novel, though, but it got slow towards the end. I think this might just reflect on me, though: I still tend to prefer the protagonists when they are younger and starting their lives rather than once they have established families, grown older and so forth. It's just a matter of what I can relate to more at the moment.
We had our first OPD (officer professional development), and the topic was OPSEC, so naturally blogging came up. I guess my blog will now be reviewed quarterly to make sure I'm complying with all the rules and not giving away vital information. Of course, I think I already learned my lesson about that.
I finished reading The Time Traveler's Wife a few days ago. I'd seen in the bookstores but never really been interested until I saw it on a list of recommended books on Pajiba. I actually liked it even though at first, I had some misgivings. It was well-written and interesting from the beginning, don't get me wrong, but the idea that the woman had met her future husband when she was six and he was forty bugged me, especially since he repeatedly visited her in the past and taught her things. It seemed too much like he was shaping her to fit into his idea of the perfect woman and who she should be. I still liked the novel, though, but it got slow towards the end. I think this might just reflect on me, though: I still tend to prefer the protagonists when they are younger and starting their lives rather than once they have established families, grown older and so forth. It's just a matter of what I can relate to more at the moment.
Friday, September 07, 2007
Only Me
Since I still feel weird talking about the actual FOB online, I thought I’d just write about some of my own stupidities of the past week. As it turns out, I’m a klutz – well, okay I already knew I had tendencies towards that with the whole lack of coordination (probably why I never really got into sports), but I definitely seem to have a talent for doing ridiculous stuff – never anything extreme enough to win an award like the Bent Coin*, just a series of lots of little incidents.
For example, at the beginning of this week, it must have been Sunday night, I woke up in the middle of the night for no discernible reason (it happens on occasion), so I rolled over to go back to sleep. In the process, I rolled straight into the wall, and hit my lip on the electrical siding (or whatever it is). After a silent curse, I went back to sleep, and then woke the next morning with a busted lip and dried blood on my teeth. At least I didn’t fall off the bed. I got a package from my parents in the mail the next day with a big Illini pillow – I’m using it as padding to prevent this from happening again.
Last night, I was leaving my room when the door handle broke off in my hand. The door sticks, so I’ve had to pull and rattle quite a bit in the past, and apparently the door just couldn’t take it anymore. I had to call my platoon sergeant on the radio to let me out of my room so I could use the bathroom. Luckily, our RNU (no clue what that stands for, but he’s in charge of handling all the work orders and repairs for the company) had a few extra door handles in the connex – looks like maybe this has occurred before.
* The Bent Coin: My Battalion back in Germany had monthly (give or take a few weeks) Hail and Farewells. This is an opportunity to greet the new leadership coming to the battalion, say goodbye to the ones leaving, and generally socialize with each other (/make fun of/ put on the spot – before my first Hail and Farewell, I was told I had to memorize the Transportation Corps Creed as part of being hailed – it was my initiation). At the end of the evening, the Bent Coin would be awarded, and people would tell funny, ridiculous, partially true stories about their friends. After a vote, whoever had the best story and behaved the most foolishly, would receive the Bent Coin for safekeeping for the month. One of the LTs in my company won it when his car got stuck in the snow and the Company Commander and First Sergeant had to push him out, for example. Other units have similar traditions – a guy I knew in 2ID had to been awarded the Broken Tomahawk right before they deployed and had to pack it with all his other stuff.
For example, at the beginning of this week, it must have been Sunday night, I woke up in the middle of the night for no discernible reason (it happens on occasion), so I rolled over to go back to sleep. In the process, I rolled straight into the wall, and hit my lip on the electrical siding (or whatever it is). After a silent curse, I went back to sleep, and then woke the next morning with a busted lip and dried blood on my teeth. At least I didn’t fall off the bed. I got a package from my parents in the mail the next day with a big Illini pillow – I’m using it as padding to prevent this from happening again.
Last night, I was leaving my room when the door handle broke off in my hand. The door sticks, so I’ve had to pull and rattle quite a bit in the past, and apparently the door just couldn’t take it anymore. I had to call my platoon sergeant on the radio to let me out of my room so I could use the bathroom. Luckily, our RNU (no clue what that stands for, but he’s in charge of handling all the work orders and repairs for the company) had a few extra door handles in the connex – looks like maybe this has occurred before.
* The Bent Coin: My Battalion back in Germany had monthly (give or take a few weeks) Hail and Farewells. This is an opportunity to greet the new leadership coming to the battalion, say goodbye to the ones leaving, and generally socialize with each other (/make fun of/ put on the spot – before my first Hail and Farewell, I was told I had to memorize the Transportation Corps Creed as part of being hailed – it was my initiation). At the end of the evening, the Bent Coin would be awarded, and people would tell funny, ridiculous, partially true stories about their friends. After a vote, whoever had the best story and behaved the most foolishly, would receive the Bent Coin for safekeeping for the month. One of the LTs in my company won it when his car got stuck in the snow and the Company Commander and First Sergeant had to push him out, for example. Other units have similar traditions – a guy I knew in 2ID had to been awarded the Broken Tomahawk right before they deployed and had to pack it with all his other stuff.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Quick Note
I've been in Iraq for almost two weeks now. Since OPSEC is such a big
deal out here, I'm not really sure what is okay to talk about yet and
at what point. As soon as I have an individual internet connection in
my room, I'm going to look up some different military blogs to get an
idea from them about what it is kosher. The internet here is slow,
and since I only have the computer an hour at a time, I haven't had
much of a chance to do it yet. Anyway, I should be writing more
pretty soon about life out here, but I didn't forget about updating.
deal out here, I'm not really sure what is okay to talk about yet and
at what point. As soon as I have an individual internet connection in
my room, I'm going to look up some different military blogs to get an
idea from them about what it is kosher. The internet here is slow,
and since I only have the computer an hour at a time, I haven't had
much of a chance to do it yet. Anyway, I should be writing more
pretty soon about life out here, but I didn't forget about updating.
Thursday, August 02, 2007
I'm Back?
So I am not really sure how to start this entry considering the rather long, though unintentional, break I took. I don’t really want to go through a run down of the past few months, but I don’t think I can just start right back into it as if I’d been blogging regularly.
Basically, there were a few reasons I stopped updating. Mainly, I was distracted and lazy. There was also the issue that I actually have soldiers now so I was more hesitant to blog about day to day life (especially the way I like to critique everything). My chain of command actually found out about my blog from a source in Ft. Eustis, so my second or third week in the unit, I was already in the colonel’s office briefing him about Army policies on personal websites. While he said he had no problem if I continued with the blog, the timing just coincided with the other, already mentioned reasons.
The first few months were incredibly busy due to the preparation for the deployment. We had two field exercises soon after I arrived, both a week and half to two weeks long (I spent my birthday in the field). We were also dealing with soldier issues and sorting out who was actually deploying vs. who was staying on rear detachment due to medical issues. My life became a lot easier the day rear detachment became an actual platoon of its own. After we were certified for deployment during the field exercise, things started slowing down some, but there were still quite a few small details to take care off. It wasn’t until block leave that everything completely calmed down. I only took a week of the available four week time period because I didn’t have that much leave saved up, but the three weeks I wasn’t on leave were very nice. PT in the morning, browse the Internet in the morning (after taking care of any work of course), long lunches, and another hour or two at the gym to end the day.
As far as traveling is concerned, I haven’t done nearly as much as I was hoping I would have done by now. I went to Brussels in March, and used my week of leave to go to London. I absolutely loved London and would move there in a heartbeat if I ever had the chance. I also finally made it to Dresden, but other than that, I’ve mainly revisited German cities (although, I also made it to Salzburg - at least Austria is a different country) I used to like. A friend of mine is stationed in Bamberg so I’ve been up there quite a bit, and some of the other LTs in my battalion and I had just started going to Regensburg more right before my unit left.
Germany isn’t bad but Grafenwoehr is definitely not the place to be stationed. They are building it up, so in the next few years it should get a lot better but right now, it’s not so great. The new PX and commissary are scheduled to open in the fall, and several units in Germany are moving to Grafenwoehr so that should encourage more development in the German town as well. It’s actually kind of sad, but apparently the base we’re going to in Iraq is going to have a lot more facilities than the German base. They even have coffee shops and a pool out there. Yes, I realize that Starbucks does exist in Germany but once again, I’m at least an hour away from any city that has one in it. As far as bakeries and cafes are concerned, Germans and Americans have quite different definitions of mochas (in Germany, it’s much more like an espresso) so they don’t help me too much. Of course, that’s probably a good thing – I think I put on about five my senior of college after discovering that I actually liked mochas and lattes despite the fact that they had coffee in them.
Anyway, I hope to start updating again on a somewhat regular basis now since I'm expecting fewer distractions (though probably a busier work schedule - I'll find out soon).
Basically, there were a few reasons I stopped updating. Mainly, I was distracted and lazy. There was also the issue that I actually have soldiers now so I was more hesitant to blog about day to day life (especially the way I like to critique everything). My chain of command actually found out about my blog from a source in Ft. Eustis, so my second or third week in the unit, I was already in the colonel’s office briefing him about Army policies on personal websites. While he said he had no problem if I continued with the blog, the timing just coincided with the other, already mentioned reasons.
The first few months were incredibly busy due to the preparation for the deployment. We had two field exercises soon after I arrived, both a week and half to two weeks long (I spent my birthday in the field). We were also dealing with soldier issues and sorting out who was actually deploying vs. who was staying on rear detachment due to medical issues. My life became a lot easier the day rear detachment became an actual platoon of its own. After we were certified for deployment during the field exercise, things started slowing down some, but there were still quite a few small details to take care off. It wasn’t until block leave that everything completely calmed down. I only took a week of the available four week time period because I didn’t have that much leave saved up, but the three weeks I wasn’t on leave were very nice. PT in the morning, browse the Internet in the morning (after taking care of any work of course), long lunches, and another hour or two at the gym to end the day.
As far as traveling is concerned, I haven’t done nearly as much as I was hoping I would have done by now. I went to Brussels in March, and used my week of leave to go to London. I absolutely loved London and would move there in a heartbeat if I ever had the chance. I also finally made it to Dresden, but other than that, I’ve mainly revisited German cities (although, I also made it to Salzburg - at least Austria is a different country) I used to like. A friend of mine is stationed in Bamberg so I’ve been up there quite a bit, and some of the other LTs in my battalion and I had just started going to Regensburg more right before my unit left.
Germany isn’t bad but Grafenwoehr is definitely not the place to be stationed. They are building it up, so in the next few years it should get a lot better but right now, it’s not so great. The new PX and commissary are scheduled to open in the fall, and several units in Germany are moving to Grafenwoehr so that should encourage more development in the German town as well. It’s actually kind of sad, but apparently the base we’re going to in Iraq is going to have a lot more facilities than the German base. They even have coffee shops and a pool out there. Yes, I realize that Starbucks does exist in Germany but once again, I’m at least an hour away from any city that has one in it. As far as bakeries and cafes are concerned, Germans and Americans have quite different definitions of mochas (in Germany, it’s much more like an espresso) so they don’t help me too much. Of course, that’s probably a good thing – I think I put on about five my senior of college after discovering that I actually liked mochas and lattes despite the fact that they had coffee in them.
Anyway, I hope to start updating again on a somewhat regular basis now since I'm expecting fewer distractions (though probably a busier work schedule - I'll find out soon).
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Bamberg
I went to Bamberg to visit with my grandfather and uncle yesterday. I hadn't seen my grandfather since I graduated high school - he doesn't do planes, and I took summer school every year of college.
It was nice to see him though his sense of "humor" does not mesh with mine at all. He'd make comments and laugh, and I'd just be looking at him like he was insane. I went with another LT that's inprocessing with me and she had me drive since her baby kept her up all night. Driving in Germany is kind of scary - a lot of the roads that would be considered highways in the States are only one lane in either direction so in order to pass cars, you have to drive into oncoming traffic. It's especially bad considering how curvy the roads in Germany are (there were a few instances where I couldn't believe that I was actually in a passing zone).
Anyway, here are some pictures of Bamberg (I didn't have that many to choose from because I've been there so often that I didn't take many pictures, and the ones from inside the church really didn't turn out).
Der Bamberger Reiter - Bamberg Rider
One of Bamberg's most famous monuments - it's inside the Dom (cathedral)
St. Michaelskirche ( a former monastery)As seen from the Rose Garden of the Neue Residenz (new residence)
View of Little Venice and the crane from the Old Rathaus
(you can see part of the facade on the right)
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