The bookseller of Kabul

I found this book incredibly good and interesting. I think it was very eye opening to learn about the way in which they lived because it is so different than here in the United States. The one thing that stuck out to me the most was all of the rules and regulations that are placed on especially the women. They have hardly any rights which is very diferent than in the United States, I think they should have rights more similiar to the women here.

The Bookseller of Kabul

I found this story very interesting to read. It showed that even today, women are still not treated equally with men in different countries like Afghanistan. We are blessed in the United States to live in a place that has almost taken care of equality of women and not set standards like the ones portrayed in the book. Some of these rules would never be allowed in the United States because of the severity or the ridiculousness of them.

The Bookseller of Kabul

This was one of my favorite readings this semester. It shed light on how women are treated in other cultures and made me think about how they are treated in ours. Definitely glad I gave this book a shot.

The Bookseller of Kabul

I think this book was absolutely fascinating, how it was based on real events and experiences but not told directly in that way. To read this book and consider how these women were treated is astounding. I found myself comparing the way they were treated to the way women in the United States were treated during the late 19th/ early 20th centuries. Sure, the way the Afghan women were treated was a lot worse, but isn't the lack of freedom still the same? I really loved how, in the forward, the author says that he had many good times and was treated so well by this family, yet had never been so angry with something: the way they were to the women. This is a pretty cool book, and definitely provides a point of view that most people never get the chance to see, or even consider.

The Bookseller of Kabul

The Bookseller of Kabul was an interesting story. It gave me another perspective in regards to how women are still treated to this day. Women, along with men, should feel fortunate they do not have the restrictions in their lives like many people in Afghanistan and other middle east countries do. I could also apply ideologies studied in class to better understand situations in the story.

The Bookseller of Kabul

I like this book because I was able to learn about another culture and how they view women. I think that it is important to learn about different cultures in order to have a more open mind. This book helped  me become aware of how Afghan women are treated and how their role in society. I think that we have come a long way in the role of women here in the U.S. I think that with time the women in Afghanistan    roles will change and become more modern. I also didn't like when the girl was killed because she didn't fall in love with the person that of her social class and her parents didn't approve of him. I also didn't like how the parents get to pick the women's husband because I don't think that you can force someone to fall in love with another individual. I think if they are not in your social class you should not judged. Even though I did not agree with some parts of the Afghan culture I thought this book was interesting to read and become informed.

The Bookseller of Kabul

 The Bookseller of Kabul is an autobiographical novel who's story follows that of a relatively affluent Afghan entrepenuer Bookseller, Sultan, and his family, as experienced and told through Anse Seierstad's documentary stay with them closely followed and following the 9/11 attacks and the subsequent  American invasion of Afghanistan.
One thing that this book focused heavily on was the treatment of women and their place in conservative Islamic society. Right from the beginning it deals with this; With Sultan looking for another young wife in addition to his older one, presumably for reasons of the sensual type. I knew that   conservative Islam's treatment of woman was largely materialistic prior to reading this, but I didn't truly realize just how inanimate they are in the eyes of Muslim men until after. Marriages almost never have anything to do with intimate connections and have everything to do with procreation and housework. They're literally used as bargaining chips and currency.
Beyond this, his life  and the history of his work and book collection is told. From the ultra Islamic Muhajideen, to the Soviet occupation, the Taliban regime, and the American invasion. At one point he says something about how his book collection has been both allowed and sought after and also persecuted and burned during different regimes.
So far I have really enjoyed this book.

The Bookseller of Kabul

It is always fascinating to get an idea of how other cultures view things. In this case it's the treatment of women. I don't need to go into detail of how women are treated in other countries with respect to women in the United States. While our nation has had a history, in no way has it ever been as bad as in Afghanistan. Some of the traditions in Afghanistan would not stand in the United States. In Afghanistan, parents choose your spouse for you on the basis of their social status, in America that just does not happen. I look forward to the discussion on this book.

The Bookseller of Kabul

I really enjoyed The Bookseller of Kabul. I found it interesting and hard to put down once I started reading it. I like reading about how different the culture is half way around the world. We live in the same time period but if I was in Afghanistan, I would not be treated anywhere near how I'm treated now. It was kind of shocking to think that women are being sold as wives and don't have any say in it. I just couldn't picture that happening to me. 

The Bookseller of Kabul

I found that this book was well written on the parts that talked about the Afghan history and culture.  I learned a lot about how woman were looked at and how their roles were played being a wife to someone who had a rich family background and education.  Being an American we all have different views and traditions that are different than the Afghan culture in which in some parts I did not agree on.  For example in their culture the men have many wives.  Also I thought that the parents choosing who you love by the role they play in society is a little harsh.  I think love finds you and you should choose who you want to love no matter the money they have.  I didn't think it was right how they killed that girl just because she was seeing someone who her parents did not approve of.  I did enjoy the book but just because we all grow up differently we all have different views on how woman and love.

The Bookseller of Kabul

I thought this book was good. I like how it showed how women are treated and I’m glad I don’t have to been looked down upon as women living in America.  Though women in America weren’t as respected back in the day it is nowhere as close as how bad the Afghan women are treated.  Overall it was an eye opening book, but I kind of knew a little about their society from when I’ve seen over the years on the news.

The Bookseller of Kabul

I really liked the novel. I thought it was one of the more interesting things that we have read in class so far. There was several points of the book that I liked, but my favorite was how the author put a spotlight on how women were, and still are, treated in Afghanistan. It was really interesting to me to see how different day-to-day life is between Afghan and American women.

The Bookseller of Kabul

So far I found this book really interesting to read. I like how the issues it presents aren’t presented in the way they are in articles. It’s weird reading about how other women in other societies and religions are treated, since we don't see it here in America. To think of a man having more than one wife, is strange, and to want another wife because one is too old seems a little bit harsh. But that's how it is in their society; however the women of the Islamic society do not seem ok about what is going unlike the men.

The Bookseller of Kabul

The bookseller of Kabul is an autobiography about Afghan entrepreneur bookseller. I really enjoyed reading this novel. It was cool because this is a huge part of history that I was part of. This book centers around the treatment of women and their place in society. Women are looked down upon in the Islamic society.

Star Trek

I have in fact never seen Star Trek, nor do I know much about in general. I found this article very interesting because I never knew the connections to the cold war and other political events. I never really was interested in it, but I've seen most of the Star Wars movies and enjoyed them. I think it would be a different place if writers could not write about the negative things in life like war, that way everything would be positive and propaganda would  not necessarily exist.

Star Trek and Politics

     I personally have never watched Star Trek because I thought it was kind of weird, but this article shed a different light on it and helped me view it differently. The question is brought up whether a world of peace  would be boring, because no one would be a hero. I thought this part was interesting because I don't people think of world peace in this light. I don't think this notion is accurate or in any way worthy of consideration, but interesting nonetheless. The article continues on to discuss the connection between Shakespeare and Star Trek, which seams a little random at first. They explain the use of some of Shakespeare's lines in Star Trek and what it could mean. I think this article is a bit long and wordy, but pretty interesting once you consider it.

Star Trek

Considering I’ve never watched Star Trek it was interesting to read this article. I never expected the show to tie to the Cold War so much. I know my mom watched it when I was younger and it surprised me that the show only lasted three seasons.

Star Trek

I personally never watched Star Trek, nor do I know any of the real background behind it. However, I did enjoy reading this article, it made Star Trek seem more interesting then from what my dad had told me. I did not know that Star Trek was tried into the cold war and other political controvies during that time.

star trek

I used to hate on star trek even though I have never taken the time to watch it. After reading the article I would like to watch star trek because it seems to have more of a meaning in the real world. There are definitely some similarities to the cold war and I would like to watch the show to see if I could understand the underlying meaning of some of the episodes.

Star Trek

I have never seen Star Trek, but I do find it interesting to think what would history be like if there were no wars or violence. I have seen Star Wars many times. Not only in school, referring it to government and politics, but because i actually like it. I have never really given Star Trek a chance.

Star Trek

I am somewhat familiar of Star Trek because growing up my dad would always watch it. I would glance over from time to time but never really understanding the meaning of it when I was little.  After reading this I learned a lot actually and did not really know its smililarity between the cold war. One of the things they talked about was history being dead which I think is false. History never dies it continues to grow because we build it and make it our own.

Star Trek

I have personally never seen Star Trek and am really not familiar with it at all so this reading was pretty confusing for me but I thought the most interesting idea in it was how they questioned if we didnt have war and bad things what would people have to write about. This really made me think, I feel as though its not the war and evil things that writers and painters really like to portray but rather what we have learned and taken away from those bad situations. I think writers would be just as well off without these things to write about because then they can just write about the good things in life.

Star Trek

I have never seen Star Trek or ever thought about watching it. I never knew that it actually had a deeper plot other than just a cool sci-fi show that had people floating around in space, after reading the article I actually learned that it was influenced by actually historical events and figures. The show actually talks about government and the problems in it. The article talks about the end of history, but not in the literary sense more in the sense of how government has changed so much. I am actually excited to see Star Trek this week in class and connect it to the article.

Star Trek

Personally, I am a HUGE Star Wars fan and I never really got into Star Trek. As a matter of fact, I've never seen any episodes at all. After reading the article and doing some further research, I can see how it was made parallel to the Cold War. The events in certain episodes have a direct correlation to the events of the Cold War.

Star Trek

Overall, I was pretty confused with the reading this week. I have never once watched Star Trek, and I don't know anything about it, so I was confused when the author began to refer to characters and situations from the series. Once I could get past the names though, I understood the general points about how there were similarities between things that happen in our own world and Star Trek. I also really liked how the author talked about the connections that could be found back to Shakespeare. I agreed with the author's points about how the relevancy of Shakespeare and others will continue regardless of how long time goes on.

Star Trek

This reading was very interesting, but I found it extremely hard to follow because I have never watched Star Trek before so the use of the story in the text confused me. I think how the put history into context was really cool. They said that history ended and not because history stopped happening, but because we reached freedom and achieved a democratic government, and that was what they thought the means of history was all about.

Star Trek

I have never seen Star Trek so I learned a lot about the show from the very beginning of the reading. I find it interesting that that the show is about the collapse of Soviet Union in outer space. The reading talks about "the end of history". History didnt end in the sense of events happening but history has ended because freedom, democracy and representative government has been recognized all over the world. Also the reading talks about how there is a lot of Shakespeare used throughout Star Trek. I find the quote "no matter how electronic it all becomes, great literature will still exist" I find this very true because even after hundreds of years great philosophers writings are still relevant to this day.

Star Trek

So, like others, I have never watched Star Trek, I have always been a Star Wars fan. From the start of this reading, it's thrown out that Star Trek was influenced by the Cold War, and Shakespeare. But what had me thinking was "the end of history" that was thrown in; that history had stopped around the 19th century or in that time. I think that's ridiculous, history has never stopped and never will until there are no more living things to have a history of. I'm not sure whether they were referencing something to the show or what but the idea of history stopping is very odd. I do wish that the article would have given more of a background of the show before going into the main points of the reading. Overall, I think the writers of Star Trek mirroring the Cold War was a very effective way to get a story line.

Star Trek

I have never really watched Star Trek so I did not know anything about it. Right from the start they introduce ideas of the Cold War and Shakespeare. It would have been nice to have a little more background on the show. As they went more into depth on the show and its connections I found myself more confused because I had no idea who the characters were. It was confusing for me to read this article. However, I did get a few points from the reading. They talked about the "end of history". I do not agree with this. History is always happening because everything we do is history. The author also made connections between democracy which linked the show to the US. Star Trek does not see it the same as the US does because their mission is "to seek out new civilizations and destroy them". I thought it was weird that that was their goal if they try to have a democracy. Heroism was brought up in the article along with Shakespeare. Although I have not seen it, from what I read Shakespeare was quoted until one person died, which signified the end of a type of monarch or ruler.

Star Trek

First, let me say that I have never watched Star Trek before. So I've had to do a little research before reading the article for the week. Besides, I'm more of a Star Wars fan. I did not know until reading this article, that Star Trek had such a parallel with the Cold War. In Star Trek VI I believe it was, when the Klingons suffered an event that was similar to Chernobyl, that they collapsed and were no longer a major threat to the United Federation of Planets. After that, the crew of the Enterprise began to question their usefulness and ultimately, their purpose. This can be related back to our current military situation in the United States. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the US was left standing as the sole superpower of the world. Even so, we can continued to increase spending on our military, despite spending more than the next 10 countries combined. (Figures here may be off a little.) This has perked my interest in Star Trek and I look forward to watching it and seeing more correlations.

The End of History

I never realized that Star Trek had historical parallel  but that is also partly due to the fact that Star Trek was before my time (The series, not the recent rendition that entered theaters a couple years ago) But I think it is interesting how they say we have reached the end of history by establishing a democracy is most of the industrialized countries, which we all know have most power and authority in the world. I am not sure that I agree with the idea of the world reaching a goal (end of history) and history ending, because of two reasons. 1. I do not believe in perfection, and i believe we must always strive to make ourselves better, whether it is individually, or nationally, or even internationally. and 2. Because of my disbelief in perfection, I believe that History has proven that humans are in no way perfect, so because of human flaw, people will always mess up and there will always be wars.

Star Trek Politics

This reading shows the connections in Star Trek and Shakespeare. Personally, I have not seen the original Star Trek, so I will be more able to speak on the connections to the Cold War and the implications of  war on the human condition and the works that we have produced. One of the biggest points that was made was how the heroes become, in a sense, useless once there is no threat of war with the Klingons. This is then related to works such as Shakespeare that were produced in times and views of war and conflict. It raises the question: If there was no war or no conflict, would the world be less interesting? Would writers find less to write about, and artists less to create? I think that this is true to some extent. Conflict, in any regards, is one of the main creative sparks. If people didn't feel pain in such a way, things wouldn't be as powerful. However, it does not take in to account the positive creativity such as love stories, etc. However, I do feel like it is an insightful and thought provoking question.

Feminizing the Economy

I really enjoyed this reading because it talked about how woman are equal. Back in the day woman did not have as many rights as men and were treated as a secondary status.  Today woman have the chances to be able to have more rights like vote.  There are still some circumstances in which woman are not as equal, but maybe one day woman will be give the chance to be seen to be just as equal as men.

Feminizing The Economy

I liked this reading because it talks about women's rights more and how it relates to the economy. Its sad to think that we didn't have as many rights back in the day, but its getting better. Women are now having higher positions in the work force.

Rubin

I really liked how Rubin fought and compared her ideas on feminism in society with the ideas of others. I don't think its necessary to have a revolution to equalize men and women but I see nothing wrong with women fighting for equal rights. The role of women in society has changed so drastically over time, but even so, women and men are not equal.

In some way, I think de Bouvior was right in calling women the Other. After all, we are different from men, but from the woman's perspective the men are the Other. It's just the way biology is set up. It would work against biology for men and women to be viewed completely equal because in order to make women and men equal we would have to view them as the same, which we aren't.

Feminizing The Economy

This was another interesting reading regarding women’s rights. Its unfortunate the way women were restricted from so many social and work opportunities in century’s prior. Even to this day women still fight for their rights, to party; and be seen equal in society. I agree with the writer, women should not be less powerful than men and they should have the same opportunities. Many more women are independent and need to be treated equal in order to make it financially. 

Rubin

Feminising the Economy

This reading gave an interesting perspective on the economy. Women have become much more influential in recent times . Women are not equal in the work place yet but they are making huge strides and eventually will become equal with men.

Feminizing the Economy

 I agreed with the writer, women should not be looked at as less powerful than men. The population would not survive if it weren't for women. I think some men need to understand that women are now just as equally important to society as males. There are women now in very high up positions all over the world working harder than a lot of men do. There is no need for a "revolution", because women have already proved that they can work the same positions as males in today's society.

Feminizing the Economy

This reading was very interesting. I have always been really interested in womens' rights and this reading gave me a lot of information. Women have become very much more independent than they were in centuries before. When it comes to men and women being equal in society I think that women are slowly progressing and that one day they will be equal. Early feminist would be happy to see how women are evolving in society.

Feminising the Economy

I found this reading to be interesting. I agree with what was said in the first section, metaphors of economy, that what women used to do while they stayed at home helped the economy in its own way. Marx said that they were important for social reproduction and economic production while others saw it as unimportant. I personally think that women who stay at home are helping the economy and society because they raise children and teach our future generations. The diagram of the cake was very helpful to look at. It showed the different sectors of the economy. The top half is more business oriented and the bottom half is more about nurture. I think the setup of the diagram is important because it shows that without the mother nature and the "love economy" aspects in society, you cannot have the big businesses and the private sectors.

Rubin

I thought that this reading was interesting, but also a little outdated. Rubin's ideas of women's need for equality were progressive at the time, but are now obvious. This reading shows just how far women have come in the time since this was written. Gender equality is something that, in this day and age, seems to be guaranteed, but in Rubin's time it was a luxury to be treated as an equal to men.

Feminising The Economy

I thought this reading was interesting and I liked how it had diagrams to explain what they were trying to say which was helpful. In the introduction I agree with that women did depend on men much more than they do now in the 21st century. Many women can provide for themselves and dont need a husband to provide everything for them. I see this as one of the main reasons why divorced is increasing. I found the diagram of the cake to be interesting. It makes sense, without the bottom two layers the private sector and the offical market could not exist. Basically the reading explains how women are more important than some may think.

Feminising the Economy

I like this reading a lot because it talks about the role of a women. When it was talking production it was referring to the role of a women in the 50s. Now I strongly believe that this has changed a lot. Just like the reading that Rubin wrote this is talking about about empowering women and how we should have a bigger role in society. I think this is true I think we should be treated as equals toward men and not inferior to them especially when we are doing the same job that is just not fair. As, we are seeing now the roles of women and men are changing in terms of a stay-at-home mom. Now we have stay-at-home dad. I agree that we has women can do it all like work and be a good mom.

Feminising the Economy

I think that this reading was very interesting. I always am interested in reading about the ways women used to be treated and they had to go through to get us where we are today. I personally am so happy that I don't have to be a woman that hardly ever leaves home. I am glad that I now have the freedom to go and do as I please. Even though there are still some ways that men have advantages over women, it is no where near how it used to be and for that I am very thankful.

Rubin

When I read this I'm thinking more of now than what it was like when she wrote it so I feel like she's almost over exaggerated. There might have been oppression at first but now our society has equal opportunity. There may be some oppression in relationships but that's not a general thing. I feel like it's a lot different now then what it was. 

Feminism in the Economy

I found this piece to be pretty interesting, specifically the part about "production v. reproduction." In the 50's this concept fits perfectly and was accepted by most, I think. Some people still choose to live this way or view men and women's roles this way. I do not. I personally can't wait until the day I have my first child but I will certainly work and have a rich social life outside of my home. Women will never been seen as equal to men, that's just the sad truth, but in ways we have many attributes and skills that men will never have to be able to do, and I think it's hugely important that women realize this and still achieve what they want to achieve in life, while being an awesome Mom and wife.

Rubin

I found this article somewhat interesting to read. Women have always been oppressed in soceity and still are in some small way or another. But despite all of the attempts to be seen as equal, women will still be oppressed in one way or another. This article brought up a lot of interesting points when it comes to womens rights and how they are treated by society as well as their husbands, fathers, and brothers.

the sex gender system

"The sex gender system" is the set of arrangements by which a society transforms biological sexuality into the products of human activity" (page 159) i agree with Ruin in disagreeing with that idea. I don't believe that you should ever do something just because you are a man or a woman. If you are born a woman you should have just as much of a right to run for president as any other person. Obama is an example, until this era we had never had a black president and now that we do have one i feel like the racial/sexual prejudices and stereotypes can be put to an end.

Rubin

I think that she had some good points about inequality and stereotypes, but I dont think a revolution is necessary. I think that like anything, once its decided by the majority that change is required, it takes a while for trends to change. Things have been getting better for women; its a work in progress, given some time, it ill fix itself and there wont be any bad blood or hard feelings. That's not to say that women should accept inequality when it is presented to them, just that in general, its takes a while for change to become complete.