Last Year

Coming into this course I had no idea what to expect, besides the obvious. I obviously knew that we were going to be talking about 9/11 and the cause and effects of it. But I did not know what we would talk about after that. I found it very interesting to hear the people on the plane trying to stop the attackers from taking the plane down. 

The books that we read were also very interesting and I really enjoyed reading them. 

Going into the class this year, I was very interested in finding out how we were going to discus this further. I am still interested where the class is going to end up. 

Mapping Afghanistan

I took a good look at some maps and images of Afghanistan and it seems like it has its positives and negatives. Afghanistan is a very mountainous country full of dry land with limited fresh water. From what I learned, the Afghanistan's land is full of minerals like gold, silver, copper, zinc, etc. However, there was a piece of information that struck me as a bit surprising. I did not know that Afghanistan was home to some petroleum and natural gas reserves. Obviously we all know the Middle East is a major source of the globe's oil supply, but the ones I just mentioned remain unused due to the Soviet conflict and the civil war that followed.

After looking at some pictures of the country, it appears to be a beautiful country geologically. There are many mountains with sweeping views. But this scenery is offset by the the pictures muddled by combat. The country is in obvious turmoil and things are not easy for anyone over there. Some pictures promote peace while others are directly opposite.

I think the map basically explains how desperate Afghanistan really is...It is next to Iran, a country full of nuclear suspicion. Also, if I remember correctly from Olivia's lesson Monday, Afghanistan was/still is home to Al Qaeda forces. And as everyone knows, the Middle East has more than its fair share of conflict globally and internally. I just think the pictures I saw say a lot about the culture; they are looking for peace, but peace is hard to come by in such a historically conflicted country.

Blog 1

As many have said this to is my first blog. In last years class i learned a lot of new material. I learned a lot more about both 9/11 and the Iraq war. one of my favorite things that we did in class was read 102 minutes. I like how the book walked us through different things that were happening as the buildings were falling.

This semester i am wanting more of the same. I am excited to learn about the Afghan culture. One thing i really want to learn more of in the class is the reaction of the people of Iraq and Afghanistan towards the war on terror.

My First Blog

This being my first blog ever I am really unsure of what to say. Everyone else has said so many great things it's hard to reach the standards they set.
I remember choosing this pathway class not really knowing what a pathway was. And after taking it first semester of 2007, I better understood what a pathway was. It is a class that broadens your perspective on life and the world. I left the class with a better understanding and greater insight into the world of September 11th and the War on Terrorism. It was great to see it all from the perspective of the American people as a whole through news reports and articles. The class really added to what little I knew as a child experiencing the attacks.
While I was taking the first session of the class I learned that a close friend of mine who is in the Marines was going to be sent to Afghanistan. I felt that the class addressed the issues over seas to a point but not as in depth as I had hoped. I really wanted to know what was going on over there so I could understand what he was getting into.
Now a year or so later, he was moved with his platoon to Kuwait. I've received a few phone calls from him while in Afghanistan, talking about the experience and saying that he was safe but could hear bombing and gunfire in the distance of his base(very scary). It would be very interesting to get a hold of a book or a document that is a compilation of soldiers accounts of the War on Terror.
I feel that this class will help me to better understand what is going on overseas. It will be exciting to focus more on Afghanistan from the perspective of the people there. Already researching Afghanistan I find many points of interest like the President Hamid Karzai, Ahmed Shah Massoud, and the RAWA. Another interest is how our new US President will deal with the war, hopefully in a more positive light than the past.
I am very excited for another semester of learning. And Ihope this blog meets the expectations.

9/11 Revisited

I cannot believe that it is already time for the second portion of this course!

When choosing a pathway, the concept of September 11^th sparked my interest because it was something that I was present for in history. Upon entering this course once again, I look forward to being able to learn more about the Afghan, Iraqi and those who reside in Iran. This class first semester was one that I really looked forward to because while I knew clearly what happened on that day, it was very interesting to know and perhaps fathom what those who were involved must have felt like. When we did our presentations in this class, I was lucky enough to be able focus on the aftereffects of 9/11, predominantly in terms of health. As a nursing major this was tremendously interesting.

Now, the year is 2009 and within our own history a lot has changed. One that sticks out in mind is the recent inauguration of a democratic president, Barak Obama. While I have played close attention to his campaign and the presidential race because this year was my first year to be an active voter, I can honestly say that what is currently going on in the Middle East puzzles me. I am very excited to learn more about those who have been affected by the events subsequent to 9/11, who may not live on US soil. Also, I am looking forward to seeing Obama’s plans unfold and see what effects it was have on the Middle East as well as American people.

As a nursing student, in preparation for today’s course I focused on the women in Afghanistan; their rights and also the way the health care system treats them. When researching I was reminded that the Afghan women are not to be seen without a man present unless they are widowed. However, I also found that approximately 50 women a day die in childbirth and the reason for this is simple. According to the Taliban, women are simply not allowed to see and be treated by male doctors. So, they must seek health care from midwives only, who know very little compared to a doctor. Also, in regards to women’s rights because of the laws set in place mental health and overall health has decreased.

See you in class! :-)

Back in Pathway class

As others have already said, this is my first time ever posting in a blog, and if I'm as good at this as I am in many other of life's tasks, then it should be a walk in the park.

I remember visiting Colby-Sawyer before I had made my decision to attend, and being told about the uniqueness of Colby-Sawyer's pathway program.  I remember being interested in the sound of it, but not thinking about it again until I came before the year started to meet with my academic advisor and set up classes.  When he mentioned what I was thinking about for a potential Pathway class I was caught off guard.  I was given a list of the available choices for our year and was told to choose my top 3 choices because most of the time students would not get into their top choice.  "Since September 11th" immediately caught my eye and I knew I wanted to be a part of this class.  I had trouble choosing 2 other choices, and hoped I would get lucky and get into my first choice.   

The events that occurred on September 11th changed the world as we know it.  Some saw September 11th as a necessary event because they did not agree with the values that the United States abides by, other more reasonable people were able to see that killing thousands of innocent people is not a fair way to deal with problems.  Seeing videos of people in foreign countries celebrating the deaths of thousands of Americans angered and saddened me.  I guess that at that age I could not fully accept that my views of the world were so different from so many people.  Saying that September 11th changed my life in a negative way would obviously be an understatement that everyone in the class can respect, but it also gave me a new sense of the problems in our world and how life really was.

Freshmen year Pathway class went pretty much how I expected it to go.  I was glad we were able to progress through the events, starting out by looking at the events of the day, and then studying the after-effects of the attacks.  There was one part of first year class that stood out to me as being the most interesting, and that was the conspiracy theories of September 11th.  Now before I offend everyone, I did not find them interesting because I believe that the former President of our country planned out the attacks on our country, I just found it incredibly interesting that there could be so many strange occurrences that suggest that it is even a possibility.  That was the reason I did my final project last year on conspiracy theories.  

What do I expect of this year's course?  I am coming into class with an open mind,  hoping to come away with as much information as I did last year.  I appreciate the opportunity to be able to learn about a current event that is so interesting to me.  I think that the electing of a new president just months ago will change the way we analyzed many things last year in class.  I am excited to learn more about the effects of religion on the events, and the wars that occurred/are occurring because of 9/11.  I am going into class with an open mind about everything, and am excited to see where this semester takes us as a class. 

blog 1 jan 26

I am very excited to start off a new semester of pathway. Last semester was very interesting, and I enjoyed learning this material. I really liked hearing the stories from survivors who were in the World Trade Center buildings when the planes hit, although, sometimes, they were very sad. I remember learning about how the terrorists carried out their plan. It had been planned out for a very long time. This was an unfortunate series of events. I could never imagine being able to jump from a burning building, and it is awful that so many innocent people had to die this way. I will always remember learning about these dreadful happenings.

For this blog, I wanted to research a little about the Pashtun people. This population of people mainly lives in Afghanistan. There are about 42 million people in this population. They are an ethnic group that is very segmented from other tribes and clans. Most Pashtuns follow the Sunni Islam religion. There was very little information about how these people were connected with the events of September 11th.

I also chose to learn a little about Hamid Karzai. He is the current President of Afghanistan. Karzai was a member of the Mujahideen. He tried to drive the Soviets out of Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion in the 1980s. I would like to learn more about him and his involvement in what happened on September 11th.

See you tomorrow!

Second Pathway Course

As many of you have stated, this class immediately struck my interest and was one of my favorite classes first semester last year. It has become obvious that the September 11th attacks will forever hold a place not only American history, but world history. Our generation was particularly effected by this event, as it was a defining moment in our lives not only then, but with the preceding actions of our nation and that of other nations that has occurred. Through the first portion of this class, I was able to obtain a better grasp on the events that led up to September 11th, as well as the actions committed by the terrorists organizations on the WTC, Pentagon, and Pennsylvania crash.

One portion of the class that I found interesting last semester (and hope to learn more about) was the refugee situations of the Shiites and Kurds. The film "If turtles could fly" was particularly intriguing, in part due to the forced maturity level that the children had to undertake in order to survive in their turbulent atmosphere. I hope to expand on topics similar to this throughout this semester. Another area that I would like to explore is RAWA (Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan). I was unaware of this organization until recently, but with its work concerning women's rights,  human rights, and social justification, I find this group both effective and established under justified grounds.

A final topic that interests me is the implementations of President Obama's administration concerning the war in the Middle East. It will be interesting to see the actions of a new president and administration collaborating with other world leaders concerning the Iraq war and foreign affairs.

The Second Half Begins...

Hey everybody, this is my first blog entry as well so I am giving it my best shot. 

I originally chose this class for my pathway because I was interested in learning more about the events that unfolded that day and the subsequent events that this terrible attack led to. I specifically remember where I was when I heard the news of the attack. This shows me that it was an influential moment in my life that stood out to me. I also remember that I did not fully understand what happened and why everyone seemed in such a panic and on high alert. At the time I was only 12 and really just  knew that the World Trade Center was the buildings in New York. I knew that this was a terrible tragedy to have those lives lost, but at the time I honestly thought it was an accident had no idea what would come of the events that unfolded on September 11th 2001. Therefore, I decided that I wanted to learn more about what took place that day and also what led up to it. I thought taking a class in college would be a great opportunity to do just that.

In the first half of the course I felt that I learned a lot about the events that unfolded that dreadful day and how it affected different people. Hearing the survival stories really brought it to a more personal level. Seeing the movies and news clips really allowed me to have a better understanding since I did not see them when the actual event took place, due to my age.

There are also some new topics I would hope to discuss and learn about in the second half of the course. I am very interested in following Obama’s plans for the country in his very crucial first months of office. I want to see how he deals with our situation in the Middle East. I anxiously try and follow our military plans and actions because my cousin, whom I am very close with is in the army and is scheduled to go oversees in September. I think having information and a knowledge of what is being planned and taking place will help me be better able to deal with having to watch him go.

After doing further research I agree with Megan that an important aspect to focus on is the religion and culture of the Middle East and how that comes into play. I feel that those two go hand in hand for the Middle Eastern countries as religion is such a vital part of their lives. It is a major influence on the people and it definitely played a role in the September 11^th attacks.

It has been nice reading what everyone has wrote so far and I feel everyone has some good ideas and it sounds like there are going to be a lot of interesting topics to discuss this semester. I am looking forward to seeing how it plays out. Also like everyone else, a little unsure of the expectations of this blog, so hopefully this works!

I hope everyone had a good weekend and I will see you in class on Monday. 

The Journey Continues...

Well I have never blogged before so here is my first attempt, not sure how good it is going to be!

when we all first got to Colby-Sawyer I was really excited my first semester I did the best! I enjoyed all of my classes and my favorite was Since 9/11, now I know you may not believe that because that is what i am supposed to say, but honestly it was. I loved learning abut the backgrounds surrounding the attacks. 9/11 Was a terrible thing and this class was a very great class that taught us all about the things behind the attacks, the who, why, and how. when I say how I don't mean well they flew airplanes into buildings I mean how they got the knives and tickets and all the logistics sorted out to be able to carry out the attacks.

I also took comparative religion and that class really helped me understand the Islamic point of view and ideas that may have influenced the attacks in greater detail. I am very happy that we are all together again I look foreword to learning more about this issue.

The middle east has completely changed since the last time we met. We have a new President and this should also be good for us because as the term is well known from FDR's presidency "the first 100 Days" where he had the new deal one of the most productive 100 days in the US Governments history. for the last 6 or 7 months my father has been saying "Dan i want you to read the book The Defining Moment: FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope." and I keep saying yea yea yea dad i will. and in the last week he has URGED me to read it because he believes Obamas cabinet will be as productive as FDR's was (I have started reading the book so he is happy now). and it seems very interesting but that is totally off the subject of the blog!

Anyway I am glad we are all back and I look foreword to learning about Afghanistan Iraq and Iran and other issues we will be studying

Take 2

So I guess I might as well jump on the wagon and try this! So here goes nothing!

 

Last fall I learned a lot in this class. I have always been curious about the events around September 11^th. Last year I learned a lot about the people who had survived the attacks and it did give me a different perspective on things. All of us are lucky to be where we are at in our lives. Last fall I learned to seriously consider sources from outside the United States. Some of these sources can put totally different spins on the event or story being covered. I will say that in the last year being busy as always I have not followed the Middle East as closely as I would have liked to. I am the type of person if something confuses me I am going to try twice as hard to figure it out.

 

            This time around I am still puzzled by some of the things that go on in the Middle East. I think that one thing I would enjoy focusing on is the culture. I think back to this fall and how former President Bush had the shoes thrown at him. It is one of the biggest insults that you can receive in the Arab world. Culture is extremely interesting to me. I think that understanding the culture of a country is the first step in truly understanding the country. I think that there is so much that we don’t know about the Middle East that we are forced sometimes to make uninformed judgments about the people and often times the religion. So many of the feelings that people have toward Muslims are based off of ideas that are as extreme as the feelings that many people generate.

 

Religion is another thing that I have always been interested in. I think it comes back to the Idea of having a deeper understanding. The last thing that I expect to learn some more about is the attacks themselves, and the actions that led up to them. At the end of the semester last year I feel like we had only begun to see the web of events that led up to 9/11. I think that there is more to be learned about the people, and the events that led up to the attacks.  I think it would be interesting to see how the attacks affected other countries outside of the US and countries other than one in the Middle East. I would like to know how the rest of Asia and Europe saw the attacks and what it caused in those countries. I think back the Madrid train bombings and the London bombs that took place shortly after the 9/11 attacks.

 

Ok so like everyone else I have no idea how long these are supposed to be so I hope this is good enough.

See you all in class. Take Care! 

Pathway 2nd Time Around

Hey everyone, it is good to be back in pathway again! This is only my 2nd time using a blog with the first taking place in high school so here it goes!

The expectations for myself haven't really changed from last time...It's always important to get information from as many sources as possible, especially sources from the Middle East. The good thing about this pathway is we don't always rely on information from just American-based sources. I think that was the key in finding the information we did on terrorists, their country of origin, and how religious beliefs propelled them to carry out 9/11 and other terrorist attacks. But learning about the attack itself and the stories from survivors is really what got me interested in this course. Reading about their perspectives inside the Twin Towers was incredibly dramatic and made for some very imaginative reading.

Overall, my expectations have not changed too much for the course. In Fall '07, I wanted to learn about both sides of the attack. I would have to agree with Mike in saying I did not pay enough attention to the major Middle Eastern countries. I think it is important to understand exactly where these countries are at today. After all, it is our future and we need to realize there is a world outside of our own.

I think a major part to this pathway is reliable information. News conglomerates everywhere have their stage set for what coverage works best for them. I hope the text, films, and interne websites we use as a class will lead to non-biased information that we can utilize.

After lookign through the web for a bit, I became interested in the ways of Middle eastern Culture. I found a website that introduces basic customs of Middle Eastern life; it presented a pretty understandable outline. One last thing that I find very important is the Muslim life. For the most part, Americans have il feelings toward Muslims due to the terrorists who carried ot 9/11. But tis would not be true if we as a nation better understood the Middle East as whole. Not all Muslims are extemists like those who have hatred for America. They have visions of peace and they do not involve ruining the Western world.

I hope this blog went ok! I will see you guys in class!

We are rolling!

I am finding this very exciting. This is certainly the first blog I have set up. You know
my clumsiness regarding technology. It is great that this has worked. Thank you Mike and Sara for kicking it off. It was a pleasure to read you there.
Olivia

What To Expect in Pathway

Just like Sarah stated in the last blog post, this is my first attempt as well at writing a blog so here goes nothing!

Since the fall of 2007 I have definitely had a new perspective on many personal responsibilities I have had to take on since being introduced into the collegiate lifestyle. I have learned what types of changes there are in living outside of the usual household setting. I have learned the new responsibilities that go with it as well. While sometimes I have failed at these responsibilities I still continue to learn from the mistakes. One obstacle I have faced is paying attention to the events that are happening around me. I was never fond of the news because I always found it depressing to watch or it would be about issues such as budget cuts and the changes in the stock market. Those things never really had an impact on me growing up because I never had to think about those types of things. Now realizing that in a few years I will be off on my own, it is imperative that I start to focus on what is going on in the world. The first item that caught my mind was the presidential election and how it could impact me in the next four years.

One of the mistakes that I made in following the news was not keeping a close eye on the events in Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, and many other countries that are fighting on a daily basis. When I try to read some of the stories about such items as the Gaza conflict I am left wondering what led to this? This semester I am hoping to learn about what has happened since September 11^th and more importantly what has happened since we last met in the fall of 2007. What have we done to help the people in Iraq? What is the next step the U.S. will take in trying to garner peace with these countries? These are the types of questions I have had and I will be looking for some answers.

Being able to find this information is not very difficult thanks to the internet and search engines, however there are some negatives when it comes to these types of sources which have left me skeptical on the truth of the stories published. Media outlets such as ABC, CNN, and Fox News all have their own agendas and all have had different takes on particular events. These news sources have been flooding the public with ideas that we were making great progress when we first made it into Iraq. Little did we know that the U.S. wasn’t making much progress and the ideas such as “Weapons of Mass Destruction” might have been false. I saw a show on PBS about how the armed forces are struggling with their plan for peace. Some might even suggest we might have caused more chaos by going into Iraq and those places than if we had not gone to war. Being able to get a timeline about the key events that have happened over seas is definitely something I am interested in looking up and something I am sure that will be discussed in class as well.

Over the past year a lot has changed and there is still more change on the horizon as well. Being caught up on past events definitely helps us shape what is going on today. September 11^th is one of millions of events that have changed the way of life in America and it still has effects today. Being able to put all the pieces together is definitely my number one priority going into this class.

Hope you enjoyed my first attempt at a blog post and hopefully it wasn’t too long or boring to read. Until next time take care!

Blog 1 1-22-09

Well cheers to my first blog ever!

To be honest, my expectations for the first semester of our Pathway Since September 11th were considerably high. I learned more than I ever though possible, and not only did I learn about September 11th, I understood 100% more about the events that lead up to the disaster and the aftereffects as well. For this semester, I am looking forward to learning a bit more about current events in Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq. Hopefully, even touch on the crisis in Israel and relate the forms of violence and religion to those of Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq etc. I am hoping to be able to "get into" reading the several books we have this semester as much as previous books, such as 102 Minutes and Tower Stories. I enjoyed watching Obama's speech and talking more about it in class, and I hope we can continue to relate his plans for America into pathway, as not only does it interest me, it is a vital part of our future.

Your instructions on this blog were to "get on the web and research what interests you most about the course," and that is a very hard topic to pin-point. When I think of the word 'interest', I think of something that moves me, or particularly catches my attention. Reading about the survival stories and direct experiences hundreds of individuals had after September 11th was very moving to me. Because I was not 'directly' affected (eg., family member, friend etc.) by the attacks, reading about their stories helped make the tragedy even more real for me.

Although I did not do much research, I know where to look. Even reading a few other common blogs about the attacks, and the effects they had on the writers were devastating, yet also intriguing. Referring back to the books we purchased last year would also be a good help.

I have no idea how long these blogs are supposed to be, so I hope this will do.
Until next time, goodbye!