Blog Recap

Blog 1: Iraq and Me
When thinking about Iraq, and how it specifically affects myself and my immediate family, I cannot find a direct connection. In fact the only thing that I can think of is that it creates political discussions at my dinner table. No one in my family is in the military, and none of my friends are either. I actually don't know anyone in the military. The only correlation between Iraq and myself, that I can draw, is how the Iraq war has had an affect on our economy. Because The war has had a negative affect on the economy, except the industries involved in war production, it has put small business owners, such as my parents, at risk. Everything is driven by oil, and when oil prices increase, so do the production costs of pretty much everything. So my parents, who own a business that prints and sells various paper products, they have had a hard time because of rising supply of manufacturing costs. I also believe that this affect has been widespread throughout the country, but it particularly hits home, as this small business is my family's only source of income.

Blog 2: The oil crisis of 1973
As a result of the war of Muslim nations against the Israeli nation, OPEC decided not to ship oil to any countries that supported Israel. This created widespread panic and confusion in the US, as the supply of oil was greatly cut off. Gas stations were running out of gas, there were huge lines at pumps, and prices had gone up significantly. I can recall my mother talking about the event as a time of great uncertainty, you never knew if you were going to have enough gas that day. There was a system that was eventually instituted that stated that license plates ending on an even number could get gas one day, and license plates ending in an odd number could get gas the next day. For myself, it was hard to believe that people were limited to when they could gas up. I am so used to running my truck dry, and then filling up as I please. My mom also recalled that my grandfather had multiple license plates that he would switch on his cars, so he could get gas whenever, because he lived in Philadelphia but worked in Trenton, so he had a long drive everyday and needed the gas. During this time, it seemed as though it was a lot more uncertain than it is now about our gas situation. And I feel that if we were able to get through that, they we can survive the uncertainty that we face today.

Blog 3: No Country for Old Men, and the War on Drugs
The movie No Country for Old Men has been compared to the on going war on drugs, and it portrays how ineffective it is by showing the carnage that it causes and the ineffectiveness of law enforcement. But, the movie goes beyond just showing that, as it portrays this message in every character. Anton Chigurh, played by Javier Bardem, in himself represents drugs entering America. The actor, along with the drugs, shows no mercy in who it affects. He kills the rich, poor, old, and young. He remains anonymous, as everyone who sees him ends up dead, and the "drugs" has no representative face. At one point in the movie, he offers a flip of a coin to determine someones fate, and much like drugs, it is a flip of the coin chance to whether we are affected by drugs in some way. This character, the killer, in himself represents drugs and shows how difficult and almost futile it is to stop such a problem.

Blog 4: Hockey and the War Overseas
The connection that I made with pop culture and the war on terror, is that of Hockey. Hockey, in itself, is a battle. Two teams enter the rink, one as champions, and one as losers. for one hour of play, both teams us their own unique strategies to defeat the other. Much like war, they try to out wit each other and come away as the victor. But one thing also made sense to me in this connection, and that is the thought of home-ice advantage. In hockey, you are more likely to win at home than you are away, meaning that the home team has a natural advantage because they have more at stake. They are trying to please their fans, as well as add another win to their belt. This war that we fight overseas is much the same. The terrorists that we fight have a much higher advantage being in their own countries, and many times they have their countrymen cheering them on. At home you have much more to lose, but the away team, the US, can walk away and try again another day.

These have been all of my blogs posts so far for this term
-Joshua Albasi