Welcome...and initial guidelines...

This blog will be used in the spring of 2008 by 80+ students at Drexel University to investigate the effects of Iraq on culture and the reverse. Our goal will be to better understand why the US is in Iraq, and to question whether literature can help us on this journey.

Weekly plans and other materials will always be posted in Vista, not this blog. So go to Bb Vista to get the discussion prompts and other instructions.

I intend this blog to manage our discussions and track our collective investigation.

You should have received an email from me inviting you to become a contributor to this blog. The email was sent Monday afternoon to your official Drexel email address.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Friends Affected

Personally, no one from my immediate or extended family has been directly affected by the war. But to say we haven't been affected at all would be a lie. Any war, in any country, affects the citizens along with the economy. The fact that about 4000 soldiers and over a million Iraqis have died makes me sick to my stomach . Several of my friends from high school were in Iraq, a few are still there. One of friends after returning said, "It's a place you never want to go". One of my close friends recently dropped out of college and enlisted in the army. Since he's still in training, he hasn't seen first hand what it's like. It's scary to think about how at any given moment, anything could happen. Although I'm worried about something happening to him, I have a lot of respect him and his decision to join. He said school wasn't for him, and this way he could do something worthwhile and help our country. I never once thought about joining because I never felt any urgency to. I never felt like there was anything worth fighting for. Every time Bush speaks about the war there's a new excuse for why we're still there. We're losing our friends and family because all they are to Bush are pawns in this game. And though over half the country dislikes him, and even more disagree with the war, he is still commander in chief.

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