Scavenger Hunt

    In the hunt that we made we took some photos of pop culture here in downtown Chicago. I had pictures for people, places, events and food. Here is the link for the photos and a description of each one.


* https://www.facebook.com/PopCultureFall2012?fref=ts

Arab Idol

     Arab Idol is an Arabic TV show. The concept of this show is ten young contestants from all over the Arab world are selected after many auditions, and should perform a song on stage in front of the public and the judges on the main weekly show every Friday. Then there is a 24 hour time period during which the viewers can vote for their favorites by SMS. The one who receives the least amount of votes is eliminated during the results show, and this every week, until there is one left. The winner receives various prizes, including but not limited to a recording contract with Platinum Records (recording label affiliated with MBC) for a debut album, and a Chevrolet Corvette. I really liked this show because it used to fill my time on Fridays. It’s also nice to see people from the Arab countries are being famous and are reaching their goals.

The Only Way To Have A Cow

     I really liked this reading it surprised me a lot. I've never thought that cow had a big effect on the atmosphere. I really liked the fact that being vegetarians would help the environment. Before, I didn't know that that cow’s gas had such a big effect on the atmosphere. I didn't know that eating less cows would cause us to feed less cows which would help our environment in a big way.

                                                                         

Paradise Now Movie Review

     There is no freedom without struggle. Somebody must sacrifice as long as their injustice. Freedom doesn't come from nothing. We have to fight for it and of course some people might lose their lives. Some children might not find even a mother or a father to wipe their tears away. That’s why they won’t cry, they feel scared but they won’t show their fears.

     Paradise now is a drama crime and thriller movie which is made by the director Hany Abo-Assad. The main characters are Ali Suliman (Khalid) Ashraf Brahoom (Saad) Hiam Abbass (Saad’s mother) Lubna Azabal (Suha) and Ameer Hlehel (Jamal). This movie was released on February 14, 2005. The story of this movie happened and is happening in Palestine. Childhood friends Saad and Khalid are designated to carry out a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv.

      The movie goes around two childhood friends who work together in the same job and have the same dream. They both had a dream of sacrificing with their lives for their country. They were chosen to make a suicide bombing in Tal Aviv. They only had one night to spend with their families and they have to leave without even saying goodbye. Saad was born and spend all his life in a refugee camp. His dad was a client to Israel. His dad left him when he was ten years old. People always pointed at him as the son of the client. This fact had a big effect on his life and made him always feel ashamed of his dad. Would they be able to go to Tel Aviv? Would they be able to do their mission? Watch on to find out.

Music

     These Times is my favorite song by the band Safetysuit. I usually don't listen to English songs but this song really grabbed my attention from the first time i heard it. It became my favorite English song because it kind of talks about our lives and the hard times that we might go through. It also gives me hope when he says "These times are hard, but they will pass." I really like the Pop/rock music.

Do I Look Like Public Enemy Number One

       Do I Look like Public Enemy Number One was the reading that I really liked. This reading made me think about myself and how people look at me just because I’m Muslim. It made me think about people and if they really see me as a public enemy. Another think that I thought about was what people thought about Islam and Muslims. I noticed how media has a really big effect on people’s thoughts and beliefs about others. I really liked how Lorraine Ali ended up regretting not knowing much about Islam and Muslims, another thing that interested me was how she became familiar with being an Arabic girl and she kind of likes it.

Cultural Identity

       Palestine is a country that connects the three continents Asia, Africa and Europe together.  Palestine turns out to be a country that has a great culture starting with both maps for Palestine and America than i had the flag for each country. After that I talked about food. I've chosen the popular Palestinian dish which is called "Mansaf". Mansaf is a dish made of lamb cooked in a sauce of fermented dried yogurt and served with rice. In my poster i mentioned Knafa is the Palestinian sweet. I picked Knafa because Palestine is very popular in making Knafa especially Nablus city. Jumping to popular Palestinian people or personalities that affected me in my life first the one is the first Palestinian president. He made lots of things to get peace for Palestine and Israel but sad thing that he died on Nov 11, 2004. Another person was Mahmoud Darwish was a popular Palestinian poet. Most of his poetries were about love and war over Palestine. Then i had my favorite singer and my favorite Palestinian dress. I mentioned the American fashion and makeup trends because we don't really find the good trends in Palestine. I also mentioned the fast food because in Palestine you won’t really find people who eat fast food as their lunch meal. Palestinians like homemade food more than fast food. 

Pop Culture

     Pop culture had influenced me a lot. Being surrounded everyday by music, media, people and places even by the language made me become familiar with it; and I kind of like it. I don’t think that I have changed since I came to the United States. I've been here for a year and ten months but I don’t see any changes in my personality or attitude. I can say that I somehow started to listen to different kinds of music, I tried different food but that didn't really make a big change to my life.  Taking this class made me become aware of a very important point which is losing my cultural identity. It’s really important to study other cultures but the most important thing is to keep your culture as number one.