HW 33: Respond to a Podcast

The title of the pod cast I viewed was Syria: Child Artist Dreams of Return to Baghdad. It is a part of the series called “Alive in Baghdad.” It was published on August 20th, 2007 and you can view it at http://aliveinbaghdad.org/2007/08/20/syria-child-artist-dreams-of-return-to-iraq/. The pod cast is about a middle school student, Sameer Muhammad, and his passion for art. His father, Muhammad Rubaie, appears in the pod cast and he says that though his son is in middle school, his artwork is comparable to a art student in college. Muhammad Rubaie seems like a typical father. He is proud of his son. He actually kind of appears to look like a typical American, rather than an Iraqi. He wore a black shirt, with some jewelry, and had long hair. He did not resemble a typical Iraqi, which was surprising, and refreshing. Sameer’s drawings are of ancient Iraq, filled with straw houses and ovens for bread. I’m not an expert in the field, but I think his work is very good. A viewer might learn that Iraqi’s aren’t AK-47 kamikazes who wear turbans and chant prayers every 15 minutes. We learn that these people are just like us. They have interests and hobbies and enjoy what they do. Compared with other videos about Iraq, this video is calming and refreshing. It’s memorable because I realized that Iraq’s are really decent people, like most Americans.