Dear Reader

First of all this is really a pleasure to me that people who are really professional in writing and reading will check my essays during this semester. My name is Mutaz and I'm from Saudi Arabia which means that English is not my native language. I have been here in the US for two years and half, and I'm planning to get the bachelor degree from this country. This semester I am still taking this class part II to develop my writing skills, and make them more academically. I wrote a lot of essays during this semester and the last semester, and I can see how my writing is developing. These essays have many different views.

The first essay was a little hard than the others because It was about a book that we have to read it and write about it. This memoir called the Persepolis. However, This was very helpful to me especially in this time since this memoir really describe what's happening now in the world. Also,  my case who's not a native English speaker because the reading will help me to develop my English language. In this essay I brought up the Syrian revolution to compare it with the Iranian revolution. This was a really challenging and beneficial essay to me.

The second essay was about the space. This essay was not that hard to me comparing to the first one, but I had to work hard for both of them. In this essay I wrote about the spaces that are important to people, and about my own space. This essay was very helpful to me, and it made me think about my space. I did some revisions to this essay to make it clearer.

In conclusion, my last essay was a narrative essay. This essay explained what I have gotten from this class. This class was very helpful class. This class is one of the classes that I feel the development in my skills right away I finished it. I learned a lot of things that I have no clue about them. One of the important one is that the formula of writing a letter. I was really happy to know this formula because I'm going to use it a lot. Finally I would like to thank you again for your time reading my file.

The Project Persepolis :

The Relationship Between The Revolution in Iran and Syria

                                                                                                          

      The revolutions all around the world are getting  attention from governments  these days. A lot of Arab countries went through this storm and some of them have passed through it and others still struggle. In 1979 a revolution took place in Iran called '' The Islamic Revolution''. People were separated. Some of them were in support with this revolution and got a lot of benefits because of their support to this revolution. Some people were suffering from the revolution because they did not support it. Anyone who was not with the government was killed or arrested. These facts come from a very little girl who was seeing these terrible things and reported them to the world by a memoir. This memoir describes every single moment in that time. It shows what this revolution did to their country and society. Also, how this movement was seen from her perspective as a small child who lived in that time. This memoir is called Persepolis written by Marjane Satrapi. The connection that I can see between that time and this time is that there are more children who are seeing the images of the revelation. The Arabic spring shows a lot of aspects that happened in the Iranian revolution. Some of these aspect are how people suffer during these revolution, how people could decide in which direction should they take, and soldiers thoughts and ideas during these revolutions.

        Persepolis shows very specific details about the suffering that the people had during the revolution. Also, Marjane describes how people are being executed and arrested by the government because they are seeking freedom. In the chapter ''The Sheep'' Marjane's hero uncle Anoosh was executed because he was asking for freedom.   Therefore, from the beginning of the book until the end people are suffering and being killed. Also, people were being tortured by the soldier or by people who were supporting the regime. A close friend of the family who was a prisoner visited Marjane's parents and told them some of what was happening in prison. He says,'' They whipped me with thick electric cables so much that this looks like anything but a foot''(51). therefore, the first relationship between the Iranian revolution and the Syrian revolutions came up from this suffer. People in Syria are having the same situation, but they are getting all kinds of attacks from the Syrian government. Women being kidnapped and raped, and children being killed because the Syrian government is afraid from the future of these children because when they grow up, they will start another revolution. Also, the most important relation between these two revolutions is that the killer and the people who execute the civilians are the same people who were killing in Iran in that time. Two months ago the free Syrian army arrested some of these killers and investigated with them and made them confess that they have been sent from the Iranian government to suppress the protesters and kill them. Therefore, these dictators cover their crimes by religions and justice. For example, the Iranian revolution called '' The Islamic Revolution'', yet they are not real Muslims, and they hate the real ones. Since I'm a Muslim and I know in what they believe in. most of the Iranian are called the ''Shaii Muslims'', and  their percentage is 10% of the Muslim around the world,  and they believe that all the other Muslims are not real Muslims, and they must be the roller of the middle east. The ''Shaii' have many different and strange believes different than the majority of the Muslims around the world.          

         When the revolution starts , people get confused whether they should join them or not. Marjane says,'' The revolution is like a bicycle. When the wheels don't turn, it falls''(10). Thus, people must decide which direction they should take or they are going to be lost between two groups. People must be on the right side , and choose the bright side to their county. Also, they should now know what is the right side that can protect their children on the future even though if they get killed, they must get their freedom. Also, the chapter '' The Water Cell'' shows what is the bad effect of choosing the right because when they choose freedom they will be killed or arrested, but the positive impacts is way more than the negative impacts.  

       Finally and the most important thing that may change revolutions upside down  all around the world is the army position. In the chapter'' The key'' most of the soldiers were not inside the country during the Iranian revolution because of the war against Iraq. Thus, people were protesting against the government during the war, so the police and some militias were killing the people who were protesting to suppress them during that time. Therefore, sometimes when the army recognizes what is really happening in their country, they may protect the people from their government. In the book Persepolis soldiers during the war had no goal or faith, so the government gave them some simples to help them out. the mother says, ''They gave this to my son at school. They told the boys that if they went to war and were lucky enough to die, this key would get them into heaven''(99). However, now in the Syrian revolution soldiers are defecting from the Syrian army and developing a new army called the free Syrian army. This army have created to protect the civilian people from the Syrian government or the Assad regime who's ruling the country. Therefore, that was the reason why the Syrian government united with the Iranian militias to kill the protesters and the defected soldiers. Thus, the faith that the free Syrian army has is way more bigger than the Iranian army had because one of them has a very noble goal and the other one has no goal.

         These are not all aspects that I can compare with, yet there are a lot more than these. However, by reading the Persepolis I have discovered a lot of things about the Iranian revolution that I had no clue about before. This memoir shows what a person could do, and how people can change the world. In addition, after the Arabic spring, we will get hundreds of stories, and a lot of heroes after these revolutions.      

                                  

The project Space:

The Space

    

         The word space means a lot to people who have lost their spaces because it's very important that person have his own space. Space is a place where a person can do whatever he likes and whenever he wants. The place maybe a religious place, historical place, socially place, or personal place. These places can help a lot of people to refresh their soul and bring happiness to their life, so we need to protect, and take care of these places. Almost everyone has his own space or his ''Sacred space''. This person must visit his space because this specific space makes him feel safe and comfortable. However, almost everyone has his own perspective with his place, so no one can feel his feelings with this place. I have seen and experienced this case with the students in this class through the presentations that we did in the class. I have seen a lot of spaces that mean a lot to them. Also, from the book Convergences I have seen on chapter ''Basket ball'' an image that applied some of these aspects where the children were playing on the street and they have created their own basket ball field, and how this small space bring happiness to their faces. Thus, whatever the place is since this place brings happiness to you, it is your space. Therefore, I have done some research and connection between some spaces and my own space.

       The Grove is a place that I have visited here in Los Angeles, and  I found in this space a lot of the aspects and features that I have seen in the class. I have chose this place because of many reasons. One of these reasons is because this space is being visited by a lot of people everyday specially on the weekend. Also, foreign people go to this place and see the amazing things in it. I believe that this space is a perfect space to fit in this project because in The Grove I can see where people can go and spend their time during the weekend instead of  going to night clubs or other places. As Jerry Stahl says about Los Angeles '' The truth: everything in this city exists as the opposite of it is faux self. So that despite the hype and blather it is not about the money, it is not about fame it is not even about entertainment. Not even close''(232). Therefore, this description from specific writer and from his own perspective shows some of the aspects about what the people think about Los Angeles.  The Grove is a public place, yet I can feel that everyone who's walking there and look around the place has his own personal space. The Grove does not really have a big history or a story to tell, but the meaning of the word ''The Grove''   is a place that gather all kinds of fruits in one place since it contains a lot of activities, stores, and entertaining stuff, so it's really great place to think about. I really found this place as one of the spaces that people can find their own space and his privacy in this space. The place that I have connected it with the grove is a place called ''ALthylh" this place is a street in my hometown Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This street has the same features that the grove has. People all over the country visit this place to see other people and spend the night together.

        My own space is actually a religious place. The place is the Mosque. This sacred place really brings happiness to me. I go to this place five times a day, so I can say that this place is my second house. I meet a lot of people, and different kind of social classes, so wealthy people and poor people are gathering in one place. Also, I meet people from different counties and we all of them speak the same language the Arabic language even though their native language is not an Arabic. Therefore, each neighborhood in my country is like one family. Thus, what I see in this space from my own perspective is that this space has all the perfect features that makes it the perfect space. Also, in the past mosques were not just places that people worship, yet families send their children to learn how to read and to write, so it is like a school in the past. However, now in these days, they just teach people how to read the holy book Quran. Also, in the holydays the whole neighborhood goes in the morning to the mosque to pray then congratulate each other. Thus, all these things happen in one place, and in the same time, so everyone knows what time he should be there. Also, this scared place was my space when I was child because I have done a lot of bad and good things, but what I can remember is that when I play soccer in the neighborhood, and I get tired after the game, I go to the mosque then I sleep for two or three hours until next pray time. Therefore, I think I have chose this space since I was a child. However, when I connect the mosques in my country and the mosques here in US, they are not very different, but I can notice similarity between these two atmospheres. Also, I can see  the similarities like the way it built and they way people act. Also, I can see the differences like the area of the mosques in my country are way bigger than here and full of people every day, and mosques in my country have outside speaker, so everyone can hear the calling of the prayer. These are some of the similarities and differences between the mosques here in the US and in Saudi Arabia. In addition, When I enter the mosques here in the US, I feel that all the people speak an Arabic even though I can see that they not from my country or from the middle east. That's why I chose this place to be my space.

         

     What I can see from all these spaces is that all of them are places that gather people in one place. Thus, everyone who has his own place and space is so lucky because he is having a space that makes him happier, so each one must take care of his space and protect it from anything that can affect it badly.  Everyone in the world should has his own space and place because he or she must need a privacy space to go to. Also, one of the important things about these places are that some of them celebrate holydays, so they really mean something to everyone.

The project Web:

 The last English Class

      Before I took this class, I thought that this class would be just a regular English class that teaches students how to develop their writing skills. However, since I am about to finish this whole course that started from fall 2011 until spring 2012, I think this class contains more than just developing students writing skills. This class is not just a regular English class as I thought. I have gotten a lot of benefits from this class, and I'm still getting more. Also, this class relates to my other classes in many ways. One of these is that I use a lot of skills that I learned from this class with my other classes specially the writing and the skills that really helped me to understand the subject and the main ideas. However, what I really notice in the end of class are the changes in my point of view on many things, and the differences that happened in my life and on my own perspective. Thus, I can analyze these changes in three points. The reflective of this class on my personal life, the advantages that I got, and the difficulties that I had.

      This class has affected my personal life and my point of view on many things. First of all, since English is my second language, and this class has taught me a lot of skills that I did not know before, I can say that these skills are the most beneficial things. After all of the subjects and the topics that we have explored, I understood a lot of things differently. One of these topics is the book Persepolis. After I read this book and saw the whole image of the Iranian Revolution, I changed my idea of this revolution. I clearly understand how people struggled in that time, and how it relates to these day's events. I'm really thankful because this class taught me about this subject because they are a lot of things going on now in the middle east similar of what happened in Iran that time. Also, in the last semester when I read the poem ''It's a Women World'', I thought that I will never understand this poem, but now I understand everything in that poem, and I wrote an essay about it. There were a lot of new aspects that I learned and I knew through the presentations that we had. I learned a lot things from my classmates through these presentations. Therefore, this class has given me a lot, and not just in one subject.

     There are a lot of advantages that I got from this class and through the subjects that we have studied. One of these advantages is that learning how to act. this class is not an acting class, but last semester one of our exercises was writing a scene involving the rhetorical appeals: logic ''logos'', emotion ''pathos'', values, ''ethos'' and credibility. That was my first  English scene I did in life. I learned a lot of things from this scene because we delivered this topic from the scene that we did. Also, in this semester we have done some presentations that help me very much in my education life because I have learned how to present in many ways during these presentations. Also, some of the advantages that I had from this class are the work sited. Now I really can label my sources for my essays very clear and avoid plagiarism. This will support the creditability of my essay during my college life here on campus. These are not all advantages that I had from this class, yet these are the most important things that will help a lot in my education life because writing is the most important thing here in college, so if I learned the writing skills perfectly, I will success in my college life.

      

      The difficulties that I had in this class were not a lot, but I had some from the last semester and this semester. In the last semester in the first two weeks I was struggling with the poem ''It's a Women World'' because it was the first time that I read an English poem in life, but after the two weeks I made it, and I understood every single word, and I explained everything in that poem. Also, I had some problems with the scene that I made with my group because it was my first English scene I did, but after I a lot of practicing we made it. In this semester I did not have a lot of issues because I already knew what we will do in this class and what are the goals of this class since this is my second course with the same professor, and this is another part of the last class. However, I had some problem with my reading because our first assignment in this semester was reading the book Persepolis during the vacation, yet in the last week of the vacation I made it, and I read the whole book. All these difficulties have been removed in the end of this because I found all the solutions that I need from this class through the subjects that we have explored, and these subject taught how to look differently to many things not just look to it from my own perspective. Also, practicing helps me a lot to solve these issues. 

    In conclusion, this class is my last English class, and I learned more than just the English language because of the topics and the subjects that we have been through were not just learning skills about writing or reading, yet we have been through many types of topics and subjects.                   

  

                                                    The last English Class

      Before I take this class, I thought that this class will be just a regular English class that teaches students how to develop their writing skills, yet since I am about to finish this whole course that has started from fall 2011 until spring 2012, I think this class contains more than just developing students writing skills. This class is not just a regular English class as I thought. I have gotten a lot of benefits from this class, and I'm still getting more. Also, this class relates to my other classes in many ways. One of these is that I use a lot of skills that I learned from this class with my other classes specially the writing and the skills that really helped me to understand the subject and the main ideas. However, what I really noticed in the end of class are the changes in my point of view in many things, and the differences that happened. Thus, I can analyze these changes in three points. The reflective of this class on my personal life, the advantages that I got, and the difficulties that I had.

      This class has really affected my personal life, and my point of view in many things. First of all, since English is my second language, and this class has taught me a lot of skills that I did not know before, I can say that these skills are the most beneficial thing. Also, after all the subjects and the topics that we have been through, I understood a lot of things. One of these topics is the book Persepolis. After I read this book and saw the whole image of the Iranian revolution, I changed my idea of this revolution, and I clearly understood how people have struggled in that time. Also, in the last when I read the poem ''It's a women world'', I thought that I will never understand this poem, but now I understood everything in that poem, and I wrote an essay about it. Therefore, this class has gave me a lot, and not just in one subject.

   
                  

     There are a lot of advantages that I got from this class and through the subjects that we have studied. One of these advantages is that learning how to act. this class is not an acting class, but last semester one of our exercises was writing a scene involving the rhetorical appeals: logic ''logos'', emotion ''pathos'', values, and credibility ''ethos''. That was my first  English scene I did in life. I learned a lot of things from this scene because we delivered this topic from the scene that we did. Also, in this semester we have done some presentations that help me very much in my education life because I have learned how to present in many ways during these presentations. Also, some of the advantages that I had from this class are the work sites. Now I really can label my sources for my essays very clear and avoid plagiarism. This will support the creditability of my essay during my college life here on campus. These are not all advantages that I had from this class, yet these are the most important things that will help a lot in my education life.

      

      The difficulties that I had in this class were not a lot, but I had some from the last semester and this semester. In the last semester in the first two weeks I was struggling with poem ''It's a women world'' because it was the first time that I read an English poem in life, but after the two weeks I made it, and I understood every single word, and I explained everything in that poem. Also, I had some problems with the scene that I made with my group because it was my first English scene I did, but after I a lot of practicing we made it. In this semester I did not have a lot of issues because I already knew what we will do in this class and what are the goals of this class. However, I had some problem with my reading because our first assignment in this semester was reading the book Persepolis during the vacation, yet in the last week of the vacation I made it, and I read the whole book. All these difficulties have been removed in the end of this because I found all the solutions that I need from this class.

    In conclusion, this class is my last English class, and I learned more than just the English language because of the topics and the subjects that we have been through were not just learning skills about writing or reading, yet we have been through many types of topics and subjects.                   

                 

       

                 

           

    

                                                     Ethnography

        In this assignment I have chose '' The Grove '' to visit. I have chose this place because of many reasons. One of these reasons is because this space is being visited by a lot of people everyday specially on the weekend. Also, foreign people go to this place and see the amazing things in it. I went there on the 19 of march with some of my friends. I was sitting on a coffee table, and watching the people walking. I really enjoyed my time there because the weather was perfect and the people there were great as well. I believe that this space is a perfect space to fit in this project because on The Grove I can see where people can go and spend their time during the weekend instead of  going to night clubs or other places. Also, this space is supporting the idea of peace all around the world because I saw a lot people from different countries in one place and everyone is in his own space and no one jumps over to other people spaces and take it over, so I this space shows the great atmosphere that people are dreaming about this to happen in the world around us. Therefore, I can see the city of '' Los Angeles '' as a space because this city can be a space for everyone who lives in '' LA'' . In addition, the space that I visited has a big function towards this subject because it shows every single person is having his own space and his own place to refresh his thoughts. The Grove is a public place, yet I can feel that everyone who's walking there and look around the place has his own personal space. The Grove does not really has a big history or a story to tell, but the meaning of the word ''The Grove'' has very meaning. This word means that '' The Grove'' is a place that gather all kinds of fruits in one place, so it's really great place to think about. I really found this place as one of the spaces that people can find their own space and his privacy in this space. Everyone in the world must has his own space and place because he or she must need a privacy space to go to it. Also, one of the important things about this place is that the grove celebrate all the special events such as New Year, and it helps people to celebrate their personal events, so it's not just p a place to visit.  
In conclusion, i would recommend that everyone should go to this place and see the exact thing that i saw and discover the beautiful things that i discovered. Maybe you will see it differently from your own perspective. also, this place could help you to see the world in a different sight, and make you get a new experience and see the whole world in one place.                                           

Inside Miss Los Anglese written by Jerry Stahl, was singed to my group. This article describes some fact in L.A. Basically, Jerry talks about the entertaining life in L.A. first, Jerry shows his perspective about Los Anglese. He describes the city in a very beautiful way. Also, he talks about his experiences that he has been. he fall in love with stripper who works in a strip club. Jerry was really shocked after he discovered that she had two faces, and she didn't really loved him. Thus, he referred this situation to the city of L.A, so he relates this bad experienced to his point of view of Los Anglese. 

My response to this article: I really like his description, and the way he described L.A. However, i dislike some bad words he wrote because he did not show some respect to the readers. Also, i really struggled with some words because the vocabulary in this article is a little hard to me.
The question that i would ask is: has this article been published in many news paper?             

    In the book Convergences i read about the '' The Basketball court '' cluster, and i found out a lot of interesting things. Basketball can be played any where in the world, and the place that this game takes is not very big, so everyone can enjoy this game with out taking a lot of spaces. Also, i can create the space that i want to and play it anywhere.

Analysis picture:
   The picture that i found interesting to me is that the magazine cover. this image shows how both gender can play and interact with this game. Also, it shows some stereotypes image because i can see a face of a black guy on the cover which presents that black people play very well and professionally. thus, this might grab more attention to the magazine due to the cover.     

                                     The Relationship Between the revolution in Iran and the Arabic spring      

1- How people suffer during these revolutions.

-The whole is talking about this issue.

2- How can we decide in which direction should we take.

- ''The Bicycle''

3-what soldiers should do during this revolution?

''The Key''  

Mutaz's blog

Hello guys this is Mutaz ,,

 I would like to speak about the book a little bit. At the beginning i thought the book will be boring , but i found it very interesting because it talks about a lot of topics. also, i liked the pictures that explain every thing to reader and make the book easier to read.