"Chechnya Diary"

I think that Golyz is literally just talking about the story of the war. I think its important because the world needs to know whats going on. I believe that its really important that people get the opportunity to learn about all the horrible crimes of war. In hopes that they will learn something from it. Golyz went through some pretty sketchy stuff to get the story too, like sneaking illegally into Chechnya, not knowing if he was going to make it or not. I found this reading super interesting, cause I am thinking about a possible career as a war photographer. so it was fascinating learning about how he was chasing the story, making aquaintances and also not getting killed!

"A Witness to Genocide"

this certainly was a graphic reading! To me it seems like being a journalist or photojournalist during a war would be a super hard job, having to see all the dead bodies and telling their stories. However, I also think it would be a good job in the sense that you are enlightening the world about whats going on. You are helping the people get their stories out, which in turn helps to get other nations involved in trying to stop the conflict. Its horrible what can happen during times of war, here is a quote from the story: "Nenad started running to the nearby riverbank, but the irregulars shot him dead on the spot. They dragged the corpse onto the bridge, then threw it into the green water of the Drina." and all that happened while his wife was watching! This was a hard reading for me. A year or so ago, I borrowed a photojournalism book from Eric, which had photos from this conflict. So as I was reading this, the images of dismembered corpses piled in the streets came back into my mind (they have and probably always will be ingrained there forever).

Dispatches

The only way to document a war, is to be in the thick of it. It would be super scary and way intense, but I suppose someone has to do it. If it weren't for journalists and photographers during wars, the people at home would certainly not know much about what is really going on. I think that the horrible stories of war need to be told, so that hopefully we can learn from them and fix the mistakes. Then job of all good journalists is to tell a story and from the writing it seems like there would sure be a lot of stories to tell!

"If I Die in a Combat Zone"

I thinks its odd that O'Brien is anti war in the beggining, yet he still decides to go to Vietnam anyways. Once he is there, of course he wants peace and the war to end, but it seems like he is kind of enjoying himself at the same time. It would be hard though if your whole town was cheering you on to go to war and you didn't really want to. I wonder why he did decide to go. Personally I would have done anything I could to not go and fight in a war that I didn't believe had a "good" cause.

"Owl Creek Bridge"

I liked the story. I didn't see that ending coming, until the second to last paragraph where he is talking about making it home and seeing his wife. It felt like a scene from a dream, his wife comes to meet him on a beautiful day with the clothing blowing in the wind. At that point, I figured he must be dreaming, unconscious, or dead. I think the author chose to write the story this way because: it makes for a more interesting ending, catches you off guard. Or it could also be saying don't try to mess with people when you know the consequences. It could also certainly be something completely different. I personally like to add a twist to most of the fictional stories I write, so I can relate to this story in that sense.

"War is a Force that Gives Us Meaning"

I think a few of the reasons men to go war are: to show their patriotism, for revenge, and to protect their beliefs. Also there are alot of families that pressure their children into joining the army. A lot of the time for family honor. I thought the author of this piece did a good job showing both sides of whats going on. It was interesting to hear him talk about being addicted to war and the dehuminization of the enemy. Here is a very interesting quote: "The historian Will Durant calculated that there have only been twenty-nine years in all of human history during which a war was not underway somewhere." It is astonishing that we humans just can't seem to get along together, so we decide to start wars. It is also amazing that the we can't just sit back and say this is stupid lets figure out a better way to work things out.

"Youth in an Austrian Town"

This story felt almost like a long poem, because of how beautifully it was written. It was interesting how the author described the town before the war and as war comes along, everything begins to die off. the children are out digging graves, they can't go to school anymore. Their clothes have turned to rags. Most of the books i have read on World War Two, are from an adults point of view and mostly focus on some heroic thing they did. So it is a nice change to get to view things at home from a child's perspective. The children are happy, playing ,and laughing. But then the war brakes out. I can imagine most children had no idea what was going on just that something terrible was happening. here is a line from the story that I find to be quite haunting: "They are aloud to forget their Latin and learn to distinguish between the sounds of the engines in the sky." I can't even imagine how terrifying that would be! Sitting around wondering if you are still going to be alive in five minutes!