jaynam’s Blog

Mind Map~~~ http://www.mindmeister.com/21798238 ~~~Mind map

Helllo!!!!!! Jayna Milan here again and I have some news for you today! Just to update for people who have not read me before, I am in 7th grade at ISB, Bangkok Thailand. I’m in Mrs. Ulster’s class, room 305 and every week we write a blog post about the regions we were assigned. I was assigned The Middle East and am really happy that I was because it is such an interesting region to learn about.

This week I found a really interesting story about The Oprah Winfrey Show in the Middle East by a blogger named Kristen Gillespie. Kristen Gillespie is a free-lance blogger multimedia journalist whose work has been on many famous newspapers and magazines. She lives in Jordan and even speaks Arabic. I found this article on the website World Focus: http://worldfocus.org/blog/2009/01/22/watching-oprah-in-a-syrian-refugee-camp/3698/ I like Kristen’s writing because she actually has connections that go with the story. For example her friend lives in the Middle East and can see how the show has really developed in this region. When you have a connection with a story and you come to write it, you’re writing with a lot of voice because you can relate to it.

The article was talking about how Oprah’s show has expanded over many years and how many Middle Eastern women are now watching it. The show was introduced in the Middle East 4 years ago and now is reaching 6 million viewers in the Arab world each day. find this very surprising, although I can see why the women like to watch it. Oprah’s show talks about all kinds of problems, about personal private problems people would usually not talk about it. They let people know that there are other people like them. They might talk about self-confidence one day, gays the next and bulimia the day after. Her show covers a range of topics, and when people watch it they learn a lot about serious problems. This is found rather interesting to the Middle Eastern ladies, I think this is because of how different their life is from ours. In their country they don’t have many rights, they must do what their husbands say. They can’t just wear whatever they want, they must follow customary rules. Their lives are very narrow compared to ours. For example after finishing high school we usually go to college, that’s the normal thing to do. To many people living in the Middle East that is a very lucky but unusual thing to do.

The director of the channel that airs ” The Oprah Winfrey Show” said that many people comment back saying that they have learned more while watching the show than when they go to school. I don’t find that so surprising because if you think about it they learn something at school, but it’s different learning.These women are fighting to get a new life, to break free of the poverty that runs through their neighborhoods. These women don’t go to school, many of them must stay at home, taking care of the children. “The Oprah Winfrey Show” lets them think of what more they can be. In the Middle East countries people don’t bring up the taboos that are talked about in the show. The show answers probably answers many of their silenced questions.

Kristen talks about a girl who lives in a refugee camp in Syria who likes to watch “The Oprah Winfrey Show”. I find it interesting how they even receive the show. Saddam Hussein used to ban satellite dishes, but the government can’t stop the people from connect to other regions. Kristen says that the show talks in English but there are arabic subtitles. There are many Middle Eastern Oprah fans all around the world.

I think that it is good how the Arab people and now watching the show. I don’t really watch Oprah but every time I see it on T.V it looks like they are in a deep conversation. I hope more Arabian people, mostly women begin to gain hope in having a new life. Oprah was actually born from a very poor family and lived in poverty, but she began doing little jobs that ended her up in the media buisness.

Mind Map~~~ http://www.mindmeister.com/21798238 ~~~Mind map