Wednesday, February 09, 2011

 

Cyber-Assignment: An Interview with Nicholas Kristof

This is a link to an interview with Nicholas Kristof. We watched some of this interview in class. Reflect on the interview in light of what you have read so far. What is the impact of hearing directly from an author? What did you learn about Kristof or Half the Sky that you didn't already know? What impressed you most about his comments. Try to cite it in a paraphrase.

http://www.imow.org/economica/stories/viewStory?storyId=4719

Bring headphones to class on Wednesdays.

Comments:
Kimber sosriano
Professor Sabir
English 201A


Interview with Nicholas Kristof:

Nicholas Kristof made the the book called "Half The Sky" with her co-author, her wife, Sherryl Wu Dunn. He made his inspiration on reporting about many girls are dying because they didn't have access for help in China . He also tells about the child trafficking in Cambodia that they encountered many girls in brothels and they were sold by their family members or kidnapped by their own neighbors. In his particular journey he made research on many places to study women oppression. His impact made me aware to his incredible stories and reports into women and child trafficking issue which i got interested listening to it and i hope this makes the government should act right now to end trafficking of human worldwide. I think what he observes about men that they overpower women in education and work which some women don't work just stay at home and take care kids. Another thing he said that he felt kind of guilty because he was watching girls exploited in the brothel and taking picture while in there. He also said "there are more males than females in the world today. I n U.S. and in Europe, there are more females because of given equal access, food, and health care. Women live longer...but globally, in fact, there should be more males in the world today." It is true because i found out that in China if their son is sick they immediately go to the hospital; but if their daughter is sick they can wait for tomorrow. I know all of these things because i researched about child trafficking and Kristof mentioned about 800,000 girls were trafficked each year across international borders. I learned that he wanted to reach people through writing the book to report what he witnessed about trafficking women,enslaving them to become prostitutes and mistreating them like in India they call them dirty women who got pregnant.
 
Rosita Contreras
Professor Sabir
English 201B
13 February 2011

Interview with Nicholas Kristof

The Interview with Nicholas Kristof was really interesting. He wrote the book that we are reading called “Half the Sky” and the co-author is his wife Sheryl WuDunn. When I was hearing the interview he was talking about some of the girls in the book that I have read about and I remembered their stories. He said that he bought two girls and the men selling them gave him a receipt. He could not believe that they were sold like merchandise. He took the girls back with their families. One of them got married and the other one ended up back at the brothel because she had a cocaine addiction. He talked about when a son is sick the father takes him to the hospital right away, but with a daughter they will wait to see if she gets better. He also talked about a woman that fell in love but the brothers did not want her to get married. One of the brothers wanted to sale her. It seems that he really cares about what happens in the world and that is why he wanted to write the book so that other people would be aware of what is going on.
 
Dina Jayne Maghanoy
Professor Sabir
English 201B
13 February 2011

Nicholas D. Kristof wrote the book called "Half the Sky" and co-author Sheryl WuDunn. His inspiring story started when he started asking himself, "What is news and how should we look at the world". In 1996, Nick and his wife took a trip to Cambodia were he later interviewed two girls who were imprison in the brothel. Nick quoted, "He couldn't believe it was happening in a modern time felt exactly like the 1990's slavery, but those girls were to die at the age of twenty by aids". He felt as if he was just one person walking into brothel getting what he wanted and marching out. Hearing directly from the author voice about all these type of things happening in different countries; put you in situation were I'm really thankful for the life that I am given. He talks about a child who's twelve years old named Zach Hunter, who heard about slavery that still exist today. Zach later than formed a group called Loose Change to Loosen Chains to help start new approaches to supporting women in the developing world. What I learned more about Kistof was that he wanted to find more ways to reach his audiences, so he put his interested in games. He believed that the social impact on games and the use of brilliant concept on game play and real world accent can make people see what is happening in today's world. I learned that slavery back than wasn't as horrible because there slave owner did not kill them regularly compare to the owner in the brothel. Girls in brothel are only worth couple of dollars, so owners would kill them in front of other girls to show fear to whoever that tries to escape. Nicholas Kristof also talks about most rapes are women. Women would go out find more girls take them back to camp and be raped by thugs, but yet we are blinded by the concept of a women committing such a crime. He commented on the attack on September 11, how we the people spent billon of dollars, but nothing came out of it. He explained that, "If they spent more of that money through educating girls then we would be more popular, have more capital in Pakistan and Pakistan itself would be more stable. 'Grow in the future rather than be his dangerous country that it now is"'. I'm impressed on how he points out other issue for example the September 11, attack and yet it's connected to the issue on how we can use the money that is being spent to educated girls and give them the opportunity to start a new life after being a victim of sex trafficked and child prostituted.
 
Sabrina Young

Professor Sabir

English 201B



Interview with Nicholas Kristof





Watching the interview with Kristof was truly amazing and informative. It is so good to

see that there are people who truly want to make a difference in the world, he and his

wife are great examples. Watching him speak was like watching the words in his book

come to life, I am glad that i have been doing my reading because I was able to

understand the topics he touched on. There were also things he spoke about that i

didn't learn from the book that were interesting. One phrase was "The girl affect", this

basically means that investing in a woman is more productive because a woman breed

life. Sadly on a global scale there are more men then women because in many

countries men are valued much more, An old African saying states "Invest in a boy,invest

in a man, invest in a woman invest in a village". If society would invest in a woman she

will bare children who she will invest in, and in return her children will be a productive

addition to society. Another thing I learned was a phrase "Missing Women". There are

more slaves in the 21st century then there were slaves in the 18Th-19Th century.

Also the value of slaves are less now so brothel owners will easily kill a slave to set an

example to other slaves. Hearing all of this just blew me away, but whats more crazy is

the risk that Kris and his wife take to get these stories.





Although this subject is a sad one, I am glad to be informed and feel that every person

should be informed on this matter. It definitely makes me not want to take the

opportunities I have for granite. I look forward to reading "Half The Sky", and hope that

maybe some how i also can make a difference.
 
Marcela Gutierrez
February 2011
Professor Sabir
English 201A

Watching the interview with Nicholas Kristof was great because you get a chance to actually see the man who travels to third world countries with a mission that is rarely ever heard of. His mission and his passion is to explore and help the many women who are abused in so many levels that here in the states we hardly ever hear of. The horrific and very intense stories that these women go through was something I was aware of, but as I read more I didn’t know how bad it really was. Places such as Cambodia, India, Thailand, and Pakistan take full advantage of both young girls and women for their bodies and for the most awful and disgusting reasons ever. From drugs, sex trafficking, rape and physical abuse, these girls have sadly suffered through it all. As Kristof is welcomed on stage and he begins to talk about a few girls, mostly in relation to sex trafficking makes me wonder what made him step out of the states to the unknown to help a cause that yet has a long way to change for the better. But as I watched Kristof speak of these matters made me realize how us as the more privileged hardly ever become aware of these issues and rarely even attempt to help the helpless. I wish I had read his book for example in high school because I would have most definitely been inspired to hold an assembly so others can at least get an idea of how bad the living conditions are for these females globally and also start some type of fundraiser.
As I read the stories in full detail and with pictures shown of some of the women and girls really makes me sad and sick to my stomach of how unfairly they are abused. Directly hearing from the author during the interview just makes me look at him and wonder why more people with a heart like that don’t exist on this side of the world. As he speaks, it obviously shows what passion he has and will still continue to contribute to the hundreds of thousands of innocent females whom are discriminated simply because of their gender. Also as he was telling us how he took his children to Cambodia amazes me off just that simple fact. I can just see how sincere of a person he really is and for what he does makes him look like such a courageous individual. Kristof has done a lot by writing this book, from exposing these intense issues to a degree that I don’t think I would have ever heard from anywhere else. Also it’s like an inspiration to get out and contribute anything because he clearly explains how we can make any type of impact. So far what I have read in the book is pretty much what he spoke about in the interview, I just wish I could have been there myself to ask a question or two.
 
Marcela Gutierrez
February 2011
Professor Sabir
English 201A

Watching the interview with Nicholas Kristof was great because you get a chance to actually see the man who travels to third world countries with a mission that is rarely ever heard of. His mission and his passion is to explore and help the many women who are abused in so many levels that here in the states we hardly ever hear of. The horrific and very intense stories that these women go through was something I was aware of, but as I read more I didn’t know how bad it really was. Places such as Cambodia, India, Thailand, and Pakistan take full advantage of both young girls and women for their bodies and for the most awful and disgusting reasons ever. From drugs, sex trafficking, rape and physical abuse, these girls have sadly suffered through it all. As Kristof is welcomed on stage and he begins to talk about a few girls, mostly in relation to sex trafficking makes me wonder what made him step out of the states to the unknown to help a cause that yet has a long way to change for the better. But as I watched Kristof speak of these matters made me realize how us as the more privileged hardly ever become aware of these issues and rarely even attempt to help the helpless. I wish I had read his book for example in high school because I would have most definitely been inspired to hold an assembly so others can at least get an idea of how bad the living conditions are for these females globally and also start some type of fundraiser.
As I read the stories in full detail and with pictures shown of some of the women and girls really makes me sad and sick to my stomach of how unfairly they are abused. Directly hearing from the author during the interview just makes me look at him and wonder why more people with a heart like that don’t exist on this side of the world. As he speaks, it obviously shows what passion he has and will still continue to contribute to the hundreds of thousands of innocent females whom are discriminated simply because of their gender. Also as he was telling us how he took his children to Cambodia amazes me off just that simple fact. I can just see how sincere of a person he really is and for what he does makes him look like such a courageous individual. Kristof has done a lot by writing this book, from exposing these intense issues to a degree that I don’t think I would have ever heard from anywhere else. Also it’s like an inspiration to get out and contribute anything because he clearly explains how we can make any type of impact. So far what I have read in the book is pretty much what he spoke about in the interview, I just wish I could have been there myself to ask a question or two.
 
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