fandomhigh | Good Omens...And Bad: Prophecy in Theory and Practice, Class Eleven

Monday, November 19, First Period

There are gingersnaps and pie along with the usual breakfast pastries and ~~evil~~ tea and other hot beverages. If Aziraphale seems to be keeping a closer than usual eye on Nadia, there's probably no reason for that.

LECTURE: "Today we'll discuss the public perception of prophecy and seers. Throughout history, those gifted -- or cursed, depending on how you see it -- with the ability to foretell the future have been generally viewed in one of three ways: as a true and benevolent prophet, as a practitioner of dark sorcery, or as a con artist. Sometimes that perception was based on societal beliefs, sometimes on religion, sometimes on one's personal belief or disbelief in mysticism.

I'd like each of you to share with the class two things: first, tell us how the concept of 'telling the future' is seen by the society in which you grew up. Then tell us how you personally view the concept, and whether your experiences since leaving home have affected your beliefs. When our discussion is finished, you can have the remainder of the class to work with your project groups."

HOMEWORK: "Now that each project group has handed in the prophecies they wrote, I'm going to assign each of those projects to a different group. The second half of your class project is to take that prophecy and produce an interpretation. Remember, the important part isn't whether or not you get the same interpretation as the original group intended, but that you demonstrate what you've learned in class. These projects are due on December 18th, when you'll be presenting them to the class.

Two important notes: First -- Due to the loss of two of your classmates, I've had to reassign two students to new groups. Mr Joxer, you'll be working with Mr Carson, the Misters Winchester, and Miss Summers. Miss Rutledge, you'll be working with Mr Sandburg, Miss Halliwell, Mr Belthazor, and Miss Brown. Second -- Mr Blank, Mr Connor, Miss Belacqua, and Mr Weiss: I haven't received your final project. Please turn it in by the end of class today, or your group will receive a zero for this assignment.**"

PROJECTS:
Group One (Blair, Phoebe, Belthazor, Lavender): Group Two's project
Group Two (Anders, Nadia, Walter, Pippi): Group Four's project**
Group Three (Bridge, Dean, Dawn, Sam, Joxer): Group One's project
Group Four (Marty, John Connor, Lyra, Eric): Group Three's project

**Note: If Group Four's project is handed in today, I'll add a link for Group Two to use. If no project is handed in, I'll assign one of the other projects and we'll have two groups working independently on the same prophecy. Group Four has handed in their project, so everyone has their assignment now.

"One other note, and then you may use the rest of class to work on your projects: Mr Carson, Miss Belacqua, and Miss Santos, please see me after class or at my office hours. And everyone, remember that there'll be no lab this Friday, due to the holiday. I hope you all have a very enjoyable Thanksgiving if you celebrate, or long weekend if you don't."

Absences:
Bridge Carson: ~~one class, one lab~~ excused
Lyra Belacqua: one lab

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[ooc: ~~Please wait for~~ OCD is up, play away!]

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For chat and gossip, or working on your group projects.

Pippi is doodling at her desk.

She's not composing love haiku about a certain one eyed Frenchman in Swedish.

Phoebe is distracted and seems to be taking notes.

Bel looked exceptionally cranky this morning.

A crumpled up note full of profuse apologies for her behavior this weekend was tossed at Bel's desk.

Bel read the note, gave Nadia a confused look, and shrugged. Probably better he didn't ask.

Nadia nodded. That was probably the best she could hope for.

Dean nudged his gloomy looking brother. "It's not a bad thing y'know."

Sam glanced up at the nudge, but didn't look much less gloomy. "People shouldn't be able to tell the future, Dean. We're not supposed to believe it."

"Considering it helped to save my life, I'm finding it hard to be all forbidden power, not meant to be about it." He paused. "Though I do wish it wasn't you that had to deal with it all."

"Me too," Sam said, managing a small smile. "But I wouldn't wish any of this on you either."

"Yeah, well." Dean shrugged. "I'm the big brother. I'm supposed to deal with the crap."

Sam just rolled his eyes. "That's part of why I wouldn't wish this on you. You have enough crap to deal with already. And I don't want to see you in pain any more than you want to see me hurting."

Dean smiled a little. "Guess we need to find someone we want to see in pain to have the visions and tell us when we're about to step in it," he joked. He paused. "And before you suggest it, no, not Alec."

"I wasn't going to suggest Alec," Sam said, trying to sound innocent and truthful. "Although if I could keep the future-seeing part of my visions, and give the pain to him, that would really work well for me."

"Yeah, I bet," Dean said drily. "Wouldn't work so well for me, for obvious reasons."

"Yeah, I guess not." Deciding not to poke at Dean about Alec anymore - for the time being at least - he gave him a serious look. "Do you ever wonder what people like Pastor Jim and Bobby would say if they knew about the visions?"

"I dunno," Dean replied, taking the question seriously. "I don't think they'd hold it against you -- for sure not Pastor Jim."

"I just wonder if they'd look at me differently, or at you or Dad while they were at it." It's possible that Sam was thinking about this before the topic came up in class.

Dean really wished he could assure his brother that they wouldn't, but the truth was he didn't know. It was possible that some people at least would change the way they looked at Sam, and all of them. "If they do, that's their problem," he finally said, feeling like it was a lame answer. "And hey, I know all about your 'shining' and I don't look at you any differently. You're still my occasionally annoying little brother."

It may have been a slightly lame answer, but Sam still appreciated hearing it. "Occasionally annoying? Either I have to work on my skills, or you're being very nice for the sake of trying to make me feel better."

"Is it working?"

"Yeah, it is," Sam admitted.

"Well then." Dean grinned. "How's the cold coming? You haven't exploded in a pile of snot or anything so I'm guessing it's better too?"

Re: Talk Amongst Yourselves

likethegun - 2006-11-20 21:38 (UTC) - Expand

saltandammo.livejournal.com - 2006-11-20 21:39 (UTC) - Expand

likethegun - 2006-11-20 21:42 (UTC) - Expand

saltandammo.livejournal.com - 2006-11-20 21:44 (UTC) - Expand

likethegun - 2006-11-20 21:47 (UTC) - Expand

Anders was kind of dazed and distracted this morning, and his notes consisted mostly of random squiggly lines on the paper.

. . . no reason. Really.