Journalism Class - Wednesday, September 7

[jerusalem-s.livejournal.com]

((OOC - This is a lecture and Q/A session. It'll be open daily and Spider will always have something to say... if he's actually there. For student reference at the end of a class session - ie when I get home at night, the entire thing will be considated as coherently as I can manage and placed behind an lj-cut.))

***

The renovations done in the classroom set aside for Journalism lecture and discussion are obvious, beginning with the giant, floor to ceiling video screens which are, for the moment, mercifully dark. There are fairly comfortable chairs scattered across the room, two or three to a table, with the maximum capacity looking to be about thirty. There are plugs set in the floor beneath each table for laptops... and other than the minimal furnishings and the professor's desk at one end of the room, there is no other furniture.

The professor looks as if he spent the night sleeping behind the desk, sprawled back in his chair, feet propped on a laptop set atop the desk and a two-faced cat with a cigarette in one mouth leaning on his feet. There is a trashcan beside him overflowing with cans and an open pizza box with half a congealed pizza in it beside him.

There is a note taped to his foot reading, “Someone wake me at 1100”.

Comments

[jayne-serenity.livejournal.com]

*kicks teachers foot and takes a piece of pizza*

gorram early classes

[sensethevisions]

Phoebe enters behind Jayne and shakes Spider's shoulder gently.

"Professor Jerusalem...wake up, the students are arriving."

[jerusalem-s.livejournal.com]

Having kicked back at Jayne and only succeeding in knocking the ash off the cat's cigarette, Spider hadn't even registered the theft of a slice of his cold pizza.

At Phoebe's touch he muttered something that was probably far ruder than it sounded and cracked one eye. After a moment, he tipped his head backward and looked up at Pheobe over the top of his glasses. "... remind me to give you a raise."

[the4thsister.livejournal.com]

Erm sorry I'ma bit late, I have to give you this *hands over registration form.*

I'm Paige btw

[jayne-serenity.livejournal.com]

*takes a seat and hopes the cute chick sits nearby*

[caroline-todd.livejournal.com]

Caroline walks in tentatively and finds the comfy chair she thinks will make her the least noticeable.
Setting her laptop on the table in front of her she rocks in the chair slightly, mentally noting all exits.

[youngest-sister.livejournal.com]

I lIke your drEamS.

[the-envious-sin.livejournal.com]

*walks in and sits down while eating red stones*

[jayne-serenity.livejournal.com]

Hey man... *nods, grinning*

[jerusalem-s.livejournal.com]

Abandoning his desk and the cat, Spider moved to stand where the small group of scattered students could see him easily.

"Welcome to Journalism, boys and girls. Most of you are strangers, although I'm relatively well aquainted with the young lady," he squinted over the top of his glasses, tilting his head to one side, "with the halo of what appear to be butterflies. That could just be me, however."

A sweeping gesture of one tattooed hand indictes Phoebe Halliwell. "This is my Assistant. If you want or need anything, feel free to ask her to approach me. That's what she's for. I intend to make this as painless as possible all the way around unless sterner measures are called for, so let's begin with a few class rules."

"You may eat in my class, you may pass notes, you may play computer games and you may make little kamikaze paper airplanes if that's what makes you happy. My only rules are that you don't talk when someone else is talking and that you leave all mocking of your classmates to me."

Surveying the room, Spider continued, "I hate my job and everyone in any way affiliated with it, so don't take it personally. Are there any questions before we begin?"

[thehurleyabides.livejournal.com]

Whew. I made it.

I got lost, dude. This place is HUGE.

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

Rory glances around before selecting a seat located in the middle of the classroom - far back enough that she wouldn't be noticed unless she wanted to be. She opens her laptop in front of her, and takes in the class around her.

[marieann-d.livejournal.com]

Rogue rushes in, having run all the way from her English class. She scans the room for an empty seat, and settles in the row farthest from the door. Plopping down in the chair, she whispers to the student next to her, "Did I miss anything?"

[the-envious-sin.livejournal.com]

Hm? You didn't miss much, just got started. He was just mentioned some stuff that was on the syllabus thing. *nods and keeps eating red stones* *mutters to himself "Should have eaten some breakfast.."*

[jerusalem-s.livejournal.com]

"I'll take that resounding silence as a no." Spider ignored Delerium. Talking over, under, around and even through her was something he was well used to... and he wasn't certain entirely certain that anyone else could hear her anyway.

"Journalism has a wide number of definitions and as this is my course, we'll be using mine. Very broadly, journalism is the act of collecting and/or writing news. News is in and of itself a word that's difficult to define and which everyone has a definition of." Spider raised his voice slightly. "Newsfeed - muted."

The seven huge screens sprang to life, showing various people staring fixedly outward, their mouths moving. "This," Spider told them, sneering at the closest one, "is not journalism. It's barely even news. It's certainly not particularly interesting. Sound."

"... prices fell for the popular fast food chain...."

"The President responded...."

"... for the relatively reasonable price of $19.99...."

"... sports figure...."

"Mute." The talking heads fell silent again as Spider jabbed his cigarette at the young man on the screen closest to himself. "This is predigested pap, garbage for those who are only interested in being told what to think. The job of a journalist is to present the facts in such a matter as to force thought. Empires have been won and lost through control of the media, murders have been lynched or have walked free."

Spider stalked across the room to another screen, staring up at the overly made-up woman, ten feet high, who was babbling on silently. After a moment, he whirled on his students. "You are here to learn how to communicate with the brain-dead horde of your fellow..." His eye fell on Envy and Delerium, "... beings. You will learn how to attract their attention, how to influence their decisions with your choice of words and how to express yourself eloquently. At least that's my hope."

[youngest-sister.livejournal.com]

*raises her hand in the air*

*waves it around*

[the-envious-sin.livejournal.com]

... *thinks to himself:"Pfft, just because I don't have a soul like these humans doesn't mean I'm brain-dead. Hmph"*

[jayne-serenity.livejournal.com]

*is already completely lost, and doodling on his notepad*

[sensethevisions]

Phoebe is watching everything and her recorder is on so she can transcribe the notes for Spider later. She nudges Jayne and smiles at him before going back to taking notes.

[jerusalem-s.livejournal.com]

Raising an eyebrow at George, Spider stalked across the room to look at all three of them. "You. The talkative one. Stand up."

[deadlikegeorge.livejournal.com]

George blinks and looks up to find Mr. Spider towering over her.

"Wha? Are you talking to me?"

[deadlikegeorge.livejournal.com]

George is slumped over the desk behind Jayne, her notebook and pen forgotten. Her mind drifts as Mr. Brown Recluse drones on and on about how there's not any "real" journalism around anymore. She's thinking about Seattle and the fact that she hasn't had a good cup of coffee or a bowl of oatmeal that didn't taste like she imagined joint compound does. She's thinking about how much she hates the East Coast weather. She's thinking about how much she misses home already.

She snaps out of when out of the corner of her eye she notices Jayne flirting with the prettiest girl in class. She leans over his shoulder to see his notepad is covered in doodles of what she can only guess are spiders. Thinking back to her first encounter with Jayne during Art Class signups, she makes a snarky comment. Jayne crumples up the page and throws it at her head.

George generally excels at not giving a shit, but she finds she feels a little bad about picking on Jayne so much. He's the biggest target in the room, though, she thinks to herself. She kicks the fallen ball of paper and it skitters across the room , coming to rest at Mr. Spider's feet.

George slumps back in her seat and becomes preoccupied once again with daydreams , boredom, and self pity.

[last-worde.livejournal.com]

William is sitting quietly somewhere in the middle of the room, watching the other students, and Spider when he's talking, and occasionally writing something down on the little notepad that he carries around with him. There are observations about his classmates, as well as a few notes on Spider's newsfeed system, which is unlike anything on the Discworld. Then again, so is the computer he's becoming accustomed to using, but he still prefers to write.

He watches George get thrown out, and frowns thoughtfully, then writes down the gist of what Spider said about persuading people with words.

[macanaut.livejournal.com]

Mac was trying to sneak in quietly, but another girl was rushing out the door as she was trying to enter, and it all just ended up a mess. Still, she made a beeline for the back of the class as quietly as she could and grabbed a seat.

[caroline-todd.livejournal.com]

Caroline stops taking notes and smiles at 'Mac' as she enters

[fh_jackass]

Does this class include Combat Journalism?

[jerusalem-s.livejournal.com]

"Yes, although we didn't cover much today. Pick two days a week between 11-3 and be here." Spider threw up his hands. "That's it. We're done. Everybody out. I need a stiff drink."

[thehurleyabides.livejournal.com]

Will there be extra credit? Or a curve?

Because that stuff looks hard and my pencil broke!