fandomhigh | American History, Period 2, 01/08

When students entered the classroom today, they would find not one, but two men standing at the front. One of them was probably familiar to some of them, the other one was a new face... Although his wardrobe probably needed a little updating.

"This, boys and girls, is your all-purpose catchup class on the history of the United States of America," the new teacher said, straightening out his brown duster coat as he surveyed the group. "I'm Nathan Algren." A pause. "Captain Nathan Algren. Just call me Algren if you have to call me anything at all. And I imagine a few of you already have a passing acquaintance with my associate and your other instructor for this class, Mr. Durden."

The younger man stepped out with a slight grin and folded his arms. "Right, I'm Tyler Durden," he supplied. "And, just to break all of your hearts, I'm not blowing anything up in class this term. Call me Tyler, Mr. Durden, Sam might even get away with calling me a Stickbug, I am not fussy. Anyhow, as Captain Algren told you, this is American History. We're going to try to get from pre-Columbian times through current events and hit the turning points along the way."

"Because I'm more than a few decades behind the times," Algren continued, "I'll be taking the brunt of the workload for the first half of the semester, covering whatever I can right on up to America's centennial year. Mr. Durden will take it from there, bringing the lot of you up to date." And bringing Algren up to date as well, but he wasn't going to tell that to the class. "But today, we're going to take pity on you all and get introductions out of the way."

"We want to get you started thinking about history as a living thing," Tyler said. "Something you can interact with and have opinions about, not just a set of dates blah blah blah. So we'd like you to stand and state your name, grade, and one historic figure -- and it can be your world's history, if you aren't from the U.S. -- who you would like to confront."

"We're going to be pretty open as to the definition of 'confront,' here. It can be someone you want to tell off for choosing to do things a certain way, someone who you would like to start a coup against, or even somebody who you think needs a punch to the face." Algren wasn't picky, here. "And then tell us why. For example, I'm Captain Nathan Algren, I'm co-teaching this class, and I would personally like to have a long, serious chat with Lieutenant Colonel Custer for not opening his eyes before getting most of his men killed. But we'll get to that in another class."

"The one before your midterms," Tyler added helpfully. "And I would like to have a long discussion with Mahatma Gandhi and see if we could come to an agreement over the necessity of violence." Possibly with hitting, but the class didn't need to know that.

He gestured to one of the students. "You can start. And Ms. Yamanata, see me after class, please."

[OCD is up! Class roster, rules, and syllabus are located here!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

They don't bite. Really.

There are better ways to make students suffer, after all. ♥

"I didn't do anything," Ino announced, wandering over to Tyler-sensei. As ordered.

"Did someone say you did?" Tyler said, exaggerating his confusion.

"I'm just getting that out there," she informed him. "In case you thought you had something you could pin on me, Tyler-sensei."

"Things have been surprisingly normal since the new year, don't worry," Tyler said, though for effect he gave her a wary look. "I wanted to ask if you wanted to stay T.A."

She pretended to cringe back from the wary look. She considered the offer.

"I'd like to," she said, "if you don't mind the fact that American History and I have a, uh, very passing acquaintance."

Very, very passing.

Tyler shrugged. "My co-teacher only found out about anything after 1876 on Monday, and I really only knew military history," he pointed out. "You can read, right? Read and learn?"

"I can read," she agreed, "and, yeah, I can learn. Guess you've got yourself an assistant then, Tyler-sensei."

...and Ino had a feeling she'd just volunteered herself for a lot of extra reading material. Ah well.

"And you won't even have to make things out of paper maché this time," Tyler promised. "Thanks, Ino. There's a ~~handwavey and moddable~~ book on my desk that might help as a primer, and ask us if anything doesn't make sense."

[OOC: I love that the teachers + TA for this class are 2/3 non-American.]

"Or glitter posters?" she asked, grinning. "Though I think you ought to do soap. It's very traditional. You could do 'When Americans Discovered Soap', or something, if you really wanted it to be historical." Innocent, really.

A beat.

"And I'll read the book, promise," Ino added, more seriously. "And come bug you guys lots."

[Hahahaha. It's funny how it works out that way!]

"Captain Algren didn't think that was a good use of class time," Tyler said, and he almost sounded sad about that. He liked his rituals. "Sounds good. Come bug me anytime."

He considered that offer. "That I'm in my office."

She laughed. "You mean you don't want visits at two in the morning 'cause I've got a question 'bout some even in history? I'll remember that."

"I live with an ex-cop," Tyler pointed out. "I'm usually up at 2, but I think she needs her beauty rest. And she's a good shot."

"I didn't know that," she said, "that you lived with an ex-cop, I mean. And though I'm not bad at dodging... I see your point. No bothering 'less it's truly a very important emergency."

American History, Period 2, 01/08

Talk To The Teachers

Re: Talk To The Teachers

Re: Talk To The Teachers

Re: Talk To The Teachers

Re: Talk To The Teachers

Re: Talk To The Teachers

Re: Talk To The Teachers

Re: Talk To The Teachers

Re: Talk To The Teachers

Re: Talk To The Teachers

Re: Talk To The Teachers

Re: Talk To The Teachers

Re: Talk To The Teachers

Re: Talk To The Teachers