Journalism: Thursday, Period 4, Class 4

[trustshisbarber.livejournal.com]

"Now's when we start getting to the good..." The bell rang, interrupting Jonah. Jonah glared at the bell, as if he was willing it to fall off the wall from being glared at so hard. It didn't. He turned back to the class. "The good stuff. INTERVIEWS! They're the bread and butter of the journalist's world. When you interview someone, you get any of four things: One, information for an article. Two, a good quote for an article. Three, a full article if the person you're interviewing is interesting enough to justify a full article. Four, a headache, because the person you're interviewing may either be an idiot or just sound like it, going 'um, uh, um' every five seconds, which you then have to remove while you're transcribing it."

"More lists. There are three keys to conducting a good interview. First, have a bunch of prepared questions because you don't want to sound like an idiot yourself when you're trying to get somebody else to say something worth showing to the rest of the world. Figure out what points you want to hit in the article and ask questions based around that. Don't waste your time with small talk unless it'll get them comfortable enough to play ball. Second, be prepared to throw your prepared questions out for any reason. Half of interviewing is improv. If your subject gives you an interesting lead in an answer, follow that lead instead of sticking to your script. And try not to sound like an idiot while you're making up questions on the fly. It'll make you look bad and since I'm the one teaching you, it'll make me look bad, and then I'll have to yell at you even if you're ten years past graduation and working at a small town paper in Podunk, Iowa, it's not a real town, don't bother looking it up. Third, write, record, and remember everything that's said. If there's a single word you don't have nailed down twice, you might screw it up when it's time to transcribe it. And, if the quote is insane enough, you might not believe it when you have to write it down later, trust me, I've had that happen."

"As for how you actually interview someone? Talk to them, ask them questions, make sure you write it all down. Easy enough? Good. By this time next week, I expect you to have interviewed someone and turn that into an article. I have a gamble for you, though. You can just transcribe the interview itself and put some sort of a fluffy crap introduction on it and turn that in, but that will immediately take away a full letter grade. A students, prepare for a B! Or you can write it up as an actual article about the person, peppered with a few quotes for flavor, risk it being crap and getting a a crap grade while still giving you a chance for an A. Interview someone from this class, find somebody outside of class that you might want to interview, grab a teacher, business owner, or student, I don't care! Anyone who even asks to interview me flunks, though. Don't think you're going to be cute and impress me by trying something that transparent. Oh, and be sure to look at the Fandom Hightimes and don't interview anyone who's been interviewed there. Ever. Keep it fresh! Well, what are you waiting for? Get to work!"

[OOC: For the record, the following current Fandomians have been interviewed by the paper. From the most recent: Ben Reilly, Sarah Walker, Eliza Doolittle, Old Man Coyote, Zoe Winchester, John Winchester, Anakin Skywalker, the Fandom High office staff, Constable Benton Fraser. You're free to interview them again, of course, with the IC stipulation that your grade will suffer for it.

Somebody let me know if I missed anyone! Interviews and write-ups can be handwaved, of course.]

The Library [Thursday, January 29]

[gudspellr-claud.livejournal.com]

Claudia, in celebration of the lights being back on in the library, was wearing one of her brightest outfits: pink (pinkpinkpinkpink) tights under a green plaid miniskirt, a turquoise button-down shirt over a tan cropped tank top. Her boots were shiny and black, and her hair was tucked up under a bright orange beret. On anyone else, the outfit would make the baby Jesus cry. On Claudia, it looked great.

She dropped three bags of Twizzlers onto the top of the counter before settling down with a fashion magazine.

Literature, Class 4: Period 3, Thursday, January 29

[clevermsbennet.livejournal.com]

"It's good to see you all again," Miss Bennet smiled at her charges. "Especially in a slightly warmer temperature than previous. I'm afraid there's no hot cocoa this week, but, as always, we will make do as best we can." She picked up the chalk and began to write.

( Fairy-tales and Fables )

American History, Thursday, Period 2, Lesson 4

[tyler_gone]

"Manifest Destiny," Algren said, launching into the lecture the moment the last student's butt hit their seat. Tyler stood back and observed this week; it was clear to him that Algren had the subject well in hand.

"The American ideology that saw us believing that not only was our nation destined to expand clear across the continent, but it was also ordained by God Himself." He clasped his hands behind his back, a gesture that was probably growing familiar by now, and paced in front of the class as he spoke. "Some people took it farther, believing that it meant more than simply expanding from sea to shining sea. The term was also used from time to time to refer to the eventual conquest of the continent as a whole. Canada, Mexico, Cuba, and Central America. Clearly, we Americans have simple desires. We only want everything, after all."

"While the notion of Manifest Destiny was popularized in the 1840s, it wasn't where America's major expansion really began. Roughly a quarter of our nation was actually attained in 1803 in the Louisiana Purchase, when Thomas Jefferson, the American President at the time, struck up a deal with Napoleon Bonaparte, the ruler of France. The deal consisted of portions of fifteen current states and two Canadian provinces, and cost us, between money paid and French debts forgiven, $15,000,000." Algren quirked an eyebrow upward slightly and smirked. "Lunch money, considering it worked out to less than three cents per acre of land in the currency of the day."

He frowned thoughtfully, and then leaned backward against the desk.

"Of course, for all that the land was now legally the property of America, all that was really purchased was the right to take the land away from someone else. After all, there were people in America long before anyone thought to call it 'America,' and the American Indians weren't so much as informed that the sale had taken place. It would be, essentially, as though some man who lives somewhere down the street just up and selling your house to your annoying new next door neighbor. And now they would like you to leave. It's their house now, after all."

"Which brings us to our assignment for today. At the back of the room, you will find a couch. There's only enough room on that couch for so many of you. Half of the class will fit, and I want that half to all get up onto it right now. Stand on it. Shoulder-to-shoulder, make it work. The rest of you? That's your couch that they're standing on. Really. Pair off with someone that's up there and try to convince them to leave. You'll be armed with these Nerf guns, here. That ought to make your conquest nice and simple, right?"

"Don't put anybody's eye out," Tyler chimed in for the first time as he went to hand the Nerf guns to the students who were getting them. "Other than that, this is a free-for-all."

Thaumaturgy 101 - First Period, Thursday 1/29

[brandyforapples.livejournal.com]

As her students came in, she stood up from her seat at her desk and walked around to lean at the front of it. She watched them, curious as to how each one of them was even if the practicalities of the classroom wouldn't allow for a meet-and-greet and even that made her silently wonder if perhaps teaching was as fulfilling as what she normally did back in New Amsterdam. A lot of things lately were making her wonder about that.

"Today, we'll be covering a very well-known maxim: To Know, To Will, To Dare, and To Keep Silent."

( Read more... )

[ocd up!]

Cooking Club [Home Ec Classroom, Thursday]

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

It was Thursday and that meant Ned was in the Home Ec classroom, getting things ready to actually cook today. That was the benefit of power, they could actually make things.

When everyone filed in, Ned started talking.

"Hey guys," he said, waving dorkily. "Glad to see you all came back and didn't ditch because we didn't have power last week. This week, we do have power so we're going to do what we did last week and that's breakfast foods. I was going for new club session equaling breakfast which is the first thing you typically eat in the mornings. First meeting, first meal. It made sense when I thought of it."

He laughed nervously.

"Anyway, there's both recipes and ingredients to make omelets, french toast, waffles, pancakes, crepes, bacon, sausage, eggs, oatmeal and grits," he said. "And then we can eat them. Oh, and there's cereal too in case anyone doesn't wanna cook. That's completely fine."

Ned gestured at the tables and said, "Let's get cooking."

Newspaper Staff Meeting, 4 pm, Journalism Room

[the_merriest]

"Important question, for today," Rikku announced as she set down the box of donuts. "Do we want to start running ads in the paper? I think we could get some interesting submissions, if we did, and we could use the money for a party, at the end of the semester, or we could give it to somewhere that needs it. But people might like the fact that the paper is kinda ad-free, at the moment. I want to know what everyone thinks."

Care for Magical Creatures; Friday, Period 2 [ 01/30 ].

[berserkerminsc.livejournal.com]

"Good morning, students!" As usual, they were meeting in the classroom, with all the comfortable pillows that would do much better than desks and Minsc was greeting them all jovially with Boo close at hand. "Welcome back to class! Remember how last class we discussed spotting out a regular old animal from a person transformed into an animal? If not, well, I sure hope that was quite a blow causing you to forget it! Today, we are going to talk about making a very important checklist to see if our friends are transformed! For example:

"If I were to make a checklist for whether or not a human is actually Boo, it might include things like: Is he eating everything in sight? Is he twitching his nose as if he would usually have whiskers? Does he have a tendency to burrow in crinkly things?"

"And, also for example, if Boo were to make a list for me," he chuckled, "which is a very big if since Boo cannot write or speak languages our petty brain can comprehend, he would include: Are there any noticeable purple markings by his eyes? Telltale scars? What happens when I put him by this gnoll, which is dirty and awful and must be immediately vanquished? Things like that!"

"I'd like you each to get together with someone else in class and discuss the sorts of things they someone would put on a list about you! There is an uneven number, so groups of two or three are both okay! And your HOMEWORK will include making lists for your friends! You can never be too prepared! Awareness is key! And then, when your friends are turned into animals, you will know it is them and not accidentally fry up that rabbit for dinner or slay that wee dragon thinking yourself in harm's way!"



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