Journalism: Thursday, Period 4, Class 6

[trustshisbarber.livejournal.com]

"Okay, pass up your reviews and I'll get to work giving them my criticism," Jonah said. He was practically cackling. He'd figured out his favorite part of being a teacher,"

"While i'm doing that, you're going to get started on your next article. That's right, we're doing another article. If you looked at your syllabus-" Jonah had still never passed those out and he probably wasn't going to by this point, "it would have told you we were doing something else, but I changed my mind. If you have a problem with that, write a letter to the editor and leave it by my office on Friday. Anyway, what we're focusing on this week is tabloid journalism."

"The word 'tabloid' technically refers to paper size. Instead of being a huge paper with folds all over the place, the sheets that make up a tabloid tend to be about half the size of a traditional newspaper and use more of a magazine layout. Pretty much nobody knows this anymore because the word has come to refer to the sleaziest, least journalistic kind of journalism there is. When most people think of a tabloid, they think of the National Enquirer, the New York Post, Weekly World News, and damn near every newspaper in England, where facts can be made up for the sake of a story, headlines are the ONLY important thing, and unidentified sources tend to be something you ate last night that's causing you to hallucinate now and that's good enough. They're the kind of news sources where, when you hear that somebody got in trouble for making stories up entirely, it doesn't surprise you."

"Now, don't get me wrong. Going for sensationalistic stories is one thing. It can get people reading your newspaper when that's an increasingly rare thing. But once you have the flashy story with the flashy headline, you have to back it up with real journalism. Find out what the facts are, report them, back it up with sources that actually exist. The trashy tabloids often don't bother with any of that. That's why they're called the 'gutter press.'"

"Today I'm going to let you see how easy it can be to be this kind of journalist. Pick a subject - someone you know, something you hate, I don't care - and write a profile on he, she, or it. Make up sources, quotes, and even basic facts about them to make for a better story. They have two siblings and you think it would be a better story if they were an only child? Run with it! Implicate them in a triple homicide? It's tabloid journalism, that's fair game! Talk about a building that's scheduled for demolition even though it was torn down a decade ago? As long as the building's in Iowa, nobody will ever know!"

"Write about me and you have detention. Get to work!"

Cooking Club [Home Ec Classroom, Thursday]

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

It being the day after one of his better birthdays, Ned actually looked a little more relaxed and less twitchy than normal. Even the fact that he'd gotten fake married last weekend was bringing him more amusement than angst. He was milling around the room while everyone filed in. Once everyone was settled, Ned got to talking.

"So, as most of you know, this Saturday is Valentine's Day," he said and hoped no one started booing the holiday. "I thought today, to stay topical, we'd make either Valentine's Day things or pink and red foods. It's up to you which one you pick. I've set out a few examples of things you might wanna give a try but you can cook whatever you want in this realm. Remember, make it edible because we get to eat it. So...no making something horrible because you hate the holiday."

He hoped no one made an anchovy casserole or something.

"If you need me, come find me. If not, have fun cooking!"

Ned moved off to one of the stations to page through recipes so he could get to cooking.

Thaumaturgy 101 - Thursday, First Period - 2/12

[brandyforapples.livejournal.com]

She looked out over her class this morning with a faint smile.

"I certainly hope you all... enjoyed your weekends."

She had spent her weekend being corralled by Mary since she'd insisted on looking for her books, the massive collection of them that didn't exactly exist there because she wasn't actually Elinor Loredan, whoever she might have been. While Abigail Irene knew herself to be a bit past her prime, she still hadn't much liked being a batty old harpy for the weekend and thus, was not going to talk about it. At all.

"Today, we'll be covering the Principles of Thaumaturgy. Of course, I will only cover a few of the most important ones since there are quite a few to go around, but if you'd like to learn more, you're always welcome to visit during office hours."
( And so she started... )

"Now that I've yammered at you, let's get to work.

[ocd up!]

Library [Thursday, February 12]

[gudspellr-claud.livejournal.com]

Claudia skipped through the library doors in her brand new flowered heels. She needed to break them in before the dance, and they looked totally cute with her puffy pink miniskirt (once she'd layered on some black leggings, a blue tank top and one of her dad's old work shirts that she'd fixed up with puffy paint and a bedazzler). On anyone else, it probably wouldn't have worked. On Claudia, it looked great.

She sat down behind the desk with a copy of Vogue, happy to help anyone who came in.

Newspaper Staff Meeting, 4 pm, Journalism Room

[the_merriest]

"All right," Rikku said brightly, setting down the required box of donuts and grinning at her staff. "We had an ad, last time, and we had the best interview ever. How are we going to top that?"

Library, Friday

[iruinenglish.livejournal.com]

Another Friday, another day in the library. Today Buffy was sort of weirdly excited for the dance, though, while at the same time kind of dreading it.

She kind of had bad experiences with dances, see.

So she was here, and so was all her insane nervous energy.

P.E./Movie Appreciation: Week 6, Period 1 (Fri 2/13)

[satedan-soldier.livejournal.com]

When students arrived in the Danger Shop, Ronon was smiling broadly at the larger-than-usual group. The Danger Shop was filled with treadmills all set up facing a large movie screen. Strange, but the professor was up front, ready to explain.

"I brought you all together today for two reasons. One, I have stuff to do and two, half of you were probably gonna ditch to get ready for your dance anyway." Not really, but they weren't getting the really.

"Today we're all gonna watch a foreign film from Germany. That's another Earth country. The movie's called Go Leda Go, and the title kinda gives it all away. She runs. A lot. Since running is something I'm real familiar with, that's your activity. While you watch the movie you will run, but the Germans don't speak your English, so you'll have to read the screen or plug some headphones into your treadmill to listen to the English version if you can't deal. Call it multitasking." (Aww, look at him providing an alternative to reading!)

"P.E. students, enjoy the break from Earth sports. Movie students, you could all use some exercise. Everybody gets a uniform and a treadmill. Go." He crossed his arms, expecting them all to file into the locker rooms that were handwavily over there while he hummed the theme to Baywatch, not realizing what it was or why it was stuck in his head.

Care for Magical Creatures; Friday, Period 2 [ 02/13 ].

[berserkerminsc.livejournal.com]

Coming into the classroom today, the students would find the usual set-up, but a person sitting beside Minsc who was not usually there. Minsc himself was beaming with a sort of pride and excitement; the stern looking woman with the pointed ears sticking out of her blonde hair did not look nearly as enthusiastic.

( A berserker and a half-elf druid walk into a classroom, and... )

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