Library, Monday [2/15]

[ancientbschamp.livejournal.com]

When she found it at a haphazard angle in the stack of returns, it caught her eye. Gabrielle had only meant to reshelve the book on tomatoes, but a quick flip through it brought her straight to the section on the history of the tomato, and how it hadn't been introduced to her region of the world until a few centuries ago.

And now that she'd made and had some coffee, reshelved everything else that needed to be, and had a stern Talk with a couple of philosophy volumes that seemed to be intent on sneaking into the 700s, she was at the desk with her usual scrolls set aside and the tomato book in front of her, looking flabbergasted.

Tomatoes weren't supposed to exist in Greece in her time? That just couldn't be right.

Japanese Etiquette & Tradition, 2/15/10, Period 5

[shiroi_tiger]

Really, the students ought to just get used to filing into the Danger Shop for class, at this rate.

Today's setup looked suspiciously like a Japanese village from at least a hundred and thirty years ago, with a lantern-lit stage set up below a small hillside, which served very nicely, if you were observant, as raised seating.

( I hope you all enjoyed the festival last week... )

[OCD on the way up! Those links up there lead to YouTube clips of each of the different theatre styles, for the curious.]

World Mythology -- Third Period -- Monday

[atreideslioness]

Today there were flowers on Ghanima's desk, and she was humming happily as she composed a letter to Alianne as she waited for everyone to arrive.  Anyone who glanced at it when they walked by would probably see only gibberish, but one Aly cracked the code, she'd find it said, 'You wish.'  Among other things. 

Once everyone had arrived, she glanced up.  "Good morning, class.  I understand that this weekend was a holiday for many of you," Ghanima said, smiling.  "Hopefully you weren't too busy worshiping the false gods of flowers and chocolate hearts to get outside and enjoy some of the fresh air.  Today we discuss the complex and often contentious relationship between religion and mythology from an academic stance."

( Where Ghanima talks too much. Again. )

"As your fun fact for today, The Dewey decimal system covers religion in the 200 range, with books on "Religious mythology & social theology" a tiny subset listed under 201.  While that may seem insignificant at first glance, your assignment for this week is to go to the library and browse the 200s.  Look and see what books are shelved there, and think about what that says about the current modern perception of religion and mythology on a subconscious level."

[OCD IS UP]

Build Your Own Philosophy, Period 2, 2/15/10

[tyler_gone]

The board read:

Fortune ... displays her might where there is no organized strength to resist her, and directs her onset where she knows that there is neither barrier nor embankment to confine her. -- Machiavelli

Ino's flowers were in a vase on Tyler's desk, and he seemed to be in a good mood as he waited for the class to come together.

"Housekeeping first," he announced. "Next week is Spring Break. Week after that, you'll be handing in midterm papers and discussing them in class. Your assignment is to pick one philosopher or writer we talked about in class and write a short paper discussing how you agree or disagree. You have two weeks to do that; I'm sure you can all handle it."

God, he sounded like a real teacher.

"We're spending our last week with Machiavelli this week, and we're talking about luck -- fortune. Basically, what Machiavelli is saying is that luck is important, but you have to know how to control your luck. The example he gives is that you can't make it so it won't flood. Floods happen all the time. Not anybody's fault, unless you want to waste time blaming God. But if you're smart and you've built floodwalls while it's dry, you can make it so nobody dies during the flood."

"The point he's making is that if you're a ruler, you have to be able to adjust to the things you can't control if you want to stay in charge. It might seem obvious, but there have always been people who want to lay it all on the fates -- fortune, luck, God, whatever you want to cal it -- and not recognize they can make their own luck."

"Your exercise today is this: Think about something that's happened to you, through sheer chance. Can be an invasion, can be who your parents are, whatever. And talk to a partner about how you can 'build floodwalls' to turn whatever it is into something you can manage. Now, this isn't therapy hour. Nobody has to share more than they want to. If you can't think of a personal example, one from history is fine."

"Let's go."

Horror 101, Monday

[chosehumanity]

"We're going to be talking about zombies," Mitchell started. Why, yes, he'd thrown his lesson plan out the window again. "I was going to bring up succubi, but that might be a bit too NC-17 for you lot." Actually, the original topic had been vampires, but see again re: lesson plan out the window.

"The bodies of our dead come back to life with only a fraction of their brains left, if any," he started, "Mindless creatures milling about trying to take a bite out of you. In film, it depends on what you watch, the old ones had the regular shambling kind you could outrun, but we've developed this obsession with fast zombies as well."

He scraped his throat. "It started with Vodou in Haiti, in the way we know it today. They'd say a dead man could be revived by a Bokor to do his bidding, because he was mindless. A bit appropriate to more than just the living dead these days," he cracked, then quickly moved on to the next bit before that could fall, you know, badly. "Although they say that a lot of these so-called zombies were actually based off of mental patients."

He clapped his hands together. "They can be used as a metaphor for the mindless crowds, and for the fear of people with which we can no longer communicate. They are outside of us as much as they're of us."

He rattled off a few classic zombie films while he was at it. "...although I hear you had some sort of thing with them here last year," he hedged, "So if you don't want to sit around for the film or the discussion, feel free to leave."

[[ wait for the ocd up, have at ]]

Study Hall, Monday [2/15]

[takesaftermom.livejournal.com]

Summer set up study hall with the usual snacks and drinks, adding a bowl of leftover Valentine's Day candy to the mix. She was still in a festive mood and was willing to share any treats leftover from yesterday's celebration.

She settled in with her laptop, intent on sending her brother an obnoxious e-card in response to the one she received over the weekend. It was on.

[OCD up.]

Ethics [Tuesday, February 16]

[sith_happened]

For the last few semesters, Anakin had called on his experiences in the Clone Wars for the midterm subject matter. With Leia in the class, that would just leave him open to a lot of questions he wasn't ready to answer.

So he went further back into his history and completely reprogrammed the Danger Shop's look for this test.

"When I was thirteen years old," he began, "and had built my first lightsaber, my master and I were sent on an assignment to protect a diplomatic vessel from attack from a T'surr slaver named Krayn." As he gestured, the giant blue alien appeared in the center of the room, which had now shifted to resembled the non-too-clean interior of the slaver's transport vessel. "Our mission was simple: to disable Krayn's ship and return to our own."

He held up a hand: "However. Krayn was a slaver, and had been for almost a decade. He had ruined countless lives, had raided slaves from a multitude of systems--" including Tatooine, but Anakin wouldn't be mentioning that, "--and his slaves were used to process spice: itself an illegal, dangerous narcotic in our galaxy, which had made him very, very rich, not to mention extremely powerful. Your choice in the assignment today is simple: follow your master and disable the weapons systems of this ship and escape, or break off on your own and try to track down Krayn and free the slaves on this vessel."

With a gesture from Anakin, lightsaber hilts appeared in the air above each student. "Remember what you have learned about the dangers of anger and pride. Choose wisely. May the Force be with you. You may pair up with a fellow student if you'd like."