Canada Is Not That Strange And Other Biases | Wednesday | Period 2

[just-add-starch.livejournal.com]

"Welcome back," Fraser greeted as the students filed into the classroom. "I hope you all had an enjoyable Homecoming weekend. Today, we're going to talk about Halloween. Now, I know some of you might not know what Halloween is or might not even celebrate it but Halloween is ripe for all kinds of myths and urban legends because of the holiday itself."

He paused and leaned against the desk at the front of the room. "Halloween, for those that don't know, is a rather secular holiday these days. It tends to revolve around candy, costumes and scares. Due to the sometimes frightening nature of the holiday, it tends to breed urban legends and myths of the scariest variety. One of the most common are the fear that the candy received by trick or treaters will be poisoned or containing some sort of foreign object. Now, there is a basis for this urban legend since this has happened before and that's why vigilance is so highly preached on this particular subject. Most of the time, it just means taking trick-or-treaters to houses you know and checking the candy once you're home. It's easily preventable but frightening nonetheless."

Fraser smiled though and shook his head. "Today, though, we're going to watch something that's a very enjoyable example of a Halloween urban legend. Some of you might have seen it as it is a classic and if this is your first time, I hope you enjoy it. I'm much older than all of you and I continually enjoy it. What I want you to look for in this story is fairly easy. Obviously, figure out what the legend is. It shouldn't be that hard to do. Once you've done that, figure out how this legend is spread and why it becomes so widely believed. And, if you can, figure out why people begin not to believe. Feel free to write this all down and hand it in. It's a fairly easy class but I hope you enjoy the movie."

With that, he started the movie and took a seat to watch.

Boom-de-Yada Science! | Class 8, Period 1

[tricksy-spy.livejournal.com]

"Good morning!" The far-too-awake teacher at the front of the Danger Shop was definitely not the Doctor. She wasn't into tweed for one thing. Also a blonde female. One of those things probably clued the students in. "I'm Aly. No, I'm not the Doctor after a sex change. Some of you know me already, some of you don't, but feel free to call me Aly. Duani's fine too if we want to be formal about it."

"So apparently the class is Boom-de-Yada Science, right? Anyone figure out what the Boom-de-Yada part is yet?" Aly glanced around, hoping for an answer of some sort. "Oh well, That would've been too good to be true." She flicked the Danger Shop's controls and an assortment of bombs running the gamut from the classic bombs used in movies to less sophisticated devices appeared along with a table full of odd-looking instruments.

"I'm a big fan of blowing things up. It's just fun and really, really useful. It even goes along with the Boom in Boom-de-yada." She amused herself at least. "But today we're going to look at something else - what to do when you don't want the bomb to go off. Disabling explosives is a hugely dangerous task, and in general, it's something you want to call in an expert to deal with." She grinned. "But really if there's one thing Fandom teaches you it's that when you need an expert, one usually can't be found. So today we - and by we, I mean you - are going to work on disarming explosive devices that won't cause quite so much agony is you get it wrong."

Gesturing to the assortment of bombs, Aly started discussing bomb disposal techniques including the use of a pigstick because that is a freaking awesome word and the ever-popular cutting of the correctly coloured wires.

"Now the trick here is that these devices aren't bombs. But if they are disengaged incorrectly, they will explode." She grinned. "I hope you wore clothes that can get paint on them. If not -" she pointed to a box "-there are some lovely and very fashionable smocks to put on."

"If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Otherwise, pair up and have fun."

[OOC: It's in the Danger Shop so no one will get hurt by an exploding device, but the paint is very definitely real and in all colours of the rainbow. Feel free to mod how long it lasts/how hard it is to get off. Not dirty]

Library [10-27]

[imonscholarship.livejournal.com]

Dan had successfully avoided anything resembling a dance over the weekend by spending some time in Brooklyn, where his family made fun of him for avoiding the dance. He didn't care. He didn't think he could suffer the sort of embarrassment a dance provided.

He did manage to make it back in time to open the library Wednesday, and was spending his shift reading. Isn't that new and different?

Cultural Appreciation, Week VIII [Wednesday, Periods 4 & 5]

[atreideslioness]

"Halloween is an annual holiday observed on October 31, primarily in the United States, Canada, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. It has roots in the Celtic festival of Samhain and the Christian holiday All Saints' Day, but is today largely a secular celebration. Common Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, wearing costumes and attending costume parties, carving jack-o'-lanterns, ghost tours, bonfires, apple bobbing, visiting haunted attractions, committing pranks, telling ghost stories or other frightening tales, and watching horror films.

( There are nights when the wolves are silent and only the moon howls. )

"Today, our portal is going to work a little differently than usual," Ghanima said, winking at them. "It will be tomorrow night where we're going, and we'll be enjoying some Halloween puppetry. I hope you wore a warm coat!"

So You Say You Want a Revolution: Week 8, Period 3

[worsethanaunts.livejournal.com]

Aly was not present when the class assembled in the classroom. Instead, the Doctor was there, dressed as he usually was in a tweed jacket, bow tie and assorted other pieces of perfectly normal clothing that weren't worth mentioning.

"Hello!" he greeted them all with enthusiasm. "I'm the Doctor and not Aly, your usual teacher. You can call me the Doctor. You can call me Aly if you want, but I can't guarantee I'll answer. Definitely don't call me Theta Sigma. It's a long story and we won't get into it.

So this is what you learn about? Revolutions?" the Doctor asked, but it was a rhetorical question as most of his were (since he talked too fast for anyone to butt in most of the time), so he kept going. "Revolutions are a lot of fun. I mean hard work. Hard work and sometimes fun, depending on who you're revolting against. Hard work and fun and and more hard work and quite a bit of luck. But you're halfway through the semester, so you'd know that already.

To lead a proper revolution, one that's not going to fall apart and rely on bluffing and hoping that the person in charge gives up and runs the other way, you need support from people. You need to make promises and plan and organise people and resources on a wide scale." And not just run in and make it up as you went along, unless you were the Doctor apparently. "You also need to do all of that without letting the wrong people get wind of what you're doing. All it takes is one mole in your ranks and you're done for. How do you know who to trust? Look around at your classmates. Do you see friends? Allies? Enemies? Do you even know each other? Would you trust them with your life?

One approach is to trust everyone until they give you reason not to, but then you have to deal with the consequences of trusting the wrong people. One approach is to trust no one, but then you make the road to your revolution harder than it needs to be, and it will be hard without you even trying." He rested his chin in his hand and looked at them. "Well?"

Ethics [Thursday, October 28]

[sith_happened]

"Today we talk about wrath," he said. "There's something very human about giving in to our temper," he said, then paused. "At least at that moment. The repercussions are always waiting."

He waved a hand and the holoprojector flipped to life, showing the blue alien from last week . "As a Padawan who wasn't prone to following the instructions of my master," his eyes met each student who had also made that choice as he spoke, "I was captured aboard Krayn's ship, enslaved--again--and set to work in his spice refining plants underground on Nar Shaddaa. My master escaped, and I didn't see him for almost a month. The intervening time was not pleasant."

He looked around the classroom making eye contact with every student before continuing. "I was angry and alone, and at a time like that wrath is very, very tempting. It urges you to listen to that dark little voice inside of you--to cut loose, live without consequences."

He pointed at the holo again. "There are always consequences. At the end of this story, I faced Krayn in combat, ignored the advice of my master again," which was a theme in Anakin's stories, "and stabbed Krayn through the chest with my lightsaber. I was thirteen. That decision shaped much of my training as a Jedi from then on."

Anakin stopped pacing. "What would it take for you to get to that hazy edge? And more importantly, how do you stop yourself from giving in?"