Social Activism- Monday- Period 1- Class #3

[smartestone]

Hermione had not expected to have to wear layers of clothes to school in the middle of July, and yet here she was, not looking too happy about it. Or maybe she just hadn't wanted to leave London, either one. "Good morning," she greeted them. "Hopefully the cold wasn't too much of a shock to you this morning, but I'm going to try to get right into class anyway. One of the easiest ways to get involved in something is to volunteer. It's not the flashiest way to get something done, but it is a good way to make some kind of a difference. There are many ways to go about it, too. I've gone ahead and printed a list of volunteer jobs in Maryland just so you can see just how many jobs are out there and what a wide range there is."

As she passed the list out to the students, she continued, "Not every volunteer position is something you might like, so you want to make sure that what you're doing is something you care about, or know you're good at. If hunger and homelessness is something that bothers you, you can help at a soup kitchen or food bank. If you're good at carpentry and building things, you can help build homes for the underprivileged. It's up to you what you'd like to do, and you don't have to do it if you don't want. That's why it's called volunteering. It's also why you don't get paid.

"In this class period, I'd like you all to look over your lists and find something that you think you could do, or might be interested in. Whether or not you follow through with it is up to you, though I highly encourage it."

Cooking for Beginners and Not-So-Beginners, Monday 3, Week 3

[screwyoumarvel]

"I hope we're all back to normal," Steve said, since you never knew who might be an animal this week or gremlin bit or who-knew-what else, "because we're going to be covering the most important meal of the day: breakfast. It's very important to eat breakfast because it gives you a solid nutritional foundation for the day ahead, and means you're not ready to eat all the dougnuts by ten AM. Now, the good thing about breakfast is that most breakfast foods are designed to be prepared first thing in the morning, when even the most accomplished cook is not at their mental best. At a very basic level, breakfast can be a bowl of cereal and a banana, a bagel with cream cheese and lox, or some yogurt with honey and fruit, but...those aren't really cooking. So let's talk about cooked breakfast foods."

( Breakfast of Champions (not Wheaties) )

How To Avoid Misadventure, Monday

[badnewsandwit.livejournal.com]

"After you pick your companions," Alistair said, looking dapper and smiling a little and generally trying not to let Morrigan's presence get to him this time, "The next thing you must consider is what you pack. You can't bring everything with you, but if you find yourself in the midst of trouble, you'll need a few things to get out of it again. As it were. Weapons and armor are an obvious must, of course, but those won't make your fire at night. Or keep your feet warm."

"And whatever you chose to take, 'tis you who must carry it," Morrigan pointed out helpfully. "Pack animals can run off, be stolen, or eaten. They also require food, which is more to carry."

"So how much you do take with you should also depend on how tall you are, or how skinny," Alistair provided. "Morrigan here can't carry all that much, for instance. Of course, she's a mage--" Look at him trying to play nice here, Morrigan, "--so she can start her own fires. But that's all the kind of thing you need to keep in mind, or you're going to run into some nasty surprises." Beat. "Like pits. Trust me, you don't want to fall into any of those without having a rope on hand."

"Magic is not a toy," Morrigan reprimanded him, giving Alistair an annoyed glance. "Why waste my energy making fire when a flint will do?"

"Which is something else to keep in mind; if you expend too much energy making fires or walking, you will be ill-equipped to handle an ambush. Rest when needed, and either secure your packs tightly enough they stay on while fighting, or easy to shrug off."

"Oh, I don't know, because it might be more economical?" Alistair shot back. "It's not like we're talking about blood magic." He crossed his arms. "Anyway, so you'll need weapons. You'll need a way to make fire, you'll need rope, you'll need food and water, and of course, a change of clothes. Adventuring gets very smelly after a while, take it from me."

"'Tis your choice," she said mildly. "If I am too drained to electrocute a Darkspawn that wants you for dinner because I had to light all your fires, 'twould be a shame."

"Well, there's another one for the list of supplies on our fake adventure," Alistair said. Seriously, Morrigan? "Plenty of lyrium vials for the witch with no stamina."

"I've heard tales of Grey Warden stamina," she said sweetly. "So far, none of them seem to be true, so be sure to pack any healing or stamina potions as well."

"I don't want to talk to you about my stamina," Alistair concluded.

"A sore-spot, p'haps?" she asked, zeroing in on him like a fox that had spotted a rather delicious - and dumb - chicken.

"Go," she said, waving the children off. "Fill your packs with things from the moddable pile. You'll have to justify your choices to us all."

Then, of course, it was back to needling Alistair while the students worked.

Tricks, Cons and Bamboozles | Tuesday | Period 4

[charming_thief]

This time when the Tricks, Cons and Bamboozles students arrived to class, the room was set up without any desks at all. Instead, there was an area set up at the front of the room to be a sort of stage, with the rest of the chairs all facing that direction.

“Today,” Neal said, “we’re going to talk about motivation and incentive. Often, when you’re working on a heist or a project, you’ll need to work with people to get what you want. In a lot of situations, the best way to get someone on your side is to give them what they want. Incentive.”

It also happened ot be one of the things he was best at. It so happened that providing incentive was easier when it was coming from someone with, well, Neal’s face, but he was hardly going to point that out.

“Feeling out the things that motivate people takes skill,” he conceded. “It won’t always be crazy cat ladies who’ll melt for a glimpse of your PETA membership card. So today, we’re going to do a little improv exercise.”

He held up a clipboard he’d been using to write notes, waving it in the class’ direction. “When I call you up in pairs of two, I’ll give you your scenario. One of you will have an assignment – like convincing a bouncer to let you into a bar when you’re too young. It’s your job to motivate the person you’re talking to so that he or she is inclined to help. You’ll have five minutes to get what you want.”

NOT DIRTY.

Then he surveyed the clipboard and began calling out the names of pairs.

Winter Sports, Monday, Period Two

[doubleohblonde]

The expression on Bond's face as he told his class to follow him out onto the frozen tundra (and to dress in the snow gear he'd thoughtfully provided) wasn't exactly unholy glee, but it was close.

He led them to a spot right by the causeway, where there were a selection of skis and a collection of paint-ball rifles. There was also a rough track marked out with targets scattered around it. "Good morning, class," Bond all but chirped. Bastard. "Today we'll be dong a variation on the biathlon, a Winter Olympic sport involving cross-country skiing and shooting. The concept is simple enough, ski around the track stopping at marked intervals to shoot at targets from either a standing or prone position. Scoring depends on both speed and accuracy but we won't worry about that today." Wasn't that nice of him?

"Gear up and then we'll get started."

[ooc: wait for ocd up]

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