Philosophy 101- Week #3- Period 4

[fates_jaye]

When it came to these weekends, Jaye had always gotten off pretty easy. The worst she did was go house hunting? Yes, please. That didn't mean she wasn't pissed at herself today because that had kept her from doing things like getting photographic evidence of everyone else embarrassing themselves.

Which meant that when the students in the Danger Shop showed up to the theater today, she greeted them with, "So if that was your first time going through weird stuff this weekend, congratulations, you got through it. If it wasn't... well, today's a movie day."

They were all movie days, Jaye.

"Today we're watching meta for The Truman Show, which is totally on the nose and I'm not sorry for it. And if you really want like, philosophy stuff to do, write up a thing on how this weekend changed yours and hand it in next week." She hoped no one did it. She never wanted to grade anything.

Basic Strategy, Monday, Period 4

[halfman-lion.livejournal.com]

The class was back in the Danger Shop this week, and Tyrion felt as if his weekend had given him a new perspective on this particular class.

The back area of the shop was set up as a boutique, with racks of fashionable and vintage clothing for all occasions and large curtained dressing areas -- including makeup and hair tables -- to the side. A magazine rack placed near the center of the area held a wide variety of current fashion magazines.

Tyrion gathered the students near the front of the area. He hoped he'd be able to hold their attention, even if he was competing with clothing.

"Two weeks ago," he began, "I spoke of some of the areas in which one might be advantaged. The first one we looked at was strength; this week, we'll be looking at beauty." He knew now that the students wouldn't laugh, but he still paused out of the irony of it; what could a dwarf know of beauty?

The stabbing thought passed, and he continued. "You cannot change the form you were born with -- or not without considerable effort and pain. You can, though, make the most of it. Your clothing should be neat, clean, and as high-quality as you can afford." This may have been easier for a Lannister to say.

"Any outfits you wear should make the most of your form without suggesting it might be for sale -- unless, of course, you are for sale. Your hair should be neat and nicely styled, any cosmetics discreetly applied. I won't deny I'm no expert on the fashions of this world, but things have not changed that much."

He drew a breath. "It might seem like a womanly topic, but men are judged on appearance nearly every bit as much. We all have to wear clothes every day; when someone who cares about them is looking, it can't hurt to make them worth looking at." He added something he'd learned the last two days. "It also, according to my most recent bout of insanity, helps if you feel fierce."

He gestured back to the racks of clothing. "This week, I want you to dress and style yourself in something that makes you feel you have the upper hand. something you might wear to meet someone you needed to impress. Then come out and explain what you chose and why."

Library, Monday

[faithandscience.livejournal.com]

The latest madness had not in fact passed William by entirely. He'd spent the weekend believing himself some fellow who went by the name "Dog" and apparently hunted down criminals for cash rewards.

Fandom, unfortunately, did not have much of a criminal element, so there hadn't been much for him to do.

Which suited William just fine, really, as it meant heading to open the library Monday morning with a minimum of embarassment.

Defending Yourself [Monday, Period 1]

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

"The purpose of last week's little exercise," in case it wasn't obvious, "was to give both you and me a chance to see what your instinctive reactions to surprises were. Because everyone's got those instincts, and a lot of the time they're useful. So recognizing them can help you learn to channel them."

"This is going to be familiar with a lot of you, but in humans instinctive panic reactions tend to be either fight, or flight. Which is to say, you either fight whatever surprised you, or you run away. The trick is to pick the right one. After all, for most people," though certainly not all, especially in Max's class, "running from a tiger is a bad idea. The tiger is faster than you are, and there aren't many places you can go that it can't. On the other hand, most of the time, fighting an avalanche doesn't work out too well."

Max shrugged. "It's all about context."

"Of course, that's all complicated by the fact that these responses are instinctive. You don't have time to think about whether to run or fight, you're already doing one or the other by the time you can think at all."

"There are ways to change instinctive responses, and one of the best ones is practice. That involves both thinking about situations in advance, and then getting involved in them in controlled ways." Which made the Danger Shop pretty dang useful.

"So today's activity involves the thinking part. Everyone partner up. Then take turns suggesting surprising and/or dangerous situations to each other. Talk about instinctive responses. What's the first thing you'd do in that situation? Talk about ideal responses: after some thought, what do you hope you'd do?"

"I'll be walking around and listening in, and any particularly good ideas might just come up again in a later class." And by 'might', he pretty much meant 'definitely will'.

"So let's get to it."