Fun with Magic | Friday, First period

[nuclear_snide]

Class was back on the lawn this week, and Bob was waiting with a large cardboard box in front of him. Inside were a number of odd-shaped lumps in various bright colours. Once everybody was gathered, Bob grinned at them.

"This week, we're going to play a bit of a game. Everybody steps up and gets one bat. You have until the end of class to use it. Every hit you get on someone else scores you a point. Every point they get on you loses you one. And there won't be any cheating; the bats keep their own scores."

His grin widened. Was everybody frightened yet? "That's not the only thing they do, though. You see, these bats are all enchanted. Every hit will impart a minor enchantment to your target - it might turn their skin bright blue, or make their ears ring, or cause them to only speak in rhymes. It might make them extremely clumsy. It also might make them just a bit faster than normal, or nearly invisible. It might make them extremely coordinated."

He sobered for a minute. "Nothing will last longer than a few minutes, and none of it is truly harmful. However, if you would prefer not to participate, by all means take up a bat and hit a tree or fence instead. You won't gain any points, and so long as your classmates are honourable, you won't lose any, either. And we will all be honourable," he told them sternly.

"Those of you with magic are free to use your own as well," Bob said, "but it may behave...unpredictably, with these around. It's your risk to take. As for the rest - work for yourselves, form teams, run, hide - whatever you like. The entire lawn is fair game."

He clapped his hands together and beamed. "Any questions?"

Sexual Safety [Friday period 2]

[begmetwice.livejournal.com]

Irene had sent out an email well before class, but just in case there was anyone who didn't check their messages compulsively first thing when waking up, she'd also stuck a note to the door.

Apologies, darlings -- your spring weather has made me quite unfit for teaching, and there aren't any safe-sex movies for me to fall back on.

(At least not ones that aren't porn.)

See you next week

- I. Adler

[I'm so sorry. RL stuff is kind of making it impossible for me to concentrate on the game right now and I stared at an empty text box for like half an hour before managing this. Better class next week.]

Practical Philosophy, Friday

[endsthegame]

It was cloudy, but not cold. Ender saw no reason to move his class location, and so he met everyone out on the lawn again, twin bags of water bottles and sandwiches sitting on the grass in front of him.

"Last week, Alluka and I talked a little about rules," he said. "I think we all make assumptions about what's correct behavior among other people. We learn this from our parents, and we learn this from our friends as we grow up, and we learn this from authority figures when we cross the line. When you're used to a life of rules, then it makes sense to assume that there might be many here, as well."

He stretched his legs out.

"Much of Fandom's culture is rooted in the more progressive side of 21st century protocol," he said. "We might see people here from all walks of life and all eras of time, but we do seem to cluster around the 20th and 21st centuries." A beat. "I say 'we', but I was born in the 22nd. Either way, the 20th century West - the area we are a part of - was rooted in an exploration of our freedoms. The rules of protocol that governed us before were experimented with, often thrown out or changed. Different rules emerged, and different structures."

He took a sip of water.

"And on this island in particular, we've developed a vocabulary of our own that gets passed on from one generation of students and teachers to the next. Be accepting of others' differences. Listen. But also: pursue your passions and your hobbies, as long as they don't endanger your life or the lives of others."

He smiled wryly. "This protocol sounds like a good one," he said, "because it matches the values of this time and place. This is how societies are built, with shared values resulting in shared norms, shared rules that a group of people decides to find normal, natural. But it can also be constrictive, especially for our students from earlier times. How far should they budge? How much time are we willing to give each other before expecting each other to bend to the rules of this time? There is this aura of freedom about this island, but the truth is, there are simply different rules in play. What have you encountered so far that makes you wonder - something that goes up against the values you were taught, and might be restrictive-- or more freeing than you're used to."