Student Council, Friday [Lunchtime]

[bigdamnprincipal]

Once again, Zoe had taken over the usual classroom for a Student Council meeting, and set out a variety of warm foods and drinks. Sure, it wasn't that cold in Fandom yet, but it was still October.

"Thank you for taking time from your pre-break packing to be here," she said, once everyone was seated. "It seems our first eventful weekend went off without a hitch." Sparkly elves weren't a problem, exactly, just something she would have to stay aware of in the future. "Before we go on our fall break though, we have to talk about Homecoming. Homecoming will be the week after we get back. We need to discuss what kind of inevitably-glitter-laden theme we want to have." She paused for a moment, making an annoyed face. "We might also want to decide about having a festival like last year, or going back to having a carnival, or doing something else. For those of you who weren't here last year, there was an... incident that made our usual carnival not such a great idea. But maybe enough time has passed that people won't be traumatized if we go back to tradition. I'll leave that ultimately up to all of you."

Teamwork & Tactics, 3rd Period - Friday

[worstofalltime.livejournal.com]

The class would be cheered to know things were... mostly back in order for today. They were once more in the danger shop with armor and paintball guns at the ready to be used. That was totally a cheerful thing, right? Right!

"Laps first. I hope you've all kept in the habit," Wash said, managing to sound both earnest and gravely disappointed in them if that wasn't the case. It was a talent of his.

Only once that was done and armor colors chosen did he nod in approval. "Since the video from last week lacked all educational value, we'll be attempting a practical application that will teach you something. With paintball guns."

That's right, dodgeball was just like being shot with paint.

"There's no flag to capture this time, the goal is to eliminate your opponents."

In a friendly competition.

Philosophy of Loss, Friday, Period 2

[living_endless]

"Hi, people," Didi said easily, once the students were gathered. "This week I wanted to talk about the Kübler-Ross model of grief. If that doesn't ring a bell, I bet it will once I get a little more into it.

"Now, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross was a Swiss psychiatrist, and in 1969 she wrote a book called 'On Death and Dying' that was inspired by her work with terminally ill patients. And Kübler-Ross's most famous theory is that people who lose a loved one go through five stages -- denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance."

"Denial is when you refuse to believe that whatever's happened is real. You might, for example, insist that the dead person is a case of mistaken identity. Anger is 'why me? It's not fair. Whose fault is this?'. It's a time of a lot of frustration, and a lot of lashing out at anybody and everybody convenient. Bargaining is trying to negotiate -- 'I'll go to church every week if you just bring my child back to life,' for example. Depression is, well, depression. You're sad, everything seems like too much effort, you may not even want to get out of bed. And all of those things are totally normal and natural, and they all lead up to the last stage -- acceptance. Which is where the grieving person stops, takes a breath, and says, 'I'm sad, but it'll be okay.'" She paused there, spreading her hands in a gesture of acceptance, before smiling and letting them fall.

"Now, a lot of you might be thinking that sounds too easy, and it does. Research has shown the model's not particularly reliable, for one thing. Even Dr. Kübler-Ross herself admitted that the stages might come in any order, that some people felt other emotions, and that not everyone is going to feel all five."

"But it's still interesting because of how it's seeped into the culture. You see jokes about the five stages on sitcoms. People need to be told not to see themselves as broken if their grief doesn't follow the pattern."

"So my question for you today is, are the five stages something we should talk about? Or should we forget about it and find a new model? I'm curious what you think."