Hitting Things Makes You Feel Better, Thursday, 3rd Period

[wrongkindofsith]

Cara'a class were back in the salle this week, a number of rings were marked out on the mats.

"Now that I've gotten a good idea of your skills, it's time for you to try your hands at actual sparring," she said by way of greeting. "Find a partner, pick a ring and have at it. Your goal is to get your opponent out of the ring three times. So long as you avoid blows to the head, or anything that'll result in actual injury, I don't care how you do that."

Advanced Driver's Ed: Driving Other Stuff, Friday, First Period

[10secondcar]

Today, the Danger Shop was set up as a marina, and instead of cars a grouping of small boats awaited the students. "Now, there are a lot of kinds of boats," Brian began. "I'm not messing with sailboats, because they don't have a motor and I'm not here for that, and some have a key for the ignition and a steering wheel and a lever for the throttle--not that different from a car with manual transmission, just on water. And then there are these outboard motor dinghies--I mean, boats." Brian climbed into the nearest dinghy--he meant, boat--and demonstrated briefly how to drive the thing. "Now," he said as he climbed back onto the dock, "Safety first, even though this is a simulation, so everyone put on a life jacket. Then take a few laps around to get a feel for it before you race through the course handwavily laid out with the buoys. You end up in the water, back to the starting line. And before you go, I have a handout of nautical terms so you can sound like you know what you're talking about." Personally, Brian was not convinced 'abaft the beam' didn't mean something dirty.

Student Council [Lunchtime]

[bigdamnprincipal]

Zoe had a table full of warm lunch foods for the students when they arrived, as well as assorted chocolate things. "Thank you all for coming," she said once everyone was seated and fed. "As some of you are probably aware, next week will be the week of Valentine's Day. We'll be having a dance next Friday, and this is the one time of year where boatloads of glitter might actually be appropriate. During the week, we'll sell tickets and also sell flowers that people can send to their friends and loved ones." Or enemies, but that didn't happen very often, thankfully. "Do you all have any questions?"

Defending Yourself Against Magic | Friday, period 2

[nuclear_snide]

Bob scowled as the students filed in. "It seems there's been a slight mishap with the materials for today. So instead, you get a movie, which is hopefully something this room can't mess up too badly. Apparently this one's about some of the dangers of magic."

He punched a few buttons and waved them at the simulated screen. "Enjoy."

Library, Friday

[crimson_sister]

Perhaps it shouldn't be surprising that the library had its share of oddities, considering the rest of the island. Lucille was somewhat frustrated that the books that needed to be reshelved refused to let that happen, or rather, refused to stay reshelved. Once she put them back, they immediately returned to the pile where she had found them, making the task Sisyphusian. She finally gave up, hoping that they would be more cooperative another day, and spent her shift reading the next novel in that very exciting series.

[The library is open and OCD free]

20th Century American History, Friday, February 5, 2016

[heroic_jawline]

Steve stepped into the classroom a few minutes late, looking harried as he hung up his phone. Talking with Nick Fury was never a particularly relaxing experience.

"So last week, we talked about the invention of the telephone has played in harrassing us all in our daily lives," he began with a tiny smile. "Today we're going to talk about World War I and then about the Roaring 20s, a time I have some actual memories of."

He gave a brief overview of the United States' involvement in World War I, making sure to explain how much longer Europe had been fighting before Woodrow Wilson got the country involved. He emphasized the loss of almost an entire generation of men in some countries with a quick, almost impersonal aside that his father had been one of the 110,000 American deaths, and then moved on to the rise of Communism in Russia and the surge of immigration from Eastern Europe to the United States. Then Steve talked about the passage of the 19th Amendment that granted women the right to vote, the passing of Prohibition, the rise of the jazz age, and the cultural tensions that began springing up due to the Great Migration of African Americans north to cities like Chicago and New York, as well as the Red Scare and immigration backlash.

After the drier parts of the lecture were over, Steve smiled at the class. "Anything you guys want personal insight into? I was a pretty little kid in the 1920s, but it's probably more than most of you remember."