Music Appreciation, Friday, 1st Period

[furnaceface]

Hannibal nodded at the students once they were seated. "Last week, we watched a story told in music. Today we will also begin with a bit of opera. For those of you who may not be aware, opera is another musical form of drama. It tells a story entirely in song, accompanied generally by an orchestra."

He wrote a title on the board. "Today we will listen to some of La Bohème, an opera by a composer named Giacomo Puccini. It was originally performed in 1896, and set in Paris in the 1840s. It follows a story of several bohemians - artists and such - and the romance of two of them, Rodolfo and Mimi."

He explained the plot briefly and then played excerpts from a traditional production. When that was done, he said, "Also, there has been a more recent production, set in the 1950s. As one example of how to modernize opera, we have this."

//On the other end of the spectrum,// Jono said, leaning back against a desk and holding up a CD for the class to see, //we have a more modern retelling still, prevalent on the Broadway stage, by the name of meta for RENT. They took it, set it in New York, and then worked in current themes and issues, such as drug abuse and homosexuality, and had AIDS taking the place of the tuberculosis from the original.// He wasn't going to launch into an explanation of those things for the less modern-era-Earth students in the class, because they would never get through the syllabus otherwise. Occasionally, Jono could be relatively short-winded. //The result is a rock musical that draws parallels to La Bohème in everything from plot elements and character names to samples of the music itself. Here...//

Jono put the disc into the CD player, hit a few buttons, and stood back, letting La Vie Bohème begin to play. Not work or school appropriate? Did Jono look terribly as though he cared?

Did Hannibal? These were clearly the coolest teachers in school, you guys.

//Anyway, now that you've listened to three examples of the same, or at least a very similar story told differently over the years, I want us to take some time to discuss it. Talk about what emotions the three pieces made you feel, or discuss the differences in the lyrics and themes between them. If you want to listen to more of one or the other, feel free to ask, and we'll play whatever we have time for through the class period. If you have questions about any of the themes in any of the above, again, ask, and we'll do our best to answer whatever we can.//

Lies Your Other Teachers Told You [Friday, February 23, 2018]

[heroic_jawline]

"American foreign policy is other countries domestic policy," Tony said. "And not willingly most of the time. There has been a very long history of American interference in the business of other nations. Native American nations, Mexico, Cuba, Panama, Liberia... the list literally goes on for a very long time."

Steve nodded. "A very quick summary of the Monroe Doctrine would be: Europe cannot interfere in the Americas. But we can. So there. You can imagine how well the rest of the continent took that."

"Well, to be fair, at first some of the budding leaders in Central and South Americas took it to mean that America would prevent European powers from stopping their struggles toward independence. Same for Canada. But over time, the doctrine was reinterpreted to mean whatever the ruling party at the time wanted it to," Tony replied. "I do believe that the original intent had been to prevent colonialism in the Americas, but high ideals rarely survive the real world when power is at stake."

Steve nodded again. "Especially once we passed out of the 17th and 18th Centuries," he said. "And once the Cold War really heated up, I've read that a lot of elections became proxy battles between the United States and the Soviet Union."

"And it turns out, most of our current enemies are people we trained in those Cold War and on fights," Tony said with a sort of false cheer. "Because this country f--messed up real bad."

Wasn't that the story of the nation?

"But you won't read about any of that in a history book," Steve said. "We're always painted as trying to help, and we do try that too: aid programs, health outreach--it does some legitimate good which is undermined with the darker meddling."

"So, let's discuss," Tony said. "What gives us the right to interfere with other countries? Is it ever acceptable to do?"