Pay It Forward: Making a Big Difference in Little Ways | Friday, Period 3

[futurespacemom]

"Hi, everybody." Hera waved at them from her cushiony perch. "I hope you all had a good week and got a chance to do something nice for someone. Today we're going to start making a difference. It's been suggested that it'd be a good idea to make packets for new students, to help them out. I thought before anything else, we could brainstorm what belongs on a list like that. Information, goods, whatever you can think of."

"Really, this is the sort of thing I wish someone had handed to me when I was new to the island," Kanan noted, from where he was once again kneeling on the floor like the stubborn dumbass Jedi that he was. "You know, back when I didn't know about gremlins or how strings of beads might randomly rain from the sky or that I should probably invest in a bra for the very, very odd weekend."

So odd.

"Or that I should keep random fabric around in the event all the shirts decided to disappear. Or be prepared to cook if my roommate suddenly turns into a kid." Sorry, Caleb. "Not to mention I could barely read the script around here."

"From what I've heard, there have been people who needed to teach themselves the local alphabet from back to front," Kanan sighed. "These are things nobody thinks to ask when you're new. I'm lucky I already knew High Galactic, myself."

"Then there's other things," Hera said. "The school gives you rooms, but maybe extra blankets for winter? Or...apparently phones are important?" She shrugged. "I'm sure there are other things you can think of."

"There are always other things you can think of," Kanan agreed. "Spend some time brainstorming things you wish you'd been warned of or prepared for when you were new, and come up with solutions so that maybe the next people who come along with have an easier time of it than you did."

Japanese Blades [9/07]

[battlewithstyle]

The classroom today finally had an instructor. Mitsutada stood at the front of the class, dressed in his suit and his armor pieces, looking as authoritative as possible. This, however, did not make him the fanciest lad in the room. No, that was the long haired man next to him, wearing a flowing kimono and cape.

Once the class had gathered and taken seats, Mitsutada bowed to them.

"Apologies again for your wasted time last week," he said. "I was called away and could not arrange a stand-in in time. This class is to teach you about various parts of Japan's history through the stories of famous swords and other weapons. This is because I, Mitsutada Shokudaikiri, and my comrade here, are famous swords of Japan's history. We are Touken Danshi, souls of weapons summoned to take human form to fight a war against demons set on altering history. I will talk more about myself in a later class, but today we are starting a series on a specific set of Japan's history, the Shinsengumi. I shall let our guest introduce himself."

Mitsutada stepped aside, and the other man smiled to the class and spoke.

"I'm the sword famous for having been used by Toshizou Hijikata, Kanesada Izuminokami. Even so, I was created not by the highly regarded second generation Kanesada, but by the eleventh or twelfth generation. It was the beginning of the end of the samurai era," he introduced. "Hijikata was the vice-commander of the Shinsengumi, a force of swordsmen that was formed to protect the shogunate and its representatives at the end of the Tokugawa era. The end of the samurai era, really. Eventually, they also became policemen - patrolling the streets to increase stability in a time of unrest after the forced Kanagawa treaty when the United States forced Japan into opening its ports for trade."

"Hijikata stayed loyal to the Shinsengumi and the shogun even as the Imperial forces began to win the Boshin Civil War, which broke out only a few short years after the Shinsengumi were formed. He would eventually send me, and a photo, to his family on the eve of the Battle of Hakkodate, where he was shot and killed."

With that, Kanesada stopped for a moment, his strong and confident demeanor interrupted by an expression of pain and sadness. Mitsutada came up next to him and put a hand on his shoulder, and after a brief moment Kanesada looked back to the class.

"It was the end of the Shinsengumi, the end of the Tokugawa, and the end of the era of Samurai. Imperial rule under the emperor began again, shortly thereafter," he concluded.

"Thank you, Kanesada," Mitsutada said. "Now, we are happy to take questions you might have."

[ooc: Class is open and ready!]

Civics, Friday, September 7, 2018

[heroic_jawline]

Steve and Tony were in the front of class. Steve was glued to his phone, watching clips of the Senate confirmation hearings for Judge Kavanaugh and muttering under his breath.

Tony wasn't doing that only by virtue of his brain being a computer that could do that for him. But he did look a little hazy as he half paid attention to that.

"So, today we'll discuss the power of the Judicial branch of the US government," Tony said. "And how certain people and certain parties shouldn't be allowed to control it."

"Because they're criminals," Steve muttered, "in probably a couple different jurisdictions." He put his phone down. "Right. The Judiciary, along with the Executive and the Legislature--that's Congress--make up the three theoretically co-equal branches of the American government."

Tony gave him a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. "Now, the Judiciary only came into power as the third part of the balancing act with Judicial Review where the Supreme Court is the be all and end all of questions of constitutionality of laws passed and approved by the other two branches. Which... well, the Constitution is a document written by a bunch of rich, old, white slave owners, so..."

"So it can be tweaked a bit," Steve said. "The Constitution, for instance, didn't directly address marriage. Or health care. Or non-white, non-maile, non-landowners being allowed to vote."

"So a lot of things," Tony added brightly. "Now, there is certainly precedence for trying to stack the court to a certain ideological mindset. FDR attempted it through changes to the make-up of the Supreme Court in order to prevent many of his policies from being overturned the moment he left office. Of course, he won that battle by being elected more than any US president ever was before or since."

"And then they passed a bunch of laws to make sure another President couldn't do that again," Steve said a little dryly.

Be honest, kids. You missed this class.

Tony tried not to smile, hiding it behind a cup of coffee. "So, let's discuss. Do you think public opinion should be taken into consideration for the courts?"

"Keep in mind that while the people chosen to be judges are picked by the President and confirmed by the Senate, they stay there until they retire or die," Steve said. "There's really no other way to get them to leave. They affect decades of interpretation of law."