Bad Ass Bitch Survival Guide; Friday, First Period [09/13].

[died8yearsago]

Rosa was leaning on the front of the desk at the front of the classroom when everyone filed in, eyes on her watch, waiting for the exact second she could start this class because that would put her closer to the exact second she could end it. So as soon as the time hit, she got to work, whether the students were there and ready or not.

"Okay," she said. "This week was going to be a self-defense unit," because she was pretty much just going off the scribbled-down notes for a syllabus from last year (ugh) she'd found on a post-it note in her desk in her dust-collecting office the other day, "but this semester's already got a whole class on that, and I think they pretty much did the same thing I was going to do yesterday, so we're doing first-aid instead. Which actually makes sense to do that one first, because, that way, when we do get around to self-defense, if any of you idiots end up hurting yourselves, hey, lucky you, your classmates'll know how to help. It'll just be a matter of if they'll want to.

"Now I know some of you," no, she wasn't glaring at anyone wearing a pair of stupid gloves right now, why would you say that?, "probably come from highly advanced societies where you could probably, like, take a pill and start growing limbs back or whatever, but guess what? You're not there now. And I'm sure some of you," she didn't know who exactly to glare at there, probably Lana, so that one came as a more general one overall, "have magic, or whatever, that can heal shit, but, you know, it's still good to know how to do some of this stuff in a more practical way so you don't....waste your magic points, or whatever."

Rosa had no idea how magic worked.

Rosa didn't really care, either.

"Either way, if you're going to be bad ass, you've got to know how to take care of yourself and others in an emergency, because, more than likely, if you're bad ass, you're going to get roughed up a bit here and there or be put into potentially dangeorus situations. So today, we're going to go over three skills that'll be useful when shit goes down and you get to cut through all the choatic crap and be cool as hell saving people and possibly also gaining a life debt from someone that you can hold over their head pretty much for all eternity.

"We're going to go over cleaning and dressing a wound, how to make an emergency splint, and how to treat various degrees of burns. If you know how to do all of these already, good for you, you've very cool, now help out your less-cool classmates, or whatever."

So she went through what to do with each instance, demonstrating on herself where applicable, and then shrugged. "All three of these things could perminently injure or disfigure a person if you don't do it right, but, you know, no pressure or anything. If you have any further questions, I'm sure you can go bug someone at the clinic, or whatever." Since she didn't have an antagonistic but cute medical professional to try to foist them at around anymore, dang.

The oh-so-sweet smile she tried there lasted a flash of a second. "Okay, so, pair up. Or group up, or whatver, since there's an uneven number of you. But basically, I don't care how you do it, just practice these skills on each other, try not to mess anything up too badly, and if you need me to go over anything again, I will. Any questions?"

If there were, maybe she might not even make a big deal out of it, either.

Maybe.

[[ ocd is on the way up! ]]

Practical Civics, Friday, September 13, 2019 [3rd period]

[heroic_jawline]

"Welcome back, everyone," Steve said with a smile. "We're not quite as annoyed with the Senate this week."

Out came the chart of the three branches of government again. "Today," he said, "we're talking a bit about the court system."

"Like we said last week, each branch is meant to balance the other so no one branch gains too much power," Tony said. Then sighed. "Ideally."

"We'll have a larger conversation about the criminal justice system and how it penalizes poor people for being poor later," Steve said. "Today we're focused on how the courts--especially those where the judges are appointed to a lifetime appointment without needing to be reelected--are supposed to serve as impartial arbiters of justice."

"Appointed, mind you, by elected officials," Tony added. "Who clearly have no bias at all."

"That was sarcasm," Steve added unnecessarily. "So conservative Presidents appoint conservative judges, liberal Presidents appoint liberal judges and theoretically they balance each other out. There have been some court cases over the years that have been considered landmark--they represent a giant societal step either forward or backwards. Dred Scott, for instance, which extended slavery. Or Brown v. Board of Education, which desegregated America's schools."

"Roe v. Wade, which gave women the right to choose safe, legal abortions," Tony said. "These court cases have long lasting and very real consequences once they are decided on. They become the law of the land. And when certain people are allowed to pick the people whole issue these rulings, it can be..."

"Disastrous," Steve finished for him. "Dred Scott in 1857 declared that African Americans were not really citizens, even if they weren't slaves, and set the country on a collision course for the Civil War less than 10 years later. But court decisions can also be immensely freeing--the Supreme Court's decision that legalized marriage to same sex partners nationwide was something I would never have even dreamed could happen in my lifetime."

Steve passed out some handwavey papers on various landmark US Supreme Court decisions. "Read these and tell us how the court system--if you have one--works in your dimension," he concluded. "Have they addressed these issues?"

Cooking Through History, Period 2

[sharp_man]

"Good morning and welcome back," Hannibal told the students once they were seated. The Danger Shop today looked like a grassy plain, forest bordering it on one side, and several good-sized firepits scattered around. He wandered as he spoke. "When we start with the history of cooked food, we should likely begin with why ancient humans would have wanted to cook their food. Cooking is as old as civilization, after all; human ancestors may have been cooking as far back as two million years ago, and there is evidence of it for at least half a million years.

"The earliest people were hunter-gatherers; that is, they did not grow their own vegetables or raise their own animals for food. They sought out what they needed from the area around them. At first, this would naturally have been raw plant materials and meat.

"However, food is easier to digest when cooked, and often more nutritious. There are theories that human brain capacity increased strongly once food began to be cooked. The first method of cooking was roasting, taking meat and placing it onto a stick and holding it over an open fire, or placing it in coals. Early cooked foods would most likely have been meats and root vegetables, along with nuts.

"Today, therefore, we will be making wild boar, scallop, and mushroom kebabs - if you choose to make this on your own later, pork would be an acceptable substitution - and acorn bread."

He pressed buttons on the console by the door and called up several tablets (iPads, not stone) with the recipes on them, which he handed out. "When you get to the step that says to leave the acorns for three days, call me over. I will ensure you have prepared it correctly to that point, and we will simply ask the room to speed things up. If you have questions at any time, please feel free to ask. Meanwhile, I have coffee and tea to share as we cook."

(Recipes from here, copied to Gdocs to avoid you having to scroll through the whole page.)

Fandom Library, Friday

[crack_that_whip]

Trevor didn't really want to know why someone had left behind an arsonist's toolkit in the library. He really didn't.

But he was going to get it out if the library, grumbling to himself the entire time. Which might have left him in a pisspoor mood as he shelved books with the remaining time left there.