The Art of Ma; Thursday, Second Period [09/10].

[sake_shinigami]

Hopefully, everyone would have their traveling hats and geta with them that morning, because the Art of Ma was going on a trip! Not that such a journey would involve anything more strenuous than booking a portal for the class period, because anything more than that would just not be worth it, in Shunsui's eyes, but still! Who didn't love a trip?

"Ohayōgozaimasu, ducklings ♥!" he greeted them in a cheery, sing-song voice. "I hope you're ready to be contemplated and introspective, because today we will be attempting to experience the influence of the Art of Ma through its indesputable master, Mother Nature herself ♥. If you're all ready," he made a sweeping gesture, "and will just follow me..."

And once they were through, they would find themselves on in the mountains, with striking views and a small temple nearby.

"Welcome, ducklings, to Yamadera, more specifically Risshakuji Temple perched delicately among the rocky peaks of Mount Hoshu ♥, acclaimed to offer some of the best vistas in all of Japan. This temple was built all the way back in the year 860, and boasts a ritual flame that has been burning for over one thousand years ♥."

If his tone made it sound like he thought that was sort of quaint, well, he did.

"It was here that the well-known and acclaimed Japanese poet Basho is said to have composed one of his most famous poems, and Japanese poetry is a fine study of the Art of Ma that we will get into in more depth later on in the semester, but, as you take a moment to look around you, and consider:

"Shizukasa ya
iwa ni shimi iru
semi no koe

"Or, translated:

"Ah, stillness-
Sinking into the rocks.
A cicada's cry.

"Ah," he continued, after a moment of letting that stillness reign, for the students to look around and feel it sink into the rocks surrounding them, for them to notice the drone of the cicadas rising up from the forest, then chuckled softly, "but I am filling our negative space with a lot of empty words, neh ♥? Let's get to it. Today, I would like you all to feel the presence of ma around you in this space ♥. Explore if you'd like, but I encourage you to find a spot to sit and be contemplative on this landscape and the world around you. When you hear the sound of the gong, we will gather back here at the temple for tea and discuss our experiences. I will be here, should anyone need me before then. If there aren't any questions, then off you go, ducklings, go discover the stillness sinking into the rocks and we'll talk soon ♥."

Intro to PE, Thursday Period One

[magnusrushesin]

The set up for this week's class was identical to last week's. Well, maybe the pile of balls was slightly smaller...

There were also some of those extra oversized neon mesh vests in a pile next to the balls to go with the usual gym uniforms. "It's dodgeball day!" Magnus said with all the joy in his heart.

"Which means you're throwing balls at each other instead of us having to." No one forced you to throw balls at them last week, Cara.

"We're gonna split into teams at sign in and then just let you loose," Magnus said. "Just let you go to town on each other." That didn't sound safe.

What could go wrong, they were just squishy balls? "Try not to hit your own team mates."

Functioning Governments, Thursday, September 10, 2020

[heroic_jawline]

"With American Election Day only two months away," Steve began, "we will absolutely be focusing on that in later classes, but today we're going to talk about judges and what a lifetime appointment, rather than being elected a judge, means."

"Now, for those who are more familiar with the US system of government, these are the Federal Judges," Tony added. "They are appointed by the President and approved by the Senate. Their terms are, as Captain Rogers said, for life. They may retire or be removed from office due to misconduct as well."

Steve nodded. "They can be impeached and removed by the Congress just like a President or a member of the Cabinet. It doesn't happen very often, though. Only 15 judges in history have been impeached, and just 8 have been convicted and removed. Most see the writing on the wall and resign instead."

"Judges hold a great deal of power over the interpretation of the law and changes therein. Many court cases have had a major impact on this country for good or for ill," Tony said. "But, like we said before, they are appointed and therefore usually have political agendas. True impartiality isn't likely. Does that mean the system is flawed? Do you think appointments should be limited? Or would that simply turn into a revolving door of agendas?"

Community Center Class- Philosophy 101- Thursday evening

[fates_jaye]

"Today's class is inspired by the fact that I looked at an influencer's Instagram for four seconds and got annoyed," Jaye began when everyone got there. "So, welcome to the class on aesthetics. Now, that's derived from Greek, from terms meaning thinking and perception, the branch of philosophy is about beauty and taste, and now it's kind of used as a term to describe what your grid looks like, which bothers me on principle.

"And I could go into the whole of who thought what about this and the universal signatures in human aesthetics, but last week I got the impression you all cared less about that and more wanted to talk about it," she went on. "Know that this applies to everything: art, landscapes, people, writing, math... seriously, people include math in this. Let's not talk about math, though, because I don't want to."