The Art of Ma; Thursday, Second Period [09/17].

[sake_shinigami]

No Danger Shop or portals today, ducklings! The class would be meeting in a regular classroom, no elaborate art museums or breathtaking vistas, just a classroom in a castle with all the desks pushed aside in favor of a circle of comfortable pillows and offerings of tea and hot cocoa. And a poem, written carefully on the blackboard:

Thirty spokes meet in the hub,
though the space between them is the essence of the wheel;

Pots are formed from clay, though the space inside them is the essence of the pot;
Walls with windows and doors form the house,

though the space within them is the essence of the house.

"Good morning, ducklings ♥," Shunsui greeted them with a soft smile from wher ehe was already sitting at a spot in the circle. "Come, make yourselves comfortable, help yourself to some refreshments if you feel so inclined, and then I'd like you to take a moment and consider the poem written on the board today ♥. It is an old poem, sometimes attributed to Lao Tze, a Chinese philosopher, and considered to be an excellent representation of the essential heart of the Art of Ma -- it is not just the thing itself that makes it what it is, but also the things that it is not that gives it purpose and meaning. What is a teapot if not for the space in which you put your tea? Is a forest still a forest if there is no distinction between the air and what makes a tree? And how does this apply, to the greater scheme of things?

"Today, then," he continued, "I'd like us to explore this particular concept, the Art of Ma not as it applies to art, but as it applies to function. Can you think of other examples where the space between is just as important, if not more so, than the thing itself? Do you believe the poem? Do you disagree? There are, of course, no wrong answers, and should no one have any points to discuss regarding the matter, well, then..." Here he chuckled softly, "let us then just contemplate the space between our words and the function of the silence within our discussion, neh ♥?"

Intro to PE, Thursday Period One

[magnusrushesin]

Class today was outside, but those terrible, terrible jerseys were still a thing that was happening. Because the teachers weren't baking down on that being an integral part of the gym class experience.

"It's time for some football!" Magnus said. "Even though it's not Sunday. Or Monday. Or whatever else day it's on. I don't know, I'm not the one in Texas."

"As you can see, we've got the playing ground set up," Cara said, gesturing to a marked out oval with goals at either end.

Surprise, neither of your teachers were from universes with football and google had been...unhelpful. Super unhelpful even.

Magnus held up a ball for the class. "So, you gotta kick this thing into the goal at the end. And also tackling is a thing. And something about a down. I really didn't understand that one, though. Did you?"

"I think that's the one about bouncing while running," Cara replied confidently. "Also you can only pass the ball backwards."

Magnus nodded like all of that totally tracked based on his extensive research into the sport. "Let's split into teams and see how it goes. And remember... winning is the best."

Look, just be glad neither of them had stumbled across the offside rule.

Functioning Governments, Thursday, September 17, 2020

[heroic_jawline]

Today the classroom had a visual aid: a map up at the front of the classroom. "In direct democracies," Steve said, "your vote, individually, makes policy choices. This works very well in small settings: PTAs, some towns. It gets unwieldy in a national of 330 million people, which is why in the United States, we elect representatives who are supposed to represent our voices as they vote." He frowned. "Something more than a few have forgotten."

"These are called delegates," Tony added, avoiding looking at that map because it made him want to panic drink after the last time. Just to be safe. "States have a certain number of delegates based on population in order to represent their votes for presidential elections. Hence the less populous states having fewer and the more populous states have many, many more."

Steve nodded. "Every state's electoral delegate count is the number of Senators they have--two, for everyone--plus the number of Representatives they have in the House. And the electoral vote, not the popular vote, is what elects a President. Generally, the electoral vote and the popular vote give you the same result, but not always." Thus Tony looking like he was going to boot all over the classroom.

Look, they had this class for a reason.

"Sometimes there's just enough gerrymandering--which is a method of voter disenfranchisement that re-draws the lines of voting districts into a ridiculous shape in order to have a political party win by cutting off groups likely to vote for the opposing party--there's enough gerrymandering to do just that to make it so the delegates vote one way when the populous voted the other."

"The districts, where each Representative stood for about 200,000 people a hundred years ago, now stand for 700,000 people," Steve said, "so if you live in a highly populated state, like, say, California, your three million extra popular votes didn't translate in the electoral college."

This was depressing. "No other country has followed us down the electoral college road because, frankly, it's confusing and intentionally so, but it's baked into the Constitution and getting rid of it would take an amendment, which requires a massive effort," Steve said.

"So," Tony said with false cheer. "Let's discuss how you feel about this method of governance."

Because your teachers had Some Opinions.

"And then you can play around with the map to see how you can get to 270 votes," Steve said.