Food & Cultural Appreciation, Tuesday Third Period

[carbsliftthespirit]

"All right, guys," Raiden said to his students, "Today we're headed to one of the food capitals of the world: Paris, France. Now, people will fight about which is better, French food or Italian, and personally, I think the Italians have got the French beat hell for leather when it comes to dinner--the Italians did invent pizza, after all--but it cannot be denied there are some things the French do very, very well--and we're gonna eat as many of them as we can today.

"For those of you who are not familiar, France is a country in Europe which borders Italy, where we went a few weeks ago. They're separated by the Alps mountain range, and by the north-south European food divide: in France, except maybe in the south along the Mediterranean, you see more butter than olive oil, although garlic and the onion are both enthusiastically embraced, as they should be. France is home to amazing wines and cheeses, some great dishes like French onion soup, beef bourguignon, coq au vin--when in doubt, stew it in wine, am I right? You may also be familiar with crepes, which are a thin pancake you can put pretty much anything in, savory or sweet, and yes, the French do eat escargot, or snails, and frog legs. Hey, if you're hungry, you'll eat almost anything, and don't knock a readily available protein. If you can make it taste good, all the better. France, Paris in particular, also takes their baked goods really seriously, and with good reason. Some of the best bread and pastry in the world are made here, and every year Paris holds a contest with strict requirements to find the best one--the place we're going first won the award for best croissant in 2018!

"Today we'll be going on a tour of some places making some of the most iconic foods you might think of when you think of Paris--some of which are iconic in their own right. You can try everything, and buy things to bring home with you as well, of course. Along the way we'll get to see some sights like Notre Dame, which is still closed after that fire a few years back, although I hear they'll be reopening soon! And then we'll be heading over to a restaurant near the Eiffel Tower for a proper French meal." And those oh-so-necessary snaps of the Tower, of course. "I hope that sounds good, because it's time for our portal!"

Ethics, Tuesday, November 12, 2024

[sith_happened]

"The most important part about decision-making," Anakin began from his spot in the Danger Shop that had been, strangely, set up like a sumo wrestling arena, "is to make you choices from a place of mental clarity. Decisions we make rashly--when we are upset, angry, or afraid--tend to be bad ones."

Not that anyone here knew anything about that. Anakin.

"However, sometimes the fastest way to attain such clarity of mind is through physical exertion." That was Ahsoka's justification for this class, and she was sticking to it.

Anakin nodded. "And since we're not giving you lightsabers, the Jedi's preferred version of stress relief, I went through the summer team building supplies and found these bumper balls for you to wear and get some aggression out in a safe way."

You're welcome.

World Mythology, Tuesday, 2nd Period.

[atreideslioness]

"This week we turn our eyes southward, to the world 'Down Under', or Australia," Ghanima began, distributing the handouts to the class as soon as everyone had arrived, although Trebor got a coloring book instead of the handouts.

"Australian Aboriginal myths, also known as Dreamtime stories, Songlines or Aboriginal oral literature, are the stories traditionally performed by Aboriginal peoples within each of the language groups across Australia." "All such myths variously tell of significant truths within each Aboriginal groups' local landscape affectively layering the whole of the Australian continent's topography with cultural nuance and deeper meaning, effectively empowering selected audiences with the accumulated wisdom and knowledge of Australian Aboriginal ancestors back to time immemorial."

"Australian Aboriginal mythologies have been characterized as "at one and the same time fragments of a catechism, a liturgical manual, a history of civilization, a geography textbook, and to a much smaller extent a manual of cosmography".

"Now, there are over 400 distinct Aboriginal groups from across Australia, each distinguished from each other by unique names most often identifying the particular languages, dialects, or distinctive speech mannerisms. There are so many distinct Aboriginal groups, languages, beliefs and practices that it would not seem proper to attempt to characterize, under a single heading, the full range and diversity of all myths being variously and continuously told, developed, elaborated, performed, and experienced by members of each and every one to the groups across the whole of the continent," she said, continuing to pace the room. "Despite the daunting task of trying to catalog such an evolving mythology, The Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia never-the-less observes: "One intriguing feature of Aboriginal Australian mythology is the mixture of diversity and similarity in myths across the entire continent.""

The traditions and lore of Australia's indigenous peoples belongs to what may be one of the oldest continuous culture on Earth, to my understanding, circa 50,000 years. Indigenous Australian peoples conceive of all things beginning with The Dreaming or Altjeringa, also called the Dreamtime, a sacred 'once upon a time', time out of time in which ancestral Totemic Spirit Beings formed The Creation." Ghanima smiled as she returned to the front of the class to sit on her desk. "Some of this may sound familiar by now, and while we could dedicate an entire semester to the power of the collective human unconscious, we unfortunately do not have the time."

"On your desks, you should now have four handouts regarding The Dreamtime, Songlines, and the Rainbow Serpent. Please read them over, and then we will discuss as a class."