fandomhigh | US History (Monday, February 6, 7th period)

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US History (Monday, February 6, 7th period)

Josh stopped playing with spreadsheets full of Montana voter information when the history class began arriving.

"Good to see you all looking so awake and eager to learn. Or faking it really well." He waved his hands. "Whichever. Doesn't really matter to me. Bit of housekeeping. A few of you missed the test we had last Wednesday. I'll be holding office hours this week--on Wednesdays, as usual--if you need to make it up."

He picked up his notes. "Enough of that. On with the show."

"Now that we're finished with the Revolutionary War, we'll begin talking about the first attempt the US made at governing itself." He scrawled Articles of Confederation in big letters then turned back around.

"Short version: wow, did this not work. Longer version will take a little more explanation. At the end of the Revolutionary War, the thirteen states were certainly nothing that could be thought of as 'united.' Eleven states had their own navies. The Continental Congress was trying to run a national government, and it had a navy, too--but one that was smaller than Virginia's. Every state was printing its own money, in addition to the stuff the federal government was putting out, which devalued everyone's currency and made it all worthless." He grinned. "Although very collectable nowadays if you're into that sort of thing."

He looked back at his notes. "The states were also taxing each other's stuff. New York and New Jersey were taxing goods coming across their states' borders. Virginia and Maryland were having boundary disputes. The people in England were placing bets on how long it would be before we were begging to be a colony again." He scowled. "The bastards."

He cleared his throat. "Anyway. People realized that this wasn't working. Our first attempt at setting things straight was the Articles of Confederation." He smiled. "And a piece of trivia for you--the first president of the United States wasn't actually George Washington. It was John Hanson who became president under the Articles of Confederation. This'll win you money in bar bets if you have friends like mine who are obsessed with politics." He looked around. "Of course normal people might think you're weird, so let's just move on, okay? So, the people in the new United States were rightfully a little worried about a hugely powerful federal government. That's what they had been fighting against, after all--a central power who made all the rules and had no accountability. The Articles went way too far in the other direction, though. Every decision had to be agreed to unanimously by the states." He smirked. "Think of yourself and a dozen friends. Remember how long it takes you to agree on what to order from a Chinese restaurant. Now imagine trying to run a country based on unanimous consent. Yeah. Bad idea.

"The Congress--which under the Articles was the only branch of government: the President of the United States was the guy who was in charge of Congress--was denied the power of taxation. They could only request money from the states, who ignored them. This led to the truly humiliating 'chased out of Philadelphia by their own army' incident in 1783 because the Congress hadn't been able to pay them." He shrugged. "Something had to give--we weren't really a nation yet. People thought of themselves first as a citizen of the state they came from. Hell, we hadn't decided on what the country was called yet. There were a few speed bumps to go over."

He gave the class a wry smile. "Which is something to remember when watching other countries going through nation-building. It took us six years to come up with a workable government. These sorts of things don't happen overnight."

He put his notes down. "That's it for today. Next class we tackle the Constitution, which tried to fix a lot of the problems of the Articles of Confederation."

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...

Josh might look like he's not paying attention to you.

But he has a Supersoaker in his desk drawer and he's not afraid to use it.

...

Lana signs in.

Lana pays good attention, but does seem a little distracted by Shep's presence.

Shep signs in and makes a mental note to go make up his test on Wednesday.

Shep is half asleep on his desk. His plane had gotten him back to the island only half and hour before his class, so he'd run to the dorms and tossed his duffle on his bed, grabbed his computer and sprinted to classes. He was still ~~recovering from the hangover - open bars are good~~ tired from staying up so late at the wedding.

Josh kept an eye on Shep's drooping eyes and moved carefully towards his desk, still talking about the Articles of Confederation.

He'd give the kid a chance to at least get his head off the desk.

But then? Water.

[OOC: Edited for typo]

Shep rolled his head over on his arms so that he was looking at Professor Lyman where he stood next to his desk. Sitting up would still take too much energy, but at least this way the prof would see that his eyes were ~~mostly~~ open.

Piper signs in.

Piper listens to the lecture and takes notes.

"Professor Lyman?" Alanna waited politely, her cast covered up by her sweater sleeve and Faithful in her bag. "If you have a moment."

Josh smiled. "Hi! What can I do for you today?"

Veronica Mars

Veronica tosses Piper a note.

How'd it go last night?

Cally Signs In.

"Um, I was wondering if I could interview you for the school paper? Since you're new to the school?" Alanna was fiddling with the strap of her bag.

Josh laughed. Hard. For a while.

"Sorry," he said, still chuckling. "It's just that people have normally done a lot of things to stop me from talking to the press. I have a habit of shooting my mouth off."

He sat down at his desk and gestured at a chair for Alanna. "Sit down. Fire away."

Alanna sat, well, fell, into the offered chair. "Um, all right." She grabbed a notebook and pencil out of her bag, careful not to move the cat and got ready to take notes with her left hand. It was pretty evident that she was having some difficulty. "Well, I got your name. What did you do before coming to Fandom?"

Piper smiled at Veronica.

Went well.

"I was the Deputy Chief of Staff for the President of the United States," Josh said with a smile. The smile faded when he watched Alanna try to take notes. "What did you do to your hand?"

Alanna blushed and tugged the sweater off of the right wrist. "I fell? Um, yeah. So you're from this world, right? And um, what did you like/dislike about your previous job? What did you do at your previous job?"

Veronica grinned.

Glad to hear it.

Now, if we could just figure out a way to help Phoebe...

I honestly don't know what to do about that.

Josh blinked. "Right. You've had someone look at it?"

He smiled. "Sorry. I don't like to see people hurt. That was a dislike from my old job. People would occasionally shoot at me." He leaned back in his chair. "The likes, though? Made even getting shot worth it. I worked for the President of the United States. I was in the Oval Office every day. I was a senior policy advisor to the most powerful man in the world. What's not to like about that?"

Alanna scribbled in her notebook and before she could stop herself. "The one who looks like a monkey?" She blinked. "Oh, sorry, sir, it just kind of, slipped out. Um, how did you wound up in Fandom?"

"Oh, God no," Josh yelped. "I worked for President Josiah Bartlet--one t," he noted. "This guy? Yeah. Not in my version of this world." He ran a hand through his hair. "I miss my version when I hear this guy talk."

He leaned his arms on the desk. "My President just got reelected, and my chief of staff decided I needed a break from the craziness of politics. He told me CJ had been having such a good time here that I should try teaching for a while." He scowled. "He neglected to mention the part about demons and snowmonsters and undead Americans and," he shuddered, "karaoke."

"Oh, so you know Professor Cregg?" Alanna asked while writing. "How do you feel you are adjusting to the 'demons', 'snowmonsters', and 'undead Americans'?" She might be smiling a little at the last one.

"Oh, CJ and I go way back," Josh said, linking his hands behind his head. "Not that you should believe a word she might say about me, of course."

He thought for a moment. "I think I'm adjusting pretty well, all things considered. I mean, snowmonsters? Seriously?" He raised an eyebrow. "Some of the stuff I've been learning has helped to make certain political issues I've run across make more sense. Like the demons in Congress that my TA Donna told me about." He gestured at Alanna, "you know Donna, right? Tall, broody? With the hair?"

Alanna blinked. "Angel? Um, so your version of Earth has demons and monsters as well?"

Josh nodded. "Yeah. Donna." He smiled. "And I didn't know about the demons or the undead Americans or any of it, but it explains things like how all these people who were supposed to be dead keep voting year after year, you know? I mean, the voter registrations can't be that badly monitored, can they?"

"Probably not." Alanna had no idea what was just said. "Um, so what is your overall opinion of Fandom so far?"

"I like it," Josh said. "My students are smart, my fellow teachers seem dedicated, and I live with a miniature giraffe. Life is good."

Alanna smiled. "Thank you, sir. Is there anything else you'd like to add?"

"I think I'm good," Josh said, smiling at Alanna. "Thanks for the least painful interview I've done in a while."

He gave another glance at her arm. "And you'll have that checked out, right?"

"Thank you sir. And um, that was my first official one, actually." Alanna got everything she needed to go. "And yes, of course. I went to the clinic as soon as I could when I uh, fell."

Veronica shook her head and shrugged, then tried to pay attention to the lecture. She somehow didn't think calling Bel to yell at him about being a jerk would work.

Blair signs in

Blair sits quietly taking notes

Quinn signs in.

Quinn's actually sorta paying attention, but mostly cuz the teacher's kinda cute.

Chloe signs in as the right person this time *cough*.

Chloe does her best to focus on the lecture, but a good section of the margins in her notes are filled with random doodles, and notes to herself about things to cover for the newspaper.

Lilly signs in, and groans at having to take a make-up test.

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US History (Monday, February 6, 7th period)

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