http://professor-lyman.livejournal.com/ (![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png)
professor-lyman.livejournal.com) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomhigh2013-01-22 09:18 am
professor-lyman.livejournal.com) wrote in fandomhigh2013-01-22 09:18 am
Entry tags:
Public Speaking [Tuesday, January 22, 2013]
"Every January 20th since the 20th Amendment was passed in 1933--" Josh raised his eyebrow, "--because nothing says 'fantastic idea' like swearing a guy in on the steps of the Capitol in January because it's never cold then, we have inaugurated the President of the United States. It's an unbroken ceremony that stretches back to the dawn of our Republic and the significance cannot be overstated. On a planet where elections are rigged, routinely undermined or not held at all, we do this thing where every four years we run two extremely powerful people against each other and the loser goes home. He--because so far it's always been a he--doesn't grab guns and start a coup. He might throw an extremely epic tantrum behind closed doors, but he doesn't leave the country. He doesn't disappear off the face of the Earth in the middle of the night along with his family and is never talked about again. And that, my friends, is worth celebrating. So there's a parade and balls and pomp and circumstance."
He walked between the desks, handing out sheets of paper. "And an inaugural speech. Some--all right, most--are completely forgettable, but it's the first chance a president gets to set the tone of his administration, to address the challenges facing the nation. This one is Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural address, widely regarded as the best address ever given. It's short--Lincoln's speeches generally were--and the context is fairly obvious from the speech. We were finishing up our Civil War and trying to figure out how to put together the pieces of our broken country which for four years had torn itself apart and laid waste to an entire generation of young, and then not so young, men. Many in the North were calling for the South to pay even more heavily than it had, to impose huge restrictions and burdens upon them before they could rejoin the Union.
"Lincoln didn't want to do that. That final paragraph, 'With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations,' is a line that has resonated from more than a hundred years. He was calling us to be better than our need for revenge, our pettiness." Josh shrugged. "And a month later, he became our first president to be assassinated. Because sometimes, and this is important, people are assholes."
He moved back to his desk. "Right then. Next week your assignment is to find a political speech--either from this country or your own--and put together a five minute speech about what parts in it you felt resonated. Examine the language and try to figure out why some speeches soar and some make you fall asleep standing up. Today's assignment, though, was to prepare an informational speech about the last twenty years in your dimension with a visual aid. Wow me."
He glanced up. "Oh, and our press secretary today is Lucrezia Borgia. So yeah, good luck with that."
He walked between the desks, handing out sheets of paper. "And an inaugural speech. Some--all right, most--are completely forgettable, but it's the first chance a president gets to set the tone of his administration, to address the challenges facing the nation. This one is Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural address, widely regarded as the best address ever given. It's short--Lincoln's speeches generally were--and the context is fairly obvious from the speech. We were finishing up our Civil War and trying to figure out how to put together the pieces of our broken country which for four years had torn itself apart and laid waste to an entire generation of young, and then not so young, men. Many in the North were calling for the South to pay even more heavily than it had, to impose huge restrictions and burdens upon them before they could rejoin the Union.
"Lincoln didn't want to do that. That final paragraph, 'With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations,' is a line that has resonated from more than a hundred years. He was calling us to be better than our need for revenge, our pettiness." Josh shrugged. "And a month later, he became our first president to be assassinated. Because sometimes, and this is important, people are assholes."
He moved back to his desk. "Right then. Next week your assignment is to find a political speech--either from this country or your own--and put together a five minute speech about what parts in it you felt resonated. Examine the language and try to figure out why some speeches soar and some make you fall asleep standing up. Today's assignment, though, was to prepare an informational speech about the last twenty years in your dimension with a visual aid. Wow me."
He glanced up. "Oh, and our press secretary today is Lucrezia Borgia. So yeah, good luck with that."
Sign in [1/22]
Re: Sign in [1/22]
Re: Sign in [1/22]
Re: Sign in [1/22]
Re: Sign in [1/22]
Re: Sign in [1/22]
Re: Sign in [1/22]
Re: Sign in [1/22]
Re: Sign in [1/22]
Re: Sign in [1/22]
Re: Sign in [1/22]
Re: Sign in [1/22]
Re: Sign in [1/22]
Re: Sign in [1/22]
Re: Sign in [1/22]
Re: Sign in [1/22]
Re: Sign in [1/22]
Re: Sign in [1/22]
Re: Sign in [1/22]
Re: Sign in [1/22]
Listen to the lecture [1/22]
Make your speech [1/22]
Josh hoped your visual aid was entertaining, or at least spelled correctly.
Re: Make your speech [1/22]
So his speech started out with a rundown of the Thirty Years' War, which veered off the version most people with an understanding of European history would have near the end, where he brought out his visual aid (http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/nomelancholy/47572799/2683/2683_600.jpg). "And then about six years ago, there was a mysterious event in the middle of what you'd call Germany, in this world, resulting in the sudden appearance of a town called Grantville, originally from West Virginia, circa 2000. As you can imagine, the arrival of a few thousand people from the future, with vastly different ideas of how things ought to be done, has resulted in a number of changes to my world's geopolitical landscape. Hence why I'm here in Fandom, to learn more about the world the up-timers came from, so that I might be better prepared to one day be head of state of a nation that they've helped create." He'd be happy to supply details if anyone felt they needed any. Geek.
Re: Make your speech [1/22]
She couldn't think of a helpful visual aid, and so she showed off a rather ornate ruby-encrusted cross necklace, and used that to segue into a discussion of the power of the papacy.
Re: Make your speech [1/22]
In order, she gave an overview (with no specific real or code names of individuals used) the exploration adventures of the Fantastic Four, the fight for mutant rights, the rise of the superhero, and The Ultimates.
When she got to the Ultimatum Wave, when Magneto caused a tsunami that devastated Manhattan and killed thousands, she demonstrated just how devastating it was by spraying a bottle of water at a bunch of pencils she managed to stand up as skyscrapers. The pencils didn't stand up for long at that point. Visual aid, everyone.
"In the aftermath of this tragedy, team superheroics have largely fallen by the wayside. Now the superhuman community in America seems to mostly be individuals trying to survive on their own while hopefully doing good. But overseas, things are taking a different turn."
She used her final couple minutes explaining the superhuman revolutions in North Korea (failed) and Iran (successful) and how the genetic arms race was apparently just ramping up.
Re: Make your speech [1/22]
His presentation on the 70s and 80s was at least more entertaining than the prop was. Richie could be amusing when he wanted to be and there had been so many bizarre things going on in those decades there was plenty of material to work with.
Press Secretary of the Day: Lucrezia Borgia [1/22]
For the Press Secretary! [1/22]
Re: For the Press Secretary! [1/22]
For the Reporters! [1/22]
Re: For the Reporters! [1/22]
Re: For the Reporters! [1/22]
Re: For the Reporters! [1/22]
Maddie didn't know if that was even possible, but you were supposed to try and trip them up, right?
Re: For the Reporters! [1/22]
Re: For the Reporters! [1/22]
"How do you feel about those cute little angel pins people wear?"
Re: For the Reporters! [1/22]
Re: For the Reporters! [1/22]
What, it was a hard question that she personally wanted to know the answer to.
Re: For the Reporters! [1/22]
Re: For the Reporters! [1/22]
Because it wasn't like Lucrezia knew where he slept or anything, oh wait.
Re: For the Reporters! [1/22]
Re: For the Reporters! [1/22]
Re: For the Reporters! [1/22]
Talk to Josh or the TAs!
Re: Talk to Josh or the TAs!
But she wasn't too offended. Unlike the small red fox she had with him. Peter could've seemed more pleased to be here, in this form.
"Oh, come on," she told him, dryly. "This is probably good for your ego."
Re: Talk to Josh or the TAs!
Nothing gets past an Ivy League education, folks.
Re: Talk to Josh or the TAs!
Re: Talk to Josh or the TAs!
Re: Talk to Josh or the TAs!
Re: Talk to Josh or the TAs!
Re: Talk to Josh or the TAs!
Re: Talk to Josh or the TAs!
Re: Talk to Josh or the TAs!
Re: Talk to Josh or the TAs!
Re: Talk to Josh or the TAs!
Re: Talk to Josh or the TAs!
Re: Talk to Josh or the TAs!
Re: Talk to Josh or the TAs!
Re: Talk to Josh or the TAs!
Re: Talk to Josh or the TAs!
Re: Talk to Josh or the TAs!
OOC