fandomhigh | American History: Lies Your Other Teachers Told You [Friday, August 29, 2014, 2nd period]

"Hey, everyone," Josh said with welcoming smile from the front of the classroom as his students filtered in. "I'm Josh Lyman. I used to be the chief of staff for President Matt Santos--if you haven't heard of him, don't feel too bad--" which meant that Josh wanted you to feel a little bad because he used to be someone important, okay, "--and now I'm here to use my considerable knowledge about America and US history to teach you about some of the parts of our past most text books tend to skate past because they aren't pretty."

Josh shrugged. "I was a professional political operative for twenty years. I'm not used to pretty. Anyway, let me learn a little bit about you first. I need to know if I'm dealing with Kennedy assassination conspiracy theorists, 'what the hell's America' people, or something in between."

He pointed to the first student that caught his attention. "You. Sparky. Go first. Oh, and I need a TA to bring me coffee and other really important stuff, so if you want to help with that, hit me up after class."

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"Celia Bowen, and I think my favorite president is is Grant," she said, wincing a little at her own indecision. "But that might just be the bias of having grown up with him in office. My favorite bit of historical knowledge, though, is that the tune of our apparent national anthem is from an English drinking song. No offense to Mr. Key or his 'Defence of Fort McHenry,' of course, but it does take something out of it."

"Not a lot of Grant fans, normally," Josh said. "He was a great general but not really the most...adept...politician. He did write a highly regarded autobiography which is way less self-serving than General McClellan's, who was pretty much the whiniest whiner who ever whined."

Beat.

"Grant was president while you were growing up?"

"Born in 1868," Celia said, tossing off a sheepish little wave. "Grant was president until I was about nine, I think, then Hayes, and Garfield -- I was in Europe when the assassination happened, though -- and now Arthur." She smiled. "It's 1884 back home for me, so I've been sitting on my hands not to see who's going to win the election."

Edited 2014-08-29 14:56 (UTC)

"You are in the middle of some...deeply unimpressive presidents," Josh said, eyes wide. "Sorry."

"The next one's boring, too?" Celia asked, dismayed. "Darn it. I mean, I get Mr. Obama here until I graduate, at least, and I really like him, but I wanted something to look forward to when I go back."

"In a few years you get one that's totally kickass," Josh promised. "Just...not really Cleveland."

American History: Lies Your Other Teachers Told You [Friday, August 29, 2014, 2nd period]

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