Office #18, All Day Monday

[tyler_gone]

A new semester and new class meant Tyler should probably actually go to his office and do work, especially since he still needed to brush up on his own history before he could inflict his knowledge on anyone else.

Mostly, this meant he was paging through A People's History of the United States and counting how many ways people who didn't look like him had gotten screwed over. The answer seemed to be "a lot."

The office door was open.

Comments

[tyler_gone]

"It used to be Washburn. She got married," Tyler said. "And we do. The tradition is the first week is introductions. I usually make soap, but I can't see a way to justify it this time."

He seemed to find this regrettable indeed.

[shiroi_tiger]

That earned a raised eyebrow.

"I don't think we'll be able to find a way to work soap into the annals of history, no. Maybe we ought to just stick with the introductions. Those seem straightforward enough. Name, age, and something historical, for the sake of sticking to the topic."

He really had no idea what he was doing. Faking it, maybe.

[tyler_gone]

"Oh, well, if you want to stick to the topic," Tyler said, with a feigned heavy sigh. "Sure. Maybe something like ... name, age, and one historical figure from the U.S. or elsewhere they would like to" -- he did, to his credit, manage not to say fight -- "confront."

[shiroi_tiger]

"And why," Nathan added, nodding his agreement. "For purely selfish reasons, of course. I'm still a little behind."

A little. A lot. He was going to have to stop by the library some time this week in order to get himself caught up. Somewhat.

[tyler_gone]

"And it helps show how their brains work. Tony said you were still behind, too," Tyler agreed. "And that I should fill you in more. Any preference for where I start?"

Other than 1876.

[shiroi_tiger]

"I think the economy might be a good start," Nathan decided. "I think for the time being, I'll settle for knowing how far my five dollars will take me."

Not very far, Nathan. Not very far.

[tyler_gone]

"Five bucks," Tyler echoed, leaning back in his seat. "Not much. A big cup of fancy coffee, a magazine or two. A value meal at a fast food place if you don't get the large fries. And a recession just started, too."

[shiroi_tiger]

Excellent.

"I can work with that." A pause, and Nathan drummed his fingers against his knee, just once, in thought. "As for this class... I seem to be at a disadvantage, teaching American history when it just so happens to be American future, to me. But I know what came before me well enough. If you wouldn't be opposed to cover the brunt of more current events, I would be more than happy to deal with what I already know."

And, in some cases, what he already knew quite intimately.

[tyler_gone]

"I was thinking we should do something like that," Tyler agreed, happy enough to jump back to the topic of class. "Fourteen classes, plus the midterm and the final. Do you think you can come up with seven classes before 1876?"

He knew he couldn't.

[shiroi_tiger]

"I think I can pull something together," Nathan agreed. "Starting with Columbus, then? Or did the discovery of a continent dwindle in importance somehow between my time and now?"

Mostly he was joking. But it didn't hurt to make certain, either.

[tyler_gone]

"Most classes now would start with Native Americans -- Indians -- before Columbus, but he's still where the real story starts," Tyler nodded. "Maybe mention Leif Erikson and the Vikings. But you have the idea."

[shiroi_tiger]

"I might touch on all of them, in the same class," Nathan decided. "See what I can cover between then and..."

He narrowed his eyes, considering.

"Bunker Hill. And the Declaration of Independence. It means I'm skimming over a couple of centuries, but apparently that's a talent of mine. I can probably manage something to the effect of 'The Colonies and Britain weren't exactly getting along,' and do a brief summary. Perhaps?"

[tyler_gone]

"No, no, mention the Puritans somewhere in there and I think you're good," Tyler said. "Then week after that, maybe skip ahead a little to the Louisiana Purchase?"

[shiroi_tiger]

"That would be an important piece of history, wouldn't it?" Nathan crossed his arms over his chest, thinking it over. And then he nodded, satisfied. "I could probably manage an entire class based around the purchase of a piece of land that makes up a third of the nation."

And if that had somehow changed in the time he'd missed, he would most appreciate being corrected now.

[tyler_gone]

It had when Tyler took a history class, anyhow. He gave a slight nod. "Plus, you get to tak about Jefferson and western expansion and all of that. And then we're halfway through you're part of the semester."

[shiroi_tiger]

"Of course." And there was another pause for consideration, this one more tentative than before. "The civil war between the United States and the Confederate States. Tell me, would that one warrant a class?"

He had experience with that one.

[tyler_gone]

"In college I did a whole semester on it," Tyler said. "So you could say that, yeah."

"Were you in it?" The question was asked with some delicacy.

[shiroi_tiger]

The delicacy, at least, was appreciated.

"I was," Algren replied, content for all of a moment to leave that reply sit right where it was. It was a short moment. "For the North."

An entire class it would be, then.

[tyler_gone]

"Good," Tyler said, after a little pause of his own. "I'd hate to have to explain the whole owning people is bad thing, if you'd been on the other side."

[shiroi_tiger]

"I would hate to believe it was anything but," Nathan agreed. "People... are people."

That summed it up well enough for him, at least.

"Which, I suppose, would bring us into the last decade I'm familiar with." He was torn between being anxious to move on, and somewhat dreading it. It was this particular topic which tended to make his mind wander.

"Are you familiar with a Lieutenant Colonel by the name of Custer? Of the 7th Cavalry?"

[tyler_gone]

"Vaguely," Tyler admitted. "He was fighting Indians, right? That's as much as I remember."

[shiroi_tiger]

"He was. More people tend to call him General Custer, but he only held that rank over the Volunteer forces." Algren gave his head a shake, making a sour sort of noise in he back of his throat before continuing. "Lead about six-hundred men into battle against over one thousand eight-hundred warriors."

He lapsed into silence for a moment. Just long enough for his mind to wander into gunshots and screaming and--

"Apparently, getting most of your men killed is considered a measure of heroics. Or, at least, it was in my time."

[tyler_gone]

"Noble sacrifices," Tyler said, in a low voice laced with contempt. "You ... sound like you want to teach a session on that."

Or, if not like he wanted to, like he should.

[shiroi_tiger]

"What better way to ensure that the Little Bighorn doesn't happen again? Make damn sure that the students know better."

And there he went, falling into silence again, thinking on it before his head came crashing back to reality.

"I'm afraid I don't have anything after that."

[tyler_gone]

"Well, then it's the midterm, then it's mine, so --" Tyler closed his eyes to think. "I feel like I'm spoiling a movie for you. I guess I'd start at the turn of the century. President then, Roosevelt, was a big reformer, I can talk about that for a class."