Are you a good witch, or a bad witch? on Faculty Room

Sammy Meeks, Pecari

November 05, 2016 1:30 AM

Are you a good witch, or a bad witch? by Sammy Meeks, Pecari

Sammy’s first impression of Professor Ammon was that the young gentleman before them was a realist. He understood how many of them had probably signed up for the easy O. Now, this was not something Sammy would do (it was totally something she would do, and did), but she appreciated how upfront about it he was. Still, she wasn’t quite sure what he could teach them that she hadn’t already lived for the first ten and a half years of her life. Not to brag, but the Pecari had basically seen it all.

Glossing over his hopefully a joke? about having a quiz, though, she found herself immediately intrigued. She had never really thought to compare herself to the witches and wizards portrayed by the culture into which she was born, although she couldn’t deny once or twice bragging to her brother about being “basically Gandalf.” Of course, he’d always retorted that maybe she’d just be the Wicked Witch instead. Which was fair enough.

Maybe that was sorta what the professor was getting at. He definitely touched on the way wizards were portrayed as being cool and wise but witches were nasty and mean. Sammy wasn’t a huge reader, but that theme seemed to be omnipresent in at least American media or whatever. It was pretty bold of him to actually discuss sexism in a room where some kids’ parents were probably already mad that the class was even being offered. Dude had balls. She appreciated that too.

When they were free to partner or group up to discuss, the fifth year finally had a chance to look around the classroom to see just who all had signed up for this class. (She’d been running late earlier due to a particularly distracting butterfly in the Gardens and had to sit in the first open seat.) Rather to her surprise, Wu Peizhi was in this class. She hadn’t expected the quiet little pureblood to willingly take a class about Muggles, but there she was across the way. Huh.

Anywho, Sammy decided not to push her luck and get up to either approach the Teppenpaw or locate her more present friends, like the Donovans or Laila. So she just smiled to a neighbor and commented on the magical Muggle representation she’d been contemplating. “What do you think about The Wizard of Oz?” she asked. “I’m debating either using the Wicked Witch or Glinda. One’s green, so that’s fun, but it might be nice to work with a more positive portrayal.”

12 Sammy Meeks, Pecari Are you a good witch, or a bad witch? 310 Sammy Meeks, Pecari 0 5

Jax Donovan, Aladren

November 06, 2016 5:39 PM

I've got a Witch for you. by Jax Donovan, Aladren

Jax had decided to take Muggle Studies to help him mix in better with the people back home. Shelly had always thought him strange because he didn’t really watch television so she had spent some time explaining shows to him and such (when they weren’t locking lips and generally being hormonal with one another). She had only taken it to be a language thing. He supposed being Foreign had its perks when it came down to it, but if he could take a class that helped him understand the Muggle world a little better than he saw no harm in taking it. It turned out that Gia had the same idea, so it was nice to see her face in the room when he entered.

He thought that for a lesson, it was actually quite interesting. He had noticed in some of the films that he had watched with Shelly that the world of magic and specifically the women within it were far more negatively viewed than those of men. He never got into any sort of philosophical discussion about it with Shelly as he didn’t think she had the sort of brain power for it (he did not find her stupid by any means, but she was limited with some of her knowledge since she found school boring and never went to it), but it was something that he had always found to be rather curious.

Now that he was hearing the history behind it, he supposed it did make sense. In the Muggle world, woman of all color and status were always viewed as inferior to their male counterparts. There were a few cultures that may see them as equal or superior, but where he lived and in Greece, that was not the case. Men were the rulers despite the change in time. It was no surprise that they also implied this into their literature regarding magical beings. It was really rather sad. He knew that in the Muggle world, most of the ‘witches’ they portrayed were evil in some way and, in fact, there was one in particular that he recalled watching in one of those long picture movie things that Shelly had him watch that really bothered him.

When they were sent off to start working on their project, Jax pulled out a new parchment and inked his quill. He was going to write about the movie ‘The Witch’ that he had watched. It was about a family that was cast out and forced to live in the outskirts of society. While in their new home, their baby was stolen by a ‘Witch’ who then killed the child and wiped the blood all over her body. It was quite twisted and in the end a group of naked witches levitated themselves while chanting. It was the strangest thing he had ever seen and so appalling to him as a Wizard. This was what the Muggles thought of them as? It was no wonder that they couldn’t reveal themselves to the world and be equals.

6 Jax Donovan, Aladren I've got a Witch for you. 296 Jax Donovan, Aladren 0 5

Ben Pierce

November 10, 2016 12:49 PM

Um, neither? by Ben Pierce

So Professor Ammon had him pegged already. Ben shifted a little guiltily in his seat, fully aware that the 'Easy O' was exactly why he was here. His folks would be happy to see him get consistent Os in a subject, and the fact that his maternal grandparents actually were muggle sociologists did give the subject some legitimacy and mom probably wouldn't just assume he was taking it to discuss his favorite sports teams or something (admittedly, that might not have been entirely absurd to assume if he hadn't already had Gabe as a friend, but that wasn't the point). The point was he should be able to make Mom proud of his grades for once by passing Muggle Studies with flying colors and not need to do a lot of extra work to keep them high, and looking around the classroom, he didn't think he was alone in this line of thinking.

And the professor knew it and acknowledged it.

And maybe it wouldn't be quite so easy as assumed if there was going to be a quiz on the very first day. Some professors were just tyrants. With a sigh, he got out his quill and some parchment and prepared to take notes. (He thought maybe he should have a pen and a notebook for this class, but trying to explain that to Dad had been too much effort - for a guy who earned a paycheck paid in dollars rather than galleons, Dad was still considered weird by all muggle standards.)

He tried to jot down relevant notes, but most of it sounded too obvious to bother writing down so by the time the main lecture ended, his parchment basically read, "Sexism bad," which, as the nephew of the DISCUSS co-founder, he already knew.

He had kind of gotten a start of a laugh out of picturing Aunt Bel as a green skinned hag, but then he'd choked on it and panicked that she'd find out and turn him into a frog for the entirety of the midterm break. Aunt Bel was vindictive like that. To be entirely honest, he really wouldn't put flying across the night sky on a broom, looking for children to eat and men to destroy terribly far past her.

He was mostly recovered from that scare by the time Sammy addressed him and Professor Ammon proved not to be a quiz giving tyrant after all. He hadn't quite pulled his thoughts together to come up with a pop culture witch himself yet, so he found himself nodding to Sammy's suggestion, "Yeah, Wizard of Oz is classic. And it might almost be easier to do both witches in it, so we can compare and contrast. I mean, it does have the good witch, so that's improvement, but it's pretty extreme on both sides. It still has the green hag on the one end and the perfect fairy godmother type on the other, but most witches, and people in general, aren't just good or bad, they're some of both, with both faults and good characteristics. I mean, my grandma turns me into a toad when I'm being too loud, so some of these stereotypes about evil witches actually have a basis in fact, but she doesn't go around turning strangers' kids into amphibians willy nilly because it makes her feel powerful. She's not evil. She just wants me to be quiet while jumping off her walls."

1 Ben Pierce Um, neither? 339 Ben Pierce 0 5

Sammy

November 12, 2016 4:03 AM

You must be the Wizard! by Sammy

“Venn diagram style. I like it,” Sammy nodded along. Ben Pierce was a fun kid, and she’d almost forgotten that they’d get to be in classes together this year, with him and his cohorts joining the Intermediates the very same year in which she and hers prepared to depart from them. She liked Ben a lot, honestly, as she liked all of her teammates. (Well not the same way as all of them, as she liked one in vastly different ways than the others.) He’d just always seemed like such a kid--while they were only two years apart, being thirteen versus being eleven as they had when they’d met seemed like a huge difference--but here they were now, in the same class, even if it was just this year.

“Whoa, wait, back up!” she exclaimed immediately after he finished. “Your grandmother turns you into a toad?!” Sammy’s voice was more full of wonder than disgust or anything of the like; she was genuinely intrigued. “That sounds awesome! What’s it like?” You might think after four-plus years of magic these things would grow somewhat more dull, but not for Sammy. Every instance of new magic, something she hadn’t thought of or never experienced, was a whole new world to her. Although really, the Muggle world had never dulled for her, either. The fun thing about being an optimist was always finding new ways to be happy about the same things.

“Oh!” said Sammy abruptly, as a new thought struck her. “Actually, you know what’s way more cool and important than this lesson? Quidditch! I’m so hyped to be Beater buddies!” She raised her hand for the high-five and sat expectantly, patiently. Growing up an athlete, high-fives were a primary way to congratulate or celebrate, and that mentality had certainly not faded as she grew up. It was probably something that Gia and Jax at least had found weird about her in the beginning, but hopefully by now they were trained to a raised open hand. Ben, as a fellow athlete, would certainly require waaaaaaay less coaxing.

12 Sammy You must be the Wizard! 310 Sammy 0 5