Last night was the first session of the summer English course I'm teaching for SLCC. Since the classes cap out at twenty-five students, I can afford to do a little getting-to-know-you stuff on the first night. Instead of just have everyone go around and tell the class their name, hometown and major, I try to stir the pot a little differently: I pair them up and ask them to identify three things:
- If you could go to lunch anywhere in the world, where would it be, whether it's a specific restaurant or a general location.
- If you could choose two people, living or dead, real or fictional, to join you, who would they be?
- Finally, what music would be playing in the background? (Regardless of the location)
The results are always varied and interesting. The food and music choices provide great fodder for discussion, but the question I find most interesting is who they want with them. A lot of people pick out favorite celebrities, but many go with family members.
Last semester one of my students decided he'd want to have lunch with Jesus Christ and Richard Dawkins, author of "The God Delusion." For obvious reasons, this would be a confrontation I would love to see, even if the argument itself would be pretty much negated by the arrival of the participants. Instead, I'd love to see the Savior sit down with Darryl Dawkins, AKA "Chocolate Thunder," the ex-NBA power forward who was famous for naming his dunks,
shattering backboards, and telling people he came from the planet Lovetron. That would be sweet.
Usually once we've made it around the class, someone asks me what my choices would be. My response is different every time, but usually comes down to something like eating Giordano's pizza in Chicago with James Brown and Don King while listening to The Clash.
So...who would you choose?
