Historyspeaking topic

The invention of the elevator made skyscrapers possible, but its real quiet revolution was something else: top floors, once the cheapest and most exhausting to reach, suddenly became the most expensive penthouses. A machine flipping the value inside a building upside down shows how new and accidental the belief that 'higher means status' really is.

— The elevator and the inversion of vertical status

practice with this topic

Set the timer (5-30 min), take 20 seconds of prep if you like, start talking. Jot your thoughts onto the sticky-note board.