Harry Potter Fandomtastic!

Recently, I have been consumed with my "Hogwartian" studies. Many may catch onto this term, but to those who do not understand, it means that for the past six months I have immersed myself (yet again) in the Harry Potter canon. For years this story has played an influential role in my life, and this mid July I found myself preparing to speak on the subject, while also surrounding myself and intermingling with over 2,400 other Harry Potter fans.

Infinitus 2010 was a celebration of the Harry Potter story and a time to play in the newly built (and might I add, stunningly beautiful and detailed) Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I spent my time at the conference between lectures, Live Wizards Chess, a few Wrock shows, A Very Potter Sequel--the musical, and just watching in fascination at all the costumed Death Eaters who were the life of the party.

I could write pages and pages on the Harry Potter books, but I won't do that here. What I want to discuss is the most important element that sprung from the books pages--THE READERS RESPONSE.

No matter your view of the story, there is no denying that Harry Potter took on a life unlike anything we have seen in literary history. There are multiple factors that provided this story to be grasped by so many people in so many different countries--technology, word of mouth, the need for play, and the desire to hear our misplaced folklore anew--all played a role. But it was the reader that acted when the book was closed.

Harry Potter fans have created the most prolific artistic, activist, and human response than any other fan base to my knowledge (Harry Potter Alliance, HPEF, etc). As I watched and listened to fans at the conference it became apparent to me that Harry Potter studies goes further than the words on the pages. I had known this before going to the conference (for that matter I was speaking on just that topic), but to see it in action, meet the people who have played their role, and to recognize my own involvement, was inspiring. My only question now is can the fandom survive?

And so I am attaching my conference paper to my Academic page (top right corner) for those who would like to read it. I recommend taking the time to prepare a small bowl of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans (Grass being my favorite) and a small glass of Butterbeer, before endeavoring on my crazy antics.

Meeting Orson Scott Card

There is a trepidation that comes when you are about to meet a person who has been so influential in your life and that person doesn’t know it. A mixture of pure excitement, nervousness, and an over whelming fear of making a fool of yourself takes over. And then an oddity occurs. You walk into the room and sit down, and the person who, I can only say has been like the Wizard of OZ to me, steps out from behind the curtain. The person I admire and thought all knowing and perfect was unmistakably HUMAN, mixed with oddities and quirks (and a few opinions I don't agree with) and yet none of my trepidation left, for my respect for the author Orson Scott Card endures.

Late June I took what is called “Uncle Orson’s Writing Workshop,” at UVSU. As I wrote in January 2010, Orson Scott Card was the author who began my journey and my love for reading. I clung to his novels all through my teen years, not reading any other author. When I did finally branch into different genres and authors, Card was the one I pitted them against. Did they have his style, his ability to use words in such a way as though images and characters sprung from the pages? Could another author keep my interest?

Obviously they could keep my interest, and I found that every author has a unique voice. My passion for literature grew, but it was Card that began the whole process. And now I was sitting in a conference room listening to him speak to well over 60 writers who were all looking for him to guide them down his path.

I could write about all the tidbits of information on writing he gave us, but I feel as though that would be stealing his information. Instead I would like to write here about the things he said that gave me hope.

1- Forget everything you were taught in school on how to write. It took me two years after my Master’s degree to write anything good. You each have a unique voice, use it.

This, for me, was such a delight to hear. My style of writing has never been very academic or elite and I have paid for this in my educational undertakings. But to hear him say this made my heart leap. It wasn’t a matter of a rigged rule on how to write, but the idea that your voice is important and it is in the refining of that voice that each story will take shape.

2- Ideas are cheap.

So many of my friends have ideas for stories. I have heard the telling of idea upon idea, and yet I have never seen a written word on a page from these ideas (minus the rare exception). So if “Ideas are cheap,” action must be priceless. I have written a few of my stories down and it is now high time that I kick my butt in gear and begin sending them off to publishers.

3- You are a fellow skeptic, and I mean that as a compliment.

On the last day of the workshop, Card agreed to sign books and take a few photos with people. Standing in line, seeing all the others with there crisp hard cover additions, I stared at the two books in my hand. As I placed the books in front of Card I told him I was sorry they were a bit bruised. I handed him the mass-market additions of Ender’s Game and Xenocide I have held onto since I was 13. As he signed them, he said to me that I was a skeptic and that this was a good thing.

For eighteen years I have held onto Cards novels. And I am sure that they will continue to be in my possession well into the future. And as he said, I am a skeptic, always questioning the words placed before me, even his. But may I say, I cherish each and every question those words make me answer.

"The Devil drinks Shirley Temples"

Apparently, I am in the mode to read books that contain mind altering beverages. After finishing the lovely story of Dandelion Wine, I moved my taste buds to another author--I must admit--I usually don't read. Tom Robbins, though a great writer, is not my favorite. I have read a couple of his novels and it's a personal preference of mine not to read more. But when one is handed a book to read by a fellow colleague, then one holds onto that book for a month and doesn't read a word, I found myself in an unusual predicament: To read or not read Tom Robbins.

In the end the cover struck me: "A Grown-up book for children" or "A Children's Book for Grown-ups." How could I--a person that is adamant the children's literature genre is not just for kids--pass by this opportunity. And so I focused, walked down to my office--local coffee shop--and opened the book "B is for Beer."

Looking back on it, I should have opened a cold brew from my fridge and sipped while reading this funny story that was such an educational delight. Working in the industry of beer slinging (yes people, I am a server at a brew pub), I found this text more educational then my one day early morning brew training.

Plus, Robbins did an excellent job of showing the unusual similarities and differences of youth and adult, society and reality, and the nuances and stereotypes of alcohol. In two hours I had completed the story and laughed more than I have with a book in a long time. Plus, who can resist the excellent line, "The Devil drinks Shirley Temples." (p.63)--one of my favorite drinks by the way.

No this is not a book for children--though I do think they would see the humor--but it shows not all children's books are for kids, some are for grown-ups.

And I must say I will recommend this Tom Robbins book to others. Plus, I will be using its insightful information on beer to help achieve a higher tip percentage.

A Taste of "Dandelion Wine"

I am a firm believer that books call to a person. They sit on the shelf waiting the time to beckon their information to a reader, give a guiding hand, or clear the fog around a few of life's mysteries. Our only job as readers is to listen and keep an open mind. It doesn't matter if the book is new or one already read; for the stages in every persons life allot for discovery and re-discovery.

Reading Ray Bradbury's "Dandelion Wine" came at a time that synced with all that was going on in my life and all the changes I didn't know how to handle. As my mother says, "this is a book that should be read every ten years." Different from Bradbury's science fiction style, the novel is a coming of age story, not just for youth, but for every age of life: youth, teen, adult, elderly. It encompasses life's change at every age in every dimension, desire, and trepidation. It depicts those defining moments.

This year I began volunteering with a hospice and family care company. I found myself conducting and piecing together the oral history of a fabulous woman who just turned 99. A five month adventure of listening to a strangers life opened my eyes and gave me insights into my own life and the inability to stop age.

As spring jumped to life so did "Dandelion Wine" spring into my outstretched hand. When not reading, I took the book with me everywhere I went in my purse: Go to pay for a coffee and there it was, reach for my phone to talk to a friend, and my fingers fumbled across the curve and spine of "Dandelion Wine." I read it slowly and absorbed every chapter with each word pouring from my silently spoken lips.

Reading this novel, I kept a pen in hand and found myself underlying passages left and right. Each passage opened new thoughts to the oral history I was working on, as well as my new found age phobia. I recognized my luck and the importance of what I was doing. The more the chapters passed by the more I felt this was Bradbury's "Peter Pan." Only the ticking crocodile of time wasn't just chasing Hook, but all the lost boys in turn, ready to eat each whole without thought or concern.

As Doug says in the book, "The magic was always in the new pair..."(p.20). Doug was referring to summer sneakers, but the realty is that life is magical with each new step a person takes. It's not just our first steps that should be recorded, it's our fifth, our sixteenth, our twenty-first, our thirtieth, and our ninety-ninth that need to be preserved so when the time comes it's possible to uncork them and take just a small sip to remember and then move forward. It is our self discovery at every age that is important, because as Grandpa states, "It was over before it began..." (p.237). In short, enjoy it or life will pass you by.

And so I take the words of "Dandelion Wine" to my memory box, bottled away to ponder, and maybe in another few years I will uncork this master piece again and taste a sip of "Dandelion Wine" with my next stage of life.

Bradbury, Ray. "Dandelion Wine," The Grand Master Editons, Bantam Books. New York: 1976

Celebrate St. Patrick by Reading

As today is St. Patty's day, I hope you are celebrating by enjoying a nice mug of green be(v)er(age), a plate of corn beef and cabbage, and an excellent BOOK.

As the 5th century Saint vowed to hear "the voice of the Irish," he helped bring the written word to a country steeped in Oral tradition. In turn he preserved those tales so our present society may enjoy them. Thus, to commemorate the Saint, and the Holiday, you will find we wearing green and parading the town with a book in one hand and a tale for the future building in the other.

Current Reading: "Dandelion Wine" by Ray Bradbury

The Power of Story

An author is a catalyst, the words on a page a driving force, and for avid readers, a book can ignite a spark that burns and propels one on a path never intended. Reading takes an individual on a journey, not merely through forests of the unknown but a journey that is literally stepped, one foot in front of the other, day in and day out.

The power story contains is one of unraveling knowledge previously not mastered. Upon the closure of the final cover, or hearing the last syllable spoken--if you are open to listen, to hear, and to comprehend--it is possible to have the path lit, all obstacles banished, if even for mere seconds.

My path has been lit on several occasions, be various stories, from a mere fraction of authors. I never intended for my path to be one set in the field of Humanities, but moments happened, events took place, and books were read.

The irony of literary studies is that each reader is alone on their journey as they trail a step behind their friends (the characters, settings, and plots of each story). I'd like to take a moment here to discuss a few books and authors that I can pin-point as shaping my life.

It wasn't until my 12th birthday that I was given the gift that allowed me to find the true passion of reading, to escape for hours in the power of word. My sister gave me this gift. I continue to wonder if she recognizes the significance her gift has played in my life and the shaping of ME. The book "Ender's Game" was passed from her hand to mine. The author Orson Scott Card, was the only author I would read for years to come. His story still resonates even 18 years later. The works knitted so finely together that while reading I saw everything, felt the lose of gravity as I was propelled into war games, and fantasy and machine came to life in my hand. A year after reading the novel, I was lucky enough to see the author speak at Utah State University, his physical presence was so unlike my vision of him. Yet, his novels engulf my downstairs bookshelf to this day.

Seven years after this initial jolt into reading, I found myself in college with the intention to receive a degree in Marketing. Allowing myself to be discouraged by a professors words about my writing, I hadn't placed ink to paper creatively for six months. When I entered a Young Adult Literature course and the professor assigned "Weetzie Bat" by Francesca Lia Block to read, a new fire emerged. I remember finishing the story in my small little studio and immediately having to write. Mrs. Block's creative and poignant style of taking fairy-tales and merging them to modern pop-culture was electrifying and artistic. I switched my degree path to English the following semester and began the first steps on the quest of folklore.

A year later, my Mom informed me I had to read another story (check out first blog for full story). In my wildest dreams I never imagined child wizards would direct me to travel thousands of miles across the globe, to reenact wizard chess in Switzerland, to present in London, or to achieve a second college degree, but they did. Oh how "Harry Potter" has shaped my life and J.K. Rowling, the author, knows none of this.

If I could have but one wish, it would be to see Rowling (or Card, or Block) in a cafe one day. I would turn to my server and request that they take the author a drink--on me of course--and have the server tell them thanks. All this would happen as a silently got up, had the author give me a small look, and I leave with a smile on my face and allow them to finish their next story. One can dream, right?

"Jump"--Don't ever stop, keep going!

Here in lies the questions: What is a children's book for? Is it only for children? Is it a device to teach morals and lessons? Is it a means to an end? A tool to learn the art of reading so we become competent adults. Is it pure entertainment, a way to enter fantastical worlds? Or is it a signifier of culture and a way to interpret times to come?

In truth, children's books are all of these things. But rarely in our present time do we examine children's books as anything but a tool for learning. Classes are taught on how to use the millions of books held within this large genre in the classroom. They teach teachers which lessons are contained in each work, which books contain history or morals, and which books could help a child in crisis, and the list goes on. But as of yet, I have never entered a class that taught how the words sound in a readers mind. How a reader takes that sound and melds it into their own life, or how a book becomes part of the readers philosophy and view of the world and the culture in which they are submersed.

I am searching for such a classroom. A room that recognizes the genre of children's literature as everything it is: a teacher, a friend, a guide, a movement, a sound, and a reaction. In personal experience, books within the genre of children's and young adult literature have led me on a path. It might be said that at an early age I took my first step onto the yellow brick road, but it is only in mid adulthood that I am ready and willing to take the risk of skipping down it.

This was written after I viewed the movie "Phoebe in Wonderland." A movie that one day I intend to own. For lovers of children's and young adult literature here is a small list of movies that are a must see.

Phoebe in Wonderland

Neverwas

Finding Neverland

Big Fish

Ever After

Tin Man (T.V. Series)

Where the Wild Things Are

The NeverEnding Story

The Forbidden Kingdom

Mirror Mask

Peter Pan (Disney and the 2004 Universal)

and many more!