John is traveling right now and asked me to post this thread to give HogPro All-Pros a place to comment about the news reports that Ms. Rowling has said “Dumbledore is gay.” What do you think?

Some comments have been made already on other HogPro threads but I don’t know how to move them here. Feel free to re-post your comments if you want.

(Bob Trexler)

Well, folks, it finally happened. The Main Stream Media finally asked Ms. Rowling about the Christian content of her writing, she acknowledged it openly and frankly, and the reporter writes that the “religious parallels” were “always” evident to the “sharp-eyed reader.” What a hoot. I argue for years against the current of opinion and the day Ms. Rowling acknowledges her faith and its place in Harry Potter, the religious meaning and specifically the Christian meaning is now, as she said herself, “obvious.”

And MTV breaks the story! Not quite the Quibbler or National Enquirer, but not the LA Times or Washington Post, either, and they were at this news conference, right? Really, this story is funny. Two months ago in Time magazine Lev Grossman says the books are about the death of God and the victory of secular literature; we morons here who thought otherwise were just projecting our beliefs into the storyline. Now we are part of the crowd who knew it all along. People are funny; reporters are hilarious.

[Please note that the reporter who wrote this up unwittingly serves as the mouthpiece of the Star Chamber Catholics who want us to believe the pope as Cardinal Ratzinger condemned Harry Potter. Some stories will never die.]

Anyway, thoughts on the high points of this article… [Read more…]

From Madame Pince’s always timely and professional Accio Quotes, some snips of the first media reports about Ms. Rowling’s Open Book Tour for HogPro All-Pro comments. Anything substantial here, just another celebrity event, or important because an author’s book tour is a celebrity event? Did MTV cover Philip Pullman’s latest book signing?

Oct 15 2007 8:11 PM EDT
‘Harry Potter’ Author J.K. Rowling Meets With L.A. Students, Plots Her Next Move
‘I want to fall in love with something the way I fell in love with Harry,’ she says of future writing plans.

By Shawn Adler

Although she invited questions about the books, most of the early student questions had to do with Rowling herself, with the schoolchildren all curious about what most inspired her growing up, what parts of her life were reflected in the novels, and whether she always had such a vast imagination.

But like in the novels themselves, it was the great question of Severus Snape that brought down the house. A wide grin across her face, Rowling said she delighted in the fact that, even after “Deathly Hallows,” there was still some speculation as to the true leanings of the erstwhile Potions Master. [Read more…]

When: Thursday, 11 October 2007, 7:30 PM
Where: The Easttown Public Library in beautiful Berwyn, Pennsylvania (720 First Avenue)
What: ‘Taking Harry Seriously: Reading Harry Potter as English Literature’

I’ll be talking about how to get more out of reading the Harry Potter novels via an appreciation of some of Ms. Rowling’s literary devices (Five Keys, anyone?).