Why More College Students Should Attend Harry Potter Conferences.

November 14, 2019 by Leave a Comment

Few things make a professor happier than seeing students go on to great things after graduation. I was thrilled recently to see a Facebook post about a student who was just awarded her PhD in archeology. The sight was doubly meaningful because this was the student I took to the first Harry Potter conference I ever attended, almost exactly 8 years ago:  JMU’s Replacing Wands With Quills. I reminded her of that in my congratulatory Facebook note and she fondly remembered the conference as “thrilling event to dip my toes into.” 

This prompted me to look up the handful of other undergraduate students that I had involved in Harry Potter or similar scholarship: students who had attended the Chestnut Hill Harry Potter Academic Conference, guested on Mugglenet Academia, or co-presented a Divergent and Neuroscience poster in the teaching section of the Society for Neuroscience Annual meeting. As expected, I found a number of success stories: two currently in PhD programs in clinical psychology and biochemistry , two completed masters degrees in engineering and industrial/organizational psychology, one currently in an information science masters program, one who had the rare honor of publishing her undergraduate thesis. It appears that these early professional experiences–where students learn not only that they have good ideas but that others want to hear about them–are associated with later success, even when the students ultimately pursue an entirely different area of study from Potter Punditry. 

Of course, correlation does not equal causation; it is likely that the talent and initiative students show in seeking out these experiences are the same traits that lead to academic success later on.  But it also appears that many look back on the Harry Potter academic experience as particularly meaningful in shaping their self-confidence as scholars. 

On that note, it is worth announcing the CFP for the other major showcase for Potter scholarship:  The Southwest Popular/American Culture Association annual meeting in February.  See below.

The deadline for proposals for the 2020 Southwest Popular/American Culture Association (SWPACA) is ONE WEEK from today!

The 2020 SWPACA conference will be held Feb 19-22, 2020 at the Hyatt Regency in Albuquerque, New Mexico. We invite proposals for any topic related to popular and/or American culture studies. See further details:http://southwestpca.org/conference/call-for-papers/

Submit your proposal here: https://register.southwestpca.org/southwestpca by November 20, 2019.

 

Filed Under: Louise Freeman, MuggleNet Academia

Chestnut Hill Conference wrap-up!

November 11, 2019 by 2 Comments

The round-up podcast recorded at the Harry Potter Academic Conference is now posted at Reading, Writing, Rowling. Check it out and please comment. We;d love to hear from attendees and non-attendees.

Filed Under: Louise Freeman, Reading Writing Rowling Podcast

Robert Downey, Jr., is ‘Dolittle’

November 8, 2019 by 1 Comment

Featuring a trove of Harry Potter film franchise stars as animal voices, the new Dolittle movie features Robert Downey, Jr., in the title role. I read the twelve books to my children before we met the Boy Who Lived and they loved them so much that they named every vehicle we owned then and in coming years — cars, vans, even a used RV — after favorite Dolittle animals. I don’t recall offhand anything like the adventure the Dr Downey-Dolittle film is about (he is searching for a cure to a disease Queen Victoria has) but the high seas moments evident in the trailer above are a Hugh Lofting signature.

I had to laugh when I saw that MuggleNet asked in its article about the film and its Potter connections, ‘Is Dr Dolittle a Magizoologist?‘ Louise Freeman, Hogwarts Professor and Dolittle authority, asked and answered that question back in 2016 in a brilliant piece called ‘Could Fantastic Beasts Be Dr Dolittle with a Wand?‘ I highly recommend it and look forward to Dr Freeman’s revisiting the subject in light of the new film.

Filed Under: Louise Freeman, Movie Thoughts

Live at Queen City Mischief and Magic!

September 28, 2019 by 4 Comments

I’ll be speaking today and tomorrow at the Queen City Mischief and Magic Festival (QCMM) in beautiful Staunton, Virginia, nestled in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley.

My four, count ’em, four talks will be:

  • ‘Why We Love Harry Potter’ Saturday morning at 10:30 on the Festival’s main stage,
  • ‘Harry Potter and the Ring Composition’ at 2:00 this afternoon at Mary Baldwin University’s venue,
  • Sunday at 1:00 PM I will be talking at The Wharf about the Christian content of the Hogwarts Saga, and
  • I may be speaking again on the main stage Sunday morning as well. If I do, I think I’ll try out something knew: ‘Everything I Needed to Know about Shakespeare I Learned from Harry Potter.’

And there is a panel discussion at 5:00 today at which Prof Louise Freeman and I will answer questions from all-comers from the main stage.

If you can make it to Staunton this weekend, please be sure to introduce yourself as a HogwartsProfessor reader. There will be thousands of people, I know, but I really look forward at these live events to meeting my virtual friends with whom I spend so much time during the year. I hope to see you there, especially if you’re going to see Antony and Cleopatra as I did last night at the American Shakespeare Center’s magnificent Blackfriar’s Theater.

Filed Under: Hog Pro Notes, Louise Freeman, Ring Composition, Shakespeare

Accio Knowledge! (And cookies!): Countdown to Queen City Mischief and Magic.

September 22, 2019 by Leave a Comment

We are down to less than a week until the Queen City Mischief and Magic Festival, and the line-up of speakers rocks this year, starting with our own Headmaster.  I am going to be crazy busy this year, but I hope it will all be worth it.  I look forward to hosting John and hopefully impressing him with both Mary Baldwin University and Anthony and Cleopatra at the Blackfriars.

See full program here:

I like to bake special cookies for special occasions, and QCMM is no exception.  I usually do several batches of treats to hand out for trivia prizes and give as thank-you’s to our wonderful volunteers.  I spent most of yesterday with my rolling pin and Harry Potter cookie cutters, baking up some specialty treats.  My personal favorite is the Sorting Hat, made with an apple-cinnamon dough that is the perfect color.  A bonus:  no decorating needed!

Even better, my cookie-cutter collection is extensive enough that I can create some Potter-themed goodies with other cutters.  A Christmas reindeer becomes Prongs, a dog (in my favorite chocolate dough) makes a great Padfoot and I turned a train into the Hogwarts Express.  My newest edition is a fawn I ran across at Michael’s, which has become my Silver Doe.

I’m still looking for a cute frog cookie cutter for Chocolate Frog cookies, but in the meantime I’ll settle for my molds.  In addition to the Chocolate Frogs, I crushed up some candy mints and made some white Peppermint Toads.

If any of our regular Hogpro readers are coming to the festival, stop by the talks at MBU at the Wharf, next to Pufferbellies Toys (which is another place you don’t want to miss!) I’ll try to slip you a cookie, or possibly one of my Cauldron Cake Pops, from the speakers’ stash.

Filed Under: Louise Freeman