I’m very please with the list of headers to J. K. Rowling’s twitter account we have assembled, but there are still many that haven’t yet been identified. There are also many that while we have identified them, we haven’t yet got a good explanation of the meaning of the image. In an attempt to foster further investigation and comment, I present an analysis of what Rowling has admitted to be currently working on when the headers were live.
I will personally match donations to this appeal, up to £1m. Thank you so, so much to all who’ve already donated, you’re enabling @lumos to do crucial work for some of the most vulnerable children in Ukraine. https://t.co/XK8yTtB1nl
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) March 7, 2022
The Russian Federation invaded Ukraine last month and the war there continues. I am no Russo-phile, but it is clear that there are no saints leading either country (or the greater powers that use these nations’ leaders as sock-puppets). What to do?
Jo Rowling Murray pulled out her check-book and challenged others to do the same to help “some of the most vulnerable children in Ukraine,” those in orphanages. She didn’t say anything about the injustice or Realpolitik of the invasion, she didn’t browbeat the decision makers in the UK and abroad about their action or inaction, she didn’t make sardonic comments about the vicious way of the world, in which, as Thucydides noted, “the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.”
Not right away at least; she has since re-tweeted messages about the invasion and its attendant horrors. See here, here, here, and here for a sample of those. Her stand, though, what she has chosen to do when confronted by this tragedy, is in essence apolitical, just as her posting The Ickabog for children and families in Covid hysteria lockdowns for free on the internet (and donating all her income from the book sales to charities helping those most hurt by the lockdowns) was all positive and generous. Here Rowling is a challenging example of action in service to a cause without exacerbating or creating antagonisms. I could definitely take some notes here for my own reflection.
I post below re-tweets and responses she made that are about her offer to match all money contributed to Lumos, not to mention paying all their expenses so contributions do not go to charity overhead, to encourage all of us to help.
"Children in institutions are one of the most vulnerable groups…they need to be supported…"
Our Director of Programmes spoke to @BBCNewshour @bbcworldservice to highlight the risk to children in orphanages in #Ukraine. Listen here at 18 minutes: https://t.co/g5CAzrv0l7— Lumos (@lumos) March 7, 2022
For anybody wishing to donate to help children in institutions in Ukraine, who are extremely vulnerable at the moment, @lumos's core costs have been covered and 100% of your donation will go to helping those children.
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) March 11, 2022
You magnificent people. THANK YOU! 💙💛💙💛💙💛💙💛💙 https://t.co/bTmVNqAi3o
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) March 11, 2022
World Book Day (as observed in the UK and Ireland) is an oddity, like the World Series, in that the event is clearly not world wide. The aim of the Day is to foster a love of reading within children and raise money for Book Aid International. The most visible effect of this local-world event, outside the UK, to J. K. Rowling fans are the endless photographs on social media of tiny witches, wizards, house elves, and now Ickabogs and Pigs. To find more about the history and impact of this annual event within Britain, join me after the jump. Read More “World Book Day (in the UK and Ireland)”
During the weekend I was talking with our friends, the hosts of the Strike Ellacott Podcast, and Beatrice Groves about the valuable hints that J. K. Rowling’s twitter headers can give us about what she is working on. It was clear that we did not have a single repository of her twitter headers, nor a reliable indication of when they were current.
The Wayback Machine is an internet archive that stores webpages, and allows researchers to see the page as it was when the archive was captured. Using this tool I have captured what I believe is a complete set of all the Rowling twitter headers.
I consider this a work in progress- there are lots of missing dates in the archive, so the dates are the date of the first captured page. If you spot any errors or omissions, please let me know in the comments down below, and I will correct.
I would also like to build links to articles discussing and analysing the more interesting headers, again please let me know in the comments.
Three Quick Notes:
(1) So What? Two days ago I shared my thoughts about the latest Fantastic Beasts movie trailer and yesterday it was exegesis of the Secrets of Dumbledore ensemble poster. Today I’ll attempt a deep dive into the new Rowling Twitter page header — and I think readers deserve some explanation of why I’m devoting so much time to what are in essence advertisements and place-holders.
With respect to the trailer and movie poster, I confess to pretending without evidence that The Presence had something to do with their composition, which is in the end pretty far-fetched, not to say “silly.” Writing up the notes for each, though, allowed me the opening I wanted to talk about the Beasts franchise as another psychomachia allegory and to post links to Lana Whited’s ‘Here There Be Dragons (and Phoenixes)‘ posts. Mission accomplished.
Rowling herself, however, tweeted five years ago that the pictures she uses as her Twitter headers reflect her current thinking. Or did she? Read More “Rowling’s Norfolk Twitter Header Photo – Three Notes about Possible Meaning”