I’m back from a month on the road and, of course, the email inbox was full of wonderful links to Potter news and fascinating ideas. Before I get to the movie and a million ideas I’ve had while on tour, here are the urls to events and discussions from friends across the nation:
Live from New York… Middlebury tops Tufts for International Quidditch Championship!
‘Harry Potter Fan Zone’ reporters David and Toni Gras took pictures at the NYC Premiere of Deathly Hallows (Part 1)!
Danielle Tumminio, author of God and Harry Potter at Yale, is on television and in print to talk about her wonderful book coming out soon!
And Augustana College Potter Fans Go to the Movies!
Catholic.Org felt the need to re-post their July interview with an exorcist Harry Hater on the date of the HP7.1 film premiere; check out the combox notes from this month by scrolling way down…
Who knew Harry Potter was a Tom Lehrer fan? Sing those Elements, Daniel!
A University of Chicago/’Chicagwarts‘ student (not my daughter) wins national “Biggest Potter Fan” prize — and $10,000!
Aeternitas 2011, a Potter Fandom conference next April in Laconia, New Hampshire, has put out its Call for Proposals — and it’s unlike anything you’ve ever read, I kid you not. This looks like serious fun…
On schooling the heart and the aesthetic mind rather than just the cranial, discursive intelligence (and the faux plague of ADHD…). Can you say “why people love Harry Potter and Twilight“?
Harry Potter is best understood at four layers, says Baylor Professor, in what he believes is his “unique” contribution to Potter studies.
Patricio Tarantino, the HogwartsProfessor and Leaky Cauldron maven of Argentina, reviews Deathly Hallows, Part 1.
Traditional Christian ideas of mind and soul versus the modern empirical conceptions of same? Enjoy.
‘Originalism is Bunk’ from the New York City Law Review — something to send to your literalist friends that aren’t able to penetrate the surface content and meaning of any text.
Flash from Luke B., a student at the University of Chicago, who after my talk there last month, asked if I thought the Tintin trio of the boy detective, Captain Haddock, and Professor Calculus constituted a body-mind-spirit triptych. You bet I do — and I wonder if that is explored in Tintin and Co., the big new book on the best illustrated books ever… And, yes, Hedwig being snow-white was definitely a hat-tip to Tintin’s dog Friday, Snowy.
Really, the C. S. Lewis College campus in central Massachusetts is a very beautiful place. I look forward to visiting when the school opens in the Fall of 2012…
And a Shared Text item from the Comics Pages:
Happy Thanksgiving, HogPro All-Pros! Pass the Methyl Eugenol — and please tune in tomorrow for conversation about the movie and other serious reader discussion!
Here’s a quote that stuck out to me from that Catholic.org article:
“Harry Potter and these Twilight vampires glamorize the power of evil.”
If my dad hadn’t been sleeping on the couch a few feet away, I would have laughed out loud at this.
“Not my daughter, you !@#$%”
Okay, somehow I accidently hit the submit button on that first post before I had actually finished writing it. I mean to finish it off by saying that there are so many scenes in the last book especially that most certainly do the exactly opposite of what the article is claiming.
Yeah. Bellatrix’s death scene REALLY glamorizes the power of evil (no one could possibly be stupid enough to think it glamorizes MOTHERLY LOVE and the triumph of good).
But then I’m just preaching to the choir, am I not? Why waste time arguing with Muggles?
Harry Potter is best understood at four layers, says Baylor Professor, in what he believes is his “unique” contribution to Potter studies.
If “unique” means, “Someone else has been doing it and encouraging others to do it for the last four years,” then sure, he’s got a point…
that comic was gorgeous. What’s the Aeternitas gig?
ps. the aeternitas call for proposals link is broken.
I LOVE that cartoon. Made me laugh out loud at my computer screen. 😀
The Aeternitas links both work, Lancelot; I hope to see you there!
I read that cartoon in my daily paper and had to share it with a Potter-loving co-worker. And I saved it to my desktop.