Finally, we made it back to our little town where we spent many years of our childhood. I was really looking forward to wandering around, seeing my old houses, my old school, the little playground where I fell off the slide that one time, the “big hill” I would ride ride my bike down. We came just in time for the yearly Hobo Festival, so we grabbed a spot to watch the parade. This spot was carefully chosen, as it took me outside the home of where my best friend lived when we were little. I figured it was a good place to start, and a few seconds after arriving, I heard a voice call out “Amanda?!” It was my childhood best friend!
Apparently her brother owns the home now (and he was there too), and she lives in a neighbouring town. It was so awesome! I got to watch the parade with an old friend, her new extended family, and her little girl. And afterwards, we were invited to join her family in a potluck dinner. It was wonderful getting to catch up, find out what’s been going on in town, and what happened to the other kids we grew up with. Iowa is often a swing state, and out of curiosity, I asked her about politics, as I hadn’t seen many lawn signs. I was pleased to hear that the people really did care, and they were looking carefully at the Read the rest of this entry »
On my trip, I got to see some truly wonderful things. But what stood out the most, and what I’m most passionate about, are the natural wonders out there. Two places in particular were absolutely incredible, and I highly recommend seeing them if you get the chance! First upwas the Badlands National Park of South Dakota.I’ve seen badlands before, but this was something else!
While watching out for poisonous snakes, I took the time toenjoy the serenity of the place. This is a place you can really think, relax, just enjoy the moment. I wandered off by myself, leaving the crowd of tourists behind, just to watch things for a while. There was a herd of animals down in the valley, happily grazing. A gentle breeze was blowing. A bird was flying around the cliff face, darting here and there. The occasional bug wandered by. It was so amazingly peaceful. Read the rest of this entry »
Happy Thanksgiving! A couple of important Thanksgiving announcements:
STANDFast is an opportunity for all of us across the world to make a stand for civilian protection. If you’re in the US, many of you are at home with your families celebrating Thanksgiving. A great way to show how thankful we are for the people and resources in our lives is by sending a small donation to people who need it so that they may stay alive. Time and again our fandom has shown that we have the numbers and the heart and the message of love in Harry Potter so that together we can transform this world. Please talk to your friends and relatives and give even a little at thehpalliance.org/civilianprotection.
This upcoming Wednesday December 3 is STAND Fast where just three dollars protects one Darfuri woman from being raped for a whole week. And just 5 dollars protects a whole family in Eastern Burma. . Go here to learn more about how this relates to Harry Potter and how a very small donation can go a long way in helping to protect people’s lives across the world.
The HP Alliance just released two new Potterwatch podcasts about STAND Fast which you can listen to right here or by searching for HP Alliance at the Itunes store. This Tuesday night at 8:30 pm EST, the HPA will be holding a live Potterwatch conference call featuring special guests like Paul DeGeorge of Harry and the Potters and Melissa Anelli of Leaky, Pottercast, and of course “Harry, A History.” For more info, please email standfast@thehpalliance.org
When you make this donation, please do so with gratitude for the resources that we share and with love in your heart for the people of Darfur, Burma, and of course at this tragic time, the people most affected by these recent attacks in Mumbai.
At this time of Thanksgiving, let us send our love, our compassion, and our care to the people of Mumbai and all those most closely affected by the recent attacks.
We are living in a very difficult time where there are individuals that wish to show how destructive they can be through terrorist attacks that express their feelings of desperation and hatred. There are many ways to combat such individuals. But those of us who are civilians, can most effectively do so by facing such horrific recklessness designed to cause division and fear with an equally strong bond of friendship and trust. Let us show such a strong bond to those in India who are afraid for their lives, the lives of their loved ones, and their livelihood at this time. Let us show such a bond by sending our compassion and care to all of those who have lost someone to these devastating attacks. Let us show such a bond by allowing our hearts to expand through our bodies to the people we meet and love, and to all of humanity.
This is a task that is nothing short of heroic. This is a time to step up, to be heroes and to demonstrate the power of love. Even in the face of greed and fear. Love is the only true power. All else is false power. Is a narcissistic grasping of straws that will be forever out of our reach. Such narcissism is something that each of us can be aware of in ourselves and can be transformed by the fierce power of the love that is in our hearts. Let us send this love to the people of Mumbai and all those, perhaps the world, that has been affected by these tragic acts.
Individuals do have the power to destroy. We have the capacity to step into a place of false power. But we also have the power to Love. We have the opportunity to step into a place of true power. At this time, through tears, through laughter, through courage and through a wish for Life, let us step into that place and let our love shoot from our hearts and extend to Mumbai, circling its people with a protecting jets of light and of love. Simply visualizing such things is an act of heroism.
It’s official,Jingle Spells 2 is ready! “What is Jingle Spells 2?” you may be asking yourself. It is the follow-up charity compilation organized by the staff at the Leaky Cauldron in response to last year’s very successful fund raiser. Last year’s album, Jingle Spells, had new Christmas music from 14 amazing Wizard Rock bands. This year, the stakes have been raised, giving us music from 18 bands, and, as Melissa Anelli said in her news post on the album, “even if you don’t like wizard rock, we are sure you’re going to love this.”
Jingle Spells 2 sells for $15 within the US and $18.60 internationally. Every penny raised by the sale of this album will go to benefit the HP Alliance and Book Aid International. But hurry! Only 2,000 copies will be printed and sold! The album will be made available on iTunes sometime in mid-December, but it’s not the same as holding the CD in your hands and personally examining the original artwork by Frank “Frak” Franco.
To order Jingle Spells 2 or to listen to clips from the songs you can look forward to hearing, please go here.
Another leg of our journey took us to some historic and memorable places, some of which you’ve very likely heard of, and some which you quite possibly have not. These places made us stop and reflect, to think about our shared past and what is coming up in our near future. Our mood here was sombre, respectful, and it was very interesting to see how all the other people also visiting these sites were reacting. Some were excited, some were quietly reflective, some seemed to see it only as a neat looking place just as they would any other statue or pretty place.
I’ve always enjoyed odd or unusual things. I love expressions of creativity, especially the quirky ones! I think that is why Dumbledore is one of my favourite characters; he does odd things because they amuse him, and he doesn’t really care what others think of that. So whenever I travel, I keep an eye out for unusual roadside attractions!
Justin Finch-Fletchley and I have one more show - tonight in New York City - and we are thrilled to inform you that we have surpassed our original goal of raising $1,000 for disaster relief in Haiti. In fact, tonight’s show will most likely put us over $1,500 raised! Given the fact that most of our shows have been small house parties with 15 to 30 people in attendance, this accomplishment is astounding. We want to thank everyone who’s contributed to this effort and taken the time to learn about Haiti and to really care about what’s happening there. You’re an inspiration to us and you’ve helped a very worthy cause.
I’ve heard really mixed reviews. The people who don’t like the book, hated the movie. The people who loved the book, loved the movie.
I only read the first book. And while I understand that people have some really good reasons grounded in feminism as to why they think Twilight is sexist, I still enjoyed that first book. I’d like to find out more about the ways that this book is looked at as sexist, but it seems that it’s the later books that get that way more than this first one.
Any way, I’m interested in what your thoughts are on this as well as if you saw the movie and if you thought it was good.
One thing that had to be good though: the bad guys. I mean, come on. They were pretty scary in the book.
Are they scary in the movie? Oh, and how was Charlie? And how was the small town depicted? And Edward? Was he in CGI or did have human flaws?
QUICK THOUGHT: I just posted this as a myspace bulletin and we got 15 comments in one hour’s time. Click below to read those comments which are pretty diverse. Please add your thoughts by posting a comment here on the blog. Please remember to be respectful!
At the age of eleven years old, Brenden Foster was told he had two weeks to live. On his way back from the hospital he saw homeless people in the street who were hungry. He wanted to spend the last two weeks of his life giving to them but he didn’t have the strength. So he called on his loved ones to help. News of this has spread across the country where people are giving to the homeless with notes that say “Love Brendan.”
This is so humbling and so amazing. I know his mother says in the video that he never complained which also goes to show what a gentle heart this young man had. I do think it’s important for people to remember that everyone has their own of dying and most of us need to complain. That’s part of a very real process. Regardless of any of that, we can all learn from Brendan. A heart with so much light and so much love!
