Hello. My name is Carol....and I am... a muggle. Despite waiting patiently, laying out owl treats, and attempts to find the Leaky Cauldron, I must resign myself to the fact that my Hogwarts letter will probably not come. And at 30 years old, unless Hogwarts has suddenly started a graduate program, chances are... I'm not getting in. So I must find a way to cope. So here I am.... figuratively staring at the mound of ruins that I know the glorious Hogwarts castle merely stands behind... I don't know how all of you feel, but I know from the second I first read about Diagon Alley, I was hoping I could somehow trade in my Barnes and Noble member card for one at Flourish and Blotts. That was in 2001, shortly after GOF had been released. I admit, I came to the series backwards.... I saw the first movie, fell in love with the whole concept, and went immediately to go buy the books. Literally. Immediately. I was still picking movie popcorn out of my teeth while standing in line to purchase books 1-4. And then a couple days later, after finishing GOF... (and after I finished sobbing...) I discovered the amazing online community that is the Harry Potter Fandom. I kept up with the Potter news, read up on all current theories, and made sure I was at every midnight release afterwards (except the GOF movie release because I had just given birth to my son the previous week... Incidentally, the HBP movie was supposed to come out a week after I had my daughter in 2008, but it got pushed back to June, which meant that I was the ONLY Potter fan ECSTATIC about pushing back that film release. And yes, I am still convinced they did it so I could be there.) So I guess this is the part where I list the rest of my Harry Potter street cred.... In May of 2007, I attended the Phoenix Rising Potter con in New Orleans, where I won a trivia duel and was able to participate in a recorded book discussion group with a couple of other trivia winners and the lovely members of Pottercast. It was an awesome experience to say the least, and through theories discussed during that group, I went on to write a paper about the twin imagery in the series called "Twin Core: An Exploration of Twins in the Wizarding World." I got to present this paper this past summer at the UK's first ever Potter conference at St. Andrew's University in Scotland and at the Ascendio Potter con in Orlando. The word AMAZING doesn't even BEGIN to describe both of these experiences!! While I was in the UK, I did the Harry Potter Studio Tour, and took a train from King's Cross station at 11:00 to get up to the conference in Scotland!! Geek levels.... too high!! Total nerdgasm imminent!!! AHHHHH!!! Phew.... I have to fan myself off for a moment.... oh le sigh! ANYWAY....
You know what the most awesome part about all these experiences was?? It was getting to be surrounded by people who, like myself, happen to be muggles but lead magically informed lives. It's not just about being your run of the mill Potter fan.... it's about having a real love and enthusiasm for this work and seeing how reading it, knowing it, and learning from it can lead to a more compassionate, intelligent, socially aware life. This is so not an exaggeration! (And you know what's SOOOO obnoxious is that I can almost hear the magically uninformed rolling their eyes, even as I type this...) The Harry Potter Alliance has done such AMAZING word!!! Hungry people: FED. Injured people: MEDICALLY CARED FOR. Why?? Because Andrew Slack read Harry Potter and used the issues discussed in the series to do good for others. Geez, if that isn't an argument for Harry Potter as a vehicle for the betterment of humanity, then I don't know what is!! And if you don't know what the Harry Potter Alliance is.... go google it.... IMMEDIATELY.
I guess that's the reason for Muggles Anonymous. It's hard having these experiences surrounded by people with the same love and enthusiasm and then return to an ordinary muggle life. The awesome thing about being a member of the Potterverse is that you feel like these stories are a part of who you are. The flipside of this is that when people don't show any respect for Harry Potter, it feels like they're punching you straight in the gut. "Oh, isn't that a kids' story?" "They're about witchcraft so I don't let my kids read them." "No, I never got into those.... but I do like to read. I just finished 50 Shades of Gray." I hear phrases like this and I simultaneously want to scream, chain that person to a chair with a copy of book 1, and weep for humanity.
I firmly believe that anyone with an open heart who reads these books cannot help but see the beauty they represent. Now I know not everyone on Earth is gonna turn into Mother Teresa, but geez, if reading these books only opens people's eyes and makes them stand up for someone being bullied or maybe even just give a smile to someone you didn't think to acknowledge before, then if even in those small ways, these books have the power to change the world!
And look, I don't want this blog to just be me ranting... If you're perhaps suffering from Post Potter Depression or had someone look at you dressed up as Luna and went "Now, what are you supposed to be?".... then consider this an open forum for your frustrations... and hey, let's bring in the positive too! If you've managed to bring someone into the Wizarding World through your suggestions they read the stories, shout it out! The world is a little brighter for having another Potter fan in it!
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