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Dumbledore's Army
I confess. When the seventh and final Harry Potter book was released I donned a Gryffindor scarf and was in line to get my copy at midnight. Any book that can move readers of all ages to devour tomes 600-800 pages long gets my respect. But, it seems the Harry Potter series has spurred fans to do more than organize wizarding conventions and start wrock bands (aka: "wizard rock"). The books have also inspired a philanthropic organization, The Harry Potter Alliance.
With over 100,000 members world wide, The Harry Potter Alliance models itself on the themes of human rights (and that of house-elves and warewolves) and social justice within the series, asking "What would Dumbledore do?" Chapters across the globe raise funds for aid in Darfur and Burma, book drives, voter registration and other "magical acts of kindness."
The organization's founder, 29-year-old Andrew Slack, began the registered nonprofit because he believes that, just as in the Harry Potter world, we are living in "dark and dangerous times." The organization seeks to overcome the "Muggle" mindset by working to fight genocide, poverty, torture, global warming, and discrimination, including marriage inequality—and not just because (spoiler alert?) Dumbledore is gay.
The HP Alliance also asserts that just as the wizarding media and government ignored the return of Lord Voldemort in the books, our institutions choose to ignore the existence of the Dark Arts in our world. Hopefully they think Mother Jones is doing better than the rest of the Muggle media.
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The Harry Potter Effect
THE HARRY POTTER EFFECT....Via Dan Drezner, the NEA has released its latest survey of reading habits, and the news is good. Fiction reading among young adults is way up, and overall reading is up too. More than 50% of adults...
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Banning Harry Potter Is Just SO 20th Century
Now that the Harry Potter books, films, water globes, watches and tote bags are an established part of western culture,...
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Harry Potter and His Copyrighted Magic
Should the estate of, say, architect Gregory Johnson, get paid every time the Empire State Building appears in a film?
Obamacare
Hey, Kid, just shut up and sign here. Would I, the ultimate Chicago politician, lie to YOU? You know when the government takes over a program it's run more efficiently and at less cost (cough, choke, sorry, something {a lie, maybe} caught in my throat ) and never gets bigger. You better get it now before it's all gone or somebody else gets it. You wanna buy a car, too?