The Harry Potter WorldEssay Preview: The Harry Potter WorldReport this essayIn reflecting on the events of my life that have impacted me, I returned to the night of August 1, 2006. I found myself in Row G of Radio City Music Hall in New York City sitting by my mother, not at all tired, although we had flown from Las Vegas to Syracuse the day before, and my family had driven five hours to the city for “An Evening with Harry, Carrie and Garp,” a charity event with readings by three authors. The excitement rushing through me kept me awake and alert; I was standing and applauding a tiny blonde woman with amazing silver snake shoes as she prepared to read.
The Harry Potter series was my gateway drug into my intellectual puberty. I was so fascinated by the Harry Potter world that my mother began taking me to academic conferences focused on the books. Beginning with The Witching Hour in 2005, through Lumos, Prophecy, Portus, and Azkatrz in 2009, I have attended presentations about the Latin etymology of terms and spells, the mythical tales of the artifacts, and the idea of literary alchemy. These books opened my eyes to the whole world, and to knowledge itself. They were the stimulus that kept my brain working over the summers. More importantly, they helped me adopt the philosophy useful in school and beyond, that there is always another way to do something, or to perceive an issue. With uncertainty and doubt, comes innovation and new ways to look at problems that may result in new, different, faster and easier solutions. And all this came from a little “magic,” from a book that many people see as a series for children.
The Wizarding World also gave me an idea of a magical world. I took my first magical course while we were students, and I went to the beginning of my studies in English that was going to require a more structured, standardized English. (My English didn’t help, it seemed.) So I decided to make my own. A course in history and politics that I began by reading was the result of hours of reading about the 19th century history of England and France, and how one country, Spain, had established the concept of “politics,” in its historical setting. My work helped to establish that Spain was a very different country from most parts of its former colony of Great Britain. So I took it upon myself to start studying history as a part of my new educational plan. A history of English and French, that I learned to apply it to my own country, was the beginning point of the course.
You can’t be a teacher but you can create knowledge, so I created the first book
The Wizarding World
about the early 19th century:
When I first saw these books, my imagination had completely swelled! My imagination is what people have called the “magic mushroom.” It is a little bit mystical than anything that comes out of science fiction or any other genre, which is why I think it’s very fascinating.
When I was a little kid, my mother would say, “My book will inspire you, but yours will teach you the same stuff.” I would go home one day and see a few things that I was taught, and then I would say, “I want to read this,” then I would walk away and do the same thing. When I first learned about this, I thought, “This isn’t my idea of what it is to be a teacher and an educator.” But then I began to understand the importance of role-playing games and the way to do magic and how to talk with people through your stories
(The Adventures of Merlin’s Wizardry)
And as I grew in skill with this medium, my curiosity grew.
It’s easy to see this as a moment when we are all having fun. But the magic mushroom, when it comes to the modern day, is a moment that every kid is trying to learn to play. And magic is an incredibly complex thing. It’s hard to know what to play, and how to talk to a child, how to make a joke, what’s a threat, how to draw the world together, and how to draw the line between a good teacher and an evil bully. In fact, sometimes all you can do is follow instructions and follow your instincts. We all learn to use magic, and we learn to play the rules of both. Whether we play together or not, we all go to great lengths to play together. But sometimes we just learn to think things through… and sometimes we just learn to think things through. We see that in the video game. When our magic becomes important for us, and so do our ideas and beliefs. This is a moment when magic is being challenged.
The “Harry Potter” series was my gateway drug into my intellectual puberty. I was so fascinated by the Harry Potter world that my mother began taking me to academic conferences focused on the books. Beginning with The Witching Hour in 2005, through Lumos, Prophecy, Portus, and Azkatrz in 2009, I have attended presentations about the Latin etymology of terms and spells, the mythical tales of the artifacts, and the idea of literary alchemy. These books opened my eyes to the whole world, and to knowledge itself. More importantly, they helped me adopt the philosophy useful in school and beyond, that there is always another way to do something, or to perceive