Harry Potter and Religion: Not as Different as One Might Think

It was a Sunday and I had just finished my underwhelming Sunday dinner. I was walking towards the exit when something was mentioned that made me want to throw up my dinner (actually, I still want to throw it up. It was gross.) A person, who shall not be named, commented on quite possibly my favourite series of all time: Harry Potter. When the shocking utterance of, "Harry Potter is very anti-christ", occurred, my eyes  were bulging and I was ready to attack. I'm a practising Christian. I go to Church. I believe in God and Jesus. But there is absolutely no excuse for claiming that Harry Potter is "anti-Christ" when one hasn't even read the books. I,  having read all of them 16 times over, will now explain how they are far from "anti-Christ."
       The first major argument would be about the "witchcraft" practiced at Hogwarts. Sure, the bible does highly forbids the use of witchcraft and paganism. I understand that, but the thing is, it isn't real. Magic spells, potions; they don't exist. Some of the book were even burned because they contained witchcraft. So what? If your going to burn a book because of the mention of witchcraft, you should just burn Cinderella, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, any books about King Arthur, The Wizard of Oz or even Macbeth. And of course, there's the argument that the characters do things that God himself does. But, in novels, that isn't exactly true. Sure, the witches and wizards do things that normal human beings can't even dream of doing, but the things are mostly used for good. Even the "Unforgivable Curses", that are used to kill, are not meant for wizards to use. They are forbidden and illegal. Sure, characters use them, but all of the characters that do pay for it in the end. As well, in reality, people kill other people. Those people are put in jail and have sinned, much like the characters put in Askaban.
                As well, J.K. Rowling, a practising Christian, uses so much symbolism to represent the Christian religion, that's it's almost funny to read. The serpent, used as the symbol for the house of Slytherin, clearly represents the serpent in the Garden of Eden. Now, Rowling is in no way saying the house is good. In fact, she alludes to the exact opposite. Everyone from Slytherin is evil. And everyone from Slytherin who acts upon their evil thoughts, dies in the end. As well, the symbol for the house of Gryffindor, is a lion. Obviously, it is seen that lions are brave and good creatures, so most people from Gryffindor are good. The entire series is clearly a battle between good and evil.
        Even in the last book, the Crucifixion is alluded to. Voldemort, who is clearly winning the battle, calls out to Harry from the forest saying if Harry doesn't come and die, he will kill everyone fighting for the good side. Harry realizes that "he [is] not supposed to survive"(Rowling 554), goes into the forest, and is killed by Voldemort. However, after being in a sort of dream-like trance, Harry awakens and eventually, saves the Wizarding world. Now, some might say that comparing a normal human being to Jesus is wrong, but many, many authors have done it before. I mean, C.S. Lewis compared a lion and J.J.R. Tolkin compared Frodo to Jesus . Using a character to represent Jesus is not a terrible thing whatsoever. Obviously the character is not Jesus, but they possess qualities that are the true meaning good, similar to Jesus.
                What really baffles me, is the idea of censorship in this whole "anti-christ" argument. Some Christian parents won't even let their children read the books because they are afraid of them becoming "corrupted" or something ridiculous like that. When I was little, I loved Harry Potter. I wanted to go to Hogwarts and live in the world of magic. But in no way did I see the allusions to the Bible. Most children don't understand things like that, and would let alone act upon them. Obviously certain Christians are afraid that people will stop believing in their faith because of a novel. If people are afraid that, after reading a book, they will stop believing in something so important to them, the foundation of the religion probably isn't exactly strong to begin with.

Welcome Back Sid

Sidney is back, and I'm loving it. Two goals, two assists. Four point night. And all of the "Welcome back Sid" signs people were holding up made me cry. I'm so happy for him. Welcome back future husband!

How to (Successfully) Make Sidney Crosby Fall in Love with Me

Today, while I was sulking my room being a skeleton monkey, I checked the Pittsburgh Penguins website and just about died. "Sidney Crosby to Return to the Line-up Monday" is what the headline read. It was over. I couldn't control my wonderful, high-pitched screams of joy. I think a couple of dogs barked when my screams were heard across Kingston. Anyways, my love for Sidney bloomed a thousand times over when I heard this, so I decided to rekindle my plans to get him to fall in love for me. These plans are intense and will most definitely work, so be warned. And don't try to steal my man using them, or you will find the head of your beloved horse in your bed next to you followed by many other disturbing things.

1. I will find someway to meet him. Now, this meeting session cannot be at some autograph signing. It has to be an intimate experience where he looks through an aquarium into my eyes and falls in love with me. So, like a pet store or a Sushi restaurant or something.
2. I will go down to New Orleans or England or something and find some deep, deep black magic books. I will them become extremely powerful after studying the endless pages of evil. After, I will find Sidney Crosby and kill everyone in the world and make them zombie servants so we're the only ones left  on the planet and he will fall in love with me.
3. I will create a false apocalyptic disaster lie and tell Sidney about it. I will them create a diversion and sneak into Sidney's home. He won't be scared of me because he trusts me now because I warned him of the apocalypse. We will hide in the basement until it passes, will fall in love and then realize there was no apocalypse at all and proceed to laugh.
4. I will become a Grecian siren and hypnotize him with my beautiful voice. He will then fall in love with me because I'm a siren and they're awesome. Plus, he's under my spell.
5. I will save his life, like taking a bullet for him, and he will then become internally grateful to me. He will want to marry me out of pity but I will be all demure and humble and say "you don't really love me, it's okay." He will then run out of the hospital into the pouring rain and see a montage of all of the great times we've had together. He will then realize he really does love me and run back in only to find I have slipped into a coma. He will then cry and say "Emma, I really do love you. Please wake up. I love you" and at that exact moment, a tear will fall on my face and I will awake and say I love him too. Then all will be happy and he will love me.

The End A Very Potter Era

Yesterday at 2:32 am, I said goodbye to some of my best friends: Hermione Granger, Ronald Weasley, Harry Potter and every other character that seemed to shape my adolescent life. No, I'm not insane. I know they're not actually real, but they might as well be. I was first introduced to Harry Potter when I was eight years old. I remember sitting in my warm bed with Mummy at night, listening to her read the first 3 books for me, never wanting her to stop. She always changed her voice to fit the characters that seemed to make the novels come to life (my favourite impression was Ron). I had every Potter stuffed animal you could think of, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fluffy, Hedwig, Scabbers, Crookshanks and even Trevor the toad. I had Harry Potter Lego, Harry Potter Scene It! and a Harry Potter stationary set. Harry Potter was the first book I have ever, truly, loved.

    When the movies started coming out, I was mesmerized. Everything I had ever imagined had come to life right before my eyes. Diagon Ally, the Hogwarts express, and Hogwarts itself welcomed me whenever I walked into the theatre or popped a DVD into the player. The characters were real to me then, as real as my real friends and my real family. Daniel Radcliffe was actually my first crush. I've had many others from the movies after that; Tom Felton, Robert Pattinson, the Phelps twins, Rupert Grint and now, Matthew Lewis. I'll never forget the love I felt for those boys. When I was sitting my movie seat, clad in my Harry Potter 3D glasses and Gryffindor scarf, I started to weep. It actually hit me like a unforgivable curse; this was going to be the last Harry Potter movie. The last time I saw my childhood heroes on the big screen.

     This was now a decade of my life that I've spent with these characters. I've grown up with them, learned from them and loved them. By watching this movie, I said goodbye to my childhood and to everything I've ever known. As I make my way to University in the fall, I'll try to think of the life lessons I learned from Harry Potter and I'll never forget the way they shaped my life. I'll even use my patronus charm (which is apparently a wolf) to fend off the terrible things that might arise in the future and try to soar as high as my Wingaurdium Leviosa charm will allow me. That was unnecessarily nerdy, but I don't care. So this is my farewell to Harry Potter, the boy who lived. Wherever I go and whatever I do, I know Hogwarts will always welcome me home. Mischief Managed.

No more Superstar

Max Talbot is now on the Flyers. Excuse me while I go burn things.

Isn't He Lovely

   I was watching Glee the other day, and I found an unexpected new lover, well, almost. Legs, wheels, hot wheels or as I like to call him, Artie Abrams. Artie is the only glee member, and the only person at the school, in a wheelchair. I felt bad for him during the first season, but then he just got annoying when he yelled at Tina and had a weird obsession with white rappers. But in this episode, he was actually the cutest thing I've seen. He came into his girlfriend's classroom and sang her "Isn't she Lovely" so she'd go to prom with him. Awwh! His voice was as smooth as his awesome wheelchair dance moves. After he mesmerized me with his romantic baby song, my mom asked me if, if he was real, would I go out with him. I asked her to answer first, and it took her a while to respond. I was shocked. Artie, if he was real, is one of the sweetest guys I've ever seen. His glasses are adorable, his sweater vest collection is incredible, his voice is fantastic and his obsession with white rappers, although creepy, is hilarious. Not to mention his kind little heart. She eventually said she would, even though she can't stand men that are shorter than her. I guess people can't see past appearances sometimes, no matter how hard they try. But it's okay, because if Artie magically became real, i'd be with him in a heartbeat and we could wheel into the sunset to live happily ever after.

A Group that Works Hard, and Plays Even Harder

Chicago; a city that works hard, and plays hard. I definitely had a fantastic time the city. The shows were great, the museums were fascinating and the people I went with are like my family. So when I heard that some of them did something in Chicago that was a little misguided, to say the least, I was mortified. I really thought they knew better than that. That since we were music students, we'd understand the horrors what that thing can do to you. But kids are kids, and it was a stupid decision. Even thought, I was horrified when I heard the news, I thought about something else. Something that made my stomach churn. Who would tell on them? I mean, they did something questionable, I understand that, but who would really dislike them so much to completely rat them out? What they did really didn't hurt anyone, or put anyone in extreme danger.  So the person who told on them obviously has some sort of vendetta against them. Everyone in the program is connected, though their love of music and playing together, as a family, in an ensemble. I don't know about you, but I would never rat out a family member for something so stupid. Even if I didn't agree with their choice of doing it.