Little story update that I promised February 2, 2008

Okay, it’s been a little while, I know, and I’m sorry. I have a lot to do still, but it’s been bugging me. So, if I get this done, hopefully I’ll be able to concentrate! I know I promised to update you on something that may be happening with a certain guy. I wrote about it for a class assignment. This was the very first time we met.

“Yeah,” I said, feeling more uncomfortable by the minute. The numerous overlapping conversations of scores of other University students who were being recognized as “leaders and scholars”—at least, that’s what it said on the invitation—made it very difficult to understand my new acquaintance, girl on the Student Advisory Board member at the other university campus. Not to mention that the foyer of the craftsman-styled home was heavy on wood surfaces, which further amplified the noise. I need to get myself out of here before I make a fool of myself, I thought, and came up with an excuse—I hadn’t tried the desserts yet, and slipped away.

 We met over the dessert trays, in the dining room that could only be adequately described as “presidential;” the room was tastefully decorated with dark wood furniture, deep green walls, a beamed low ceiling, thick drapes, and very thick carpeting, which made the room more sound-absorbent. Sweet, quiet relief. I took my time deciding which bite-sized dessert to try first, when somebody spoke.

 “Pardon?” I asked, turning around to read his lips.

 “Those are delicious,” he repeated, pointing them out to me with a nod of his head.

 I took a bite. “Mmm…these taste like high-end Ding Dongs.”

 He laughed. “Yeah, they kinda do!”

 We introduced ourselves, shaking hands. I was impressed that he wore a suit, in the midst of varying degrees of casualness with the common denominator of jeans. I quickly felt at ease—now I wasn’t the only one who thought it important to dress up! In fact, I felt comfortable enough to ask him “would you speak up please? I’m hard of hearing.”

 We then proceeded to talk about anything and everything and nothing for the next hour. We talked about weather. We marveled about President ____’s house, the spiraling wood staircase, the ceilings, the windows, and expressed a desire to be able to explore the house further.

 “I love old houses,” I said, sipping the fruit punch because I quickly became very thirsty.

 “Me too!”  

 We talked about food, and spent five minutes talking about the hot apple cider they were serving.

 “I love apple cider,” he said.

 “Me too!”

 We talked about school, and I admitted that I was homeschooled.

 He did a double-take. “You were homeschooled?”

 “All the way through high school.”

 “Me too!”

 Activity and people swirled around us as we talked. The sun dipped below the horizon, and the students began to slip away after saying goodbye and thank you to President ___ and his wife. During the first lull in conversation, we looked out the window and realized, Hey, it’s dark! And where’d all the people go? There were probably no more than two or three dozen other loiterers like us. It was time him to board the university-provided shuttle, and my brother was here to give me a ride back home. So we said goodbye, and we both hoped that we would run into each other sometime on campus.

 Outside, I looked around at the dusky silhouettes of the trees, outlined by the bright moon, and raised my eyes toward the stars, silently thanking God for Facebook.

Man, does time slip by fast! October 28, 2007

Well, I’m not sure when my last post was, but it’s time for a new one, with updates from the past week (or was it two weeks?).

 I went to see VR on Thursday. I guessed she was deaf from the way she writes her emails; you know, me being an English major I tend to be able to guess who wrote what from how they write. They were in good English, just slightly “off”, if that makes sense? Some of the verbs didn’t have verb endings, etc. And when I went to see her, she both signed and talked, mostly signed. So I was right! It was about time I intuited something right! She mostly signed, and so I both signed and talked. It turns out there’s not much they can do for me right now. I’m still in college, and I have a job, and so she didn’t even mention monetary support. Plus I felt it would be rude to ask, because I’m pretty self-sufficient. It’s not like I’m hurting for money, though I am on a college student’s budget. Looking toward the future, however, VR said she could help me then. When I’m ready to look for a real job, come see her, and then they can help me find a job, apply, interview, get, and keep the job, and provide whatever accomodations I might need, like a TTY, or a videophone, etc. Or even an interpreter. I’m nearly at the point when I can understand most of what anybody is saying in ASL, which makes me very excited! VR says they also will be my advocate, so I shouldn’t be “dismissed” just because I’m deaf.

 After the end of our fairly short meeting she said I signed pretty well, which I thanked her for. She said that because we had been talking about the Sorenson free VRS equip., and they ask you if ASL is your primary language. She told me to say yes, because I know enough to converse with. So, when I got home, I filled out the app! No idea how long it will take for me to get it, but whenever is okay. It probably would be more useful after this semester, once I’ve finished ASL 3.

There wasn’t another deaf game night this week. Asked him when the next one was, he said he wasn’t sure, but thought it would be in two more weeks. I hope he’s right, because I don’t want it to be this friday! I want it to be next friday, as this weekend I’m going on a Student Senate conference in KC, MO! (All paid for by Student Government, which is awesome!). Plus it’s mandatory, so I can’t beg out of it. So, I’m keeping my fingers crossed. Maybe they’ll also have a Christmas gathering? I’m definitely am going to try to make that one if they do.

Haven’t heard anything from Gallaudet for a while. But I’m kinda doubting I’ll go for a while. I am toying around with the idea of graduating from my univ, then going to Gallaudet for a undergrad degree in  ASL, which will take about 2 years, possibly less. Because then I won’t have any scholarships to worry about losing; I could also possibly qualify for SSI or VR payment then, as well. And also then, I can complete my library science masters while at Gallaudet, since I beleive it is all online. I’d better check into that, though. But perhaps then I could work at the Library of Congress, for a great resume builder…man, I’m getting excited! I think this is probably a better plan, even though I’m going to have a heck of a loan to pay off later. I should try to publish a book, and have it take off, so I can actually afford my monthly loan payments…!

 That reminds me. I’m seriously am considering adding a third major. Yes, I am crazy, thank you for telling me! I have no idea if it will work, or if I will still be able to graduate in 2011 (I’m a sophomore, so technically I should graduate in 2010, but double majors means one more year). So, I’m going to see if I can get an appt. with a College of Education advisor and discuss this. Oh, yeah, the major would be Educational Interpreting. A non-teaching degree. I have a goal of encouraging Deaf people to go to libraries, having signed story times, etc, because it seems like nearly all the deaf people i’ve met don’t read much. I had always assumed they’d be bookworms like me, but  I guess not.

Anyway, the reason why I want to talk with the advisor is because I’m deaf. I’m not necessarily going into it for interpreting reasons; I have a hard enough time myself to understand people! It’s just to further solidify my signing skills, and to learn how to translate stories from books into sign. So, I don’t want to go on a practicum, nor do I want to “learn how to interpret in a variety of fields under a variety of conditions”. I’d fail those things. But this perhaps is a moot point if I decide to go to Gallaudet for the ASL degree after I graduate. But perhaps s/he can guide me in the right direction. Or perhaps I can get my univ to create this program, to attract more students?

 *Sigh.* Okay. So I’m looking into a Deaf World Day event, right? Turns out my committee doesn’t actually plan events. It just basically helps to advertise. And even if I’m liason for the something or other disability agency, I don’t plan events. So I’m going to try to talk to the agency director (but I have a sneaking suspicion that it is a student, and not a permanent one like I originally thought it was going to be) and see what she thinks about this. Perhaps she’ll add it to the list of events?

I still want to raise money for my state’s deaf school museum (the school shut down nearly 10 yrs ago). Currently they’re housed in two rooms that the current inhabitant of the building graciously gave to them. But they want to raise money to fix up the oldest building on campus, to the tune of 1 million dollars. Well, if I can get every student in each ASL class at my univ to donate, say, 2 dollars each, that’s about 200-300 dollars right there. That’d buy paint. I’m going to talk to the guy who’s working on the museum, see how I can go about donating that money.

For honors credit, I can do the TAG program. For honors public school students. I’ve been thinking about teaching ASL for a long time, and now just am feeling like I know enough vocab and linguistics to teach younger kids. But public schools? I hated them! I was so lost and generally not quite “one of them”, though all were nice to me. So I asked my honors program, homeschoolers are like honors students, can I teach them? One tentatively said yes, and I’m waiting on the director to give it the official approval. I’m also waiting on my parish to get back to me; the business manager said I should be able to get a schoolroom for free, but has to clear it by Father first. So, I’m taking the lesson plans so generously provided on Lifeprint.com, and modifying them slightly for the target audience. And get this: I’m paying $400 in tuition to teach! If I pay tuition for the “internship”, I get official honors university credit for teaching. The librarians laughed when I told them this. I’m afraid to tell anybody else though, because homeschoolers are really nice. They can be cheap, but they do try to show their appreciation at the end of any program, by bringing in sweets, or pooling their money together to give a gift basket. And I would feel weird if they gave me something. I really don’t mind paying, I would teach either way, even if I didn’t get any credit, official or unoffical. So, I’m probaly not going to tell them that fact, because I don’t want them to feel obligated to chip in to help with tuition. That would feel really weird.

I’m glad I went to Mass this morning. It provides a steady hand to my weird life. I was feeling a little lonely. Not for family, or friends. I just keep seeing all these “couples” around campus, and feel a little pang, and my hand light. I don’t have a hand to hold, walking to class. Etc. And even though there are plenty of guys, of nice guys, of nice Catholic guys who are single, okay, none of them seem to have shown much of an interest in me. So, I wonder, is it me? But I prayed in church today before Mass, and then the rest of the day I felt patient (for once!). He will provide, as corny as that sounds. I used to laugh, but now I know it’s true, though I have no “proof” of it. It’s just a feeling. So, part of me is patient. Part of me is still lonely. And part of me is wondering with every single guy I see, “is he the one?” Then the pateint part keeps telling the wondering part to shut up, stop imagining. It seems to only set me up for disappointment.

What seemed to help is that in the ladies home journal, they talked about how daydreaming is good for you. That gave me license to daydream about how I may encounter my future boyfriend. In the library, at the bookstore, in a class next semester, etc. He doesn’t have an official bodily form. I don’t have any hard and fast “rules” about guys. Neither do I have one about him being hearing or deaf. I don’t care, but lately they’ve been about a deaf guy. He must be self-actualized, though. I wouldn’t date a needy, stupid, or absolutely serious/shy hearing guy, nor will I a deaf guy like that. But I did dream last night that I had twins! I was so happy I always have loved children. That’s another thing. He must love dogs, and must love children.

Anyway, writing helps too. I’ve been altering these dreams slightly, daydreams, whatever. And writing them up as a manuscript for writing class. I hope they don’t catch on that is actually real, for a fiction class.

Part of my rollercoaster emotions right now is horomone related as well. Remember how I went on CrMS? I had lost all appetite for nearly 4 weeks, and lost 8 lbs. Starting 2 nights ago, I got my appetite back! That made me happy, but oh great, just in time for halloween. Ate a lot, stepped on the scale this morning, and apparently I’m at 140. Better than 145, but I liked it better when it was 137! So, I have to moderate myself again. Some of it is just emotional hunger…when I was feeling blue Friday and Sat, I had a lot of chocolate, (hot chocolate, bite size halloween candy, etc). I didn’t pig out, but it felt like it since I had been so picky with food lately.

I sorta miss the pill already. Stupid horomones. But I certainly hope that if I hang in there, the doctor will be able to figure out what does all this, and treat the source. I’m just glad he will never prescribe the pill again! From my share of research, it seems I may have a progesterone defiicency, and the pill is largely estrogen, which I don’t need.

Wow, I just spent a long time on this. I’m going to shut up now, and try to figure out how to keep my mind on homework.

Manuscript 3 October 10, 2007

Okay, I apologize in advance for any formatting errors (again). This is manuscript 3, haven’t submitted it yet. I will email it tomorrow to my teacher, hopefully. We’ll see what she has to say about it. Here were the instructions: “Imagine a seemingly peaceful family of four–mother, father, daughter, son–sitting at the dinner table. One of them has a confession to make to the family, but is afraid to reveal it. Through the subleties of body language and dropped hints, the confession is divulged, though it is never explicitly expressed. Who has the confession to make? What is it? How is it divulged? What is the family’s reaction? What is the confessor’s reaction to the family? (by Tom DeMarchi, Florida Int’l Univ., Miami). My teacher allows for a little rule bending too. Anyway, this is obviously a fictional scenario (the acceptance letter), but most of the elements are true. This would be exactly how I see my family reacting, if I did ever want to transfer to Gallaudet. Does this sound more authentic?             

 Knock, knock.

 

            Mona was sitting on her bed, leaning up against the wall, re-reading a letter she had gotten in the mail and relishing the absolute silence, when she felt the vibration of someone knocking on her door. She quickly flipped on her hearing aid as she said, “Come in.”

 

            Her mom came in. “Time for dinner,” she said, leaving the door open.

 

            “Just a minute!” Mona called after her, taking the letter and locking it carefully into her jewelry box, the mahogany one with the pearl inlay that her aunt got for her in Okinawa. She heard a loud clatter and jumped, turning around to see if anybody was watching her, before realizing that the sound came from outside her open window—it was an unseasonably warm fall day—her friend was bringing in her trash cans. Mona waved and caught her friend’s eye.

 

            Letter, good? her friend, Sara, signed. Mona had taught her some signs so they could communicate anywhere.

 

            Accepted! Mona replied. Sara smiled and gave her the thumbs up. See you tomorrow, Mona signed, then putting on her cochlear implant processor, hurried to the dining room table, where her family was waiting. “Sorry,” she murmured, scooting in her chair. It scraped painfully loud on the tile floor, but it seemed to bother only her.

 

            “Ready?” her dad asked, one eyebrow raised.

 

            They did the sign of the cross and recited a prayer, “Bless us, O Lord, for thee Thy giveth, from Thy bounty, through Christ our Lord, Amen,” and out of habit her dad closed the prayer with “the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen,” just like he did when she and her brother were little and needed a cue to remember what to do.

 

            It was spaghetti night, with salad (and Dorothy Lynch, of course), garlic bread, and milk. Everything was already served for them since they were just a family of four, as opposed to Sara’s large family, where all the kids were responsible for serving themselves.

            Mom spoke, “so, Mona, did you get my message? That Sara has your mail?”

 

            Mona was mid-bite, her eyes widened for a split-second before she recovered herself and held up a finger to indicate “just a minute” while she finished chewing. “Yep, got it when I got home.” Her brother then looked at her suspiciously. Mona shot him a look.

 

            “What’s the matter?” Dad asked Mom, his voice rising slightly.

 

            “Oh, nothing,” Mom dismissed with a wave of her hand. “The mailman accidentally delivered her mail to the wrong house.”

 

            “Why didn’t you pick it up?”

 

            Mom shrugged her shoulders.

 

            “Okay…” Dad said, raising one eyebrow again, and ripped off a chunk of garlic bread and popped it into his mouth, chewing powerfully, his gaze wandering over to Mona, who suddenly remembered to eat, taking a large bite of spaghetti.

 

            “It’s just an excuse for them to talk is all,” Mom spoke up quickly.

 

            “Yeah,” Mona agreed out of the side of her mouth, then swallowed. “We don’t get to see each other much anymore.”

 

            “So, when is she graduating?” he asked Mona.

 

            “Spring. One more year.” Mona signed small while she talked.

 

            “And she’s going to go to your college, right?”

 

            Mona opened her mouth and paused, skipping a beat, then replied, nodding, “Um, yep.”

 

            “She getting any scholarships?”

 

            “She doesn’t know yet.”

 

            “But she has the Chancellor’s Scholarship, right?”

 

            “I don’t know.”

 

            A short silence fell, filled with sounds of chewing. It was so loud now, Mona noticed, since she’s gotten the cochlear implant. A car drove my, the sound of its deep engine filling her cochlear ear uncomfortably to capacity, and she cringed slightly.

 

            “I’m glad you have your Chancellor’s Scholarship.” Dad said after a while, in a loud voice. Mona cringed again, disguising it as a smile. Would he never understand that she can’t hear him very well when he talked like that? She thought to herself, then marveled at her own thinking, because she could both see the signs and hear the sound in her mind at the same time.

 

            “You know, we’re real proud of you,” he said, continuing in his loud voice.

 

            “Pardon?” she said, sighing inwardly at the same time. He’s my dad for Pete’s sake! You’d think he’d know better.

 

            “We’re real proud of you,” he repeated, smiling.

 

            “Thanks.” Mona drank her milk. She knew what was coming next. She shifted in her seat, and so did her brother.

 

            “When we found out you were deaf, the doctor s aid you would never learn to read, write, speak, or hear, or amount to much of anything at all.”

 

            Mona just knew it. She sat there. Anxiety flitted across her face.

 

            “And now look at you! You’ve accomplished a lot. You have what, a 4.0?”At least he was sounding more normal now, Mona noticed.

 

            “3.975. That one stupid A minus.”

 

            “You know, I was just telling my students about you. They were impressed. Remember Lisa?”

 

            “Yeah, she dropped off her paper the other night,” Mona remembered, poking at her lettuce casually.

 

            “She said she didn’t know you were deaf. She said you sounded normal.” Dad ate another forkful of spaghetti.

 

            Mona half-smiled. “Cool.” She wasn’t sure what to say. “Yeah, a lot of people at school think I’m hearing, too,” She took a small bite of her salad, “but then they see my hearing aid or cochlear implant—”

 

            “Processor,” Mom corrected.

 

            “—processor, whatever, anyway they start talking really loudly, or sometimes they’ll sign. Like. This,” she mimicked their awkward slowness,” and I’m like, um, hello, I heard you before, so what changed?”

 

            Her brother laughed; he was taking ASL 1 now and thought he was completely enlightened as to Deaf issues.

 

            “People are stupid,” her dad said, scraping his entire plate with his fork, then helped himself to more spaghetti.

 

            “When hearing people see my hearing aids and read my stories, they think I’m deaf and not hearing.” Mona continued impulsively. “Then when Deaf people see the same things, they think I’m hearing and not deaf.” She sighed, and her shoulders sagged, but she quickly turned that into a shrug.

 

            Mom looked at her, coming to a slow realization, but said nothing.

 

            Dad didn’t notice; he was shaking Parmesan onto his plate. “So, how is sign language going?”

 

            “Great! It really seems to make sense, like I just understand it, you know?” Excitement crept into her voice. “It’s really cool. I can’t believe I have only two more levels to go after this; I want to take more classes; I don’t want to forget anything! Oh, I almost forgot, I got an A on my ASL midterm.”

 

            “Good for you!” her dad said, pleased.

 

            “My midterm is tomorrow,” her brother said, getting up from the table. he put the silverware on his plate—how loud it was!—and took it out to the kitchen.

 

            “It’s not too hard,” Mona told him when he came back to finish his milk. “He repeats the questions if people didn’t get it the first time around.” She put her napkin on her plate. “And did I tell you our teacher is Deaf?” she asked Dad. “He just graduated from Gallaudet.” She said all of this quickly, still signing simultaneously, because she was glad she knew sign.

 

            At the mention of Gallaudet, the corners of her brother’s mouth turned up, sensing her excitement. “Was that letter from Gallaudet?”

 

            “Ye—” Mona said, cutting herself off, and looked at her parents bewilderedly, searching for some sort of reaction.

 

            “Gallaudet? Why?” Dad asked, dragging his hand across the top of his head, as he tends to do when stressed, his voice getting loud again. Mom looked almost sad.

 

            “Oh, um,” Mona bit the inside of her lips. “Did you know that vocational rehabilitation will pay for your school costs?”

 

            “Really? I didn’t know that,” Mom said, smiling tremulously. “That’s nice.”

 

            “Mona,” Dad said, his voice deeper. His face was turning blotchy white and red, and she could see the redness through his thinning hair. He always groused that his receding hairline was due to the stress of trying to raise Mona and get her to sit still long enough to listen. Mona’s brother slowly sidled out of the room. “Did you know about this, son?” he asked him before he had the chance to disappear. He shrugged his shoulders.

 

            Mona’s face was a deep red, and a tear of frustration streamed down her cheek. “You guys never will understand,” she said, struggling to keep her voice and hands steady, “will you?”

identity crisis October 10, 2007

 i just commented on a post titled “self”. it struck a taut cord.

i kept hovering close to tears all morning. could be horomones. but horomones themselves don’t do anything. something triggered it. and it was a comment on my manuscript that i posted. i almost deleted it, just because it wasn’t what i wanted to hear. but i try to live by a tenet that all comments, both critical and praiseful, are growing points.

i was riding on a high wave because i got such a positive response from my teacher. it prolonged a wave that was already leaking energy, that is, my happiness that i’m deaf. i was frustrated because i couldn’t hear the guest speaker in one of my classes yesterday. he assumed i was hearing.

i hate that, when people think i’m hearing, until i tell them to speak up or something, because i’m deaf. (or they notice my ci or ha, or find out i know asl, or as in the case of my manuscript, think it’s written so well because it’s something i know). then they think i’m Deaf and not hearing, and act all weird. then Deaf people see the same thing, they know i’m not capital D Deaf, that i’m hearing.

so i’m bouncing between these two worlds. i thought i had a sturdy footing, but i was standing 4 feet into the ocean, always bobbing back and forth, not quite drowning, not quite on dry land. then the huge wave came along and knocked me off my feet. you know the feeling when you’re in the ocean or pool, and that moment when you’re disoriented; you don’t know which way is up or down?

i am lost, and my tears are salt. a bit melodramatic, ya think? but i do feel this way. who am i? i’m not hearing, i’m not deaf. one group thinks i’m part of the other.

it’s my cross to bear. i just hope that God’ll answer my prayers, that St. Francis de Sales will relay the message for me.

 Act of Abandonment by St. FdS

O my God, I thank you and I praise you for accomplishing your holy and all-lovable will without any regard for mine. With my whole heart, in spite of my heart, do I receive this cross I feared so much! (yeah, i feared it. for nearly 20 years i fear it. ‘in spite of my heart’ is right. with my whole heart? i need help!)

It is the cross of Your choice, the cross of Your love. I venerate it; nor for anything in the world would I wish that it had not come, since You willed it. (yeah, yeah, God gives us only what he can handle, ‘but i wish He didn’t trust me so much’. yet i’m glad He didn’t make me blind. i can’t bear not to read books)

I keep it with gratitude and with joy, as I do everything that comes from Your hand; and I shall strive to carry it without letting it drag, and with all the respect and all the attention which Your works deserve. (joy? okay, i did that for a while. i try to carry it. yet it feels like it’s dragging. dragging me down. i’m failing, aren’t i? )

Amen.

i know though that despite my rough time, that God does answer prayers. He’s answered several over the years for me. but i have a hard time telling if i’ve been answered yet or not. i did have a dream last night that i went to go get my cochlear implant out of my dri-aid, but it wasn’t there. and i wasn’t terribly worried. just thought that i must never have had it. to me not having the ci means being quite deaf. and being quite deaf, could that possibly mean my prayers as to my trying to enculture the Deaf culture, as in, will my prayers of attending gallaudet possibly come true soon?

*sigh* i kept checking email all of today though, and no answer as of yet. maybe tomorrow? i feel like such a heel for having an identity crisis. i was raised hearing, i should be hearing, yet i feel unsteady in that world. also, God provides, why should i doubt? yet i keep my faith. it is said a faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains. is it true?

My manuscript for writing class: October 9, 2007

 This needs a bit of introduction. I wrote this for my creative writing class, it was a quick story to write, and I thought it would be bad. But surprisingly I got a favorable response from both my peer group and my teacher. Her comments she made on my manuscript are at the bottom. I haven’t figured out a title for the story yet. I’m bad about titling stories, if I could I would just publish all my stories as “Untitled”  (Edit: man…no matter how I fix it, you can’t copy and paste without some problem in the formatting…hopefully it’s still readable )

 

Manuscript 2

Creative Writing Class:  

           

 Hi, Adam signed. How are you?

           

Good, Jamie replied, one hand keeping her spot in her book, an autobiography.

           

Can I join you? he said, sitting down opposite of her at the weathered table, on a rusty red chair.

 

She nodded, reading some more. The wind rustled the pages; the sky glowed with autumn colors, with silhouettes of geese flying arrow-true to the south.

Adam tapped her book with his finger, and she looked up. What are you reading? She lifted the book off the table, showing him the cover. Marlee Matlin? he fingerspelled, forming the shape of the words in the air. Did you see her in “Children of a lesser god?”

Jamie nodded again. That was an okay movie.            

You didn’t like it?           

Not really, she scrunched up her face, too much sex. I like…oh, what’s the name of that Hallmark movie? It was based off the book “In this sign”…do you remember it?    

Adam looked up in the air, trying to recall it, sighing deeply. The air grew chillier, and the passers-by, drawing in their jackets closer, hurried to their cars, bent low under their survival backpacks. Jamie slid in her ILY bookmark into the book, looking at him.           

Was it… “Love Is Never Silent?”           

Yes, that sounds right. Anyway, that was better.            

 Sad!           

Yes, but better; I can totally relate.            

Me too! Adam said, quickly agreeing. Like when the guy came and needed money, but didn’t like talking to the parents through the daughter…           

Ugh! I hate it when people get all weird about having an interpreter. Or like when you use the relay; people get all weird.            

 “Tell her…blah blah blah, tell him…blah blah blah.”           

 I know! But I’m like, you wouldn’t be having this problem if you’d just give me your email.           

Have you tried VRS?           

I’m saving up my money for it.           

I have one. You can come over to my apartment and borrow it.           

 Thanks! I’d love to! I want to talk to my grandma.

 Is she deaf? Adam asked.           

Nope. I’m the only one, Jamie replied.           

 Adam shrugged his shoulders as if to say “That’s what life’s like.” Then he signed, How about tomorrow?            

 Great!           

 See you after class then? Three o’clock?            

OK. Jamie smiled.

           

The sun set even further; the sky was fiery, casting everything with a red glow. Long shadows stretched on the sidewalk, and in the distance the city lights began to flicker on. A police helicopter flew overhead, making the air and the white metal table pulsate; the sound waves flowing up Adam’s and Jamie’s hands, through their arms, and into their bodies, speeding up their heart rate.

           

 Do you like comedies? Adam asked, signing a little faster.

           

Yes, why?           

There’s one in MoPix this weekend—it’s supposed to be good. If you don’t have any homework—          

  That sounds fun, Jamie interrupted him, smiling.

           

What’s your phone number?

           

 Here, let’s switch, Jamie said, taking his Sidekick and entering in her contact info; he did the same for hers. The sun set faster.            

Adam signed faster. Where should I pick you up?           

I live in the dorms.            

Which one?           

South campus. You know the one with the gates?           

Is that across the street from—           

The Institute, yes.            

Pick you up at 7?            

OK.            

The sun dipped below the horizon, and it was dark. Only a faint green tinge remained in the west. The fainter Polaris star came into view.

           

I love you, Adam signed in the darkness.

           

Jamie drew her finger across his palm, signing what.  

           

Adam shook his head never mind; the motion was just barely visible against the night sky. He felt around the cool tabletop, found her hand, and clasped it. Jamie squeezed back. The wind blew. It hinted of frost, but neither of them noticed it, sitting very still. It was a mutual understanding, silencing each other’s hands. They sat there until the moon rose above the trees, and then Adam walked her to her car, using his Sidekick to illuminate the way.

 

____,

This is such a small, sweet moment, perhaps a budding romance, and a study of deafness that makes it so comprehensible. I really hope you write more on this topic, as it has brought out a clear, gorgeous sentence structure-a precision I haven’t seen yet from you. I think it’s because you’re discussing what you know! These characters are fully realizzed, and I can see this fragment unfolding over 10 or 20 pages-these two and their evolving relationship. Thanks!

My deaf essay October 6, 2007

I just started writing, and out it flowed. It took me a couple of days to have time to finish it. But it’s the best explaination of my feelings right now, so far. I wanted to put into words this new sensation I’ve been feeling about being deaf. Well, here goes:

 Sometimes I wish I was capital D deaf. That way I know that I belong in that world, or indeed, a world. I was raised hearing, yet I still feel as if I’m only an observer, an actor in EARth. I feel like an intruder in EYEth too. People assume I’m hearing and treat me that way, but I don’t understand them fully. If people see my hearing assistance paraphernalia, they assume I can’t hear at all and either enunciate words exaggeratedly, yell, or start signing like a speed demon, and then I can’t understand them either.

When I started learning about the Deaf culture and ASL, I felt like an outcast. I’m small d deaf, not Deaf. I was the only deaf person in my family and extended family and friends. And when my brother was born hard of hearing (his loss is only moderate, mine is profound) I at first was excited, but he’s also raised to be hearing too. Not that it’s a bad thing. He’s far more normal at 8 than I ever was. But that means I still feel alone. I feel as if I can never tell anyone my true feelings and my desires connected to my deafness. Such as my goal of being a bridge between Earth and Eyeth. (That sounds nieve.)

Until I met my ASL III teacher. He’s deaf, graduated from Gallaudet in the spring. He was teaching the class about some of the difficulties deaf people go through, using some of his own experiences. Like the time he was flying, the stewardress handed him a braille magazine. Meaning, for blind people. He was making sure that we all knew that braille is not a code for signs, nor can deaf people know how to read it, or morse code for that matter. This was only one example out many, and the whole time I was nodding, “Yes, exactly!” He is a brilliant teacher, and he  sparked my current enthusaism and excitability about being deaf.

 Before, I had merely accepted deafness. Before I had always viewed it as a type of disability. Now, it is a type of ability. You can accomplish so much while deaf and even Deaf. I suppose my ASL teacher is the role model of Deafness I never had. That might explain my affinity for him. The whole class sees him as one of us–after all he did just graduate–only he speaks another language. And he’s bilingual. That’s the other thing I like about him.

 Most of the Deaf people I met write with ASL grammar. Only recently did I accept that as a fact, painfully and humorously, since I’m an English major. Now I see that it doesn’t have to be that way. My deaf ASL lab teacher was an example of writing in ASL. My deaf ASL teacher is an example of being bilingual. The latter has great grammar!–actually better than either of my hearing ASL teachers. That was the first thing I noticed about his syllabus. It was amazing. I was pleasantly surprised.

I think he, too, was pleasantly surprised when I explained to him my mini Deaf history. I was born deaf, my parents didn’t find out until I was two. Since I missed out on a crucial language period, my first audiologist said I would never learn how to read, write, speak, or hear well at all, and that I would never amount to anything. He was  shocked–he has such an expressive face. Wuite mad, shaking his head, eyebrows furrowed, mouth open. THen he told me–I forget exactly what he said, but he  said I do very well with talking. My first thought was, how can he know that? But I suppose he can see how I interact with people. I thanked him.

After meeting one on one about my progress in ASL–which he did for the others in my class–he told me how proud he was of me. My face lit up quickly. See, I’m learning how to be expressive too! Man, is he cute and nice! I thought. I’m certainly not the first person who has had a crush on a teacher. But I understand it can only remain an unspoken crush. So I began examining what exactly I like about him, to put into words my emotions. He is a role model, I already said. He is a great teacher, that too. We had many of the same experiences. He understand what it’s like to be deaf. And he’s always so upbeat and considerate. I can replay clips in my mind of him. (I have a hard time making eye contact with him for that reason of the crush. I sign fine to the class, but I mess up if I sign to him alone).

I’m taking these traits, and using them as a guideline for finding a good husband. I think the trait I like most is being able to talk about being deaf, instead of keeping it unspoken, as if it were undesireable. That was what I appreciated about him at the one-on-one meeting. That got me thinking. I don’t have to seek a hearing husband, to help me interact with the world. A Deaf husband would be just as great, if not perhaps better! Especially the way my ASL teacher goes about it. He’s obviously very able to be in EARth. I mean, I am too, to a certain extent. But I’m afraid of being totally deaf as in Deaf. There are so many unanswered questions I have. What about fire alarms? Weather alerts? Calling places, like the doctor? Talking to the doctor? Etc. Looking at him, his entire family is deaf, so they have had three generations now of time to figure out how to adapt, what to do. I don’t have that experience behind me yet.

It is my hop,e that when I get more experience, I will feel more like a citizen of Eyeth. There is no required citizenship test; your citizenship is based off your personal decision. What do you believe you are? Most people believe they’re hearing, and act that way. Others believe they’re deaf and they act that way. It’s the hard of hearing who are caught in some sort of intra-planetary space. We all live in this rocket, hovering in wait. We can’t hear very well, so we’re not exactly Earthians. SInce the Earthians are the majority, they try to teach us oralism, to make us honorary members of Earth. But honorary doesn’t mean anything. It just means we can interact “well-enough” with their world. So many hard of hearing people have been drawn in by the majority view, and become unhappy since they’re alone. It’s like that semi-paradox, “water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink”–just apply it to our situation. “People, people everywhere and not a conversation.”

There are some who go to Eyeth instead. This isn’t the “easy way out”, it involves its share of tears. Many Eyethians have Earthly realatives, and entering the Deaf world means a smaller populace base. It almost feels like segregation all over again. Also, you may not be completly deaf. Entering Eyeth would mean leaving any bit of auditory clues behind, like hearing aids and the like, otherwise you’re not exactly a full member of Eyeth. Only honorary, since you’re not Deaf enough.

These two worlds are opposite of each other, and any interaction between the two are very difficult. It is hard to bridge that communication chasm. That’s the way it was not too long ago. There were the hearing majority, and the Deaf created tehir own miniature Eyeth islands in the Earth world, through their Deaf clubs, remaining segregated. Then came the technology wave, leveling the chasm. Suddenly, there were more communication options! Suddenly, hearing aids let us hear (but that created the whole hard of hearing category). Then came the TTY. We could talk to far more Deaf people all over the world. We didn’t have to be geographcially close to each other. Then came the relay systems, giving Deaf people ears and a voice on the phone. Gradually that chasm was filled. Email became popular. Then texting and Blackberries and Sidekicks and VRS and computer-cams. The Deaf people moved online. The Hearing people moved online. The boundaries between Earth and Eyeth became nebulous, and the two worlds became less segregated.

Foul! cried some Deaf, particularly those who knew the old way. Cultural genocide, they say. The whole debate about cochlear implants is a scapegoat, a bit of evidence of the increasing intrusiveness of Earht. The boundaries aren’t shrinking, like they say, and the Deaf culture isn’t going away. With the change of environment comes change in how we interact with it. The boundaries have just shifted. Deaf culture is expanding, thanks to the increase in awareness, thansk to the Internet. More Earthians want to know about Eyeth, more Earthians want to learn about the culture of Eyeth. Instead of forced migration of Deaf people into the hearing world, hearing people are voluntarily migrating to the Deaf culture, including the oralist hard of hearing people.

Like me. I could legetimately be a part of Eyeth from birht. I’m deaf enough. Yet my parents–who are hearing by the way–raised me with oralism. That was the only way I knew, for the longest time. I’m not sure at what point I knew about the Deaf culture; there was no one catalysmic point it was more of a slow realization of “hey, wait a minute…I’m not hearing, and yet I’m not deaf.” It was at that point, I think I was 12, 13, 14, that I began to hate deafness. “Why did God see fit to make me deaf? I will never fit in.” I was scared of growing older and more independent.

That’s why, when my audiologist asked me about cochlear implants, I chose to be implanted. Acutally, I had never heard of it when she brought it up,  but after looking it up online i realized how great an beneficial it would be fore me. I finally was implanted in February after my 16th birthday. It really was wonderful! I was no longer afraid; it was after my processer was turned on for the first time that I really began to accomplish a lot, and when I finally widened my circle of friends (I had been friendless for a couple of years). After becoming more firmly planted in EARth, I began to wonder about the flipside of me, my deaf–well not exactly heritage, but you know–side.

That’s what propelled me to take ASL in college. I sought a balance between my two halves. That’s when I found out about Eyeth, and when my Deaf revelation began. No longer did I have to keep quiet about my deafness, as if it were taboo. Suddenly I was in a classfull of other Earthians who really do care, who want to know and learn. I could talk more freely! Sign language classes also began to turn around my feelings about deafness. It went from “God only gives us what we can handle. I just wish He wouldn’t trust me with so much,” to “God really knew what he was doing, and I’m glad He did what He did!”

It’s been only 2 months, but already I credit my ASL teacher with a lot, though he doesn’t realize it. He helped me along with my personal revelation, and for that I am deeply appreciative. You could say I’m falling in love with Deafness.  

What is it with all the spam comments? September 26, 2007

After deleting 11 more comments today from WordPress’s spam comment catcher box, I have to wonder. What’s with all the car dealership links? That’s been the bulk of them, all saying

“sorry   <link here> blah blah blah <’nother link here> blah blah blah <another link here>”

There’s no shortages of cars in the world. Only of oxygen. There’s also no shortages of stupid people who think I’m actually interested in spam. Spam Spam Spam! Spamalot! Can it!

I love writing… September 17, 2007

But I never have time to write! Of course, I’m procrastinating right now. But I’m writing!

I think last semester I got uninspired because I was intimidated. My professor limited us to only “realistic fiction”, and that wasn’t necessarily what I like to write. Basically, I’m not that great of an observer in life to really know what makes people tick. And explain why they believe what they believe, do what they do. I prefer the fantasy world, or at least the slightly strange, because I can control it more. Realistic fiction is supposed to be controlled by an outside source. Fantasy, I am its sole creator. I base it in the real world, so it has a comparison or a grounding in something real, then I add something of my own to it. Like sci fi. But I’m experimenting with the “bizarre”. Not grotesque, but someting extraordinary. Like my dreams. I should have written this last two weird dreams down, but I’m afraid of what Freud would think of the dream I had last night. The night before was cooler. It was a ghost mystery. And I loved the house my unconcious created! I’d build it myself, if I won a million bucks. I’ll have to post it sometime. But I’m going to write it down for homework first.

This semester I’m finally getting inspired, but I’m having to put off my inspiration…I hope I’m not conditioning myself to ignore the muse! That would be bad. But rather, I’ll put it off until later in the semester, when most of the work is done, and I don’t feel like I’m drowning. Like in an avalanche, you’re supposed to “swim” with the tide to stay above and not get buried which is dangerous to do. I’m trying to swim with the homework tide and the pro-life group tide etc etc, to stay on top, but I’m getting tired, my brain doesn’t want to work, and I procrastinate, but I can’t rest too long. I must start swimming again, to stay on top, or close too the top. Rest too long, and you’re sunk. And I can’t afford to get a B, which I’m still afraid of getting. That will throw my GPA off. Which the A minus already did, but I don’t want a B, psychologically. I’d feel bad, sub-excellent. Awful. See ya. Getting back to work now. Bye. Maybe…dunno….should I leave you guys hanging?…Argh! see ya…I think….okay, now I’m stopping…I’ll post later, when more homework is done….maybe…stupid horomones. Throws my efficiency off balance.

Dark and dreary part 2 September 10, 2007

Yes, the day was dark and dreary, but the rain did get weary.

In the late afternoon, the clouds broke up, forming distant purple mountains majesties, then it cleared to show the bluest sky and the whitest clouds, and my down mood cleared up, making way for clear thinking and cheerfulness. Could be the sun, could be the caffeine, could be the sucessful Pro Life meeting I just had. But now I’ve got new column ideas for the student newspaper, I’ve got ideas for my three reports, and surpisingly enough, I thought of a word somebody else forgot! (Usually it’s the other way around).

I’ve got a better outlook on life. And I’m not so degratory to myself–I actually sang in front of people. Only three people, 1 friend and 2 acquaintances and it was a bit noisy after the meeting, but they didn’t cringe or anything  and I’ve got people whom on the surface don’t look as they have anything in common with me, but we just harmonized tonight! Yes, I’m still on a different wavelength than the methodical, 100% logical people, but harmony doesn’t happen often. Harmony is a great feeling, leading to great friendships. Somebody said she wasn’t running for vice president, because she has too much on her plate with groups, classes, etc, and I said, same here! We kept pointing an agreeing finger at each other, surprised/happy faces, saying “Yeah,” “And like…” Yeah!” That’s harmony.

 Of course, all my sudden energy and enthusiasm and focus and clear thinking came after the meeting was over at 8, I got home at 9, and now it’s 10, and I’m like, it’s too late to be awake! Oh well. But I came to an important realization too…God exists! It was a down time for me in the morning, in World Civ teacher talked about evolution of religion, and talk of other religion makes me realize, gosh, these people really believed their gods. And I felt rather out of it. Kinda grey and dark. Then I realized that this is a very real feeling, and that perhaps Lucifer is taking advantage of this vulnerability. Like what Luna Lovegood said in the 5th Harry Potter movie, he wants to make us feel like we’re all alone, because then we’re not much of a threat.

That is very true. If we feel like we’re all alone in this world, then we’re not a threat to the devil’s master plan. And you know how I like to be onery. I’d rather annoy the devil than God, you know? Lucifer’s less of a threat, to say the least. God is, quite obviously, the more powerful. He was the one who created the angels, and Lucifer was the cause of his own downfall. I’m not about to let him pull me down with him, you know? So, once I realized this very real internal battle–I can actually feel it when I’m aware– I said a quick prayer to Mary, the Mother of God. I asked her to help me to keep my faith. I remembered Mother Teresa. I mean, Mary never sinned. So she’s the perfect person to show me how NOT to sin. And she’s in a perfect position to petition God and all the angels and saints to help me.

So maybe it was prayer that changed my mood. Becuase it was an almost imperceptible  change at first, but it snowballed. And Now I’m Extremely Happy. Despite the fact I’m still stressed out a bit of school, it doesnt’ seem so bad. Like the pro life group’s president said, (despite the fact our group is non secretarian, non partisian) he said, I don’t know what religon you are, but I believe that God will help us with our cause, no matter how much we have on our plate, He’ll find a way to make it work. And it did work! I almost couldn’t make it to the mtg tonight, but it worked out!

 And now I’d better go to bed quickly, or actually work on real homework instead of writing, but I wanted to tell you guys, like somebody commented to me, we can share our joys too. Not always use blogs to complain. But to show the joys of everyday life, to teach others to take pleasure in being alive. And it is great being alive! Sure, nothing has to be perfect. That won’t stop us from enjoying life. Life is imperfection. And we are all imperfect. We all have bodies, you know? And the heart is willing, but the flesh is weak. Flesh is imperfect. I have an imperfect weight. I feel like I could weigh less, but everybody tells me I look great. My belief is imperfect to, in weight and in faith. People tell me I’m “sweet”. (another story altogether). But I’m like, no….not all the time.

I believe my faith will grow. I believe I will survive this semester. I believe the pro life group will become sucessful. I believe I will write. I believe I will find a boyfriend/potential husband some day. I believe in someday. I believe in the future. I believe in Heaven, and I believe in Hell. I beleive I will always have somebody there to help me through the rough times, and to share the  good times with. I believe.

Harry Potter: good or evil? August 30, 2007

This is a report I did in high school: 

The Popularity and Controversy of the Harry Potter Books

 

November 4, 2005  

The Harry Potter books written by J.K. Rowling were an immediate success; millions of the books were sold and the movies made millions of dollars. There are many reasons why the Harry Potter books are popular, including the fact that they spans many genres, borrow many familiar ideas from famous authors, and are easy to read. While Rowling’s books are immensely popular, they are not without controversy. Many people believe that the Harry Potter books help children foster an interest in the occult, while many others believe that they are a good platform for teaching children morality, spirituality, and that good always overcome evil.

The Harry Potter books chronicle the adventures of the boy wizard who attends Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to study magic. At the school he befriends fellow students Ron and Hermione, meets half-giants, werewolves, Acromantulas (giant spiders), and centaurs, among other creatures. In nearly every book, Harry has a run-in with the wizard who killed his parents, the one whom every witch and wizard fearfully refer to as “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named”, Voldemort (Rowling, 1997, p. 85).

When the British publisher Bloomsbury released J.K. Rowling’s book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in 1997, neither they nor the author had any idea how successful it would be.  In an interview with Gibb, Rowling (1997) said, “I never expected to make money, I always saw Harry Potter as this quirky little book. I liked it and I worked hard at it, but never in my wildest dreams did I imagine large advances”      ( n.p.).In another interview Rowling (1997) said, “My realistic side had allowed myself to think that I might get one good review in a national newspaper. That was my idea of a peak. So everything else really has been like stepping into Wonderland for me” (Treneman, 1997, n.p.).

            Harry Potter was sold in the juvenile literature section of British bookstores, next to other authors like Dr. Seuss, but the fact that it was a children’s book didn’t keep adults from buying it; Rowling’s books quickly became a bestseller. It was reprinted four times in Britain by July 1997 (Thompson, 1997) and 30,000 copies of the Philosopher’s Stone were sold by November of 1997 (Treneman, 1997). Shortly after it was released to rave reviews, Rowling’s agent, Christopher Little, auctioned off the American rights to the Arthur A. Levine publishing company (an off-shoot of Scholastic, Inc.) for $105,000 (Waters and Mithrandir 2003). Because a well-known publisher bought the Harry Potter series, people began to think that Rowling’s books were good.

            In 1998, the second book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, was released in the United Kingdom, also to become immensely popular and another bestseller. A few months later, Arthur A. Levine published the first book under the Americanized title, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. The title was changed because,

in the United States the word ‘Philosopher’ conjures up images of boring, stuffy old men, while a ‘Sorcerer’ is an exciting Merlin-type wizard….The first book also was “translated” somewhat for U.S. readers because they would not have understood or related to some British terms. For instance, the British “mum” was translated to “mom” and “jumper” became “sweater.” Now, however, the texts have been “unified” by making slight adjustments only when necessary so that all words are understandable to U.S. and British readers…both versions now use “sweater” while “dustbins” (which is not difficult to figure out) is used in both editions rather than changing it to “trash cans” for U.S. readers. From now on, of course, the titles will also be the same in both countries.” (Waters and Mithrandir, 2003, p.5).

The Sorcerer’s Stone landed on the New York Times’ adult fiction list in December of 1998, the “first hard cover book to do so in Scholastic’s history…Adults, it’s clear, are reading the books as fervently as the kids.” (Glitz, 1999, n.p.). “This year also saw the marketing of a ‘black-and-white’ edition designed to appeal to adults embarrassed at sneaking the gaudier version out of bookshops for their own personal pleasure.” (Lockerbie, 1998, n.p.).

            Chambers of Secrets was published in the United States in June 1999, where it was quickly snapped up and became the #1 bestseller on several fiction-books lists. It was originally scheduled to be released in the fall, but Scholastic rushed it out earlier because so many fans were buying the British version over the Internet, too anxious to wait (Glitz, 1999). This was very obvious during Rowling’s U.S. book tour in the fall of 1998.  In an interview after the book tour, Rowling (1998) said: I lost count of the number of children who told me they had sent away to British bookshops and buying the book on the internet to get the sequel to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. They said they could not wait until it came out in America in a year’s time. (Walker, 1998, n.p.)It is estimated that, according to an unnamed insider, Scholastic lost out on about 20,000 sales. Because of this, Scholastic published the third book, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, shortly after it was released in the U.K.  (Glitz, 1999, n.p.).            Not everybody appreciated the popularity of Rowling’s books, in particular, the publishers, because they thought that the Harry Potter books took up too much space on the bestseller lists. Gray (1999) quoted David Rosenthal (1999), publisher of Simon & Schuster as saying:

There is a big controversy stirring over whether Harry Potter should be on the New York Times bestseller list. There are a number of publishers–I don’t happen to be among them, actually, but I’ve got calls about this–who are thinking about banding together to beg the New York Times not to include the Harry Potter books on the regular fiction best-selling list, since they now take up two slots and will soon take up a third. (n.p.)

            Just as Rosenthal predicted, the third installment topped the New York Times’ bestseller list when it came out in September, the previous two taking up the second and third place positions on the same list.

            In 2000, with the fourth book’s (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) release due in July, the New York Times decided the time was ripe to create a separate bestsellers’ list for children’s’ books. Charles McGrath (2000), editor of the NYT Book Review, said that“…it is not coincidental that the timing corresponds to the fourth Harry Potter book. …if we were ever going to do this step, this would be the time.” (Corliss, 2000, n.p.).

Barbara Marcus (2000), the president of Scholastic, was annoyed, saying that “Nothing has ever been as popular with families, adults, children, in the history of publishing, and it should be a giant celebration. Instead, the argument is being made that they are taking up too much room on the list.” (Corliss, 2000, n.p.).  Craig Virden (2000), the president and publisher of Random House Children’s Books and Scholastic’s competitor sided with Marcus on the point that if it’s a best seller, it should be on the proper list. He also thought that “3.8 million is an adult number.” (Corliss, 2000, n.p.).

Despite the protests from Scholastic and the many Harry Potter fans, by the time the Goblet of Fire came out, all four Harry Potter books were relegated to the new children’s bestseller list. The release date marked nearly 100 straight weeks the books have been on a New York Times’ list (Mclaughlin, 2000).

In 2001, J.K. Rowling published two more books under pseudonyms, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander and Quidditch Through the Ages by Kennilworthy Whisp. Rowling (2001) said that all the profits, over 80% of the cover price, went to Comic Relief, a British charity (Raincoast Books, 2001).

Rowling (2001) spoke in an interview of these two books:

They are two titles that appear in the novels – Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them is a book that Harry buys to go to Hogwarts so it’s one of his school textbooks and Quidditch Through The Ages is a library title. I always write more than I need for the books so bits of them were just written for my own fun. So when Comic Relief asked me to write something I thought I would just love to write them, I just thought it would be so much fun and I was completely correct. It was more fun than I’ve had writing the others. (Raincoast Books 2001, n.p.)Later that same year, the first Harry Potter movie was released, adapted from the

Sorcerer’s Stone/Philosopher’s Stone. It was released under different titles, just like the first book, and every scene in which the Philosopher’s Stone was mentioned, was filmed again, with the actors mentioning the Sorcerer’s Stone instead. The movie brought in a record 90 million dollars in sales on opening weekend, in the United States alone, and opened on more screens (3,762) than any other movie at the time. The second movie, Chamber of Secrets also did well, bringing in 88 million dollars on opening weekend in 2002, putting it in third place behind the first Harry Potter movie and Shrek (factmonster.com n.d.).

            In 2003, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the fifth book in the series, was published. It broke a publishing record by a wide margin with a first printing of 6.4 million copies. It is also the longest book in the series (as of 2005) at 870 pages, three times longer than the Sorcerer’s Stone (factmonster.com n.d.).

            The Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban movie came out in 2004, and had the third best opening weekend with 93.7 million dollars in ticket sales, placing it behind Spider-Man and Shrek 2. The next year the sixth book came out, entitled Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Again the U.S. first printing of a Harry Potter book breaks a record, with 10.8 million copies. Book 6 has a notable first; the Braille and large-print editions were released on the same day as the usual regular and audio book editions (factmonster.com n.d.).

            With these numbers and facts, some people wonder why the Harry Potter books are so popular. Some people believe that all the hype is responsible for the books’ success, but “hype cannot convince people to read a 700 page book”. (wizardingworld.com, n.d., Why Are the Harry Potter Books So Popular?). The first book was published with little fanfare, in fact it was the “word-of-mouth testimonials from parents marveling that their nonreading children (even boys!) are tearing through the Potter books and begging for more.” (Gray, 1999, n.p.).

            There are several explanations for the books’ popularity. One reason is that Harry Potter can be categorized into several genres, so that there is “something for everyone” (wizardingworld.com, n.d., Why Are the Harry Potter Books So Popular?). Technically, it is a young adult (or children’s) fantasy, and is found in that section in libraries, because it has magic, witches and wizards, dragons, unicorns, elves, fairies, and other similar fairy tale creatures associated with the fantasy world.

It is also an adventure (wizardingworld.com, n.d., Why Are the Harry Potter Books So Popular?), with Harry getting into one escapade after another. He explores the school secretly under his Invisibility Cloak, flies in exciting Quidditch games (a wizard game played on broomsticks with four balls and six hoops), and fights Lord Voldemort, among other adventures. .

Another major genre Harry Potter can be classified as, is as a mystery. (wizardingworld.com, n.d., Why Are the Harry Potter Books So Popular?) According to Waters and Mithrandir (2003), “the Harry Potter septology is an epic mystery and is considerably more intricate than it appears. She has challenged us readers (we call ourselves ‘HP Sleuths’) to discover them.” (p. xvii). J.K. Rowling said that “if you read carefully, you’ll get hints about what’s coming. And that’s all I’m saying!” (Scholastic.com 2000, Q and A #5). There are two types of mysteries and clues, a storyline clue and a septology clue (Waters and Mithrandir 2003). A septology is a word Waters coined to describe the seven-volume Harry Potter series, as it is “clearly an aggregate work (not just sequels)”. (Waters and Mithrandir 2003, p. xviii).

A storyline clue “is specific to the book in which it was found.” (Waters and Mithrandir 2003, p. xxi). For example, all through Chamber of Secrets, Dobby the House elf had been trying to keep Harry from attending Hogwarts, for reasons unknown. At the end of the book, readers find out that the elf was only trying to keep Harry safe from the school’s monster.

A septology mystery is “not resolved by the end of the book. This kind of clue relates to the whole seven volume mystery”. (Waters and Mithrandir 2003, p. xxi). One example is that, from the very first book, readers wonder why Voldemort wanted to kill Harry as a baby with the Avada Kedavera curse, and why Harry lived when no other witch or wizard was able survive the Killing Curse. According to Waters and Mithrandir (2003), this is “…THE mystery around which the whole Harry Potter septology revolves.” (p. 8).

Another genre Harry Potter could be is literary satire, because J.K. Rowling creates clever names and titles that give insight to the characters and other things. A Ministry of Magic (the wizarding government) department is called the Office of Misinformation, which reminds readers of George Orwell’s books. Accio, summoning charm, is Latin for “I summon” (mugglenet.com, n.d., Name Origins). Transfiguration is a class Harry has to take; it teaches students how to transfigure things, such as a pig into a desk. The Transfiguration teacher’s, Minerva McGonagall’s, shares her name with a Roman god who has a “famed reputation for being able to morph herself and others into clever disguises.” (Waters and Mithrandir, 2003, p. 11). There are so many names that Rowling created that several Harry Potter websites created dictionaries of the words with their origins or probable origins, most notably MuggleNet (mugglenet.com) and the Harry Potter Lexicon (hp-lexicon.org).

Another reason why Harry Potter is so popular is that J.K. Rowling borrows many ideas, concepts, and themes from other books and stories in literature, gives them a new reason to exist, and combines them all into an all new story (wizardingworld.com, n.d., I Thought That Sounded Familiar…). As Voltaire said, “Originality is nothing but judicious imitation. The most original writers borrowed one from another.” (brainyquote.com, n.d., n.p.).

 All of her ideas come from what she calls a “compost heap” of everything she’s ever read, which is a substantial amount as she studied French and Classical Languages at the University of Exeter, graduating with what would be summa cum laude in America.  (Granger, 2004).

She is familiar and fluent with the languages, philosophy, and literature of the classical and medieval worlds. Her books reflect an understanding of the

truths of Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, and Aquinas because she has read these greats—and read them as attentively as reading them in the original languages requires. (Granger, 2004, p. xvi-xvii)

            J.K. Rowling is frequently compared to many other writers as well, like Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, and C.S. Lewis, of which she said she are her favorite authors. She has also been compared to “William Shakespeare, Leo Tolstoy, Franz Kafka, George Orwell, J.R.R. Tolkein, and Fyodor Dostoyevsky.” (Granger, 2004, p. xvii). Others have said that it is a “ripping good yarn of good verses evil that legitimately conjures up the New  Testament, only with characters that recall Roald Dahl.” (Williams, 1999, n.p.). Still others believe that the Harry Potter series is reminiscent of the Star Wars films, Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland books, and L. Frank Baum’s Oz series. (Gray, 1999).

            Even with comparisons to authors like Tolstoy, the Harry Potter books are still very readable because of the “…sheer buoyant zest of Joanne Rowling’s storytelling…” (Lockerbie, 1998, n.p.). Rowling never condescends to her readers, giving them a well-planned story in every book (Jones, 1999), even though some critics complain that her language is not classical (Trelease, 2001). “True, her sentences are largely unadorned and, except for proper nouns, there is less or the reader [to] stumble over…Stumbling over text is a discouragement for young readers, not an incentive.” (Trelease, 2001, n.p.). Trelease also said that while classics, such as Heidi, have more intricate texts, “when was the last time you saw a kid reading Heidi in the airport?” (2001, n.p.)

            Another reason why the Harry Potter books are so readable is because of “its humorous descriptions and dialogue…The awful Uncle Vernon’s face ‘went from red to green faster than a set of traffic lights’ when Harry gets his first owlergramme.” (Johnstone, 1997, n.p.). Another article says that Rowling “can be genuinely scary and consistently funny, adept at both brad slapstick and allusive puns and wordplay.” (Gray, 1999, n.p.) Jones, citing Rowling’s great writing skills, also enjoys the humor found in the Harry Potter books:

As a bonus, she’s funny: the list of things Harry is asked to bring to school includes: ‘three sets of plain work robes (black), one plain pointed hat (black) for day wear…Please note that all pupils’ clothes should carry name tags.” Anyone who reads these novels can’t help but come away with a high standard for what a good story should be… (1999, n.p.)

The readability of the books is a factor in Harry Potter’s popularity, because it is

enjoyable to re-read over and over again. As Jones (2000) says:

We affectionately remember the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew, but try rereading them and their harm burns off pretty quickly. Rowling may not be as magisterial as Tolkein or as quirky as Dahl, but her books introduce fledgling readers to a very high standard of entertainment. (n.p.)

As popular as the Harry Potter books are, it has its critics. The Harry Potter detractors center on the fact that the Rowling’s books contain witches, wizards, and magic. They warn people that since the Bible in many places explicitly forbids occult practice, they should avoid reading Harry Potter. Because the Harry Potter books portray witchcraft in a positive light, it may draw kids into occultism. (Granger, 2004, p.2)

            That is precisely what Beam was worried about in her review of the Chamber of Secrets book for the website pluggedinonline.com:

For many children, curiosity about things such as “parselmouths”, “shrunken heads” and “Moaning Myrtles” cannot be met in a healthy manner. And they can become enamored with what Star Wars calls “The Dark Side” and Rowling calls “The Dark Arts.” (Beam, n.d., n.p.)

Also, in 2000, an email circulated among many Christian families relating the

threat that the Harry Potter books have on children’s souls. The unknown author cited some statistics, saying that “Since 1995, open applicants to Satan worship has increased from around 100,000 to now…20 MILION children and young adults!”, quoting an article that the Onion, an online publication, posted in July 2000. (Urban Legends Reference Pages, 2001, n.p.).

            The Onion article actually said that “more than 14 million children alone belong to the Church of Satan”. (Urban Legends Reference Pages, 2001, n.p.). The article also quoted Rowling praising Satan, and the High Priest Egan of the First Church of Satan in Salem, Massachusetts, as saying “Harry is an absolute godsend to our cause…and we’ve had more applicants than we can handle lately.” (Urban Legends Reference Pages, 2001, n.p.).

            Yet all of these quotes and statistics are false, as the Onion publication is purely satirical. According to its masthead, “The Onion is a satirical newspaper published by Onion, Inc. The Onion uses invented names in all its stories, except in cases when public figures are being satirized. Any other use of real names is accidental and coincidental.” (The Onion, 2000, n.p.).According to the Urban Legends Reference Pages (2001):Apparently the obvious humor of a High Priest of the First Church of Satan’s calling the arrival of the Harry Potter phenomenon a “godsend” went right over more than a few people’s heads. If The Onion’s parody had demonstrated anything, it’s that we should be worrying about the adults not being ale to distinguish between fiction and reality. The kids themselves seem to have a pretty good grasp of it. (n.p.)The question still remains: “Are we contributing to our child’s intellectual andmoral degeneracy by letting him immerse himself in this fanciful world of wizardry?” (Hughes, 2000, n.p.). And the answer is “probably not”. (Hughes, 2000, n.p.). Compared to some of the other options children have, such as TV, video games, and rock music, it is actually better for them to line up at midnight parties to read the Harry Potter books, because it is such a “great yarn”. (Hughes, 2000, n.p.). Most children know the difference between fantasy and reality. Rowling’s books do no actual harm, even with a “dash of the occult” in them, when parents discuss the books with their young Harry Potter fans. (Hughes, 2000, n.p.).Though these young children may say they want to be a wizard when they grow up, Hughes reminds us that it’s “pretty standard daydreaming for children.” (2000, n.p.). After all, at that age, they also decide they want to be football players, basketball players, police officers, Olympians, and tour-trolley drivers when they grow up. (Hughes, 2000).

Also, nowhere in the Bible does it “forbid reading material with occult elements in it. As there are witches, soothsayers, and possessed prophetesses in the Bible…it would be more than odd if the Holy Writ spoke against itself.” (Granger 2004, p. 3).

Mack (1999) said:

Yes, they deal with magic and witchcraft. Their tone is dark. But no less a devout Christian than C.S. Lewis understood the power of pagan imagery in preparing the young imagination for the moral rigors and spiritual comforts of biblical religion. Indeed, if there is something wrong with a “tone of death” in children’s literature, then we might as well jettison all our volumes of fairy tales. (n.p.)

            In a Comic Relief online chat transcript, Rowling (2001) said, “I think the Harry books are very moral but some people just object to witchcraft being mentioned in a children’s book unfortunately, that means we’ll have to lose a lot of classic children’s fiction.” (n.p.).

In an interview with CNN, Rowling (1999) said:

I absolutely did not start writing these books to encourage any child into witchcraft. I’m laughing slightly because to me, the idea is absurd…I have met thousands of children now, and not even one time has a child come up to me and said, “Ms. Rowling, I’m so glad I’ve read these books because now I want to be a witch.” They see it for what it is. It is a fantasy world and they understand that completely. I don’t believe in magic, either. (n.p.)

Rowling (1999) also said, “Wizardry is just the analogy I use. If anyone expects it to be a book that seriously advocates leaning magic, they will be disappointed.” (O’Malley 1999, n.p.).

Some of the books that would be missing from library shelves if all books mentioning magic was banned include J.R.R. Tolkein’s The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the Narnia and Ransom series by C.S. Lewis, the Alice books by Lewis Carroll, Madeline L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time, and the Oz series by L. Frank Baum. The last two authors’ books have come under heat themselves in a different time and place.

The Wizard of Oz was criticized in the 1920s’, 50’s, 60’s, and is still being accused today of having communist leanings and a socialist structure, and that the culture of Oz was the approximation of a Marxist dream. L. Frank Baum’s Oz series was banned from several libraries for these reasons, and because they were of no value, encouraged negativism, “misled minds to accept a cowardly approach to life”, and because they were poorly written. (Rising, 2000, n.p.). Baum’s writing was different from the style of writing popular in the 1900’s, because his main concern was telling the story, whereas other writers like Andersen and Robert Louis Stevenson embellished their story with long, descriptive passages and difficult words. (Rising, 2000, n.p.).

Trelease (2001) noted a similar complaint about Rowling’s style of writing:

Some critics have complained that Rowling’s language is not classical. True her sentences are largely unadorned, and except for proper nouns, there is less for the reader [to] stumble over. And that’s good. Stumbling over is a discouragement for young readers, not an incentive. And while classics like Heidi have heavier, more adorned text, when was the last time you saw a kid reading Heidi in the airport? (n.p.)

Judy Blume, another writer whose books have been banned, offered her opinion on the suggestion of banning of the Harry Potter books:

I knew this was coming. The only surprise is that it took so long — as long as it took for the zealots who claim they’re protecting children from evil (and evil can be found lurking everywhere these days) to discover that children actually like these books. If children are excited about a book, it must be suspect.

 

I’m not exactly unfamiliar with this line of thinking, having had various books of mine banned from schools over the last 20 years. In my books, it’s reality that’s seen as corrupting. With Harry Potter, the perceived danger is fantasy. After all, Harry and his classmates attend the celebrated Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. According to certain adults, these stories teach witchcraft, sorcery and satanism. But hey, if it’s not one “ism,” it’s another. I mean Madeleine L’Engle’s “A Wrinkle in Time” has been targeted by censors for promoting New Ageism, and Mark Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” for promoting racism. Gee, where does that leave the kids? (1999, n.p.)

            It was only recently that magic and science were viewed as occupying different realms. “For much of their existence…they constituted a single path in a single history. For both magic and experimental science were viewed as a means of controlling and directing our natural environment.” (Jacobs, 2000, n.p.).

Magic works as reliably in Rowling’s world as science does in the real world. As Arthur C. Clarke, author of many science fiction books, said, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” (brainyquote.com, n.d., n.p.). Understanding the shared history of magic and experimental science is the key to understanding magic’s role in the Harry Potter books, as Rowling places Harry in a “counterfactual history, a history in which magic was not a false and incompetent discipline, but rather a means of controlling the physical world at least as potent as experimental science.” (Jacobs, 2000, n.p.).

Star Trek technology is treated differently from Harry Potter magic, even though the two achieve similar ends. (Olson, 1999, n.p.). For example, both Star Trek’s transporter and Harry Potter’s Apparition spell transports people great distances. Einstein disliked teleportation and quantum theory because of its almost magical features. (Highfield, 2002, italics added).  Olson (1999) quoted Jacobs, and the host, Meyers from the September/October 1999 issue of the Mars Hill Audio Journal (Volume 40):

If we imagine somebody stepping on to a little circle and then suddenly dissolving, and then reappearing instantly somewhere else, and we call this a transporter, and we’re told that it is a device that is created by technology, then we go “oh, that’s cool.” But if we imagine someone waving a wand and then disappearing and reappearing somewhere else, we’re much less comfortable. (n.p.)

“The fundamental moral framework of the Harry Potter books, then, is a familiar

one to all of us: it is the problem of technology.” (Jacobs, 2000, n.p.). Real schools teach people how to harness and employ technology, and the wizardry school Hogwarts teach people how to harness and employ magic, but neither one can “insure that people will use those powers wisely, responsibly, and for the common good. It is a choice…between magia and goetia: ‘high magic’ (like the wisdom possessed by the magi in Christian legend) and ‘dark magic.’” (Jacobs, 2000, n.p.).

As Jacobs pointed out, there are different kinds of magic. There’s mechanical verses occultic magic, or incantational verses invocational magic. As Morse (2004) said:

Harry and his classmate[s] are born with the ability to perform magic—much as real life kids are born with musical or mathematical ability. Students at Hogwarts learn to cast spells, read crystal balls, and transform hedgehogs into pincushions—but they don’t attempt to contact the supernatural world. (n.p.)

Invocational magic literally means “to call in” (Granger, 2004, p.4-5), and magic

of this kind is usually called sorcery. The Bible says that calling in spirits is “dangerously stupid” (Granger, 2004, p.4-5). Stories that do touch on sorcery show how it always leads to the sorcerer’s downfall. The magic in the Harry Potter books are incantational only, and incantational means “to sing along with” or “to harmonize” (Granger, 2004, p. 4-5). C.S. Lewis shows the difference between the two kinds of magic in his Narnia book, Prince Caspian. (Granger 2004).

In Prince Caspian, when a battle is going badly for Prince Caspian, a dwarf named Nikabrik found a hag who can call up the dead White Witch, whom he hopes will then help them defeat their foes. When Prince Caspian finds out, he is mad. “So that is your plan, Nikabrik! Black sorcery and the calling up of an accursed spirit. And I see who your companions are—a Hag and a Wer-Wolf!” (Lewis, 1951, p. 165).

Some Christians dislike the Harry Potter books for another reason besides magic; they think Harry is a poor role model. Harry Potter is “often at odds with some of his teachers” but these teachers are the ones who are at odds with the “wise, benevolent, and powerful Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore… But to Dumbledore, significantly, Harry is unswervingly faithful and obedient” (Jacobs, 2000, n.p.). Harry did say in the Half-Blood Prince that he was “Dumbledore’s man, through and through”. (Rowling, 2005, p.649).

Harry Potter lies, uses trickery and deception, and “breaks a hundred rules”, all poor choices. (Dooley, 2002, n.p.). Harry’s “tendency to bypass or simply flout the rules is a matter of moral concern for him: he wonders and worries about the self–justifications he offers, and often doubts not just his abilities but his virtue.” (Jacobs, 2000, n.p.).

Hogwarts is divided into four Houses, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin, into which the students are sorted for the entire time they attend the school. In the first book, during the Sorting Hat ceremony, the hat thought Harry should go into the Slytherin house. Harry, having heard enough of the Slytherin legacy—many of the students from that House went bad—told the hat not to put him there. The Sorting Hat placed him in Gryffindor instead. Harry can’t get over the fact that he was almost placed in Slytherin, and in the Chamber of Secrets confided this to Dumbledore. Dumbledore told him that: “It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” (Rowling, 1999, p.333).

Harry Potter is human, and he makes human mistakes, according to Rowling. On Harry’s moral sense, Rowling (2000), said in an interview with Wyman (2000):

I see him as a good person but with a human underbelly. He is vulnerable, he is frequently afraid, he has a very strong conscience, and it is my belief that with the overwhelming majority of human beings—maybe I’m a wild optimist—most people do try to do the right thing, by their own lights. (n.p.)

Another reason why some Christians dislike the Harry Potter books is because there are no instances of Christianity in the books.  For without God and absolute truths, where do the characters’ concept of right and wrong come from? (Smithouser n.d.). Yet the Harry Potter books have become the subject of many books because of their connection to God, such as Looking for God in Harry Potter by John Granger, The Gospel According to Harry Potter: Spirituality in the Stories of the World’s Most Famous Seeker by Connie Neal, and God, the Devil, and Harry Potter: A Christian Minister Defense of the Beloved Novels by John Killinger. Dooley (2002) quoted Sheridan Gilley (n.d.) as saying:

Christianity is absent from the books…but to condemn this fantasy world would surely be to damn all the vast mass of fantasy literature in which such magic is commonplace. Moreover, bad or irresponsible witchcraft is condemned here, and the actual morality of the works is evangelically of the simplest sort, of good against evil. (n.p.)

Dooley (2002) also quoted Leonie Caldecott (n.d.) from “Harry Potter and the Culture of Life”:

Overall, I cannot help feeling that a writer who calls the arch-enemy of all that makes life worth living “Voldemort” can’t be a million miles away from a Pope who sums up the ills of the modern world with the term “culture of death”. (n.p.)

Caldecott is accurate in her comparison, as Rowling (2000) said that “if you’re

choosing to write about evil, you really do have a moral obligation to show what that means.” (Time, 2000, n.p.). Harry “is constantly thrown up against dark forces, particularly the ultimate evil, Lord Voldemort. So far, despite all odds, Potter and the forces of virtue and decency have triumphed. The moral significance seems clear.” (Wyman, 2000, n.p.).

Rowling didn’t write the Harry Potter books specifically to be moralizing, and they don’t have any references to God. She said in a 2005 interview that she doesn’t think that her books are “that secular. But, obviously, Dumbledore is not Jesus.” She also said in the same interview that “undeniably, morals are drawn.” (Grossman, 2005, p. 64). For comparison, Tolkein didn’t write his Lord of the Rings trilogy to consciously “defend Christian doctrine directly,” either. (The Irish Family, 1994, part II, Christianity section).

            The Harry Potter books don’t need to contain explicit references to Christianity, for, as Tolkein said in Letter 142, “the religious element is absorbed into the story and the symbolism.” (The Irish Family, 1994, Part II, Section 1). Granger concurs, as Rowling’s books contain “themes, imagery, and engaging stories that echo the Great Story we are wired to receive and respond to.” (2004, p. xix). This may be the reason why so many people enjoy Rowling’s series, because their “hearts resonate with the deeper stories underlying the surface of Harry’s stories”. (Granger 2004, p. xxi).

            “The magic and miracles we read about in great literature are merely reflections of God’s work in our life…the magic in Harry Potter and other good fantasy fiction harmonizes with the miracles of the saints.”(Granger, 2004, p. 5). Granger’s statements, that the Harry Potter books and other good fantasy fiction all contain some sort of link to God’s creation, are very similar to Tolkien’s claims in his essay, On Fairy-Stories.             Hastings summarized the four characteristics Tolkien said that all true fairy tales have. The first requirement is fantasy; a true fairy tale needs to be internally consistent, though it is free from the restrictions of the real world. After experiencing the fantasy, readers are in the recovery stage. Readers see things from a slightly different angle afterwards, seeing them in a fresher light. Thirdly, fantasies must have escapism; it must not treat what is reality as inevitable, but it should offer alternatives, even though the alternatives are impossible. The last requirement fantasies need is the consolation, the happy ending, or as Tolkien calls it, the eucatastrophe. “This is the moment of joy at deliverance from evil.” (Hastings, n.d., n.p.). Tolkien says that the greatest eucatastrophe is the Resurrection. The escapism stage is much better explained in an article by The Irish Family, “Escape is closely linked to that of Recovery, ‘escape from’ in order to find out what we are ‘created for’.” (1994, n.p.) .Tolkien described the consolation stage in his essay, On Fairy-Stories, as:

The peculiar quality of…”joy” in successful Fantasy can…be explained eas [sic] a sudden glimpse of the underlying reality or truth. It is not only a “consolation” for the sorrow of this world, but a satisfaction…in the “eucatastrophe” we see in a brief vision that the answer may be greater–it may be a far-off gleam or echo or evangelium in the real world. (ssf.net, n.d., n.p.)

Carpenter (1977), in J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography, quoted Tolkien (n.d.):

We have come from God and inevitably the myths woven by us, though they contain error, will also reflect a splintered fragment of the true light, the eternal truth that is with God. Indeed, only by myth-making, only by becoming a “sub-creator” and inventing stories, can Man ascribe to the state of perfection that he knew before the fall. (The Irish Family, 1994, n.p.)

Even though the popular Harry Potter books has its critics, “evidently there is

plenty of room for argument about the books’ merits and their morality.” (Dooley, 2002, n.p.) Rowling (2000) believes that too, and is getting impatient with those think otherwise. “…I feel that you can lead a fool to a book but you can’t make them think.” (Wyman, 2000, n.p.)

           

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