However, there are some books that rise above the rest- and I’ve found a foolproof way of finding those books. You see it in reviews all the time: “It’s a book about [blank] but it’s really a book about [blank].” I think that’s all you need to hear to know that a book is going to change you.

It’s a book about three young wizards but it’s really a book about love.

It’s a book about two cancerous teens taking a trip to Amsterdam but it’s really a book about mortality.

It’s a book about a group of children forced to fight to the death but it’s really a book about family.

It’s a book about a young prince falling from an asteroid but it’s really a book about childhood.

Books aren’t good just because they’re a source of entertainment. Sure, that’s part of it, but there are plenty of other ways to entertain yourself, and if the only reason that we at the HPA treasured books was because they were entertaining, I’d have to argue that Frisbees are also entertaining, so why aren’t we running an annual Frisbee drive?

Books are truly wonderful because they’re pieces of the world- little portable lessons, slices of the future. They disguise themselves as stories  and characters, but they open the door to so much knowledge and so many new ideas. They bring us together a lot more than a game of Frisbee can, because they’re lasting portrayals of the people on Earth, reflections of our ideals and values and morals.

This is why we collect books for children who don’t have them. Losing out on books is not the same as losing out on a game of Frisbee. Books change you, even create you, and not being able to take advantage of all that books have to offer effects a lot more than your boredom status.

So I challenge you to find a really good book: one that is about [blank] but really about [blank]. Read it. Love it. Let it change you.

And then donate it.

However, I know that I’m extremely fortunate. I was able to have all of the books that I could ever wish for because my parents fully believed in reading and its benefits. On the flip side, there are people, more people that some of us would like to believe, that haven’t ever had that chance. Culture is only recently changing to one where reading is cool again, and kids are reading , many times because of books such as Harry Potter and Percy Jackson, and a resurgence of Young Adult-specific novels. However, libraries, both public and school are under-funded, unable to really get the books and the programs that would fan the flames of this culture change.

From the Geek and Sundry G+ (credit to thespngames.tumblr)

That’s why things like Accio Books are so important. Getting books into the hands of kids, or at the very least getting books to a place where they can get into kids’ hands is vital. Everyone needs an outlet for imagination, both to develop it in the first place, and to sustain it once they get older. From books, as we all know, we can lose ourselves and find ourselves again in characters and other worlds. So please. Find an Accio Books drive somewhere near you. If you don’t know of one, find some old books and take them to a school or public library near you. Everyone deserves to have access to stories. Let’s make that happen, guys!

Last week, my boss posed an interesting thought: when is his son the appropriate age to go to the Holocaust Museum here in DC? As a Potter fan, this question perplexed me; I was incredibly young when I read about the themes of war, death, poverty, prejudice, inequality, genocide, and crime in the Harry Potter series. How would I answer this with my own children? Is there a line between the fictional atrocities and the real that children should not cross too early? Historical events like the Holocaust are real – the museum is a beautiful, profoundly emotional experience into the human lives of that destruction. When are children old enough to understand? When are they old enough to not be afraid? When would he be old enough to learn about this horrifying time and learn from it?

This topic relates around the ideas of education and censorship that have burrowed themselves within our society. Through various TV shows and online media, there are some issues such as body image and violence that are seen early on; on the other hand, discussions centered around sexuality or gender are brought up much later. Perhaps this is because parents are still grappling with some issues while others are brought up by peers. However, I was faced with the issue of censorship when I was recently looking to buy my niece a copy of the Rainbow Fish, one of my favorite picture books as a child. While I was reading the reviews, I realized that some saw the story as a socialist morality tale (the rainbow fish giving away all his shiny scales) when I had understood it to be a sharing story! Should I teach my neice about socialism so early or should I stick to easier topics? What had my parents done?

A lot of these issues come back to the question of age. But, is age defined by a number? To me, age depends on a child’s experiences – what they have read, seen, and done to make sense of the world – which will allow them to be “ready”.  As far as I’m concerned, children don’t often act their age; in Quinn’s post, a young girl had the wisdom of someone who lived on the earth much longer and The Girl Who Lived had the courage of one who has fought many battles. With this in mind in thinking about the Holocaust museum, I would say that it depends on what children have learned in school, if they had read about WWII, and if they had any frame of reference. I remember reading Number the Stars, living through all the secret riddles and nightly escapes as if they were an adventure; the holocaust hadn’t exactly seemed horrific, but it was certainly scary and uncertain. I wasn’t shaken until later, after seeing films and stepping foot into a concentration camp. My question is: how can we gauge this “age”?

For me, it was reading. Through books, I had a frame of reference to both understand the world and to step away from it. Time traveling to different places, imagining myself as a witch/knight/adventurer, and delving into historical times all helped me to face the confounding nature of the world. Of course, reading would not be possible without parents, coaches, friends, and mentors who let me in on their own stories and life lessons. However, I am beginning to think that it is the frame, the way we outline hard topics, that allow for children to be ready.Maybe, if we bring things up early, in a healthy and constructive way, it would change so many of the most serious issues.

What do you think?

http://www.ted.com/talks/jill_bolte_taylor_s_powerful_stroke_of_insight.html

My relationship with Ted started three years ago. My new boss was unlike any I’ve ever had – she was strict and quick as a cat, yet always taking the time to check in with me. One morning, she was laughing while intensely watching something online. She asked me if I had ever seen a Ted talk – no, I replied. She said, “take 20 minutes right now and watch this. Ted believes that 20 minutes is max amount of time that a person can focus continually. Let’s see if that’s true for you.” What did I watch? One of the most popular Ted talks: how one woman became connected to the world through a Stroke of Insight. Undoubtabley, Jill Taylor is a fantastic speaker – she brought in a brain for Pettigrew’s sake!- and she makes science so accessible. But, her story is one that should be shared, and liked, and shared again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCvmsMzlF7o

Ted resurfaced in my life when a new, vibrant coworker from Texas asked me to tell her a story about love. I ended up telling her a story about my long distance relationship while I was abroad, how lonely it was to be in a new place, and how many events I missed in his life. She asked me to tell her about the person I had been most connected to and I told her about my best friend who was becoming distant from me thanks to a horrible break up with her boyfriend of 6 years that had thrown her into a deep depression. Then, she had me watch this talk. It is like Brene Brown befriended my best friend, holed up in her brain, and spoke specifically for her. She talks about the need for embracing vulnerability, how shame in makes us feel unworthy (of love, relationships, or raises), and the way courageous people become whole hearted.

http://www.ted.com/talks/colin_stokes_how_movies_teach_manhood.html

In light of International Women’s Day, it would be fitting to watch Colin Stoke’s video on How Movies Teach Manhood. Has anyone seen Brave? Merida wrocks, right? Talk about a spitfire, funny, Scottish (!!) princess who wants her freedom from marriage so much so she turns her mum into a bear. Well, that is an extreme action, but Merida and her mother are two special women – they are female main characters in a non-war movie. Brave is one of the only children’s movies to pass the Bechdel test, a movie that has two women with lines that talk to each other about something other than men. Sounds easy right? Nope. Hard. And this guy tells us why, despite the magically fantastic worlds that characterize children’s movies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0snNB1yS3IE

Poetry has always plagued me – I can never seem to pull myself away from the thousands of novels and (some) short stories on my lifelong reading list in order to read poetry. However, Sarah Kay astounded me. She is emotional, influential, and strong. She uses spoken word poetry to express herself (to be vulnerable) and make sense of the world. Listen to the first minute, if anything, and be ready to be floored.
There are other Ted talks that are worth mentioning – Ken Robinson’s “How Schools Kill Creativity”, Elizabeth Gilbert’s “Your Elusive Genius“, and Colin Powell’s “Kids Need Structure” are others that have so much inspiring, candid, and different thoughts which could change the way we see ourselves and our society. While some of my suggestions may no be everyone’s cup of tea, Ted itself is an awesome creation. It truly shows the power of the internet, the meeting of technology and people, and the powerful way stories can touch our lives.

Do you have a favorite Ted talk?

Among these incredibly random commemorative months are far more important ones. I’m sure you’ve heard of them. My mom could name Black History Month (February), Autism Awareness Month (April), and National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (October) off of the top of her head in three seconds flat. My school celebrates all of the above as well as Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month (February) and National Bullying Prevention Month (October). They’re always big events, with speakers and flyers and trivia games. I’m not sure how prevalent these types of celebrations are outside my earnest high school hallways, but even if you don’t usually take part in any celebrations, I’m sure you’ve at least heard of the most popular commemorative months.

So, what does this have to do with anything? Well, here’s the thing: I surveyed ten people today, and all of them knew about most of the months I mentioned above (other than the silly food months). None of them, however, knew that March was Women’s History Month.

Maybe this is a regional thing (if so, I am sorely disappointed- though not too surprised- in my Texan city). But the fact that the schools I’ve been attending for the past ten years have celebrated Black History Month and Autism Awareness Month and a whole host of other months and yet I’ve never even heard of Women’s History Month- it’s kind of depressing. And it highlights something, I think.

Oxfam’s Behind the Brands Campaign

So when I was told that the HPA was partnering with Behind the Brands, part of Oxfam’s GROW campaign to help create a world where everyone has enough to eat, and that we were promoting a newly launched initiative centered around March 8th- International Women’s Day- I decided that I, as the resident blog team feminist, would be the right person to write a blog about it, and I jumped at the chance. Because being an active feminist for several years- meaning that I run a feminist blog and write feminism editorials for my school newspaper that never get published because people think they’re too embarrassing- yet never having heard of International Women’s Day or Women’s History Month is disturbing to me.

The truth is that this sort of thing is hidden quite a bit more than people think. Women’s equality is often overlooked because people believe that we’ve already reached it. Yet the fight over women’s reproductive rights… the rape culture that our society fosters… the wage gap and many people’s reluctance to admit it… the fact that the average percentage of female protagonists in the top 100 grossing movies in 2011 was 11 percent… the lack of celebrations for International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month: it’s all a glaringly obvious sign that we still have not reached gender equality. Yet, this isn’t taught in schools- I can’t count the number of times that I’ve heard teenage boys say that “women’s rights have gone too far” because males are expected to “pay for dates” and “can’t get child custody”. Hint: the problems you’re attributing to feminism are a result of the patriarchy.

And all of this is far, far worse in developing countries. Behind the Brands is focusing on women and cocoa in their current campaign, which, admittedly, fits very nicely into the HPA’s Not In Harry’s Name campaign. In the same way that children are used for slave labor, women are also widely harmed and discriminated against when it comes to cocoa farms. Women contribute largely to the cocoa production but still get paid much less; get much less access to education, loans, credit, training, and hired labor; and rarely get to own their farming land despite the large amount of time they dedicate to it. Women represent at least half the world’s agricultural workforce yet receive next to no recognition for it and have no way to fight back against their poverty and discrimination.

Company investment in woman cocoa farmers would increase the production of cocoa and allow women and their families to attain food security and equality. The HPA supports Oxfam’s campaign and we hope you do too! You can sign the petition to encourage Mars, Nestle, and Mondelez to protect women’s rights in cocoa production here. While you’re at it, head over to showusthereport.com to sign the HPA’s Not In Harry’s Name petition if you haven’t already.

Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day are important for a lot of reasons. It’s important to acknowledge the accomplishments of women in history since they’re so rarely acknowledged in ordinary history classes. The textbooks we use in class are nearly always white, upper class, and male-dominated. I remember the first moment I realized that I wanted to be a part of the feminist movement was when I read this quote by Sandi Toksvig on Tumblr: “When I was a student at Cambridge I remember an anthropology professor holding up a picture of a bone with 28 incisions carved in it. “This is often considered to be man’s first attempt at a calendar,” she explained. She paused as we dutifully wrote this down. ‘My question to you is this – what man needs to mark 28 days? I would suggest to you that this is woman’s first attempt at a calendar.’ It was a moment that changed my life. In that second I stopped to question almost everything I had been taught about the past. How often had I overlooked women’s contributions?”

Whether the calender was made by a women or a man is irrelevant; what’s important is the fact that so many female accomplishments have been undermined or overlooked throughout history simply because they were associated with women and not men. This makes International Women’s Day even more important, because when you realize that this sort of ignorance is still prevalent today, you start to get a little scared. We don’t just need to celebrate women’s history- we need to celebrate their present and their future as well, especially for those who don’t have a voice themselves, like the women cocoa farmers.

Females make up over half of the world’s entire population and yet we still allow women to be discriminated against all over the world, in all countries, all ages, all positions of work. It’s not always obvious- but it’s there.

Maybe it’s about time that we speak up.

To end this mammoth piece, I’ll send you along with a few resources. I got the 11% statistic from here- it’s a great read about women in media and I highly suggest you read it. You can also find more information about the Behind the Brands campaign here and the official International Women’s Day Website is here.  And after scouring the HPA’s previous writings, I found that last year the HPA wrote a group of several blogs dedicated entirely to Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day. I kicked myself for not getting involved with the HPA sooner- I am so lucky to be here right now, with people who actually care. I would have loved to be informed on International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month a year or two ago.

You can find those blogs in the International Women’s Day tag here. Happy reading!

Wrong. This past Wednesday, the Supreme Court of the United States heard the oral arguments in the Shelby County v Holder case, which challenges the constitutionality of the preclearance requirements of section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This is a big deal- the Voting Rights Act is arguably the most powerful discrimination combat tool in the history of our country, and the loss of this case would be a huge blow to voter equality and, in turn, nearly all civil rights issues in America.

These are the details: 

The Voting Rights Act was passed thanks to the efforts of Martin Luther King and other civil rights activists in 1965, and it effectively outlawed the poll taxes and literacy tests blocking minority voters from the polls. Section 5 requires that jurisdictions with a history of voter discrimination must receive approval from the federal government before making changes to voting procedures.

Arguments for the Shelby County v Holder case state that the law is out of date and that Southern states have moved past racial discrimination, making the law no longer justified, even an “unwarranted badge of shame”. But the fact that the act is even being challenged in the first place proves that America is not even close to being a “post-racial society”. Discrimination is still alive and thriving, as seen by the numerous reports on questionable voting laws and voter suppression in various states during the 2012 election. Removing section 5 of the Voting Rights Act would take civil rights issues in the U.S. several steps backwards and could easily serve as a green flag for discriminatory laws to continue, even expand, rather than being struck down. In fact, instead of removing the preclearance requirements, it may even be a good idea to make them necessary for all states.

So, what can you do to help?

It’s a bit late now, as the Supreme Court oral arguments have already passed. A Rally to Protect the Voting Rights Act took place on February 27 on the steps of the Supreme Court, but now perhaps the only thing we can do is wait for the opinions to be announced. Continue to show your support for the Voting Rights Act, and, if anything, take a lesson from this: your importance as a voting rights advocate and social activist cannot be understated.

#WeWill #ProtectVRA

Education is incredibly precious.

My grandpa and grandma at my high school graduation

When my grandfather came home from WWII, he was adamant on going to college. He used his GI Bill, got his books, and excitedly went to all of his classes. Soon into the semester, my grandpa realized it wasn’t easy to transition from surviving war to surviving class- he was already a grown man in so many ways, school seemed less gripping, somehow. After the novelty wore off, his mind often wandered and he began to slip into bad routines. One day, he was dawdling and walking lazily to class when the Dean of Students, a strict Irish Jesuit priest, called him into his office. From what my grandpa said, this man changed his life. “An education, the dean said,” is the only thing that will get you the dream of a professional life, family, and future. Start thinking!” It was like a chiropractor knocking the bones back into place. It stayed with him, and he set that bar for everyone in my family – education was the biggest priority. And, it was a blessing.

I was thinking about this story because I watched a Ted Talk today about a girl who went to school in Afghanistan while it was under Taliban rule. She talked about going to school disguised as a boy, sitting in a living room-turned-classroom with 100 other children, and having week long random “vacations” when someone was tipped off about her school. I was beyond excited with a snow day or that glorious half day which never came often enough. Now, thinking about her situation, I am again reminded how lucky I was. At the time when this woman was growing up, it was illegal for women to go to school. She is 22 – she is my age. There is something about her story – something I felt when I was reading Harry Potter – about being the same age. The parallels and complete differences between her life and mine let me hear her story with new ears. It wasn’t a news broadcast, a campaign tool, or a war movie. It was a life going on at the same time as mine, except with very different circumstances. According to her, only a few hundred women were educated until high school at that time – that is utterly opposite than the 50% of women who made up my classes. Her grandfather was disowned from his family for allowing his daughter to be educated – I don’t know what that looks like. We have seen Malala, the Girl Who Lives, and her amazing act of standing up for education in the eyes of death. This talk reinforces and adds to the story.

http://www.ted.com/talks/shabana_basij_rasikh_dare_to_educate_afghan_girls.html 

Time and again I have learned that education is precious – it is not something to covet, take for granted, or flaunt. This woman from Afghanistan said that her education would not have been possible without her grandfather and her father’s advocating; they believed in her so much, had such big dreams, that they would not let her quit nor would they let her be barred from learning. I thought about my Ravenclaw family who is absolutely famished when it comes to their thirst for knowledge and how lucky I am to have them as advocates in my life.  This talk (and this one) made me excited to be part of the HPA and Equality FTW – everyone needs to have an advocate, one person that will actively fight for your future and start building the foundation for greatness. Education is only the first step to equality.

Oh, know the perils, read the signs,
The warning history shows,
For our Hogwarts is in danger
From external, deadly foes
And we must unite inside her
Or we’ll crumble from within
-The Sorting Hat, Order of the Phoenix

Tabling for Show Us the Report!

The past two weeks, my college’s HPA chapter has been tabling for signatures for Show Us the Report. We have talked to students, parents, staff, professors, even the President of the college, who were all more than willing to sign and help our cause. (The president, after conferring with his daughter on whom he should be, signed as James Potter.)

It was incredible to see the reactions of all of these people, who had no clue what our cause was about, and who immediately wanted to sign, even if they were not Harry Potter fans. This topic moves beyond the fact of, yes, we are Harry Potter fans and, yes, we like chocolate. It’s so much more than that, and it is inspiring to see my college community coming together to show support for this important cause.

A student signing the petition.

I now have 26 pages full of signatures proving the prevalence and importance of Not in Harry’s Name, and my chapter is brainstorming new ways to promote the campaign. We will be talking with some professors who can connect the story and the activism in a group discussion in the coming month, much like we did for Hunger is NOT a Game, to enable a greater discussion of the campaign and how it relates to our community and the world.

For more information on Show Us the Report, go to www.showusthereport.com

Whatever love you’re celebrating today, however you’re celebrating, perhaps you could take a moment and help spread the love a little more and help us make sure the Harry Potter chocolate isn’t being made by child slaves.  And maybe go buy some Fair Trade chocolate for the loved ones in your life?

Photo courtesy of Fair Trade International

But where can you find Fair Trade chocolate?!  It’s so difficult to find!  Well, you could always take a trip over to our shop and get some Fair Trade chocolate frogs.  Those are pretty awesome (not that I’m biased or anything).

But my favorite place to find Fair Trade chocolate is Whole Foods Market.  The Whole Foods nearest to me has a pretty decent selection of Fair Trade chocolate (remember, look for the black and white Fair Trade logo on the packaging), and they have some pretty interesting flavors.  I even found one a few months ago that tasted very much like a Crunch bar.  It’s a pretty great store for Fair Trade chocolate, and definitely one you should check out if you have one near you.

I mean, what says “I love you” more than chocolate made fairly?

So in between sending love to those important in your life (and definitely do that, because everyone needs some love!), try to make a stop over and sign our petition to get Warner Bros to show us the report.  This Valentine’s Day, help keep child slaves from making the chocolate treats we all love so much.  Those children deserve love too.

How are you celebrating Valentine’s Day today?  What’s your favorite Fair Trade store?

Courtesy of Gardening Clan

When I was growing up, my mom had a big thing for compost. When our horses were out grazing, she would throw some kitchen scraps or odds-and-ends into the already-growing mound of manure and use it to fertilize our plants. It was normal to my family – why buy any spray or product when we had our own homemade magic potion? It made our sunflowers grow 4 feet tall and gave the tomatoes the best red color (an apparently favorable effect for the deer, too). We also had a coop of chickens who produced the most scrumptious neon-yellow-colored eggs. These two things were the beginning of my relationship with “being green” and “buying farm fresh”. I guess it wasn’t even a choice or an experience necessarily – it was a way of being.

It was only until I spent my college summers in the magical land of Ithaca, “10 square miles surrounded by reality”, that I revisited both of these concepts.

Ithaca is the definition of a foodie town- it has more restaurants per capita than NYC! But, those foodies are pretty particular about where they find their ingredients. Most chefs cook with locally raised meat, organic vegetables, and fair trade products. (Tangent: if you ever visit, you gotta hit up the Farmer’s Market on the weekend – it is pure bliss.) So, prices are a little bit higher than the normal small town person would be expecting to pay. However, this community is incredibly strong in their beliefs – they try to make things as healthy, affordable, and ethical as possible. They educate the community, run events, and have a fun attitude towards the whole belief system that makes it contagious.

One business in particular has changed the way I look at local, organic, and fair trade: Ithaca Coffee Company. It is the hub for my campus’ late night bagels, early morning coffees, and unique snacks when you are feeling blue. It is a staple in the town – so much so that it has three locations despite the close proximity! And, it sells fair trade coffee only. You can read its mission here, explaining how they partnered with Boston’s Equal Exchange. Here’s my favorite line: “Why Cayuga Coffee? We wanted a local connection to celebrate our home. This is the name of the native people of our region, one deserving great respect. The Fair Trade system pays respect and fair wages to the native people in the coffee-growing countries. We’ve incorporated beautiful images and symbols from those countries into the identifying marks of Cayuga Coffee.”

Every student on my campus has had this coffee – it is a symbol of the town in which we lived and loved. So, how could we not have been changed by it in some way?Maybe it is just me, but buying fair trade or local or organic makes me feel better, both inside and out. It helps me digest the big concepts and enjoy my food that much more.

What is a fair trade company or product that has changed your life?