Which brings me to my next metaphor…

Okay, so I don’t have a next metaphor, but I do have a conversation about metaphor that I think is highly appropriate today as we spring into action! (Get it…spring. Yesterday was the first day of spring…I know. I shouldn’t have to explain my own jokes) But metaphor is the central element of what we do here. We use the stories we love as metaphors to explain what’s going on in our world and motivate people to action.

And sometimes we mix our metaphors. Generally speaking, when you’re writing or speaking this isn’t seen as a good thing. It’s confusing or weird, and one part of your metaphor might resonate with your readers or listeners. Then suddenly its displaced and one jarring transition later you’ve got a lot of people staring at you (metaphorically) with their eyebrows up and their jaws dropped.
We, however, like mixing our metaphors. We are Dumbledore’s Army and we’re working to put a stop to the Hunger Games. And our New York Times article is giving us Buffy style strength to do so!

I could go on, but I think you get the idea. The Imagine Better project is all about mixing our metaphors. Using our favorite stories to excite our friends and families, our neighbors, twitter followers and random classmates we’ll never see again but inexplicably show up on our Facebook feeds. Which are all awesome ways to tell people that you’re involved in a great organization that is featured by the New York Times!

See what I did there?

• First, on March 2nd and 3rd, Andrew will be a keynote speaker at the Nobel Peace Prize Forum in Minneapolis, MN.
  
  

• Second, March 8th-10th Andrew will be at the Guiding Lights Weekend event Live Like a Citizen, in Seattle, Washington.




• Third, Andrew will at SXSW in Austin, Texas on March 12, where he will be part of a panel called “Reaching Teens on the Digital Streets.”

Check out Julian’s vlog about these upcoming events, and help us spread the word!

The New York Times wrote up a blog and made a video package covering the flash mob in New York City. NPR ran a fantastic piece on their morning show and wrote up a great story to go along with it. Check out ABCNews’ piece where they talk about Lumos Parties and how the HPA is using the stories by JK Rowling to make the world a better place. The Christian Science Monitor talked about the inspiration behind the Harry Potter Alliance along with our past and current campaigns.

And that’s only a few of the media outlets that have mentioned us. Here are a few other articles and blogs about us:
Religion Dispatches, Celebuzz, Care2, Boston Herald, Ecorazzi

If you see any others share them in the comments or on the Ning!

Congratulate yourselves, we couldn’t have done it without you.

Many of you will remember Jo’s last note concerning Helping Haiti Heal back in February. It was especially thanks to Jo’s donation of all seven Harry Potter books signed by her that allowed us to give Partners In Health enough for five planes to Haiti. Unexpectedly, the winner of the books has been generous enough to re-auction them to you and the chance to win is only $40 (all proceeds go to charity!).

Please come to our FINAL HELPING HAITI HEAL Livestream tomorrow right here where we will celebrate the last plane to Haiti, all that we have done, and officially kick off the new auction for a JK Rowling signed copy of all seven HP books!

Joining us on the Livestream will be the cast of Pottercast along with Mugglecast’s Andrew Sims and Ben Schoen in what is sure to be an amazing “LeakyMug”!!!, Harry Potter star Evanna Lynch, Wizard Rockers, Hogwarts Radio, exclusive interviews with our heroes at Partners in Health creator/legend Paul Farmer and their executive director Ophelia Dahl (who will be talking about what her father the late Roald Dahl would have thought of Harry Potter), and some more special surprise guests!

I am overwhelmed by Jo’s generosity and what this community has done for Haiti. I wish you all the best of luck in winning the books, please join us tomorrow, and remember to allow us to continue to change the world please vote for us in HPAFTW!

HPAFTW:
Try to remain calm once you’ve read this marvelous news. The HPA is in first place in the Chase Community Giving Contest! If you haven’t voted yet, do so by going to http://bit.ly/hpaftw Then, join the slew of people, such as Potter actors Tom Felton and Chris Rankin, in spreading the word by telling all your friends and family.

Temporary HPA Staff:
The HPA is looking for temporary staff members to help with HPAFTW. To learn more, read this blog or send an e-mail to hpaftw@thehpalliance.org

New HPA Merchandise:
Check out the marvelous new necklace made by HPA staffer Eme, you can find it here in our shop. Take a look at all the other HPA goodies while your at it!

Indian Caste System:
60 years later, and India’s caste system may be making a revival. To learn more about what’s going on and what effects reinstating the caste system could have, read this news article.

One Ocean-One World:
HPA member Dorothy wrote a truly insightful blog this week. In it, she makes comparisons and connections, and uses water as a metaphor for humanity.

What Would You See In The Mirror of Erised?:
As Potter fans, I’m sure we’ve all considered what we would see if we were to look into the Mirror of Erised. If you feel like sharing, go ahead and chime into this intriguing discussion.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter:
As everyone who isn’t currently residing under a rock knows, the Harry Potter theme park opened this week! To read all about it (and to see some very neat pictures) go to http://www.insidethemagic.net/2010/06/wizarding-world-of-harry-pott…

Thanks for reading! Don’t forget to vote for the HPA to win $250K at http://bit.ly/hpaftw

We will be celebrating this occasion this Sunday at 2 p.m. EST during a big Livestream!

As a community, we have sent approximately 80,000 pounds of critical medical supplies to Haiti!

Besides the fact that our work profoundly touched and may have saved the lives of thousands of people, we named all five planes with very clear intentions: “Harry,” “Hermione,” “Ron,” “DFTBA,” and “Dumbledore.”

With our first plane, we sent our wishes for the spirit of what Harry represents for us to travel to Haiti: for them to be a nation that trusts its instincts, that acts on its feet against all odds with bravery and chivalry, and that–in spite of and because of loss–maintains and expands its capacity for love.

With the second plane, “Hermione Granger,” we sent the Haitian people our wish that they be filled with intellectual brilliance, curiosity, and a passion for equality as they figure out how to emerge from such trying circumstances as a country free from fear and free from want.

With the third plane, “Ron Weasley,” we sent a wish that the Haitian people preserve their sense of humor even in the midst of hard times, and that they continue to find a figurative Deluminator within their country that always allows them to find their way back to themselves.

In the fourth plane, we departed from the names of HP characters with “Flight DFTBA” (Don’t Forge To Be Awesome). This name represented the fact that like Harry himself, we HP fans who love the series’ message of the imperative nature of friendship could not have done this alone. The success of Helping Haiti Heal happened because the Harry Potter fandom worked with 20 other fandoms, most notably the Nerdfighters. The power of the Nerdfighter community of John, Hank, and tens of thousands of Nerdfighters across the world, with their simple mantra of “Don’t Forget To Be Awesome,” made it possible for us to send a plane with the reminder that Haiti is awesome. Throughout its history and throughout this current crisis, the Haitian people have demonstrated an awe-inspiring will to live as they continue to celebrate life and love in the midst of some of the greatest “World Suck” (to borrow a phrase from the Nerdfighters) that has ever sucked. Despite sorrow and devastation, they continue to show that they are made of awesome, and we send them our love and our respect as they rebuild their precious nation.

And it is the final plane that is perhaps the most meaningful for “Harry had eyes only for the man who stood in the largest portrait directly behind the headmaster’s chair. Tears were sliding down from behind the half-moon spectacles into the long silver beard, and the pride and the gratitude emanating from him filled Harry with the same balm as phoenix song” (Deathly Hallows 747).

May the love that we send to the Haitian people through our hearts and through this final plane emanate the same balm as phoenix song.

And like the spirit of the Phoenix, from the ashes of rubble in Port-au-Prince and throughout much of the island, from the tears may there emerge new life. The people of Haiti will rise again! As they once rose against slavery, so they will rise against the shackles of poverty created and enforced by Western nations and the ruthlessness of this devastating earthquake.

Fourteen-year-old Jason Compere, a Haitian-American and avid Harry Potter fan and new HPA member whose father works for Partners In Health, asked us not to forget Haiti. We in this community will heed Jason’s call.

Dumbledore has landed today, the last of the five planes that we sent with Helping Haiti Heal. With him we send our wishes for Harry’s instincts, Hermione’s mind, Ron’s laughter, the awesomeness of community, and an overall strategy whose inherent assumptions rest in the fact that that love will win the day, and that despite the indescribable losses that Haiti has suffered this year, they will be reborn in a resurrection whose light will shine the world over.

May the small part we have played in the larger story of Haiti shape us, and shape the larger story of our lives and the larger story of the human journey in which each of us is a part.

Please join us here this Sunday at 2 pm EST to celebrate! And remember, the auction for the Harry Potter novels signed by JK Rowling continues, and HPA For the Win!

In tonight’s call we will continue to talk about What Would Dumbledore Do – a project that is your chance to blog about both your relationship with Dumbledore and what you think the world could learn from Dumbledore’s example at this critical moment in human history.

Please take part in what is going to be a fun and stimulating conversation about this project by being part of the call tonight right here on Pottercast’s Ustream and sending questions via Twitter to @thehpalliance

The call will last one hour.

After that, at 9:45 pm EST (nine and three quarters) Andrew Slack will be hosting “Late Night Snack with Andrew Slack” which should go pretty late as Andrew reads and discusses the book that he is writing on Dumbledore.

We hope to see you there!

Andrew, Kate, Karen, Hope, and the whole HPA Staff

At our live DA meeting on June 10, Andrew Slack, Hope Mullinax, and Karen Bernstein had a fabulous discussion with each other and the listeners in the USTREAM chat about the Harrry Potter Alliance’s What Would Dumbledore Do? campaign, which was launched at LeakyCon 2009.

Among the many ideas and actions discussed were:

-Why is it important to think about what Dumbledore taught us?
-What is What Would Dumbledore Do? and how long will this campaign last?
-How to harness the media blitz surrounding the movies to bring attention to important causes and events that might otherwise go unreported or under reported
-How Dumbledore moved from an inspirational, untouchable “God-like” character to a more relatable human being in the later books and what we can learn from this transformation
-How we can all be true to the spirit of Albus Dumbledore
-Harry’s hero complex and how our human experience can help us when working on difficult issues like genocide and poverty
-The differences between a wizarding mindset and the muggle mindset when it comes to issues of social justice and social action
-The impact of death and grief on our own lives
- How can you get involved? Blog on the Common Room, post a video response to the WWDD video on the Harry Potter Alliance’s YouTube channel, or contact dumbledore@thehpalliance.org for other ways to get involved.
-The USTREAM chat room discusses bacon, and Andrew, Karen and Hope call Paul DeGeorge and wish him a happy 30th birthday.

Direct Download link: http://media.libsyn.com/media/hpapotterwatch/06_10_09_DA_Meeting_WWDD01.mp3

WASHINGTON – Members of Congress – including Representatives Jim McGovern (D-MA), John Lewis (D-GA), Donna Edwards (D-MD), Keith Ellison (D-MN) and Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) – and Darfur activist leaders were today arrested for civil disobedience outside of the Sudanese Embassy while protesting the deteriorating humanitarian crisis in Darfur. Participants called on the international community to impose clear costs on the Sudanese government if it continues its use of starvation as a weapon of war. Additionally, advocates urged President Obama to be firm in responding to the impending humanitarian crisis, promoting international justice and working toward a viable long-term peace that includes Darfur and a reinvigorated Comprehensive Peace Agreement for the south.

“President Bashir has a choice,” stated Rep. Jim McGovern. “He can choose to let the humanitarian groups return; he can choose to end the violence and the killing; and he can choose serious negotiations for a just and lasting peace. Or he can continue to commit crimes against humanity – crimes with which he is already charged – and charges that will one day catch up with him and bring him down.”

After speaking on the steps of the embassy to a group of local activists and Darfuris, members of Congress and activist leaders were asked by police to leave the scene. When the protest continued, officers arrested Representatives McGovern, Lewis, Edwards, Ellison and Woolsey along with Save Darfur Coalition president Jerry Fowler, Enough Project co-founder John Prendergast and Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism.

“We know President Obama and members of his administration care passionately about ending the Darfur crisis and promoting peace in Sudan,” said Fowler. “As President Obama nears his 100th day in office this week, he can demonstrate that Sudan is a strategic priority for the United States by committing to build a multilateral coalition for peace and investing in the diplomacy necessary to achieve an equitable and lasting solution for Darfuris and all Sudanese.”

Throughout the month of April, survivors from Darfur and five previous genocides have joined anti-genocide advocates and people of conscience around the world to observe Genocide Prevention Month. The tragedies of Darfur, Bosnia, Rwanda, Cambodia, the Holocaust and Armenia all have major anniversaries throughout the month. The Sudanese government’s recent decision to expel 13 international aid agencies – which will soon leave approximately 1.1 million civilians without food aid, 1.5 million without health care and more than one million without potable water – underscores the need for urgent U.S. action to address Darfur’s deteriorating humanitarian crisis.