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I found an article (a blog?) (courtesy of ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
meridian_rose) that really hit home today. Do you know who Racheline Maltese is and, if not, why? She's on LJ (rm) and has a pretty cool blog (Letters from Titan). I like her! You should, too.
So, she wrote this article about how Harry Potter is ending. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm good at good byes. I don't know why. I can pull them off without too much public crying and... okay, I'm halfway lying because if you'd seen me while watching A League of Our Own in the theater (all four times), you would have seen a pretty damp Lar. But I don't think of myself as someone who holds on to things. I can move on and function pretty well after I have to say good bye.
But RM made a good point. For many of us, Harry Potter is where our life really started. Not because it was a fantastic book but because it was a fantastic world. I came to the internet because of HP. I came to LJ because of HP. I'm writing today because of HP. Every character I create has a little bit of those original characters that I wrote for in that original RP. I found my muse and there's no turning back. I am who I am today because of Harry Potter.
I have an identity. I'm a Ravenclaw with Hufflepuff tendencies. Sure, you can find that one the different personality tests but who goes around telling people they're a ENTJ or getting it plastered all over a hoodie? I mean, seriously! But I have a Ravenclaw shirt and have had people stop and talk to me because of it. I own a black choir robe that I've been known to wear to book and movie openings (but only with SaraJo because it's no fun to do it alone). One day I hope to have my very own wand, thanks to Randye's husband wanting to learn how to use the lathe this summer.
Sometimes it sounds childish to like Harry Potter. Most people look at it as just a kid's book and I am decidedly not a kid. I was over 25 when I started reading them (I came to the fandom right before the fifth book was coming out hardback... about the time the fourth came out in paperback, actually) and I'm even less of a kid now. Am I embarrassed to say that I like Harry Potter? No. Am I embarrassed to tell people that I write Harry Potter fanfic? Sometimes. Even now, I sometimes feel wrong for enjoying it as much as I do. Like I should be enjoying more adult shows like... well, what show is really that adult when you think about it? They all cater to the child in us. To the idea that unreality can be reality.
RM brought up other good points that I don't think I can go into right now because it will make me cry. At this point, I don't know if I'll be able to stop myself once I start and I'm having such a good week right now. But my heart hurts a little. In saying good bye to Harry and the gang, I will be saying good bye to a lot more. While the odds are good that the fandom won't go away, there won't be anything new to really feed off (unless Pottermore turns out to be just as cool as it seems to be from the little video) and it won't be quite the place it was. Everything else has been getting rebooted lately... but that won't be able to happen to HP for a long, long time.
Good bye, Fred. Good bye, Tonks. Good bye, Hedwig. We'll always mourn you.
Good bye, Harry. Good bye, Hermione. Good bye, Ron. I can't imagine life without you.
Or any of the rest of you, for that matter.
meridian_rose) that really hit home today. Do you know who Racheline Maltese is and, if not, why? She's on LJ (rm) and has a pretty cool blog (Letters from Titan). I like her! You should, too.So, she wrote this article about how Harry Potter is ending. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm good at good byes. I don't know why. I can pull them off without too much public crying and... okay, I'm halfway lying because if you'd seen me while watching A League of Our Own in the theater (all four times), you would have seen a pretty damp Lar. But I don't think of myself as someone who holds on to things. I can move on and function pretty well after I have to say good bye.
But RM made a good point. For many of us, Harry Potter is where our life really started. Not because it was a fantastic book but because it was a fantastic world. I came to the internet because of HP. I came to LJ because of HP. I'm writing today because of HP. Every character I create has a little bit of those original characters that I wrote for in that original RP. I found my muse and there's no turning back. I am who I am today because of Harry Potter.
I have an identity. I'm a Ravenclaw with Hufflepuff tendencies. Sure, you can find that one the different personality tests but who goes around telling people they're a ENTJ or getting it plastered all over a hoodie? I mean, seriously! But I have a Ravenclaw shirt and have had people stop and talk to me because of it. I own a black choir robe that I've been known to wear to book and movie openings (but only with SaraJo because it's no fun to do it alone). One day I hope to have my very own wand, thanks to Randye's husband wanting to learn how to use the lathe this summer.
Sometimes it sounds childish to like Harry Potter. Most people look at it as just a kid's book and I am decidedly not a kid. I was over 25 when I started reading them (I came to the fandom right before the fifth book was coming out hardback... about the time the fourth came out in paperback, actually) and I'm even less of a kid now. Am I embarrassed to say that I like Harry Potter? No. Am I embarrassed to tell people that I write Harry Potter fanfic? Sometimes. Even now, I sometimes feel wrong for enjoying it as much as I do. Like I should be enjoying more adult shows like... well, what show is really that adult when you think about it? They all cater to the child in us. To the idea that unreality can be reality.
RM brought up other good points that I don't think I can go into right now because it will make me cry. At this point, I don't know if I'll be able to stop myself once I start and I'm having such a good week right now. But my heart hurts a little. In saying good bye to Harry and the gang, I will be saying good bye to a lot more. While the odds are good that the fandom won't go away, there won't be anything new to really feed off (unless Pottermore turns out to be just as cool as it seems to be from the little video) and it won't be quite the place it was. Everything else has been getting rebooted lately... but that won't be able to happen to HP for a long, long time.
Good bye, Fred. Good bye, Tonks. Good bye, Hedwig. We'll always mourn you.
Good bye, Harry. Good bye, Hermione. Good bye, Ron. I can't imagine life without you.
Or any of the rest of you, for that matter.
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no subject
Date: 2011-07-08 02:30 am (UTC)From:I'm just glad I'm not alone about it all! ♥
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Date: 2011-07-08 04:05 am (UTC)From:I can't even remember what I did with my time before... well, just before. I think I read more.
And the Disney Channel is <3!
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Date: 2011-07-09 12:10 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2011-07-08 03:53 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2011-07-08 04:06 am (UTC)From:But now we have Pottermore to look forward to so it may never actually end.
no subject
Date: 2011-07-08 04:47 am (UTC)From:I'm not going to lie - I teared up watching it. I haven't decided yet if I'm dressing up at midnight next week. Ash said she's going to wear her graduation robe (it's green), but it just seems somehow wrong for me to dress the part without you there! This Hufflepuff feels odd in public without her Ravenclaw bestie! :)
no subject
Date: 2011-07-08 01:56 pm (UTC)From:There are plenty of people who dress up at our theater but none of them are attending with me so I very much doubt I get out the robes. It's sort of disappointing. Randye keeps telling me I can but it's not fun when 1) you're given permission and 2) no one is doing it with you!. Maybe we'll just have to wear our house badges (although I don't know where mine is anymore). Do you still have yours? They were just paper, after all!
Hard to believe that the last time we dressed up was the last time we'll dress up. *frowns* So I'm glad we did!
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Date: 2011-07-08 02:16 pm (UTC)From:Of course, I could always just make new ones!
no subject
Date: 2011-07-08 04:18 pm (UTC)From:I've never been strongly involved in the HP fandom, but I've read all the books, read fanfic, seen the movies thus far. It's been amazing. Like you, I'm older. I was in my mid twenties when the books came out and no-one was expecting it to be such a huge sensation.
I never felt it was wrong to read them - I'll read what I like, thank you, haters - but I remember some nasty articles about adults reading children's books. As if we don't all need some magic in our mundane lives, some way to re-live childhood in our imaginations.
I've never done a character stamp but I strongly suspect I'm a Ravenclaw :D
It really is the end of an era, and I think it's not only acceptable but necessary for people to acknowledge and even mourn it, however they want to.