I Wish Hogwarts Was a Real School Dammit

Whenever I tell people that I’m taking the Rhetoric of Harry Potter class, people look at me like I’m crazy and then they realize it’s a fucking Harry Potter class and start asking me all of these questions about it - a lot of them are pretty good and valid questions like what it’s like, do we just sit there and talk about Harry Potter all day, or what? 

There has been more than one occasion where people have asked me whether or not I like the class and sometimes I love it and sometimes I don’t, mostly because writing is the bane of my existence. Sure, it’s good and all, but when you have to sit there and just write and do research, KILL ME NOOOOW. Actually, I take that back… writing isn’t all that bad, it’s the research that kills me because I can never ever find what I want and what I want is sometimes buried somewhere in a book that I can’t find or remember where I found. Research to me seems like an art because you literally have to sit there and just click through websites to find what you need and then use it to your advantage. I’ve done research all this semester for other classes and it’s one of the most boring things I have to do. Not gonna lie though, all of the stuff that Foley taught us in the class on how to research and what not did actually come in handy for the other research papers I had to write, but research is still the bane of my existence. 

Well, I didn’t actually finish the 4th book so does that mean I technically stopped at the 3rd book? Honestly, I really don’t know why I stopped at the 4th book. I remember getting that book in the mail from Amazon when I was younger. My mom allowed me and my sister one thing to keep up from the summer and OMG, she was going to order it from Amazon. Excitement! I got the Goblet of Fire and my sister got some My Little Pony book. I remember reading through it and just got… bored. I had read the first 3 books on my own just fine, but seeing the monster that Goblet was, I’m pretty sure me and my mom almost fainted. Haha. I never finished the 4th book and probably never will because I have the movies. Okay, throw your tomatoes, cans, and all forms of trash at me, but I’ve tried more than once to get through that book with no such luck of ever finishing it. 

I’m pretty sure that by this time, the storylines in the book get really intricate and I couldn’t keep things straight. Reading for pleasure is really hard for me to do now because of school. Heck, I’ve been in school since freshmen year of HIGH SCHOOL. Summer school… yay. I never had the time to actually sit down and just read, but maybe when I graduate, I might just find the time to ready the rest of the series. 

Alright, Kids. So you got into this class, so now what? You expect to talk about the latest gossip about Harry Potter, talk about the Quidditch Team on campus (shout out to Spencer), and pretty much anything and everything that relates to Harry Potter, right? Well… that’s true, but mostly wrong. For most of the semester, I felt like we had a few things here and there were strictly Harry Potter, but all of it had to do with why they were controversial or why it was rhetorical. 

If you’re like me, you know, one of the kids who stopped half way in the series, you’re going to do just fine here. You wanna know why? FOLEY! Homegirl makes you work at this class, but it’s worth it because you actually learn about your writing style and how to write better because let’s face it, before you got into this rhetoric class, you were writing boring ass papers about who knows what. Sure, the class is a little hard to follow sometimes because if you didn’t read the books, you’re not really sure what half of the stuff people talk about in the first few minutes of class, but don’t just be there for the books or because you think it’s a blow off class (because it’s not). Go into it with intentions to actually improve your writing. If you think you know how to write, you’re wrong because you can always do better.

Always remember, the first HP class is and always be the best. Here’s to Rhetoric of Harry Potter Class of Fall 2010! :] 

Sooo Tumblr is stupid and I don’t know why it’s not letting me reply to your post. Sorry, but here’s the low-down. Another blog post! Huzzah! Thanks, Cat. LOL

All rides have weight and size restrictions, but most rides have modified seating for heavier set people. The Forbidden Journey does/did not so when they first opened so people stood in line for HOURS to find that they once they got up to ride, they were not able to get the correct number of clicks that was deemed safe enough for them to ride. They were asked to leave - they had to get up from the seat in front of their friends, familie and random people and leave the ride. I mean, it’s pretty embarrassing and a slap in the face. There were no test seats (to my knowledge) that let people test to see if they could fit, but they’ve installed those already. Another thing that got people a pretty angry is that Dwight Howard, 6’11” and 265 lbs got to ride where as another person who was 5’9” and 265 lbs was not. So it’s also dimension and proportions that’s also taken to account.

America’s waistline is expanding so it’s weird that Universal Studios did not account for the issue. I thought it was an interesting issue to talk about because it got so much press, but Universal quietly installed the seats without fanfare, but I’m not quite sure how it’s working out. 

… and another post to my quota…

In the paper that we just wrote, I wrote about how larger Harry Potter fans were turned away from riding the Forbidden Journey at Universal Studio’s The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I know, I know. Contain your excitement. When Harry Potter fans were sitting ready to be strapped down for the ride, many did not know that in order for you to get the okay to ride, you needed to have 3 clicks. I basically said that Universal needs to move quickly to remedy this problem because they’re gonna lose big money and perhaps a lot of fans. Okay… maybe not a lot of fans because Harry Potter had a build in fan base, but lots and lots moolah. 

After I turned in my paper, I kind of wondered if they had actually done anything since this whole controversy thing happened. Turns out, to my surprise, they did. A couple of months ago, Universal moved to install seats at the end of the Enchanted Benches that were modified to fit heavier set guests. They still have to get the 3 clicks in order to ride, but this is a move in the right direction. So, Universal, I applaud you, but not gonna lie… you’ve kind of moved down the lists of brownie points. 

BOB MARLEY BABY! Because some people haven’t seen it.

Negotiating Spaces for/through Third-Wave Feminism - http://bit.ly/cDIjaU

Who Are Feminists and What Do They Believe? The Role of Generations - http://bit.ly/bMfSgO

References: Harry’s Girls: Harry Potter and the Discourse of Gender - http://bit.ly/aKxbon

Politics by Other Means: Feminism and Mainstream Science Studies - http://bit.ly/c0iYKY

Feminism, Postmodernism, and Psychological Research - http://bit.ly/a1imLO

Man… I so feel like this right now. LOL

Find a partner.

Tell  your partner what you want to write about. If you don’t know, write down 2-3 topics that interest you.

— I’m writing about the controversy surrounding the Harry Potter theme park and the it’s most coveted ride - The Forbidden Journey. People should boycott the ride until it’s right for everyone to ride…. oooor… Universal Studios need to work faster to make seats that work for everyone. Something along those lines. I think the controversy is really interesting because Harry Potter fans come in more than size small.

Tell your partner how you want to write what you want to write—do you want to be informative, snarky, funny, serious?

— I want to be able to be informative, but I’m a pretty snarky individual so I’m going to slip in a few quips here and there. Readers should be able to feel enlightened by what I write about.

Together—

Look at blogs. You don’t have to agree with each other, but find a variety of blogs that you think are worthy or not worthy of imitation based on how you want to sound.

Find 5 blogs whose style you would like to imitate.

http://www.boingboing.net/

http://banksleethethreeclicks.blogspot.com/

http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/ — my favorite. 

http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com

http://newsfeed.time.com/

Explain what you like about each one.

BoingBoing.net - This blog is a little self-deprecating, but it’s definitely not at the top of my list of the kinds of blogs I want to imitate. The information is a little political centric, but I like how not serious they are, but still try to make it a little informational.

Banks Lee and the Three Clicks - Banks Lee inspired my topic so it HAS to be included, right? His writing isn’t really anything to faint over, but it’s inspirational and has gathered national attention since he started.

ONTD - FAVORITE BLOG EVER. It’s not really a blog… it’s more like a conglomeration of celebrity news with commentary. It’s flippin’ hilarious.

Stuff White People Like - Come on. Who doesn’t love how they write. This is probably how I most want to imitate my style.

Newsfeed.time.com - This is a little gem. You wouldn’t think that this exists on Time.com, but this one isn’t as… snarky as SWPL, but this another one that I think I want to imitate my style from.

Find 5 blogs whose style you do not want to imitate.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com

http://www.perezhilton.com

http://icanhascheezburger.com/

http://www.drudgereport.com/

http://www.tmz.com/

Explain what you do not like about each one.

Huffington Post - Ugh. I’ve found great things on here before, but it’s really kind of on two ends of the spectrum. Some posts seem pretty serious and others not so much? Pick a side dammit.

PerezHilton - I love me some Perez Hilton, but honestly, I only look at this blog when I’m bored. It’s really just a conglomeration of other news stories and most of the time he talks about himself and he thinks that the world revolves around him. Merrrh.

I can has cheezburgers - This was funny the first time and now it makes you look stoopid.

DrudgeReport - Yeah, no.

TMZ.com - They are usually the first people to report on celebrity news, but they’re kind of bitchy and obnoxious, which is what I don’t want to be.