HPA Featured in L.A . Times

In the News

Posted by: sue

July 20, 2009, 07:53 AM

The ongoing efforts of the Harry Potter Alliance are featured again in the press, this time in a new article from the L.A. Times. Noting again the charitable and social awareness activities and campaigns by the group, the piece points out that the HPA and Harry Potter fans "accomplishments include signing up new voters at Wizard Rock the Vote events, collecting over 13,000 donated books to give to local community centers and a youth center in Rwanda and raising $15,000 for the Genocide Intervention Network's civilian protection program for displaced Darfuris and Burmese." In an interview with founder Andrew Slack, we also learn about plans for a new book involving the fans and the current "What Would Dumbledore Do" campaign.

"Using the recent release of the movie "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" as a platform to re-energize a fan base that might be losing interest after the culmination of the Potter narrative in 2007, Slack is working on his own book and inviting Potter fans to assist in its writing. It's called "What Would Dumbledore Do?" and he envisions it as a self-help guide to living in the world according to the tenets of Albus Dumbledore. He describes it as "Eckhart Tolle's 'A New Earth,' but written through the prism of Harry Potter." To that end he has asked fans to share what they've learned from Dumbledore on an open blog at WhatWouldDumbledoreDo.org.

"[Dumbledore] is a fictional character, nobody here is delusional," he said over the phone from his home in Boston, speaking at his usual mile-a-minute pace, "but so many of us have looked up to him. He is a comfort, a support. He is the wizard who always made Harry feel safe. What does it mean to be like him? And how does that affect our view of public policy? That's where things get really interesting."

Update: You can also see this scan of TLC staffer James featured in the UK Nottingham Evening News about his involvement with the HPA at the release of Half-Blood Prince.

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29 Comments

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34 Points

Wow this is amazing! Great job

Posted by LilySev777 on July 20, 2009, 08:12 AM report to moderator

4452 Points

awesum!!!!!!!!

Posted by Beazy :) (Formerly: MidnightSun321 ) {!!ROAR!!} on July 20, 2009, 08:41 AM report to moderator

141 Points

That’s GREAT!!!

Posted by minishiva on July 20, 2009, 09:17 AM report to moderator

510 Points

Glad the HPA is finally getting some well deserved attention from the media for its amazing work although I didn’t like the line “a fan base that might be losing interest after the culmination of the potter narrative in 2007”. Where are all these media people getting this crap from that we’re losing interest? HBP made $20 million more domestically than OOTP did in its first five days, yep that clearly means that we’ve all lost interest!

Posted by bella vita on July 20, 2009, 09:22 AM report to moderator

2394 Points

I love this new What Would Dumbledore Do campaign and love the doctrines that come out every once in a while. Also I can’t wait for the book to come out, speaking of LA times read their review of HBP on that link also which was really good. Really tapped into not only why the film was good but how each in the series are dependable and consistently good- which is so rare in movie world when you think about it

Posted by KiwiMcI on July 20, 2009, 09:42 AM report to moderator

The WWDD campaign has also been focussed on in media outside the US. The Nottingham Evening Post in the UK ran a story this week in their EG entertainment guide section regarding the campaign, scans of which can be found online at:
http://i690.photobucket.com/albums/vv268/Kayrakise/img003.jpg

Its so great to see this campaign being focussed in so many different areas!

Posted by Jrg1990 on July 20, 2009, 09:59 AM report to moderator