a (fake) Encyclopedia of Feminism According to Harry Potter

I saw this on Ekaterina Sedia's twitter feed.  I have one of Ms. Sedia's steampunk novels, The Alchemy of Stone.  I give it a B.  The story, plot, and world building was interesting, but emotionally it didn't grab me.

Anyway, she found a (fake) table of contents for a this encyclopedia, written in Russian.  She's translated it.

The link is here: http://squirrel-monkey.livejournal.com/180067.html

and I've reposted the whole thing here.

If this was a real book, in English, I'd love to read it.

Russian Language Harry Potter Fandom is Awesome

• Feb. 20th, 2012 at 9:27 PM

So blades_of_grass linked to this amazing Table of Contents, posted here, and authored by (c) sadcrixivan, frau_derrida, _palka. This is meant to be a ToC for ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FEMINISM ACCORDING TO HARRY POTTER. Of course, as it’s third wave, there are quite a few intersectional articles. What I want to know is why is this not real!

Anyway, blades_of_grass kindly asked for permission to translate this gem on my behalf, because I feel everyone should see this. With many thanks to the talented authors, here’s my translation:

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FEMINISM ACCORDING TO HARRY POTTER.

The Practice of Female Separatism in Daily Life of Luna Lovegood

Hermione Granger on Liberal Feminism

Female Empowerment in Academia Through the Eyes of Minerva McGonagall

Women in Politics: The Dilemma of Dolores Umbridge

Women in the Military and Psychological Violence: The Case of Bellatrix Lestrange

Consequences of Limiting Abortion Rights: The Tragedy of Lily Potter

The Death Toll of Unpaid Labor: The Duel of Molly Weasley and Bellatrix Lestrange

Replication of Violent Family Practices: Family Strategies of Nymphadora Tonks

The Duality of Economic Strategies for Women: Narcissa Malfoy

The Internalized Misogyny Among Successful Women: Rita Skeeter

Woman as a Scapegoat in Political Processes: Marietta Edgecombe

Forced Marriage as a Conduit of Classism: Pansy Parkinson

Fatphobia: Millicent Bulstrode

Ridicule of Victims of Violence as a Form of Demonization: Moaning Myrtle

The Founders of Hogwarts, or Men are Always in Charge: False Equality

Hufflepuff and the "Virtue of the Working Class": The Silent Majority

Cho Chang: The Relations with Racial and Ethnic Minorities as a Casual Entertainment

The Marriage of Ginny Weasley: "Woman Exchange"

Good Homosexual is a Well-Educated White Men with No Sexual Liaisons: Albus Dumbledore

Polyamory and Childfree Lifestyle -- Self-Positioning of Bellatrix Lestrange

Ariana Dumbledore: Murder of a Disabled Person as a Social Necessity

Argus Filch: Even Harry and Ron Can Laugh at the Handicapped

Goblins: The Apotheosis of the British Antisemitic Tradition

Flitwick and Hagrid: Ethnic Minorities Will Always Clean Up After You, or Uncle Tom in Hogwarts

If the Protagonist is Fed, Slavery is Awesome: House Elves

Only Stupid Girls Fight Slavery

Hermione Granger: A Good Woman Defends Others' Rights and Provides Others' Lessons

Alcoholism and the Esoteric: Coping Mechanisms under Conditions of Discrimination

House Elves: Just Like Women, Only Ugly and Invisible

Pomona Sprout: Good Girls are Liked but not Noticed

Professor Vector, or Anonymity of Women in Mathematics

Poppy Pomfrey: a Subservient Suffragette, or the Outcome of Courses of Higher Women's Studies in St Petersburg

Bellatrix Lestrange and Luna Lovegood: Psychiatric Disabilities and Ableism in Hogwarts

Luna Lovegood, Tom Riddle, Harry Potter" Good Children Don't Get PTSD

Luna Lovegood: Forced Acceptance into the Family Strategies of Psychological Repression

Conventional Man is Allowed Anger but not Grief. Harry Potter: The Masculinity Trap

Remus Lupin and the "Good Cripple" Archetype

Rolanda Hooch: Professional Women's Athletics as Deviation

Molly Weasley and Fleur Delacourt: Differentiation Between Women as a Tool of Oppression

Deathly Hallows Pt 2 tonight

Am going to the midnight showing tonight of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. Am really looking forward to it; have been trying to avoid spoilers, unlike in the past. Will also bring kleenex. It'll be the end of ... not an era, but a huge end. I've been a fan of the books from the start and will be sad to see it end.

Will have to give Pottermore a look later on.

New Browncoats and a lovely day

Today was a really good day. in the 50s F. Husband and I walked 4 miles round trip from our place next to Centennial Olympic Park, through part of Old Fourth Ward, to Inman Park for lunch. We pretty much took Baker Street the whole way. We started in the heart of downtown, walking past skyscrapers, passed over the interstate that goes through the middle of Atlanta, past revitalized neighborhoods and into Atlanta's first suburb.

We had lunch at Pure Taqueria which was very good. We shared an appetizer and an entree and that was quite enough for both of us. We did the same thing at dinner last night too. I think this will be our habit from now on. We both turned 40 this year. We know we have to try harder to take care of ourselves. We haven't been to the gym much since summer ended so today's walk and the sharing one entree is a pretty nice way of doing it.

Plus, this workweek, I did not eat one dinner at home. I had evening meetings or I went out with friends or with Husband.

Wed night I watched Four Days of DragonCon, produced by PBA, Public Broadcasting Atlanta. They're selling it to other public broadcasting stations. So if you want to see it in your city, call your local public broadcasting station and ask them to buy it and show it.

Sneek peak on you tube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQcW65nzQUY

I have a friend who works at PBA so she had a copy and invited friends over to see it. It was fun and she reminded me that I was supposed to lend her my Firefly DVDs.

Thursday, she and I went out for dinner at the Stone Bowl House/Woo Nam Jeong Korean restaurant. I gave her the DVDs then. May convert yet another fan.

And I added a link in my side bar to Mark Watches. He apparently is wrapping up his first viewing of Firefly and will start Dr. Who next. He's also a Harry Potter fan, so what's not to like?

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part One

Loved. It.

Loved. It.

Loved. It.

There was some gratuitous skin but I think over all it worked well to illuminate the relationships and emotions.

And it renewed my affection for Ron. He's like Xander. Harry = Buffy, Hermione = Willow, Ron = Xander. I just love the guys who are witty, funny, not necessarily the alpha or hero, and still throws himself into the fray and does what he can.

Now there's an idea: watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 1, read Harry Potter book 1, etc.

The friend who I went to see the movie with suggested having a marathon for watching all the Harry Potter movies, maybe over the summer. The next, and last, movie comes out next July....

Buffy in college

I've started season 4 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and have to say that I like this season better so far.

I think it's because I had a great time in college so just am more charitable towards it. Plus students at college have so much more freedom that it's a bit more believable (the demons and vampires aside) that Buffy et al could be student by day, demon-hunter by night.

Plus the relationship issues are more realistic. After all, college is where people start having the casual flings, like Parker. Or is that just me?

I like the Riley/Buffy parallel, if not the relationship. Riley working for the Initiative also calls to mind "Chuck vs. the Alma Mater" with the students working undercover for the CIA or who ever.

I'm looking forward to seeing how Xander/Anya unfolds. I like that she's like Cordelia -- straight forward, telling it like how she sees it. Like Luna Lovegood. Again with the Harry Potter comparisons, but that's a standard character trope.

Speaking of which, I've found a fun website, http://www.tvtropes.org/. It analyzes books, movies, comics, and yes TV shows for the story telling tricks of the trade.

Buffy vs. Firefly vs. Harry Potter

So I have gotten through half of season 3 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, to the show "Doppelgangland" where VampWillow is brought into Sunnydale from the alternate universe shown in "The Wish."

In this episode the insecure, fuzzy sweatered Willow of our world is contrasted with confident sexy VampWillow and it highlighted for me the reason why I still prefer Firefly.

Firefly is set in an adult world and Buffy is set in high school, and I'm just not into high school shenanigans. BtVS is about high school and insecurity, with demons and vampires as metaphors for growing up. I'm already grown up and don't want to have to go through that again.

I'm not sure why that's an issue for me since I love the Harry Potter books, which is set in a school too. I think with HP, it's in a book form, which allows for more exposition about the big themes, like human rights and the rights of sentient beings not to be subjugated because they are the "wrong" caste or "wrong" species.

With Buffy, since it's an action adventure teen TV show, there's not the same amount of room or format for that kind of discussion.

What I like about the DVDs is that I can fast forward through the fight scenes, and there is a fight scene, every episode, and fast forward through the Buffy/Angel angst scenes. In this way, I can watch an episode in about 30 to 35 minutes instead of the 45 minute run time. Pretty efficient.

The Firefly verse seems more real to me. The issues are more salient for me. I identify so much with Zoe: I'm married to a great guy, we have a happy marriage, no angst unlike the love triangle/quadrangle/dodecahedrons going on in Buffy, I'm a strong sexy woman, heck, I'm a woman of color (leaving aside the fact that the Firefly verse is supposed to be a merge of Chinese and US cultures, yet none of the main characters are of Asian descent).

I identify with Mal: I have a disparate group of people I'm supposed to be leading and trying to keep flying. However, with much, much less violence, not that I'm not tempted now and again.

Still, I'm enjoying Buffy and the teen angst certainly didn't stop me from devouring all the Twilight books.

Hulu and the parallels between The Whedonverse and the Rowlingverse

My Buffy DVDs still aren't here so I'm watching it on Hulu.com. For a few days there, I forgot about Hulu. Then I decided that since I bought the DVDs, I'd rather wait and watch on my big TV instead of the little netbook. Plus, Hulu freezes on me sometimes and that's kind of annoying.
However, tonight I gave in and watched the What's My Line Pt 1 and 2 where Willow and Oz finally meet, Xander and Cordelia hook up, Kendra the Vampire Slayer shows up, and Drucilla becomes strong again. In these two episodes in Season Two the show deepened and broadened.

A few thoughts, fresh from watching:
1. Drucilla and Spike make me think of River and Simon from Firefly. Dru/River is the weak/crazy one who needs looking after but then becomes the really strong ones who protect Spike/Simon. The difference though is Drucilla and Spike's devotion is based on lust and River and Simon's on sibling love.
2. Introducing Kendra from a different country is like the Quidditch World Cup in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The larger world of the supernatural/wizards is brought to the main characters' world. The mythology of the story is cracked open and set in a global context, which I just love.

Goblet of Fire is my favorite HP book because of that. JKRowling called it her pivotal book where the series grows up, opens up, and introduces more explicitly more serious issues like rights for all sentients beings, and the reality of Voldemort and evil comes out.

And the romantic relationships among the main characters in both series become more serious too. I'm really looking forward to seeing how the rest of Buffy develops. Not sure what I think of Xander and Cordelia but it could give hints of how Zoe and Wash got together. Because not everyone gets them at first.

Sigh. I love Zoe and Wash.

ETA on July 28: just got a call that I have a package waiting for me. Is it finally my Buffy DVDs? Now I'm extra motivated to finish this freaking grant proposal and go home to find out.

Character Development, Part One: Harry Potter and Joss Whedon universes

Saturday, Brother One and I had a really enjoyable conversation about character development.

He's writing a book, a trilogy actually, and asked me who my favorite fictional characters are and why. Immediately I mentioned Hermione, Luna, and Snape from Harry Potter and Wash from Firefly.

For me, the things I like about characters are that they contain shades of grey, are believable multi-dimensional people, and have meaning on their own and not exist just to be a foil or support for other characters.

For example, I really like Snape because he has so many layers. At the beginning of the series, you think he's the bad guy but as the series goes on, he turns out to be a good guy who used to be a bad guy. And even if he is a good guy, it doesn't mean he automatically likes Harry.

Another character I love is Luna. She's in Ravenclaw which values brains, so you'd think Hermione would be in Ravenclaw. But Luna's the kooky one, the one who looks at things from an unconventional perspective and so people harrass her for it. However, it's important to have people who bring a different perspective to help figure things out. She's like River that way from Firefly. They're the characters who most people think are crazy, but they're the wise fool who shouldn't be ignored.

Clearly these are all stock character types: the hero, the anti-hero, the goof, the smart one, the villian, the wise counsel, the wise fool, and so on. As we talked about the characters, we also talked about what type they are.

Speaking of villians, I thought the Malfoys were well developed. You understood where they were coming from, even if you didn't agree. They were the rich, powerful elite, born into those positions, and people don't give up power and position easily. So that makes sense and there were enough details given for them, and Voldemort, to make them multi-diensional, believable characters.

Others, however, like Crabbe and Goyle, existed only to be goons and didn't have any dimension or existance beyond that.

That brings me to Wash from Firefly. I love Wash. He brings the funny. And he brings the piloting skills. So there was a real reason for him to exist, not just to be the funny guy. He doesn't do much fighting and we don't see him working out like Jayne and Book and yet he's so buff underneath the baggy clothes. And the fact that he's married to serious, kick-ass (literally) Zoe who didn't like him when they first met, obviously hints at layers for them both that we never got to find out in the series because the show got cancelled after one season and then Wash got killed in Serenity the movie. Dammit.

The same thing with Book. He's a preacher now, but every episode, he'd say things that showed he had a military or fighting kind of background. The other characters would ask "how does a preacher know about blah, blah, blah weaponry?" But he'd refuse to answer every time. And now we won't know his story either because he got killed off in Serenity too. Dammit.

So back to the stock characters. The man of violence who then becomes a man of peace, like Book, is a stock character. He's like Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer who provides the wise counsel to the main character. And Boyd from Dollhouse who is the morally upstanding protective character who works in a morally corrupt place. Are they all variations on the same stock character?

And so on. Brother One and I stayed up until 1:30am talking about characters from the Harry Potter and Joss Whedon universes. I haven't seen Buffy, but Brother One's friend lent me season one. Now that I'm really getting into Whedon's work, I should probably watch Buffy, where it all began.

Actually that's not where it all began since he did write for Roseanne, but that's another reason to like Whedon. Not only are strong female characters one of his hallmarks, as well as the witty dialog, but I used to love Roseanne. Because she's a strong female character! And I love the smart funny. Especially if delivered by the shirtless hunk. I think I covered that in a previous post. Here's another link for pics, http://hotgeeks.blogspot.com/2008/10/alan-tudyk.html The naked picture from Death at a Funeral is the last one.

Harry Potter Anime in 2012?

For real, or is it an April Fool's joke?

Article and pictures at:
http://firefox.org/news/articles/1351/1/Firefox-News-Exclusive-Information-and-Pics-About-the-Harry-Potter-Anime/Page1.html

If true, then that's just too cool!

Dumbledore is gay

Here's the transcript to the JK Rowling talk where she answers people's questions, including if Dumbledore ever found love. The answer: yes, with Grindewald.

http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/2007/10/20/j-k-rowling-at-carnegie-hall-reveals-dumbledore-is-gay-neville-marries-hannah-abbott-and-scores-more

As JKR said herself, this'll be one more thing for the Christians to get all upset about. The rest of us will just take it in stride.

Now I really have to re-read the books.

"Lesser" Harry Potter character quiz

Take the survey and find out which lesser character you are - I turned out to be Bill Weasly - "I'm cool, really cool"

http://atypically.net/hp/lesser.shtml

The Yarn Harlot is Coming! The Yarn Harlot is Coming!

To Atlanta, finally.

Stephanie Pearl McPhee will be coming September 19 to read from her latest book, Stephanie Pearl McPhee Casts Off!

It's being organized by my favorite yarn shop, Knitch. They began taking reservations this morning at Knitchknitting.com and I got myself registered ASAP.

There are clips of her talks on You Tube (everything's on You Tube), but it'll be really nice to see her in person, and to knit in public en masse and surprise the Muggles.

Speaking of Muggles, I work with Muggles, in the Harry Potter sense. One co-worker doesn't like fantasy because she anything that isn't realistic and "normal" freaks her out.

What I like about HP is that wizarding is a subculture that most mainstream don't understand. That resonates with me because knitting is a misunderstood subculture. And I work with refugees and the majority of Americans have no idea who refugees are (those who flee persecution and can't go back to their home country). Given the general state of zenophobia going on, refugees get lumped in with all foreigners who should all be deported. There was an article in the Atlanta paper that illustrates this zenophobia. It's reprinted below.

Anyway, the Yarn Harlot is coming, that's definitely a good thing to look forward to.

Asylum a tough sell in Atlanta
Immigration courts here OK lowest percentage of cases of the top 17 courts in U.S.
By Anna VarelaThe Atlanta Journal-ConstitutionPublished on: 07/29/07

As an immigration attorney, Charles Kuck has found himself in an awkward spot with potential clients from Colombia. If they want to apply for asylum to avoid getting deported to their home country, he advises them to move out of Georgia before filing a claim.

"That's prudence," said Kuck, who knows that Colombians dramatically improve their odds of winning an asylum case by having it heard almost anywhere but Atlanta. "They approve fewer cases percentage-wise than any immigration court in the United States," said Kuck, an Atlanta attorney who is president-elect of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

A recent study titled "Refugee Roulette" found that 12 percent of all asylum claims heard by Atlanta's immigration courts are approved, the lowest percentage among 17 courts that hear large numbers of cases. The national average among "high-volume" immigration courts was a 40 percent approval rate.

People from Colombia and China are almost certain to be denied, according to the study released this spring by three law professors and scheduled for publication in the Stanford Law Review in November.

Cases filed by Colombians had a 19 percent approval rate in Atlanta's courts, compared to 36 percent nationwide and 63 percent in Orlando. Asylum applicants from China won 7 percent of their claims in Atlanta. That's well below the 47 percent approval rate nationwide and the 76 percent approval rate in Orlando's immigration courts.

Under U.S. law, asylum can be granted to immigrants who are likely to face persecution if they return to their home countries. Typically, asylum seekers must prove they could face imprisonment, torture or death because of their political views, race, religion or membership in an ethnic group.

Tewodros "Teddy" Dagne is one of the lucky ones who won his asylum case. The native of Ethiopia fled his home country in 1999 because his work for a human rights group put his life at risk. Dagne, 31, said one of his colleagues was shot dead by government soldiers and Dagne started getting phone calls telling him to stop his investigations of government torture and killing of dissidents.

"When this kind of threat comes from the top governing body, there's no way to protect yourself," said Dagne, now the editor of Dinq Ethiopian Magazine in Atlanta. "They can do anything they want."

H. Glenn Fogle Jr., an Atlanta immigration attorney, said he has represented clients in asylum cases in about 20 immigration courts in the United States. Outside Atlanta, he said he has lost about 3 out of 100 cases. Here, he said he loses 90-95 percent of the time.

Part of the problem, he says, is that most of Atlanta's immigration judges used to work for the government, making them more likely to side with the government lawyers who go into court trying to block asylum petitions. Official biographies of Atlanta's four immigration judges show that three of them used to work as lawyers for the Department of Homeland Security, or the former Immigration and Naturalization Service.

"You have basically the equivalent of prosecutors being the judges now," Fogle said. "They don't believe anybody, they don't want to believe anybody."

The immigration courts are part of the Department of Justice. The department does not allow immigration judges to be interviewed.

One of Atlanta's judges, William A. Cassidy, is considered one of the toughest in the nation when it comes to denying asylum petitions. Over a five-year period, Cassidy denied slightly more than 93 percent of the 926 cases that he decided, according to a different study that was conducted by Syracuse University. During that period —- 2000-2005 —- the denial rate nationwide was close to 62 percent, according to the 2006 study.

That put Cassidy in the top 10 in denying asylum requests, according to the study's analysis of 224 immigration judges who decided at least 100 cases.

Phil Kent, spokesman for Americans for Immigration Control, said he's pleased that Atlanta's immigration court is tough on asylum-seekers. Kent said it's likely that local judges are following the letter of the law more closely than in some other jurisdictions.

"Just like with our borders, workplace verification and everything else on this issue [immigration], we do need to tighten up on asylum," said Kent, a former editorial page editor of the Augusta Chronicle.

Kuck, the immigration attorney, called Cassidy "a good, fair judge" who probably sees asylum as a form of protection that should only be granted in extraordinary cases.

But Kuck said there is a problem when similar cases can be treated so differently across the country. "It says our system is broken."

Finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- No Spoilers

At about 3:30pm today I started reading Deathly Hallows and now at 1:30am I have finished it. I even took a break for dinner.

First of all, it was a very good read and a satisfactory end to the series. And secondly, I was right about half my predictions.

All week, I would get a little sad, thinking that the last book was coming and that the story would be over. I was also a little sad that this was my best employee's last week. Fortunately I've got someone already to take over that position and another new employee coming on, who will fill a big gap that we've had for about a year.

But anyway, back to Deathly Hallows. Like all the other HP books, it was fast paced and suspenseful. As in the other books, there are choices to be made and you never know what's going to happen. And the emotions and characters are believable, as always, though I wish some characters would be deepened.

As I read, I did not try to predict what would happen. I just enjoyed how it unfolded.

Tomorrow I will swim laps, which always puts me in a contemplative frame of mind. As my body goes though the motions and I go back and forth, back and forth in the pool, I will think about DH and the whole HP series. Maybe I'll have some more thoughts to add. But how to post again without giving spoilers?

At some point, I will reread the entire series. Now that I know how it all ends, it will be interesting to look for all the foreshadowing JKR puts in.

As mentioned in the New York Times review, there is an epilogue that tells you what happens to some of the characters afterwards. However, it doesn't address the fates of all the characters. I would love if JKR writes another book, kind of like Fantastical Beasts and Where to Find Them, that extends the epilogue and tells us what happens to all the other characters. Or to really write Hogwarts, A History.

What an amazing world JKR has created. What an incredible 10 years this has been!

Order of the Phoenix

In preparation for watching Order of the Phoenix tonight, I rewatched Goblet of Fire. Again, I was disappointed at how much was left out, but what can you do? GoF is a big book and there's no way it could all fit in one movie.

Husband did come to see OotP with me and Brother One. Not having read the book, he was a bit lost. Especially about how the other kids could ride the thestrals when only Harry and Luna could see them. Just because they're not always visible doesn't mean they don't exist.

Like everyone else, I thought Imelda Staunton did a great job as Dolores Jane Umbridge. Evanna Lynch did a good job as Luna Lovegood, and I liked how Neville really grew, starting with GoF. I wish they would give Ron more to do than just be the goofy friend.

I didn't like that they made Cho be the one to betray Dumbledore's Army, but they did provide a good explanation for why she did it, later.

There are glimpses of Ginny's jealosy of Cho and interest in Harry, which is very interesting considering Ginny and Harry hook up in Half Blood Prince. But then, ever since Chamber of Secrets, you knew that Ginny had a crush on Harry.

And Ginny is shown as having really strong magical skills. I like Ginny in the books but don't like how Bonnie Wright portrays her. I always imagined that Ginny has more sass than we see in the movies.

I think I need to see OotP again. There were times, especially when they were in the Ministry of Magic, that I wanted to pause the movie to look closer at the details. And I wanted to slow down the fight scenes to better understand what was going on.

All in all, I enjoyed the movie and look forward to buying the DVD. Hope there are good extras.

Predictions

In exactly one week, I will have in my hot little hands, the last Harry Potter book. I will be unavailable for anything other than eating and possibly sleeping until the book is done. Which would be the next day. Definitely by Monday I would be done.

Okay, here are some of my predictions. It will be interesting to see how they compare to what actually happens. After I read Deathly Hallows, I'll post again. Not to give away any spoilers, but just to say "50% (or whatever) of my predictions were right" or "This is just as good as Goblet of Fire." Things like that. I personally don't mind spoilers. Even if someone had told me that Dumbledore died and Snape's the one who did it, I would still read it to know how it happened.

So here are my predictions:

1. There will not be a happy Hollywood ending.
It'll be more like "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" where the main characters do not live happily ever after. Rather, some live, some die, and life goes on, with both regrets and some satisfactions. You know, like real life, after war. Some soldiers come home as heros, but that fades, and some come home and eventually end up homeless.

2. People who live:
Hermione, Ron and all the Weasleys, the Dursleys, Neville, Luna, all the other kids in Hogwarts. That includes Draco, who I think will survive, but with consequences.
Hagrid, McGonnegal, Trelawney, all the other teachers and adults at Hogwarts. Yes, I think Snape lives.
All but one or two of the Order of the Phoenix. JKR killed off Dumbledore and Sirius, and it is battle, so people on both sides will die.

3. People who die:
Harry, Voldemort, maybe Bellatrix, maybe Lucius

4. If these people die, I would be so sad:
Hermione, Ron and all the Weasleys, Neville, Luna, Hagrid, McGonnegal, Trelawney.

5. Relationships: Harry comes to his senses and goes back to Ginny. Ron and Hermione finally hookup. Luna and Neville do not hook up. That would just be too neat.

6. Characters who become prominent:
Neville becomes a crucially deciding factor. How, I don’t have any idea. It would be really cool if Neville rises up like Eowyn killing the King of the Nazgul. Like he mortally wounds Voldemort, Voldemort weakened still manages to fatally wound Harry, and Harry deals the killing blow and then dies of his wounds. But more probably, Neville and Bellatrix will have a showdown.
Luna makes a prediction. Not like Trelawney's predictions, but more like she sees something that the others don't. She's the one who thinks way outside the box and goes against conventional wisdom and so she perceives things that others don't and kind of dismiss because she seems like such a flake.
Snape turns out to be good and he does something as critically important as killing Dumbledore and being revealed as the Half-Blood Prince.

6. Characters and elements we see again:
We see the larger, international wizarding world again like we saw in Goblet of Fire, my favorite so far. The giants, house elves, centaurs, and other nonhumans play crucial roles.

7. A yarn shop opens in Hogsmeade :) And not managed by Fred and George. Who will continue to be very successful.

8. Neither Harry nor his scar is a horcrux.

9. Kreacher helped R.A.B.

Okay, this is a partial list. Probably during this week I will come back and edit this post to add more. But will stop once I get the book.

Can. Not. Wait.

The only thing I can control

Over the weekend, after Husband's family left, I spent the weekend watching the Harry Potter movies on ABC Family channel and knitting on Sister's sweater, the Bi-colored Cables.
After much counting of rows and stitches, it turns out that the two sleeves were differents widths was because I knitted more rows on one than the other, hence there were more decreases on one than the other.

All the knitting is now done and now I am seaming the sleeves. Then sew up the turned under hems. Oh, I still have to knit the hems of the sleeves, but that shouldn't be too hard.

So as I finish up one project, I am thinking ahead to a new project. Never mind that still on the needles are:
1. Sister's sweater -- it may be close to done, but it's not done yet.
2. Husband's afghan -- I need more Cascade 22o in Kentucky Blue. However, on a yarn diet until we recovered from the spending from last week. You know how it is, with family visiting, there's more eating at restaurants and more people to feed. And oops, unexpected car issues.
3. Lace scarf for me -- using Bamboo yarn from Southwest Trading Company in Butter. It's their simplest wide-bordered scarves from Victorian Lace Today, the one for beginners. It's my portable knitting and I cranked on it for hours during the Court of Women at the US Social Forum a couple of weeks ago. The Court of Women was over 4 hours of testimony on the issues of violence against women, women and girls in the prison industrial complex, and the disaster of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. As I listened to horror story after horror story, I knitted on the the scarf. People came and went, and there were tons of other workshops going on that I wanted to go to, but I felt compelled to bear witness to this and having the knitting helped.

Only three projects? Not enough! Must start more!

So I started a simple lace panel scarf using softer than soft Malabrigo yarn (my favorite) in Buscando Azul, an intense, gorgeous blue that I got at Knitch. I only have one skein and am not sure that will be enough.

Then, since I've been listening to Stash and Burn and hearing about their crocheting adventures, have been trying out different crochet projects, using varigated lace weight from KnitPicks in my stash.

Because of the yarn diet, I have been trying to knit from my stash, especially trying to figure out what to do with the one or two skeins of varigated lace weight and sock weight yarn I bought from Knit Picks. Other than knitting lace or socks, I mean. Oh, the perils of buying pretty yarn for which you have no plans.

So the title of this post. There's been lots of stress in my life lately (yes, I know, so does everyone else) and I realize that I have really gotten into knitting because it's the only thing in my life I can control. It doesn't involve mysterious moving parts that break expensively (like the car). It doesn't have it's own agenda that thwarts my own and if it does, like the lace weight yarn not cooperating with a too-big crochet hook, it's easy enough to put down, take apart, start over, or heck, throw away. It certainly doesn't talk back, quit on you, or ask for more money like people do.

Plus it comes it gorgeous colors. Speaking of colors, go visit Yarn Storm (linked in side bar). She takes wonderful pictures of everyday things.

Tonight I have a support group meeting. Actually, it's me and some friends who have the same kind of job who get together occasionally to commiserate over some margaritas. The big temptation is tonight we will be mere blocks from my favorite yarn shop, Knitch. And I'm on a yarn diet.

Must. Resist. Temptation.

One way of doing it will be to stay at the, ahem, support group until Knitch closes at 7pm. That's one reason I like Knitch. They stay open later, so those of us who work 9 to 5 earning money to spend on yarn (partially), can actually shop for yarn. I certainly shop on line, but nothing beats seeing and touching it in person.