Well just recently this weekend I was watching iCarly about pies. And yes Nochia you can start talking about them. It also brang me to this post.

            Do you have a homemade food, or a tradiotional recipe? Are you also poor and want to be rich? Or do you want to be known for your success after you die? Well, if you have your own recipe or something traditional food, don’t be afraid to share it out to the world! Maybe someone will like and pay you good money just to work or own their restaurant. There are all kinds of ways you can make a traditional food.

            Maybe you cook like dirt, or not good, but an old saying believe in yourself. If you don’t have a homemade food why not start now! You are just a few paths from making the greatest thing ever! So what if it’s not good on the first time, at least you tried!

“If I can add to the richness of life a few things which give real joy in use and to the eyes, then I am happy enough.”
Edward Barnsley 1900-1987

Edward Barnsley was one of the leading designer-makers of the 20th Century and played a prominent part in continuing the Arts and Crafts Movement. A new generation of designer-craftsmen maintains the creation of unique pieces of furniture.

here are some pics of their work

]]> http://stuffiread.wordpress.com/2008/11/16/harry-potter-and-the-prisoner-of-azkaban-by-jk-rowling/ Sun, 16 Nov 2008 11:11:44 +0000 Rhys http://stuffiread.wordpress.com/2008/11/16/harry-potter-and-the-prisoner-of-azkaban-by-jk-rowling/

“Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,” by J.K. Rowling (317p)

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is the third novel in the world famous seven-part Harry Potter series, released in 1999. In Harry’s third year at Hogwarts a dreaded serial killer loyal to Lord Voldemort has escaped from the once impenetrable fortress of Azkaban and is after Harry, seeking to do what the dark lord could not and kill Harry Potter. Or is he?

As has become the norm, Harry is back at his relatives house in Surrey and is thoroughly miserable, enduring another summer of ridicule, suspicion and utter boredom. His Uncle Vernon’s sister, Marge, is also visiting. At dinner one evening she mocks Harry, his upbringing and his deceased parents, to which Harry erupts in anger, losing his temper so badly he inadvertently causes Marge to inflate with air and float away into the night sky. He then decides he cannot spend anymore time at the Dursley’s and runs off, taking his chest and belongings with him. He is picked up by the Knight Bus, the bus for magical wizards lost without transport, and taken to the Leaky Cauldron in London. Harry spends the rest of the summer staying at the Leaky Cauldron where he first learns of Sirius Black, a man that escaped from the supposed impenetrable wizards prison of Azkaban seemingly intent on murdering Harry due to his loyalty to Lord Voldemort. Harry stills packs off to Hogwarts with Ron and Hermione anyway, believing himself to be safe under the protection of Dumbledore and the secure surrounds of Hogwarts Castle.

At Hogwarts, there are two new teachers: Remus Lupin for Defence Against The Dark Arts, while Harry’s friend Hagrid is the new Care of Magical Creatures teacher. The Dementors from Azkaban, soulless spirits that suck the happiness out of everything they encounter, patrol the school in search of Sirius Black. But it is at Hagrid’s first class of the semester where things first go wrong – to make an impression he has brought a hippogriff (the mythological mare/eagle cross-bread), but the animal attacks Draco Malfoy after Harry’s perpetual enemy insults it, resulting in Lucius Malfoy filing a letter of complaint and condemning the beast to an execution. The Dementors patrolling the grounds also seem to further effect Harry, causing him to faint and lapse into a state of unconsciousness, so he receives private lessons from Lupin in how to defend himself against them learning the patronus charm. Meanwhile, tensions between Ron and Hermione escalate as their pet rat and cat go to war with each other, while Harry receives a brand new firebolt broom, the fastest in the world but Hermione’s suspicions believe it is a dangerous “gift” from Sirius Black, still at large.

Over Christmas Harry is given the Marauders Map from Fred and George Weasley. The Marauders Map is a bewitched map of the Hogwarts castle layout that shows the movements of everyone in the castle as well as all the secret passageways in and out of the castle. Harry uses it to sneak out of the castle and join Ron and Hermione in the village of Hogsmeade, and again uses it to overhear the Minster for Magic discussing Black’s connection to the Potter family where it is revealed Sirius Black was Harry Potter’s godfather, best friend to James Potter and Harry’s legal guardian. Black was named the Potters’ Secret Keeper and he supposedly revealed the Potters’ secret whereabouts to Lord Voldemort and murdered their friend Peter Pettigrew, as well as the twelve Muggle bystanders to try and escape. The news devastates Harry and he vows revenge on Black, telling a stunned Ron and Hermione he plans to kill him.

But for now the three are busy revising for the end of year exams. After Harry passes his Diviniation exam he learns of the hippogriff Buckbeak’s imminent execution that night and set off to visit Hagrid to console him. At Hagrid’s hut Ron’s pet rat Scabbers appears once again, biting him, so Ron runs off to find the rat but it has taken refuge in the Whomping Willow where a large dog attacks them and takes the rat and Ron under the tree. Harry and Hermione follow and discover it leads to a tunnel to inside the Shrieking Shack where they find Sirius Black. Black was the dog, his hitherto unknown ability to transform explained, and Harry confronts him. Lupin then arrives and disarms Harry, where all is explained. Black was not the Secret Keeper, it was Pettigrew, who is also able to transform into an animal – a rat, no less. Pettigrew is revealed as Voldemort’s servant, who convinced the magical world it was really Black who betrayed the Potters to Voldemort, and thus resuming his life in hiding as a rat for so long. Lupin further explains he is a werewolf and that he, James Potter, Black and Pettigrew used to hang around in the Shrieking Shack on full moon nights to keep Lupin company.

They head back to the castle with Pettigrew under arrest but that night is a full moon, Lupin transforms into a werewolf and Pettigrew escapes. Black transforms into a dog to defend Harry from Lupin but is badly injured, just as the Dementors arrive to claim his soul. But Harry sees a mysterious figure in the distance cast a powerful stag-shaped Patronus, scattering the vicious creatures. Harry becomes convinced it is his father, or at least his father’s spirit, who produced the Patronus. Black is then captured and taken to the castle where the Dementors intend to perform the Dementor’s Kiss, thus sucking out his soul.

Hermione reveals to Harry that she was entrusted with a time-travelling device called a Time-Turner, which is how she was able to attend simultaneous classes. Prompted by Dumbledore, she and Harry travel three hours into the past, watching themselves go through the night’s previous events. They set Buckbeak free and return to the Whomping Willow. As the Dementors are about to attack the “other” Harry and Black, Harry realizes that the mysterious figure he saw earlier was actually himself. Armed with the new memory of his talk with Black, he casts the powerful Patronus that repels the Dementors. Harry and Hermione free Black, who escapes on Buckbeak as the two return to Dumbledore and resume their normal timeline. At novels end, Harry travels back to London to spend another miserable summer with the Dursley’s, his mind totally on the godfather he wishes to be with instead.

One of the important things to note about Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is that it represents a real shift in the direction and feel of the novels. Where the first two are, at the heart of it, intended for children this is different. It feels more adult, it’s darker with murder, betrayal and revenge being the key themes. It is also my second favourite in the series as I loved it, have re-read it several times and enjoyed the film version the most. It is a very fast-paced story and the school year flies by, often taking secondary importance to the story of Sirius Black, who would become a major figure in Harry’s life later on in the series.

It is full of fun little subplots as well like the complex developing relationship between Ron and Hermione, which would culminate in the final book. As it is, Harry Potter and the Prisoner and Azkaban is a fun little novel that entertains and takes little time to read. I heartily recommend it, even for people that were turned off by the first two as this one really does appeal to both children but even more for adults.

Recommendation: Very good. ****1/2 or 9/10.

I think I’m at least a good century late.  I’m blaming that on my hippie parents who managed to live a frontier life in Central New York.

I still love radio.  Most people my age have never heard of Prairie Home Companion, even fewer have actually listened to the show.  Baseball?  Best when heard on the radio.  Car talk?  You got it.

I have a vegetable garden, or rather, I usurped one from Aliquippa Impact.  I didn’t get to do much in it this year, but it has been fun overhauling it for next season, tilling the ground, covering it with leaves.  I think I might end up my father’s son after all (dad’s garden is visible from google maps).

I hate cell phones and computers, but I am shamefully addicted to both.

As an extinction of what I touched on in last weeks “From a Red State Looking Into a Blue World”. One has to realize, that the South as a whole and as a culture is always at least 30 years behind everybody else in North America. We’re just stubborn that way.

Thanks to Madhouse reporter Kokanee for these and to keep reminding me of where I live. Thanks Kok for breaking the fantasy!

Is there an editor in the house? (Or is this OK in Tennessee?)
One reader took at look at “Ode to President Obama” and wrote in the comments section: “Please don’t put this kind of crap in your paper again.” (Poynter Online)

Cop quits after partying with pal dressed in KKK outfit
A rookie police officer has resigned after photos surfaced of him posing at a Halloween costume party with a friend dressed as a Ku Klux Klan member as the men give Nazi-like salutes. (San Francisco Chronicle)

(Oh, I love this one. Texas is more red neck then TN will ever be.)

Texas newspaper doesn’t bother reporting Obama’s victory
“We covered the local commissioner’s race. We thought that was more important,” says the publisher of the Terrell Tribune. (WFAA.com)

Texas coach warns players about “dangerous” Facebook
It’s only dangerous when his players post stupid things like, “All the hunters gather up, we have a — in the White House.” (A comments poster says the word used was “coon.”) (Houston Chronicle)

It was only 50 years ago that most of the country wasn’t much different. It take a couple of generations out to really see progress on a grand scale like this. The separate but equal living as just yesterday to many still.

*UPDATE:

Just a quick mention. I just went downstairs and somebody had one of those Country Music Awards shows on the TV. Who want to bet that that industry will go into the shitter in 2 years?

World recalls end of World War I, BBC

Anthem for Doomed Youth, Wilfred Owen.

What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
Only the stuttering rifles’ rapid rattle
Can patter out their hasty orisons.
No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells;
Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs, –
The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;
And bugles calling for them from sad shires.
What candles may be held to speed them all?
Not in the hands of boys but in their eyes
Shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes.
The pallor of girls’ brows shall be their pall;
Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,
And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.

See BBC NEWS | UK | WWI veterans mark Armistice Day.

“Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,” by J.K. Rowling (251p)

The follow up to J.K. Rowling’s successful debut in the Harry Potter series is 1998’s Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. This second in the seven-part series takes Harry to his second year at Hogwarts where he learns more secrets, finds new enemies and reacquaints himself with old ones, and has another run in with the spirit of the dark wizard Lord Voldemort.

Like the year before, Harry is back at the Dursley house with his acidic relatives, gloomy and bored because his family have barred any contact with the magical world, confiscating his broom and textbooks and locking Hedwig, his owl, outside. On his twelfth birthday Dobby, a strange house-elf appears and warns Harry that returning to Hogwarts could put his life in danger. Dobby, determined to prevent Harry from returning to school, causes such a rukus that, when magic is performed, Harry is blamed by the Ministry and warned of expulsion. The Dursley’s lock him in his room and fit bars on the bedroom window. To his relief, he is rescued by pal Ron and his twin older brothers Fred and George and spends the rest of the summer at Ron’s house, before leaving for another school year.

At King’s Cross, Ron and Harry are unable to pass through the magical passage to the wizards platform, meaning the train has left without them. Desperate to get back to Hogwarts they steal their fathers enchanted Ford Anglia and fly the car to school, but crash into the Whomping Willow, breaking Ron’s wand.

Things start going badly at Hogwarts, too, when the mystery shrouded Chamber of Secrets is open and an unknown monster roams the castle, paralysing everything that meets its gaze. The founder of Slytherin house, Salazar Slytherin, was believed to have built the chamber to purge Hogwarts of those unworthy to study magic, and only be opened by his heir. Students and teachers alike start to suspect it may be Harry when it is discovered he speaks parseltounge, the language of snakes. But Harry, Ron and Hermione think it is their enemy from first year, Draco Malfoy, who is Slytherin’s real heir. So to reveal Malfoy’s true identity they conceal themselves with Polyjuice Potion, which transforms a person into someone else for a short time, but they find nothing and realise Malfoy is not the heir of Slytherin.

As the school year rumbles on, the attacks continue at random, claiming various students and people in the castle. All activities are banned and students are required to stay in their dorms. Hagrid, blamed the last time the chamber was opened, is sent to the wizard prison of Azkaban. The trio spend their free time working to discover what the real monster is after learning that Hagrid’s huge pet spider was not it, and they find out that is a basilisk (a giant snake) just in time for Ginny, Ron’s sister, to be taken into the chamber. Harry vows to save Ginny and through a few more clues, they find out how to open the chamber in the abandoned girls bathroom Hermione had taken refuge from in the first book.

Charging into the chamber, Harry goes alone and confronts Slytherin’s real heir – Tom Marvolo Riddle, otherwise known as Lord Voldemort (which is an acronym). Ginner, under Riddle’s control, had inadvertently opened the chamber. Riddle’s basilisk attacks Harry only for Dumbledore’s pet phoenix, Fawkes, to drop the Sorting Hat and Gryffindor’s sword into Harry’s lap. Fawkes blinds the snake and Harry slays it with the sword, and Harry destroys Riddle’s lecherous diary. As a reward Dumbledore gives he and Ron two hundred house points, winning the House Cup for Gryffindor again, and cancels exams.

Whenever the question is posed “what is your favourite Harry Potter book?” I usually put this one second last, because in comparison with some of the others I didn’t like it nearly as much. Granted, I did read this when I was twelve and have only re-read it the once, but it never grabbed me like the others. With the series over I can look back, though, and see all those clues about Voldemort’s destruction as a smack right in the face. Blimey, they’re obvious now!

As it is, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is an all right enough of a book. It is nothing special, though, and I feel it is a bit of a case of second book syndrome. It kind of plodded a little in the middle part with the search for the identity of the basilisk, like it need not have required so much dialogue to get to their discovery. Aside from that, though, there is nothing really wrong with the second in the series, but compared to the others? Well, it’s just not as good. Good, but not as good as them.

Recommendation: Okay. ***1/4 or 6.5/10.

Another piece of music I am pleased to say I will be preforming with The Evergreen Chamber Orchestra later this month is The Rodrigo Guitar Concerto. Not only is it a fantastic work, but the soloist playing with us is out of this world. 

We are playing with Masakazu Ito. I would be lying if I said I knew who this was before being informed he was the soloist, but he came to our last rehearsal and ran the concerto with us, and he was phenomenal… beyond words really. I could regurgitate the information about Masakazu that I found on his website, but I think that would be silly.All I really know is that I feel privileged to be able to play in a concert with him.

The Concierto de Aranjuez is also something I was previously unfamiliar with, although I did recognize the melody from the first movement immediately.

Joaquín Rodrigo Vidre, was a composer and virtuoso pianist of the 20th century (He was born in 1901 and died in july of 1999). He lost his sight when he was three years old after being infected with diphtheria, but went on to study piano, and violn when he was eight and started composing by the time he was sixteen. Suprisingly, although he is known for revolutionizing the classical guitar with his compositions, he never learned the instrument himself.

Rodrigo wrote the Concierto de Aranjuez for the gardens of Palacio Real de Aranjuez, which was origionally built for the king of Spain during the rule of Philip the 2nd. The piece is meant to inspire in the listener the beauty of the immense gardens surrounding the palace. Rodrigo said of the concerto himself that it captured ”the fragrance of magnolias, the singing of birds and the gushing of fountains”. He dedicated the work to Regino Sainz de la Maza, a notable guitarist at the time, and Regino played the guitar at the premiere of the work in Barcelona in 1940. It is a rarity that classical is preformed with a full orchestra as accompaniment, but surprisingly in my experience playing with Masakazu Ito, the Guitar is always very audible and prominent.

The Concerto is written in three movements. The Allegro con spirito, the first movement is fast and spirited, and probably my favorite of the three. The second movement, the Adagio, is the slowest of the three and also the most famous. The last movement, Allegro gentile, is also fast and I would say triumphant. Apparently many people feel that the second movement was in response to a bombing in Guernica in 1937 (around the time Rodrigo wrote the concerto). Rodrigo never admitted that this was the case and his wife maintains that the moment was inspired by his happy feelings of their honeymoon and his great despair at the miscarriage of their first baby. Either way the movement evokes feelings of remorse and joy throughout.

Here is a recording of Narciso Yepes Playing The Concierto de Aranjuez. It is devided into three parts (I belive they manage to break it at the end of each movement):

Culturhisto 2009: International Doctoral Candidates Conference on Cultural History

Wednesday, May 13th 2009
University Library Auditorium,

Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines

Only doctoral and post doctoral candidate’s papers will be considered for this conference. Confirmed researchers will be invited to attend the event and comment on the work of presenting doctoral candidates. The conference will foster collegial relations among young scholars internationally as well as connect them with more established mentors.

Political figures are the source of a complex imaginary that fascinates both media and public. Consider how contemporary electoral campaigns, TV clip, presidential speeches, political biographies, election posters function today. This is not a new phenomenon: political communication and the development of public personalities are familiar political practices. « Peopolisation » -or how political figures have become celebrities- is a new and rapidly developing area of study that has drawn the attentions of cultural historians and political observers. Studies in political representation increasingly consider the significance of longer time-frames, the impact of evolving media practices, and benefit from international and comparative perspectives.

Representing Political Figures in Mass Media conference operates within the field of international cultural history and invites reflection on the images (still and animated) and discourses of power. We invite researchers who work on the representations of individuals in power in European and American countries to investigate how the modalities of the mass media are used to popularize politics and how these in turn inform the construction of political memory and/or national identity. Proposals should address the media representations of political figures (be they a local personality or a prominent national politician) from 1776 to the present. Primary focus will be European and American democracies.
The conference will focus on the conditions involved in the processes of creation, production and reception of the media products. This observation will enable us to get a clearer view on the degree to which politicians are responsible for their image in the media.

The following aspects should be considered:

The politician’s language and non verbal communication, attitude, clothing’s social codes, etc.: the researcher will need to explain the symbols used by the politician and his references (intertextuality)

The situations selected for representation, the actions and ideas at the core of the discourse, the kind of role he projects to the outside world (the role of an actor or an observer, of a leader or a coordinator), and the closeness the politician intends to have with its audience (the degree to which he wants to be a father, a friend, a colleague, a professor and the affective levels implied in each degree).

The reference to functions aside from the political: does he present himself as an athlete, a family man, a seducer, a businessman, an intellectual, a peace, ecology or social activist, etc.

The setting and staging will be considered as important actors in the message too.

No media will be excluded from the conference, as long as they contribute to ex

plaining the cultural meaning behind the representations of figures of power. Fictions and information will be considered equally, and diversity of sources will be appreciated. Studies on television, radio, press (main and specialised, newspapers, magazines, online), photography, books, posters, online material will all be accepted.

An international comparative approach will be greatly appreciated, but is not a requirement. Although the conference will ultimately aim at defining a comparative international field of research, the committee believes this can also be achieved by a cross-comparison of national cases. To make its cultural history approach complete, the conference will take into consideration the circulation of images and cultural transfers. The main purpose of the conference will be to better appreciate how the popular outlook on the politician has transformed during the past two centuries.

These are the main directions of the conference sessions: The relation of the politician to public opinion ; «Peopolisation »: the confusion between private and public life, between the worlds of politics and celebrities ; Biographies and autobiographies ; · Practices and rituals ; · Posterity

Any student enrolled in a Ph.D. or post doctoral program in History, Political Science, Media Studies, Sociology, Anthropology, Literature and Civilisation and related disciplines at the time of the conference is eligible. Students enrolled at universities outside of France are especially encouraged to submit proposals. Representing Political Figures in Mass Media conference aims at providing researchers on the media treatment of politics with a space for discussion.

Presentations can be delivered in English or in French. Participants are asked to turn in a 1500 word abstract (in English or in French, or both) before March 31st, 2009. This conference will result in a publication.

Paper proposals submission: 300 words text (in French or in English) with a clear title should be send before December 31st 2008 to Sophie Kienlen. We kindly request candidates to include the following information: status and current functions, field of study, thesis subject, doctoral/post-doctoral year, the name of your tutor, university (with address), laboratory and doctoral school. Scientific committee’s answer: February 15th 2009

Scientific committee: Christian Delporte, Jean-Yves Mollier, Caroline Moine, Jean-Claude Yon and Jacques Pothier, John Dean (Versailles St Quentin University, FRANCE), Pascal Ory (Paris 1 Sorbonne University, FRANCE), Jean-François Sirinelli (Sciences Po Paris, FRANCE), Jean-Marie Charon, Jacques Revel and François Weil (EHESS, FRANCE), Matthias Steinle (Paris 3 New Sorbonne University, FRANCE), Annie Duprat (CNRS-LCP, FRANCE), Marie Anne Matard-Bonucci (Grenoble 2 University, FRANCE), Hilary Footitt (University of Reading, UK), Marilisa Merolla (University-”La Sapienza”, ITALY), Juan Antonio García Galindo (Malaga University, SPAIN), Jérôme Bourdon (Tel-Aviv University, ISRAEL), Zdravka Konstantinova (Sofia University, BULGARIA), Maria Nesterova (Saint-Petersburg State University for Cinema and Television, RUSSIA), Vanessa R. Schwartz (University of Southern California, USA), Bertram M. Gordon (Mills College, USA), Jeremy D. Popkin (University of Kentucky, USA), Michael Spingler (Clark University, USA), Philip Whalen (Coastal Carolina University, USA), Edward Berenson and Martin Schain (New York University, USA)

Organisation committee: Sophie Kienlen, Klervi Le Collen, Géraldine Poels and Sylvain Lesage (Doctoral Candidate, Versailles Saint Quentin University, FRANCE), Anne-Laure Anizan (Research Fellow, Centre for History, Sciences Po Paris, FRANCE), Dries Vrijders (Doctoral Candidate, Ghent University, BELGIUM), Mark Braude (Doctoral Candidate, University of Southern California, USA), Matthew Watkins (New York University, USA)

For additional information visit the conference website

“Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone,” by J.K. Rowling (223p)

In 1997 struggling young British author Joanne Rowling saw her first novel about a boy wizard at last published, after no less than twelve rejections. The Harry Potter series, which covers seven novels on the young protagonists struggle against the evil dark wizard Lord Voldemort, would go to become the most successful series of novels in history, and making its author the first and so far only billionaire author. This first in the series introduces Harry to the wizarding world, takes him to his beloved school of Hogwarts, introduces all his friends and enemies, and begins the fight against Lord Voldemort.

It is circa 1981 and the magical world is in celebration at the downfall of the most powerful evil dark wizard to have ever walked the earth, Lord Voldemort. After murdering Lilly and James Potter he set to killing their baby son, Harry, but the killing curse backfires, rebounding off Harry and into Voldemort, destroying his body. It leaves the baby Harry with a noticeable lightning bolt car on his forehead. Meanwhile, he is sent to life with his Muggle (non-magical person) relatives, the Dursley family, until he was to be called back to the wizarding world in ten years time.

The story then jumps to 1991, shortly before Harry’s eleventh birthday. For Harry, life with the Dursley’s is awful, they treat him like a slave and have kept his true past from him. But their picture perfect suburban life comes to a crashing halt when Harry turns eleven and the truth is revealed – the half-giant Hagrid finds him and explains he is a wizard and he had been accepted into Hogwarts in the autumn. Hagrid introduces Harry to his first tastes of the magical world in the wizards district in London where he buys his school equipment, and one month later he takes the train from King’s Cross to Hogwarts, mysteriously located in the north of Britain. On the train he meets Ron Weasley, his closest friend, and Hermione Granger, who takes on a greater role later on. He also encounters future rival Draco Malfoy, a boy who would become an outright enemy beginning when Harry declined his friendship.

At Hogwarts, Harry is placed into Gryffindor House with Ron and begins his lessons as a complete novice. One of his first lessons is flying a broom to which he seems naturally gifted at, so much so that he is put into the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Quidditch is the magical equivalent of football (soccer) and the House Cup, in their eyes, means even more than the FA Cup. In Harry’s first match his broom appears to be jinxed by the baleful Professor Snape, and Hermione distracts him by setting his robes on fire, allowing Harry to catch the snitch¹ and win for Gryffindor. Shortly after, it is Christmas, and Harry receives his first ever Christmas present: his fathers old invisibility cloak and uses it to go wandering throughout Hogwarts Castle at night. Thereafter, Harry learns that Nicolas Flamel is the maker of Philosopher’s Stone, stolen from the wizarding bank before the school year, which is a stone that gives the owner eternal life.

While out roaming at night Harry, under the cloak, sees Snape interrogating the weak Professor Quirrell about getting passed Fluffy the huge three-headed dog, confirming Harry’s long running suspicion that Snape is after the Philosopher’s Stone in order to restore Voldemort to power. In between, they are also caught being out at night after assisting Hagrid dispose of an illegal baby dragon, and forced to serve detention in the Forbidden Forest. While in the forest Harry sees a hooded figure drink the blood of an injured unicorn, confirmed by a centaur that the hooded figure was the ghost of Voldemort. They coax a drunk Hagrid into revealing how to get passed Fluffy and set off to get to the stone before it can be stolen to restore Voldemort.

This takes them into the bowels of the castle where the stone is protected by a series of curses and charms, put into the shape of challenges, and only one person can progress into the inner chamber, Harry. In the inner chamber he discovers that it is Quirrell who is after the stone, not Snape. Looking into the Mirror of Erised Quirrell forces Harry to find out where the stone is, but Harry successfully lies and the stone secretly drops into his pocket. Voldemort reveals himself as a ghastly face on the back of Quirrel’s head and tries to attack Harry, but the merest touch proves to be agony. Dumbledore returns in time to save Harry but can’t prevent Voldemort from escaping. As he recovers in the hospital, Dumbledore tells Harry about his mothers sacrifice but promises to only tell him about the real reason why Voldemort tried to kill him when he is older. The novel ends with the end-of-year celebrations and Dumbledore makes some last minute changes to the House Cup scoreboard giving Gryffindor enough points to win it, ending Slytherin’s six-year reign as champions.

I was about to turn twelve when I first read this in 1999. When I was younger, I used to read all the time, but then a particularly unpleasant teacher made me hate reading books from the rubbish she forced down our throats, and I swore off them forever. It still took a few years for me to start reading all the time again, but this is where it began again. Despite what a lot of people may say about the series, I loved it, and I am grateful for what J.K. Rowling brought back to my life.

Of course these books are hardly the peak of high-brow literature and this first one is very much the children’s book it was intended to be. There is nothing special about J.K. Rowling’s writing style nor is there anything exceptional about the overall plot of this first one, but it is still a very good and easy read, one that I have re-read about four times since I first read it in 1999. The characters are rich and very fleshed out, each one has its own identity (Hermione is bright and bossy, Harry is brave yet melancholic, Snape is cynical and sardonic, Dumbledore is worldly and almighty, and so forth), while the imagery of the setting is easily brought to life in the books. Simple and fun, this is the first in a series that brought so much joy and entertainment to hundreds of millions, and all lovers of books should check it out just to see what the fuss is all about. Despite reservations, you’ll find yourself being sucked into Harry’s world very easily indeed.

Recommendation: Good. ***3/4 or 7.5/10.

¹ For those who have not read Harry Potter: in Quidditch there are three types of balls, the large red quaffle which is used to score goals by the three chasers; the two black bludgers which are hit by the two beaters toward chasers in possession of the quaffle in defence; and the one golden snitch, which is hunted by the seeker. Whoever catches the snitch first ends the game and scores 150pts for their team, so sometimes catching the snitch may still result in a defeat if the other team is up by 160pts.

“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.” — Ambrose Redmoon

Back in the early years of the 20th century, the town of Nacorazi was a lively frontier town of about 5,000 people. Copper was in high demand and the hills surrounding this Mexican town contained some of the richest veins of copper ore in the world.

Jesus Garcia, in his mid-20s, drove locomotive number two, transporting mineral ore from the mines and supplies from the loading yards in the town. On the morning of November 7, 1907, Garcia was informed that his regular conductor was too ill to work that day. The rest of the crew would have to cover his tasks.

By early afternoon, locomotive number two had completed two trips down from the mine with dozens of loaded ore cars. While the crew tended the engine and loaded the cars for the next trip, Garcia had lunch at his mother’s house.

If the conductor–responsible for proper operations and the safety of the train–had been there, the train might have been loaded properly. Company regulations stipulated that cars containing explosives were to be loaded to the rear of the train. On this fateful day, those rules were ignored.

The front two cars were loaded with 70 boxes containing dynamite, detonators, and fuses. Just after 2:00 p.m., locomotive number two set off again toward the mine. As it pulled out of the lower yard, stray sparks from the train’s smokestack blew back on the first two cars. Within moments, a boxcar of dynamite began smoking.

The desperate crew frantically tried to douse the smoke. Their efforts were in vain. The boxcar soon caught fire. Garcia knew that the lower yard contained the company’s dynamite stores and gas tanks. An explosion in this vicinity would certainly destroy most of the town. He ordered everyone else off the train and opened the throttle wide.

By 2:20 p.m., Jesus Garcia had driven the train almost four miles out of town when the train exploded. The blast was heard up to ten miles away. It shattered the glass in many of Nacorazi’s buildings. Twisted metal shot into the air and fell more than a mile away. The brave young engineer died.

His heroic actions saved hundreds of lives in Nacorazi. The town was renamed Nacorazi de Garcia.

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Submissions are invited on the topic “Realism and Periodicals,” for
inclusion in an upcoming special issue of the journal American Literary
Realism. In recent years the scholarly community has paid an increasing
amount of attention to the ways in which newspapers, magazines, story
papers, and other serial publications not only have functioned as
remunerative outlets for authors’ literary work and effective disseminators
of literary texts but have also played a major role in the careers of many
authors, helped influence the development of certain genres, served as
important sites of reader-text interactions, and performed important
cultural work. This special issue is intended to showcase the latest
scholarship in periodical studies as it relates to American literary
realism from approximately 1860 to 1940. Submissions using a wide range of
approaches are welcomed, as are those on lesser-investigated authors,
editors, texts, and periodicals. Two copies of essays of no more than 25
double-spaced pages (including documentation following Chicago Manual of
Style) should be sent by 15 April 2009 to:

Inquiries: Charles Johanningsmeier
English Department
University of Nebraska at Omaha
Omaha, NE 68182-0175