Amanda Perreault, center, as Pansy Parkinson, is joined by Andrew Hood as Professor Snape and two other students for Harry Potter Day in 2011 on the West campus. (Photo by Michael Arellano)The release of J.K. Rowling’s new novel, “Casual Vacancy”, and the years since the Harry Potter series ended have left some fans wondering if time has killed the “boy who lived.”
But this is not so, according to the ASU chapter of the Harry Potter Alliance.
Brandon Ortega, the club’s president and a film and media studies senior, said the club was originally to have an academic focus.
This goal became redundant when Barrett, The Honors College created a class focusing on Harry Potter.
With the help of the nationwide Harry Potter Alliance, it transformed from a club for Harry Potter fans into one that focused on creating volunteer opportunities related to the wizarding world.
“Each Reading Day, we hold a Harry Potter event with snacks for people to come and relax and enjoy the company of other fans,” Ortega said.
Ortega said he is a believer in Harry Potter’s eternal relevancy.
“It touched the hearts of people around the world,” he said. “It creates a classic good versus evil story, and the world the series takes place in is rich and inviting.”
Club co-president Kimberly Condoulis, a finance senior, said in an email that the club is organizing an event, “Wizard Rock the Vote” on Oct. 22. The club will also air the third presidential debate.
Condoulis takes a sentimental view on Harry Potter’s survival.
“One of the best things about great literature is that it is eternal,” Condoulis said. “I have no reason to believe their magic will stop to amaze children even though the story is no longer newly released.”
Honors faculty fellow Joel B. Hunter came up with the idea for the club while teaching an honors seminar during the 2008-09 school year.
“In my first couple of years teaching (the honors seminar), students inevitably connected many of our texts in class to the Harry Potter series,” Hunter said. “I thought, ‘Why not offer students interested in exploring these connections a chance to do that in a club organized around that kind of experience?’”
As opposed to Condoulis, Hunter takes a more academic view.
“As an ongoing commercial enterprise, the popularity of Harry Potter is sure to decline,” he said.
However, the “Potterverse” offers an experience first-generation readers will wish to pass onto to their children, Hunter said.
“It appears to me that they are finding many creative and constructive ways to do that,” he said.
Reach the reporter at smande17@asu.edu
