I owe it to my nephew and niece that I devoured the Harry Potter series as a thirty year old. I can hardly believe that when the first book came out I was already in college. At the time, I dismissed the books outright. I was scared of magic and the dark side of the stories. I was wrong on both counts. The stories include many universal truths that children and adults can personally relate to. The characters have found their way into my heart-even Snape!
In fact, I still think about the characters on occasion, and yes, I even wonder about their emotional health considering all that they have lost. After finishing the last book and now the last movie, I feel a bit like I lost a group of friends. So finding a link on TED to JK Rowling’s commencement address for Harvard was a bit like a reunion for me. Her talk is completely inspiring and well worth your 21 minutes. Unfortunately, it is not captioned, but I did find the transcript!
Sarah and I saw the last film Friday night. It was great! Really clever story telling and wrapping up of the loose ends. I was wanting to see a bit more of Harry’s internal thinking as he held V’s wand at the end. He didn’t seem to have a hard time with that decision. Oh well, I’m sure the book fleshed that out better.
I’ll definitely check out this TED!
Fun date night! Read the books! So worth it.
J.K. Rowling has inspired me to do more to change the world and to make a difference. Thank you so much for sharing this video!! I had heard about how marvelous this address was, and now I have finally heard it, thanks to you. I loved what she said about friendship too.
I know! Isn’t she so inspiring? I love that she talks about privilege too and using the gifts you’ve been given.
I can just now understand the bit about Snape, after seeing the final movie. 🙂 I definitely want to read the books at some point- or maybe I’ll listen on audiobook! I’ve heard great things about the reader and the voices he does.