We're on youtube (a little bit more about Terminus)

[mary_j_59]

First, as I said, we're on youtube! Someone managed to get a pretty decent video of us singing "Prime Numbers" in the park for the wizrock podcast. Here it is:

http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=421y7GReM50

A little more under the cut:

For the rest, I am really hoping that our brief papers will get published in the compendium, since I would very much like to reread what my fellow panelists had to say. Every time you look at Severus Snape, imo, you see something else that you hadn't noticed before. Thus, the woman next to me, when asked what she thought about the wretched Snape-shaped hole, remarked drily, "Batman. He's the Dark Knight." Not, I'm sure, what Rowling intended to convey at all, but she's RIGHT1 Her presentation, btw, had been about Severus as a knight and an exemplar of courtly love - and that is a facet of the character many of us had picked up on by POA, if not earlier. But batman! Wow! How appropriate.

And I think I said before what fun it was to get into deep conversations about the meaning of the books. I was in three or four of these during the conference, and it was great! Some comments: A lawyer doing a presentation on civil rights in "Harry Potter" remarked, "If you really look at the books, the only person who ever gets due process is Buckbeak the Hippogriff", and "Rowling's moral compass went out the window when Harry tortured Amycus Carrow." Nice to hear these things from a law professor! In fact, I'd say a surprisingly large number of people at the conference were distressed by DH. Some, of course, are fans anyway; some were examining "Harry Potter" as a cultural phenomenon reflecting the Zeitgeist, and some were just having fun getting dressed up and playing in Quidditch tournaments and the like. Speaking of which, I don't know how the heck one plays quidditch in the real world; we were too busy with other things to get to watch it. The one thing I gathered in conversation was that the golden snitch is an actual person, whom the others tackle. Sounds a bit dangerous to me!

Otherwise, did I mention that we got to see Sue the tyrannosaurus? and a wonderful exhibit on the real-world origins of mythic creatures? And the aquarium? and an architectural bus/boat tour, during which we also visited the Navy pier? And on our first day there, we spent a couple of hours in the Art institute. We saw, among other things, a striking portrait of St. Francis by Rubens, of all people.

I didn't do quite everything we'd wanted to - we could have spent more time in *all* the museums, never got to the planetarium, never got to the public library, never rode the el, and didn't see any of Frank Lloyd Wright's houses. So - obviously, we'll have to go back someday!

Comments

[anne-arthur.livejournal.com]

I love the video! And I'm glad you enjoyed Terminus (and Chicago: I have very fond memories of it, especially the architectural tour). And I like the idea that Buckbeak was the only person in the Potter books to get due process!

[mary-j-59.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Yes, I was surprised at how beautiful the city was - but also distressed at the marked contrast between rich and poor. When I was a little girl, you didn't see beggars in America; in the 1980s, homelessness surged and begging became common. Then it became less common - and now there are more desperate and impoverished people than I can remember seeing in over a decade. That was the downside. Someone said, a while back, that our current leader wanted to completely undo all the work the democrats had done in the 20th century and get back to the roaring 90s - the 1890s, that is. I think we've come frighteningly close to that goal.

But I am very glad you love the video. And, if you got to Chicago in the past, perhaps you'll make it to New York in future?

[anne-arthur.livejournal.com]

I was also surprised at how beautiful Chicago was - in fact, if I had known that I would like it that much, I would have planned my trip to give me longer there. But I agree with you completely about the contrast between rich and poor - it is the same in Britain now, and (unsurprisingly) on much the same timescale too. Like you, I grew up in a country where you did not see people begging on the streets, and was appalled during the 1980s at how quickly this became accepted as normal. Since the 1990s I think that the numbers have gone down - but a lot of that is cosmetic, as people are moved on, reclassified, and so on. Oxford has a lot of homeless people - the climate is good and the city (and perhaps also the students) more generous than others. A worrying recent phenomenon is homeless asylum seekers - people who have been refused asylum but who cannot be deported because they would be in danger in their home countries (and if they would be in such danger in their home countries, then why have they been refused asylum?) and who cannot legally work, claim benefits, or access any other means of support - and so are forced to beg. The churches often try to help them, and some of the stories are harrowing.

Sorry - that was a bit of a rant! To get back to your message - yes, I did like Chicago, and I certainly hope to visit New York one day.