Happy birthday to the Boy Who Lived and his creator J. K. Rowling!

In commemoration of their birthdays, I am blowing the dust off this old blog and resurrecting anew with a new purpose.

I am an English teacher and Instructional Technology Specialist. I have been a Harry Potter fan since 2001, when I read the first four books in quick succession. One of the things I have always liked about the series is the fact that the books can be enjoyed on a surface level as great stories with quick-moving plots and admirable characters, but they can also be enjoyed on a deeper, more analytical and philosophical level.

What I plan to do with this blog is share some insights into the series, particularly now that all the books have been published, the movies have been released, and I just clicked the verification email link in my Pottermore registration email. I have struggled with what to do with this site, and I have wondered what on earth I could contribute to a fandom that is already so rich and full of content that is not only more regularly updated by a cadre of fans who have personal relationship with J. K. Rowling, but is also creative and and different enough from what’s already out there. The answer is I can’t. But I love Harry Potter, and I want to share anyway.

I am re-enabling comments on this blog, but only on posts less than a year old. My first series of posts will concern how Harry Potter’s story arc follows Joseph Campbell’s monomyth.