0:01

Guess what? We're going up

0:04

Bath, baby! I'm so

0:06

excited to announce that I will

0:08

be leading a pilgrimage all about

0:10

Bridgerton next August, and you

0:12

can register for the trip today. Pilgrims

0:15

on this trip will contemplate the

0:17

theme of heartbreak while close reading

0:19

Romancing Mr. Bridgerton, the

0:22

fourth book in the Bridgerton series and

0:24

the inspiration for the upcoming season of

0:26

the Netflix show. I really

0:28

wanted to think about heartbreak and the stories that we

0:30

tell ourselves because so

0:32

much of the world and relationships can

0:34

be heartbreaking, but there's also so much

0:37

joy to be found in the aftermath

0:39

of hardship. Through long

0:41

walks, profound talks, and thoughtful writing

0:43

prompts, this trip will offer pilgrims

0:45

a creative, open space to imagine a

0:47

world in which our hearts have been

0:49

broken, but we can see the

0:51

joyful life ahead of us. You

0:54

can learn more about this trip and

0:56

the payment plans that we have on

0:58

offer by heading to readingandwalkingwith.com today. These

1:01

trips have limited spots available, so

1:03

now is the time to jump

1:05

on it. That's readingandwalkingwith.com and hang

1:08

out with me in downtown beautiful

1:10

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everywhere. acast.com. Book

2:09

5, Chapter 18. Umbridge

2:12

has been reading your mail, Harry. There's

2:15

no other explanation. You

2:17

think Umbridge attacked Hedwig, he said,

2:19

outraged? I'm

2:22

Vanessa Zoltan. And I'm Jackson

2:24

Bird. And this is

2:26

Harry Potter and the Sacred Text. And

2:30

that was recorded by Emily Carr

2:32

at Camp Jackson, where you

2:34

and I got to hang out just

2:36

last summer. I know! That was so much

2:38

fun. It was. It was also fun, like,

2:40

all these ways that we got to involve people

2:43

in the different podcasts. Yep. Yep. Our

2:45

only announcement, Jackson, is announcing our bonus conversation

2:47

Patreon perk, which is you and I are

2:50

going to be talking about what would be

2:52

in our rooms of

2:54

requirement. Yes. And

2:56

I, you know, I'm guessing puppies

2:59

will come up for me. I can't

3:01

promise, but... I mean, I gotta

3:03

say, as a Taurus, like, imagining what

3:05

physical objects will be in my cozy

3:07

dream room... I'm

3:10

gonna have a lot of ideas. I'm gonna have a lot of thoughts for this. Aren't

3:12

you? I'm already having feelings. I'm

3:15

like, lavender scented candles? No.

3:18

It's really like a great dream space

3:20

I'm in. You gotta pick out the

3:23

right scent. But we will get into

3:25

all of that. We will. And you

3:27

can hear that brilliant, no doubt, and

3:29

inspiring conversation at patreon.com/Harry Potter sacred

3:31

text. Jackson, you are

3:33

going to be telling us a story on the

3:36

theme of possibility today. What

3:38

story do you have? Yeah. So

3:40

I want to take

3:42

us back in my life to the early

3:45

days of the pandemic. And

3:48

people who know me will know that I

3:50

have inexplicably lived in one of the world's

3:52

largest cities for 13 years, despite not really

3:54

being a city person. And

3:56

I had really wanted to move before the pandemic, but I

3:58

didn't. pandemic I was I

4:00

was thinking in the city I really felt stuck. And

4:03

one of the things that I ended

4:05

up doing was daydreaming like really,

4:08

really intensely about what if

4:10

I won the lottery

4:12

or what if I just had like all of

4:14

this money like what what would I do with

4:16

it and I mean the biggest thing was like

4:18

buy a house out in the country. And so

4:20

I spent way too much

4:23

time like on weekends and stuff

4:25

just like looking through Zillow million

4:27

dollar houses with you know, 10s

4:29

hundreds of acres and getting very

4:31

detailed about like, here's how I

4:33

would set up each room. Here's

4:35

how I would plan out the moving

4:37

process on moving day I would organize the

4:39

boxes like this and I would do this.

4:41

Oh my god, I should also clarify that it

4:43

was months into this before I ever

4:46

thought I could buy a lotto

4:48

ticket. Like I had never in my life

4:50

bought a lottery ticket, but I was thinking

4:52

I was gonna win the lottery somehow. Sure.

4:56

You don't know. I was also thinking

4:58

about what I would sort

5:00

of stop doing in my life. So like if

5:02

I let's say one the lottery tomorrow, are there

5:04

jobs or commitments or things that

5:06

I would no longer do because I didn't need the money.

5:08

And I'm in a very privileged position where a lot of

5:10

the times I would think about that and be like, No,

5:13

I would still want to keep doing this. I would still

5:15

want to keep doing that. So I'm a freelancer who's very

5:17

lucky to do things that I love for the most part.

5:19

But in certain periods of the last few years, there were

5:22

certain things that I had where I realized no, I

5:24

would stop doing that as soon as I could. So

5:27

even though I sometimes spent

5:30

way too much time and energy to the

5:32

point where I think it almost got unhealthy

5:34

dreaming about like this life with more

5:37

money than I could ever imagine and what

5:39

I would do, there were a few times

5:41

where it actually became a useful exercise because

5:43

on the one hand, it helped me think

5:45

about, okay, what really matters in my life? Like

5:47

what are what are the commitments that really bring me

5:49

joy? And what are the ones that are really bringing

5:51

me down that maybe I can try to take steps

5:54

to decrease in my life or get

5:56

away from? But it also opened my

5:58

mind. There were so many things. that

6:00

I put in this category of like, oh, only

6:02

if I'm a billionaire, that were like,

6:04

I would rearrange my kitchen and this

6:06

one shelf would really make a difference. And it's

6:09

like, buddy, you could

6:11

thrift that shelf and make that change

6:13

today. It wasn't like an outrageous dream.

6:16

And so it sort of helped me like

6:18

open my mind to the possibilities that were

6:20

already available in my life that for some

6:22

reason I just like wasn't seen yet. And

6:25

so I do actually think it's kind of

6:27

a valuable exercise sometimes to think like, okay,

6:29

if you had no barriers in

6:31

whatever way, what might you

6:33

change? And then sometimes it's sad to realize

6:35

maybe you'll never be able to achieve those.

6:38

But there are some little things that you

6:40

might be like, oh, wait, I could just do that. And

6:43

so that is my possibility example.

6:46

Part of what I love about this story,

6:48

Jackson, is that it's a call for imagination,

6:50

right? It's like those moments of like, if

6:53

you could do anything, if you could

6:55

start over, right? And I do, I

6:57

think that those reflections

6:59

are really generative, you know, imagining

7:01

over and over again what

7:04

a beautiful life would be. It's depressing that money is

7:06

the key to it a lot of the time. Yeah,

7:08

really is. But I do think we can imagine ourselves

7:10

to a better world. And so taking

7:12

the time and space to imagine that feels important

7:14

to me. Yeah. And

7:18

now that I think about it, like I've

7:20

been a part of like strategic planning retreats

7:22

where we've literally been led through like, okay,

7:24

if money was not an object, if all

7:26

of these other barriers weren't an object, like

7:28

what would you do? What would you want

7:30

to do for or with this organization? So

7:32

I guess my silly daydream is

7:34

actually backed up by real practice. Isn't

7:38

that funny? I will say

7:40

that I found the etymology of this

7:42

a little disappointing. Possibility

7:45

comes from the old French, and

7:47

it means a possible

7:50

thing or substance. But

7:52

it also means that which may

7:54

take place. And

7:56

so I do think it's interesting that we think of

7:58

it both as an event. and

8:01

is a thing, right? Like there's a

8:03

future invention that might

8:05

exist and be possible, but there

8:08

are also future states that could

8:10

be possible, and it feels like

8:12

your story is about those

8:15

two combined of like there could be

8:17

resources that would allow a future state,

8:20

and then you separating those two things of like,

8:22

oh I can have that state even

8:24

if I don't have the resources. Yeah.

8:27

And that's what thrift shops are for.

8:29

Right, right, and stooping. Yeah,

8:33

that is interesting. I'm still sitting with

8:35

this etymological definition. I feel like I

8:37

haven't quite digested it yet. Can you

8:39

repeat part of the sort

8:41

of binary of this? Yeah, so

8:43

a possible thing or

8:45

substance, right? So

8:48

like an object, so right, like a

8:50

COVID vaccine. Okay, yeah. So that

8:52

is a thing that could exist. A COVID

8:54

vaccine was a possibility. We made it a

8:56

reality, and then that which

8:58

may take place or come into being would

9:01

be like a vaccinated world,

9:04

and they aren't necessarily the

9:06

same thing. Yeah. Right, but

9:09

we do use possibility for both of

9:11

them, and I feel like your story

9:13

is about saying when can

9:15

we separate those two? When

9:17

can we say it doesn't have to

9:20

be a vaccinated world, we can be in a safe

9:22

world, or no, it has to

9:24

be a vaccinated world in order to be a

9:26

safe world, and so they need to be connected,

9:28

right? Like, I feel like that's

9:30

your story is about exactly separating

9:32

those two things. What do I need

9:34

the millions of dollars in order

9:37

to have and what is actually just about

9:39

a state, and I can make that

9:41

happen without the millions of dollars. Yeah,

9:43

and I think that is actually a

9:46

really important distinction that I bet we

9:48

will get into as we get into

9:50

this chapter, because there's so many instances

9:52

as like a teaser where I was

9:54

reading this chapter thinking about possibility and

9:57

just reflecting on how often possibility is

9:59

tied to life. like privilege and access

10:01

to resources. So I

10:03

love that we're setting it up with

10:05

this sort of distinction. Yeah. Okay,

10:08

well let's see what's possible for me

10:10

to remember in this 30 second recap

10:12

if you don't mind counting me in. Okay,

10:15

you ready? I'm ready. Three,

10:17

two, one. So

10:20

the Quidditch team gets reinstated probably because McGonagall went

10:22

all the way to Dumbledore and went above Enbridge's

10:24

head. And everyone is so excited and they have

10:26

practice. And then it turns out that Fred and

10:28

George have like boils on their butts and it's

10:30

raining really badly and it's horrible. And they're gonna

10:33

have their first DA meeting. And Dobby, who's actually

10:35

been taking all of the hats from Hermione, is

10:37

able to tell them about the room of requirement.

10:39

And that's when they name the DA and they

10:41

elect Harry as the person in

10:43

charge and they start all their practices. And

10:45

we already see the potential in Neville. He's

10:47

already getting better and Cho is there. I

10:51

ran out of time. Cho is there.

10:53

Cho is there. Cho

10:55

is there. Cho

10:58

is there. Adorable. It's

11:00

true. So she can't help it. Jackson,

11:03

are you ready to clean up that mess I

11:05

left for you? I'm going to try to fill

11:08

in some daps. We'll see how it goes. On

11:11

your mark, get set, go. All

11:13

right, so they're in charms class and they're talking about

11:15

how last night Umbridge maybe caught Sirius in

11:17

the fire. And they're like, did she actually know that

11:19

it was him? And they're kind of freaking out about what to

11:21

do. And now they definitely can't talk to Sirius again. So they're

11:23

feeling very stuck about that. And then the Quidditch

11:25

team is back yet. They

11:28

have practice in very bad rain.

11:31

And yeah, Fred and George have been testing stuff

11:33

and they have boils and that sounds very, very

11:35

uncomfortable. And then there's going to be

11:37

another Quidditch practice, but it's canceled because it just keeps

11:39

raining. This whole chapter, it's raining a heck of a

11:41

lot. Oh, and Harry, I think how

11:43

do? Oh, no, I didn't get into anything. Because

11:45

I remembered an important thing that neither of

11:47

us talked about, which is Harry's scar is

11:49

hurting again. And he's like

11:51

realizing he can feel Voldemort's emotions. And

11:54

that seems very important to mention. I

11:57

don't know. Book

12:00

five, Harry's scar hurts, he's feeling emotions. That

12:02

feels like it could be in almost any

12:04

chapter. You just

12:06

described book five. Exactly. Harry's scar hurts

12:09

and he's feeling emotions. Yeah.

12:11

So this time they're Voldemort's emotions,

12:13

whatever. So

12:16

Jackson, the thing that

12:18

I feel like we have to talk about

12:20

is the room of requirement because it could

12:22

easily be called the room of possibilities. Yeah.

12:25

Right? It is the room where you can

12:28

get anything you want

12:30

or need. You don't even need to need

12:32

it, right? You just have to

12:34

want it. Yeah. I

12:36

think so. Well, you know what?

12:38

When I was reading the chapter again, the way Dobby

12:40

described it this time, there was something that stood out

12:43

to me. It was almost like

12:45

he described it more as needing it. Yeah.

12:47

So Dobby describes the room of requirements of, he's heard

12:49

tell of it from other house elves. It's

12:52

known by us as the come and go room

12:54

or else as the room of requirement. It's the

12:56

room that a person can only enter when they

12:58

have a real need of it. Sometimes

13:01

it's there, sometimes it's not. But when it

13:03

appears, it is always equipped for the seekers needs. For

13:05

the seekers needs. So it does emphasize

13:08

needs. Yeah. However,

13:11

that is Dobby's perspective. There's also

13:13

like, it is such a mysterious

13:15

room that I think people make

13:18

their own interpretation of it as well when they

13:20

discover it. I just think it, you

13:22

know, the examples that were given of the

13:24

room of requirement are really interesting, right? Like

13:26

Dumbledore needs a bathroom. That's

13:28

a need. But Fred and

13:30

George, like need to escape.

13:34

And so like the question becomes if

13:37

they needed to escape McGonagall, would

13:40

the room of requirements show up?

13:42

Does it have a judgment on

13:45

like what the actual needs are of

13:47

the person or is it

13:49

what they just like really want to

13:51

do? And

13:53

so it appears. Yeah, I tend to

13:55

think that it is sort of like if

13:59

the person. Themself feels like it

14:01

is a need that is right as interpreted because

14:03

one thing that is interesting to me is like

14:05

a lot of the times When we see the

14:07

room of the requirement, especially for the DA like

14:10

it is a trip down room There's all kinds

14:12

of resources and like cozy places to sit but

14:14

when Fred and George needed it It was a

14:16

broom cupboard And

14:18

I think that's because that's what they

14:21

were Imagining that they needed was a

14:23

closet like that to just go hide in they

14:25

weren't imagining that we need this big room They

14:27

were just like oh we need somewhere to hide

14:29

and so it sort of turned into what they

14:31

had in their head Yeah, one thing

14:33

that I find interesting is the distinction you

14:35

made between Them being caught

14:37

by silch and then being caught by McGonagall, which

14:40

I heard and you could correct me if I'm wrong

14:42

But I heard from you in that that like they're

14:44

sort of in more danger

14:46

There's a bigger consequence being caught by filch or

14:48

if they're caught by McGonagall sure They're still gonna

14:51

get punished but it like she's a little bit

14:53

more understanding of them Like they're still gonna kind

14:55

of be safe around her where filters may be

14:57

more of a loose cannon You don't know what's

14:59

gonna happen. They have a greater fear. So I

15:02

don't know I'm also just sort of trying to tease

15:04

that out in terms of the the need

15:06

versus want and the Possibility factor

15:08

of the room of requirement. I guess

15:11

we find out more about this in the next

15:13

book where you can Need

15:15

two different things, right? Harry really really

15:17

deeply desires to catch Draco But

15:19

Draco feels as though he needs the room to

15:22

be private and like

15:24

Harry can't get into the room I just

15:26

I guess I find it interesting that the room

15:28

doesn't seem to have a moral agenda That

15:31

it's like hey if you need it, I'll provide it.

15:34

I think that there's something about to saying if

15:36

you feel as though you need something It's

15:39

my job to meet your needs and it's like not

15:41

my job to assess Whether

15:43

or not you need it and just sort of

15:46

like to believe people that they need what they're

15:48

asking for Yeah, it's

15:50

making me think a lot about clicknet neutrality

15:53

and the way that we classify the internet

15:55

and yeah, is it a communications

15:58

device in the same way that like telephones

16:00

are that, you know, we can use a

16:02

telephone for anything on an individual

16:04

level. But with the internet where things can get

16:06

complicated is it is also a community resource. And

16:08

so like, if you want to have a good

16:11

community online, you need proper moderation, and there do

16:13

need to maybe be some values agreed upon and

16:15

stuff like that. And so with the room of

16:17

requirement, when it's just like one

16:20

person or one community using it at

16:22

once, that lack of sort

16:24

of like moral value judgment from the room

16:26

of requirement is maybe

16:28

arguably fine. But yeah, then when you

16:30

get into like dynamics of like Harry

16:33

and Draco's conflicting needs or wants with

16:35

it, it gets a lot more Harry. Yeah.

16:38

And when we want to say

16:40

to someone, yes, this is a

16:43

possibility that I will help you

16:45

have. And when you're

16:47

saying to someone, no, that's an unreasonable

16:50

possibility. Right. And

16:52

where that comes from? Is it

16:54

because it's a scarce resource? Is it because

16:56

you think that they want to

16:59

be possible? Shouldn't be possible?

17:01

I don't know. I just feels like

17:03

this is how we decide a lot

17:05

of the world, right? It's making me

17:07

think a little bit about like, okay, all the

17:10

examples that we've said so far, and a lot of the

17:12

ones that we see in the books, I think you could

17:14

very well make a pretty clear argument of it

17:16

being like a need. This person has a need

17:18

for this, and it's very helpful. But I'm trying to

17:20

imagine like, I don't know, let's say some random kid

17:22

at Hogwarts hears about it. I was like, wow,

17:24

that'd be really cool to make like, you know,

17:26

the coolest room ever. And there's, you know, it's gonna

17:28

be a bunch of like records and a cool sound

17:31

system and a lava lamp. They just think it would

17:33

be cool, right? And so I think right on the

17:35

one hand, you could see that and be like,

17:37

that's not a need. That's just a want. So

17:39

will the room of requirements fulfill that or not? Maybe

17:41

it wouldn't. But I then start thinking about, well,

17:44

maybe that kid who thinks that would

17:46

be really cool is also like, having

17:49

trouble like being around so many people in the

17:51

common room all the time need some alone time

17:53

like, like, so it makes me start thinking about

17:55

like access needs and accommodations and stuff like that,

17:57

where you can hear something at first and maybe

18:00

think how could that be a need? We don't need

18:02

that to be possible and then like you get some

18:04

of the larger context and it's like oh no that

18:06

now makes sense why that would actually be need. Right

18:09

it is interesting because as someone who grew up

18:12

outside of Christmas

18:14

culture like I understand

18:16

why it feels like a need right

18:19

around the darkest day of the year

18:21

to like light up a tree and

18:23

bring joy to children in the middle

18:25

of winter right? But it always looked

18:28

like excess to me from the outside

18:30

and there's like kids getting

18:32

their wish lists and like you know

18:34

whatever right like not being

18:36

necessary but as I get older I'm like no

18:39

festivals in the middle of the winter really make

18:41

a lot of sense to me which makes me

18:43

think of right that even

18:46

if we don't need everything that we

18:48

want to be possible what we do

18:50

need is the feeling of possibility. Mmm

18:54

yes I think that is so important

18:56

and I think it is a really

18:58

tough thing sometimes to feel that

19:01

possibility. Right absolutely I

19:03

love John Green's definition of hope which

19:06

is like hope is the belief that

19:08

people can change and I feel like

19:10

belief in possibility is the

19:13

belief that like circumstances can change that

19:15

it's possible for you to get a

19:17

million dollars so you can

19:19

you know buy a house or it's

19:22

possible that there's affordable housing. Right

19:24

yeah it's possible that there's other ways to get

19:26

to what what you think is is the

19:28

dream yeah right I also

19:30

think with with that John Green quote that can also

19:32

apply to you of like the belief that you

19:35

can change yeah I think that's important too is

19:37

like not trying to be prescriptive of like don't

19:39

just tell people change your mindset but again that

19:41

for myself sometimes that is really helpful to be

19:43

like why do I think this way why am

19:46

I approaching this this way let me open my

19:48

mind a little bit to this right and open

19:50

my mind to possibility. When

19:53

I was reading this chapter the character

19:55

that really illustrated this for me was

19:58

Dobby and it wasn't Super

20:00

much from what we saw of Dobby in

20:02

this chapter in particular, but just being reminded

20:05

of Dobby's story. And Dobby was

20:07

given that one opportunity when Harry

20:09

sort of accidentally freed him. But since

20:11

then, Dobby's perspective on the world has

20:13

been one of just absolutely abundant possibility.

20:15

And just dreaming and achieving all of

20:18

these things that he was never told

20:20

he could do that no one like

20:22

him ever does. And I see

20:24

that as it's a very complicated thought, given

20:27

the whole Howselves thing. But honing in

20:29

on Dobby in particular and his

20:31

story, I think is a really

20:33

beautiful example of possibility. Yeah.

20:37

And that it is reliant on a

20:39

material change, right? Dobby

20:41

actually didn't believe really in possibility before.

20:43

He had hoped for Harry in Harry.

20:46

But he truly believed

20:48

that he was stuck as the

20:50

Malfoy's Howself in being

20:52

granted freedom, right? His life

20:55

has materially changed. And so the world

20:57

that literally had no possibility in it

20:59

now is full of possibilities for him.

21:02

And just like how important that

21:04

material change is in order to create

21:06

a world of possibilities for Dobby. Yeah.

21:09

And I do think it's important to

21:11

think as we talk about how

21:13

much is your sort of

21:15

perspective and mindset and how much is the material

21:18

change in the context of it. Like Winky was

21:20

also given freedom, but she was like let go

21:22

in a very traumatic

21:25

way. And so that's different. So like she

21:27

is not going to have the

21:29

same perspective about it as Dobby. And she is not

21:31

one where we could just be like, oh, you just

21:33

need to change your thinking, which is what Dobby says

21:36

to her many times. It's

21:38

like, no, her situation was completely

21:40

different and it wasn't like this

21:43

kind of gift. It was more of a hardship. Absolutely.

21:47

No, she was kicked out

21:49

of her home where she was happy.

21:51

We can judge the dynamic that was there, but

21:53

she was happy. Yeah. And

21:55

she was evicted, forcibly evicted. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. particular

22:00

in this chapter is collecting

22:03

all of Hermione's knitting projects.

22:06

I just love it so much.

22:09

I love the excess of it.

22:12

Right? Like I as a maximalist

22:14

where I'm like, no, but more

22:16

is more. And especially

22:19

when it comes to decoration and

22:21

fashion, right? Like, let's be honest,

22:23

I got back from my brother's wedding yesterday

22:25

and was I in a sparkle dress

22:27

with like sparkle hair. Yes, I was

22:30

nice. So I love that Davi is

22:32

like hats on hats, right? Like symbols

22:34

of freedom on top of symbols of

22:37

freedom. I love that once to shower

22:40

himself in this new thing that he

22:42

is allowed to do. Yeah. The

22:45

symbols of freedom on top of symbols of

22:47

freedom just for the first time made me

22:49

think of this through a trans lens

22:51

of shocking that I

22:53

would think of something through a trans lens,

22:55

but made me think about like when you

22:58

are first like exploring your gender or especially

23:00

like maybe buying clothing of

23:02

a different gender expression than you ever

23:04

have before. And like sometimes

23:06

like we can view that as a little like

23:09

cringe here and there because you haven't figured out

23:11

your style yet and maybe it doesn't like look

23:13

great and or you're like older and you're trying

23:15

to wear stuff that you wish you could have

23:17

wore as a kid and it's like, oh, this

23:19

doesn't look my age. But there is such a

23:21

beauty and joy in that as well as like,

23:24

like this person like finally feeling free to dress

23:26

how they want and express themselves how they want.

23:28

So I actually really love the way you just

23:31

described all of these, you know, wearing seven hats

23:33

on top of each other as symbols

23:35

of freedom on put on symbols of freedom and

23:37

just the absolute joy of that. Yeah.

23:39

And like you're never too old to

23:41

wear anything. I just like go deeply

23:43

believe like fashion

23:46

is a place where we can just enjoy

23:49

ourselves, whatever that enjoyment

23:52

feels like. Right. Whether it be comfort

23:54

or glam or, you know, minimalism,

23:56

whatever it is. But I

23:59

don't know. for yourself and that's what Dobby

24:01

is doing. It is funny

24:04

that Hermione, without talking to anyone,

24:06

has decided that hats are going

24:09

to be this world of possibility

24:11

for how selves. And

24:14

of course it's not, right? Like... Yeah.

24:17

I think this is one reason why I've, even

24:20

though it's a funny visual, I have never

24:22

actually like seen this moment in, as

24:24

a moment of joy because all I hear is

24:26

Dobby saying, oh I have to clean the common

24:28

room all by myself now because no one else

24:30

will come here because Hermione's doing this thing that

24:32

she thinks is good. But she never talked to

24:34

the community she's trying to help. She never asked

24:36

them what they actually need. She just assumed and

24:38

it's actually making life harder for all of them.

24:40

I know. I know. I was

24:43

raised by someone who really believes that,

24:45

and raised us, that if somebody asks

24:47

you for money, if you can give

24:49

it, you give it without

24:51

conditions, right? Like, you

24:53

don't give it as a loan, you don't ask

24:56

for it back, and you definitely don't look at

24:58

how they're going to spend the money, right? So

25:00

if someone asks for money to

25:02

help pay their rent and then they spend a

25:04

lot of money on a meal, it's not up

25:06

to you to be like, hey, that's not what

25:09

I lent you that money for, that's not what

25:11

I gave you that money for. That people know

25:13

what they need and what they need might be

25:15

different than what you think

25:17

that they should need. And I think that

25:19

that is the mistake that Hermione is

25:21

making here, right? She's like, no, no,

25:24

you need freedom so

25:26

much that I will trick you into

25:29

doing it, right? And I think

25:31

my father really sees things like

25:34

restrictions on EBT cards, right? As

25:36

like deeply paternalistic. And

25:38

it's funny the ways that we

25:41

choose to criticize

25:43

these policies, right? Because diapers aren't covered

25:45

on EBT cards and we're like, diapers

25:48

not a need. But also

25:50

cigarettes aren't covered. And

25:52

I think what my father would say is like, if

25:55

someone feels like they need cigarettes, like, right? Like that's

25:57

not up to us to tell them whether or not

25:59

they need cigarettes. Yeah, to me this

26:01

goes back to our room of requirement discussion of just

26:03

like you don't really know why

26:06

a need could be someone's need but it absolutely can

26:08

be and even if it like looks more like a

26:10

want to you like you don't know Everything

26:12

they're going through you don't know their whole like

26:14

background and perspective on on why that Thing

26:17

might have like jumped up to the level of

26:19

need for them, right? And

26:21

so yeah, I think what Hermione

26:23

wants is a world full of

26:26

possibility for the house elves Mm-hmm, and

26:28

it's really hard if that's what you want

26:30

for someone to believe that that's not What

26:33

they want? Mm-hmm, and I again feel

26:35

for her cuz she's 15 and I

26:37

feel much less for systems of oppression

26:39

that try to tell people what they

26:43

Feel is possible for them or not, but

26:45

I understand that right? It's

26:47

why Parents really

26:49

feel as though their kids absolutely should go

26:51

to college They want them to have all

26:53

the possibilities in front of them Even

26:56

if their kid is like no, that's not the right place

26:58

for me Right and like we

27:00

just really have to be careful about

27:02

even wanting possibilities for other people Right,

27:05

it's the two different sort of definitions

27:07

of possibility again There's the world that

27:09

you sort of want and then the

27:11

like thing that you think is

27:13

what will get you there and Hermione Didn't

27:17

ask what the house elves need to

27:19

get to that world which Depending

27:22

on the definition of this, you know equitable world

27:24

They might even have a different idea of what

27:26

that world is that they want, right? I Don't

27:31

know about you, but I feel like 2024 is Sast

27:35

approaching and I haven't quite had

27:37

the time or space to

27:39

prepare for the start of the new year

27:41

That is why I am running a program

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27:46

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27:49

with intention Living

27:51

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27:54

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27:56

about living more courageously in 2024 every

27:59

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28:01

a unique theme. Our

28:04

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28:06

creativity, activism, and self-love.

28:09

Together, we'll close read a short text

28:11

on that week's topic, do

28:13

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28:15

and then go into small groups

28:17

for intimate discussions. The

28:19

goal of this program is for individuals

28:22

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28:24

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28:26

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28:28

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28:30

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28:32

help building intention and ritual, then this

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mean the last thing that I feel like we have to talk

31:32

about is that what

31:34

Umbridge is trying to do is create

31:38

a world without any possibility. Yes.

31:40

Right? Like there was a requirement

31:42

for corruption just to get a

31:45

Quidditch team off the ground. And

31:48

what's interesting to me is how solidarity

31:52

is how people recreate

31:54

a sense of possibility. Right? Yeah.

31:56

Angelina went to McGonagall who went

31:59

to Dumbledore. and like things

32:01

feel possible again. And Cho

32:03

brings Marietta and like going to

32:05

the DA feels possible even in

32:07

Cho's extreme grief. Right?

32:10

That when things don't

32:12

feel possible, it literally it can

32:14

just make such a difference to have a

32:16

buddy or just like one person on your

32:18

side. Yeah, someone who maybe

32:21

has access to other resources or someone

32:23

who just has a slightly different perspective

32:25

that can then open your mind to

32:27

possibility or just like kind of like

32:29

Marietta just be there to hold your hand. Just be there with

32:31

you. Right? And like really

32:33

the big example of this is Harry and

32:35

Hermione, right? Like the

32:38

world needs Harry to be teaching this

32:40

class in order to keep this a

32:42

world where Umbridge's demise is possible. The

32:45

DA does need to be formed, but

32:47

Harry never would have done it without

32:49

Hermione. Right? Like in order to

32:52

live into all that is possible within

32:54

us. We just like need we

32:57

need friends Jackson. Yeah,

33:00

you need we need friends. We need

33:02

community. We need yeah, we need other

33:04

people and feeling that in our lives. Yeah,

33:07

because I mean this this book especially

33:09

is just a lot about feeling

33:11

a lack of possibility of

33:14

all the ways that Umbridge is just like

33:16

cutting off communication channels putting all these restrictions

33:18

on things. You know, there's a

33:20

couple of times in this book where Harry, Ron and

33:22

Hermione are like, well, we need to do this but

33:24

we can't do this because Umbridge like said like is

33:26

watching this and is doing this and so like when

33:28

you feel that run down well, not just

33:31

feel when you are that run down and

33:33

have all of these systems working against you it

33:35

can be so so hard to feel

33:37

that possibility at all. So I love some of

33:39

the examples you brought up even like the Quidditch

33:42

example of like again, is

33:44

Quidditch a need? Well, I think for a lot of

33:46

these kids to have an outlet and a morale

33:49

booster and like feel that possibility

33:51

again, like here was something that Umbridge took

33:53

away and they were able to work together

33:55

to bring it back like that is a

33:57

huge boon to feeling that sense of possibility.

34:00

Possibility again. Yeah, and that's one of the

34:02

things that we know that fascist regimes intentionally

34:04

try to do right is withhold a sense

34:06

of possibility Because

34:09

you become downtrend and stop fighting right

34:11

when yeah, yeah when you just like

34:13

give in that is

34:16

when it's easiest for these

34:18

regimes to take over so Yeah,

34:21

it's a strategy right like this the

34:23

status quo is a strategy and umbridge is

34:25

trying to make this the new status quo

34:27

of Just removing

34:29

all sorts of possibilities from the school.

34:32

Yeah, you know we sort of talked around it But

34:34

now I'm really Envisioning this first meeting

34:36

of Dumbledore's army as just being a

34:38

moment of like explosive Possibility for all

34:40

the kids in there who were feeling

34:42

very run down by everything that umbridge

34:44

is doing and suddenly like they're

34:46

feeling There is a

34:49

possible way out But also like feeling

34:51

possibility in themselves as they were all

34:53

like getting better in learning these skills

34:55

that they themselves can use Wow,

34:58

I I love the end of this

35:00

chapter with with the DA like it's

35:02

it's a really beautiful scene to me

35:05

I mean, I love that. This is the

35:07

chapter where we start to see Neville's excellence

35:09

Mm-hmm. You know, it's only gonna be in

35:12

book six when he gets his own wand

35:15

That like is a wand fit for him

35:17

that he will really start to excel at

35:19

magic And I know that it's

35:21

also made light of in this chapter, right? He's

35:24

effectively able to disarm Harry, but it's only because

35:26

Harry isn't paying attention But also

35:28

like you need that little boost of confidence

35:30

to then ever get to the next point

35:33

Exactly. And so it just makes sense to

35:35

me that it's like without a teacher's harsh

35:37

gaze It's without any

35:39

Slytherins in the room, right? Like

35:42

it's amongst friends that

35:44

Neville can see this possibility within himself

35:46

for the first time Do

35:48

I think late again going back to our etymology

35:50

which you know, I said bad

35:52

things about that ended up being really helpful All

35:55

right, like Neville was able to

35:57

see this possibility within himself so that the

35:59

new wand can make all the difference.

36:01

I do think we need both of those things,

36:03

right? Like McGonagall says it in this book too,

36:05

just a few chapters ago, right? Like all you

36:07

need to do is, you know, believe

36:09

in yourself a little more. What you're lacking is

36:12

confidence. And again, it turns

36:14

out he is lacking something material, but he

36:16

needs both. Yeah, yeah, you need both to

36:18

get it to work. Yeah. No, I

36:20

love this moment so much with Neville. Like that

36:22

was kind of my big moment of joy in the

36:25

chapter, but also part of it, like, like I sort

36:27

of was rereading it and Neville does expelliarmus correctly and

36:29

I kind of like fist punched the air. I was

36:31

like, yes. But then like reading sort

36:33

of before and after everything around that

36:35

moment is Harry just really

36:38

stepping into this natural ability as a teacher.

36:40

Like he's going around to everyone else, helping

36:42

them out. Even how he immediately was like,

36:44

Oh, Neville, you're going to partner with

36:47

me. Like, I don't know where any

36:49

of this came from with Harry. Like

36:51

he's just immediately knows what to do

36:53

as a teacher. And I just absolutely

36:55

loved seeing that talent emerge from him

36:57

in a way that I don't think

36:59

I've picked up on before when I've read it. And

37:01

I don't know, that was just so beautiful to me

37:03

seeing that in Harry of like, sure,

37:06

he gets all these accolades, all this attention and

37:08

fame for all of these things. But this is

37:10

something that is like a natural

37:12

skill of his that I don't think is ever really celebrated

37:15

or noticed. Yeah. No,

37:19

it's really beautiful him going around the room

37:21

and like helping people

37:23

quietly while also having them, you

37:26

know, work by themselves. Right. And

37:28

it's funny, just in this chapter,

37:31

we see Footwick go

37:33

around the room in order to

37:35

help students who are practicing with their

37:37

silencing charm, but he's not as pedagogically

37:39

sound in the way. He's like, well,

37:41

let's see you do it. Right.

37:43

He like asks Ron to perform,

37:46

whereas Harry is there and is like

37:48

gently changing people's strategy and is

37:51

like encouraging them. And so it's

37:53

interesting that potentially the best pedagogy

37:55

that we see at Hogwarts comes

37:58

from this child. So

38:13

Jackson, we are going to do

38:15

Pardes, the Jewish practice, and I

38:17

have picked a sentence for us.

38:19

Okay. It is, Harry shook

38:22

his head and covered his eyes with

38:24

his hands, pressing down upon

38:26

them with his palms. And

38:29

so the first step of Pardes is

38:31

shut, which is when we talk about

38:33

the intended meaning of the sentence, but

38:36

we'll also do a little context. So

38:38

this is when Harry's scar has just

38:40

hurt and he's like

38:42

processing that he can understand what

38:44

is going on with Voldemort. And

38:48

so Ron has just asked him, how do you know that that

38:50

is what's going on with Voldemort? Right.

38:53

And this is when they're in the locker

38:55

room after Quidditch practice, everyone else is left.

38:58

Right, Harry. Yes, yes. And

39:00

so literally in the sentence, right, it's

39:02

very physical, disjointed his head, covering his

39:04

eyes, pressing down upon them, right? You're

39:07

getting a sense, like this is the behavior

39:09

of someone with a migraine. That's exactly what

39:11

I was going to say. Yeah. Like you

39:13

can feel this pain if you've ever had a headache right there

39:15

where you're just like, I got to like somehow putting your hands,

39:17

the pressure on your head is going to help somehow. Right.

39:20

It's also him trying to concentrate, right?

39:23

Like really trying to like block everything

39:25

out so that he can focus. But

39:27

it feels like it's yeah,

39:29

it's both at the same time. Okay,

39:32

so step two is when we pick a word

39:34

and sort of see where else it comes up

39:37

in the novels. And so I will

39:39

read the sentence to you and pick a word that

39:41

sparkles up at you. So Harry shook

39:43

his head and covered his eyes with his hands,

39:46

pressing down upon them with his

39:48

palms. Hmm.

39:50

I think I want to

39:52

go with palms. Ooh, okay.

39:54

We had a lot of body parts

39:56

in that but palm is much more specific than

39:59

like hands or Yeah, so

40:01

what comes to mind immediately for me is

40:03

Trelawney. Me too. In like poem reading. Yeah.

40:05

Okay, where else do we have poems? I

40:08

feel like probably in cases

40:11

either of maybe like learning some type of

40:13

wand movement or like in dueling I almost

40:15

feel like there's maybe an instance where we

40:18

do see like Voldemort holding up his poem

40:20

or something like that. Yeah, I don't

40:22

know Later in this

40:25

book the prophecy is gonna be

40:27

something that Harry is constantly clutching

40:29

in his palm And it's

40:31

like his I think of

40:33

basketball players as people with like really

40:35

good palm strength, right? And Harry

40:38

it makes sense right like from Quidditch has

40:40

palm strength gotta catch that snitch You

40:42

gotta catch that snitch And I

40:45

just read the end of book five a lab

40:47

with my kids and we were just like Laughing

40:49

about how much happens to Harry and he manages

40:51

to hold on to the prophecy Like

40:54

really you still haven't dropped or

40:56

broken this prophecy Really,

40:58

but maybe it's this incredible palm

41:01

strength Yeah I think that is

41:03

probably it is like, you know him

41:05

being a seeker is almost like that

41:07

that has led us to be able

41:10

to Maybe believe that

41:12

he could hold that I think this is interesting

41:14

that Probably the main cases

41:16

that palms come up in the stories

41:18

are Divination stuff which

41:20

is like an open palm

41:22

trying to see the future

41:24

and then holding things Like

41:27

just grasping things in your hand. Yeah. Yeah,

41:30

like a closed clutched palm And so

41:32

that is a direction stone. Mm-hmm

41:35

in book seven the snitch Yeah,

41:38

yeah specifically like holding very

41:40

important things Yeah, yeah,

41:44

and it's also interesting that the first

41:46

example you brought up of like a

41:48

palm holding something was the prophecy When

41:51

the other like before the other thing we

41:53

had said was divination Yes,

41:55

both are that's a lot. Hey, yeah,

41:58

yes a physical man manifestation of

42:00

a thing. Oh, I love that. Him

42:02

holding the prophecy in his palm is

42:04

a form of palmistry. That's

42:07

his future in his hands. Oh

42:10

my God, that's fascinating. So

42:14

step three is trash. This

42:16

is where we talk about what lesson

42:18

we would pull from this

42:20

sentence, and so I'll read it one more time. Harry

42:24

shook his head and covered his eyes

42:26

with his hands, pressing down

42:28

upon them with his palms. So

42:32

I'm not at the point in my thought process where this

42:34

is a lesson yet, but one thing that

42:36

stood out to me when you read it this time

42:38

is, you know, we talked about how

42:40

this sentence, his actions are really showing

42:42

us like the pain of what he

42:45

was feeling. They're illustrating, this is a

42:47

very painful situation, but here, you know,

42:49

shaking his head, blocking things out, to

42:51

me was like also emotionally not wanting

42:53

this to happen, trying to like shake

42:55

it off just so badly, like he

42:58

knows what this means anytime soon as

43:00

his scar hurts and it's bad news,

43:02

and so he's like physically trying to

43:04

shake this off from being a thing

43:06

that is happening to him. I

43:09

love that, the like desire for this to not

43:11

be the case. Mm-hmm.

43:14

I think I would talk about, I just

43:16

feel cliche, but it just also

43:18

feels so true. I

43:20

think I would talk about the need for

43:23

like quiet sometimes,

43:26

right? Like he's

43:29

so desperate for like some form of

43:31

like privacy and reflection that he's just

43:33

like closing his eyes, right,

43:35

like closing himself off, and you know, it's not

43:37

that he doesn't want Ron in the room with

43:40

him, it's that he needs to really concentrate in

43:42

order to like have a thought and fixate on

43:44

what's happening. And I'm just

43:46

someone, I mean this is really me preaching

43:48

to myself, like I'm never not listening to

43:50

something, like I listen to podcasts while I'm

43:52

in the shower, I like never

43:54

go on a walk without either music or a

43:56

podcast playing, and I Like

44:01

really, our bodies just like need quiet.

44:05

Yeah. And whenever I do

44:07

eke out some quiet from myself,

44:09

I'm like, whoa, that's actually important.

44:11

And so I think I would,

44:14

yeah, talk about that and

44:16

like why we're afraid to be alone,

44:18

right? Like what

44:20

it is that we're trying to

44:23

drown out by always having noise with us.

44:25

Yeah, I strongly agree with

44:28

that. And I also listen to music and podcasts

44:30

in the shower. And anytime I'm like walking in

44:32

and leave the house. And with Harry in this

44:34

moment, what I'm thinking of is it's

44:36

related to that, but I think there's

44:39

the noise of his life. I mean, he

44:41

was at a boarding school. There's so many

44:43

other kids around. He's got so much on

44:46

his plate as a student, but he

44:48

could spend all day every day as

44:50

we see in the seventh book, like trying

44:52

to figure out this situation with Voldemort. And,

44:54

you know, with Harry, I think it's

44:57

maybe less like a, oh, I

44:59

should find quiet or like

45:01

quiet for reflection, but more like he

45:03

just needs the space in like his

45:06

time commitments and everything to be able to

45:09

think about this and process what is going

45:11

on, which I also find very relatable in

45:13

my life. Like it's not so much that

45:15

I like want to be alone or want

45:17

to be in quiet sometimes, but it's like,

45:20

I just need a minute to

45:22

try to process what's happening and think

45:24

about what I'm doing. Yeah, and that

45:26

there are good and bad places for

45:29

that, right? Like Harry had

45:31

all summer, quote unquote,

45:33

to reflect. True. But that's

45:35

not the vibe of the Dursley house, right?

45:37

Like even though he's left alone, it is

45:39

not in a productive or supported way. So

45:43

last up is Soad, and

45:45

Soad means secret. And so the idea is that

45:47

it's possible that a secret that we didn't think

45:50

of when we first read the sentence is

45:52

sort of emerged by talking about it.

45:54

So here is a sentence. Harry

45:57

shook his head and covered his eyes.

46:00

with his hands, pressing down

46:02

upon them with his palms. It

46:06

occurred to me that it's like one kind of prayer that

46:08

I know of, which is when

46:10

you're welcoming the Sabbath in Judaism,

46:12

you light the candles and then close

46:15

your eyes and Sabbath is often personified

46:17

as a bride that's like coming in

46:19

as a gift to like give

46:22

you quiet and a weekend. And

46:24

that it's often

46:26

traditionally, right, women

46:28

who do all the preparation

46:31

for Shabbat, right, who like make sure

46:33

all the food is cooked ahead of

46:35

time, make sure that everything is ready

46:37

so that you can have this radical

46:39

rest. And it is also

46:41

traditionally women who cover their eyes in

46:44

order to welcome in Shabbat.

46:47

And so it's just interesting that like it's

46:49

an intentional moment in

46:51

Judaism for like a moment of quiet to

46:55

reflect as you transition from one

46:57

moment to the other. You

46:59

know, Friday afternoons in Orthodox

47:02

Jewish households are incredibly chaotic

47:04

because you're not just doing your

47:06

normal activities but you're also preparing

47:08

to not be able to

47:10

do any activities for 24 hours and

47:13

that you need this moment of like supreme

47:15

quiet before you like step

47:17

over the threshold into the Sabbath and

47:20

like cover your eyes I think

47:22

is really beautiful. It's something that

47:25

I really love about sort of

47:27

like Sabbath traditions. Yeah, it's taking

47:29

that time to sort of pause from

47:31

all the chaos and now be like okay

47:33

like take some deep breaths and now we're

47:36

gonna slow down. Yeah, light a candle and start

47:38

a new space. Well and in this way

47:40

I mean we just had how more chaotic could

47:42

you get than Quidditch practice in a huge

47:44

downpour of rain and

47:47

then this like burst into your

47:49

head and so he is trying

47:51

to take that that moment of closing

47:53

his eyes and slowing down. I was

47:56

also thinking a little bit about you know we

47:58

talked about he's trying to block

48:01

everything out and like

48:03

figure out what he's feeling but something about

48:05

him like pressing into his eyes really

48:08

illustrated for me him getting deeper

48:10

into what's happening in his head

48:13

and really going like you know fully

48:17

cerebral fully inside or like trying to

48:19

figure out what

48:21

he's hearing from Voldemort. Yeah so

48:23

something about that which I think

48:25

is connected to the sort of

48:28

pause and the prayerful like

48:30

body language. Yeah and it's

48:32

interesting it's a transition he's always tried to

48:34

push Voldemort away and this is

48:36

him actually trying to go in and

48:39

understand right it is

48:41

a transition. Yeah and so

48:43

I love that even more now that we're

48:45

seeing this

48:48

as like almost more like prayerful

48:50

or like spiritual in a way because this

48:52

is a big moment it's the first time

48:55

that he's cognitively aware these are Voldemort's emotions

48:57

he then realizes in retrospect when he felt

48:59

that before but this is the first time

49:01

he's figuring it out and as we know

49:04

this is going to become a very major

49:06

like plot point. Yeah wow

49:09

I did not thought of that. Yeah wow

49:11

thanks for days and thanks for having us. Yeah

49:14

thanks Vanessa. ACAS

49:20

powers the world's best conscience.

49:24

Here's the show that we recommend. Hi

49:28

I'm Michelle Obama and in my

49:30

podcast I talk about so many

49:32

of the lessons I've learned that

49:34

are centered around finding your inner

49:37

confidence, understanding your own

49:39

stories, and persisting even if

49:41

it feels like people are

49:43

judging and watching your every

49:45

move. I get into

49:47

this and a lot of other

49:49

meaningful topics with some of my

49:51

closest friends on my podcast The

49:53

Light. The Light

49:56

podcast is presented by Starbucks.

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grow, and monetize their

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podcasts everywhere. acast.com.

50:10

This week's voicemail is from Serena.

50:15

Hi, Harry Potter Sacred Text team.

50:17

My name is Serena, and I'm

50:20

calling in with a blessing. I

50:23

was listening to Matt and Vanessa talk

50:26

about Sirius and

50:29

Molly Weasley and who would

50:32

be a better guardian

50:34

for him or what

50:36

kind of guardian Harry needs maybe. And

50:40

it made me think about my own experience. My

50:43

mom died when I was 15 years old, and

50:46

she was sick for a long time, and so she was able

50:48

to put a lot of things in

50:50

order before she died. She

50:54

was a queer single parent,

50:57

and she made the choice for

51:00

me to live with a

51:03

heterosexual couple

51:06

who had children after she

51:08

died because she was

51:10

worried that her family would take

51:13

me away to live

51:15

with them if I

51:17

lived with any of our

51:19

queer, chosen families. And

51:24

it was really hard. I

51:28

know now as an

51:30

adult that the laws

51:32

in the state and county where

51:35

I lived actually would have protected

51:37

me had she chosen a

51:41

different set of guardians for me. But

51:45

the folks that I lived with

51:47

were very loving but also had

51:49

a lot

51:52

of their own dysfunction and

51:54

pain. And

51:56

when I became an adult, the...

52:00

Mom of the family ended up writing me

52:02

a letter talking

52:05

about how part of

52:07

the reason that it

52:09

went so badly was that she

52:11

mistook me for my mom who had

52:14

been her great friend. And

52:18

I don't know that I would trade the experience

52:20

if I could because it made me the person who

52:23

I am today, but all

52:26

of your conversation made me

52:28

want to bless actually Dumbledore

52:30

and my mom and all

52:33

adults who have to make these impossible

52:35

choices or maybe even the wrong

52:37

choices for the right reasons. They're

52:41

doing their best with the information that

52:43

they have. And

52:46

Dumbledore had to put Harry

52:49

with the Dursleys and it wasn't

52:51

a choice. I think that his parents

52:54

would have made and I think if Dumbledore

52:56

had had more information, maybe there's this alternate

52:58

timeline where Harry gets to go live with

53:00

the Weasley's. So

53:03

thank you and thank you for your work

53:05

that you do. Hey.

53:10

Serena, thank you for your beautiful

53:13

voicemail. I love the forgiveness

53:16

in your voicemail. It's just

53:18

like profound assumption of good

53:21

intentions. I think it's

53:23

so generous of you to know

53:26

that you were impacted negatively

53:28

by something and to still see that

53:31

the intentions were all good. I think

53:33

that is not something that you owe

53:35

the world or anyone and

53:37

I'm just incredibly inspired

53:40

by that response. So I

53:43

want to thank you because yeah,

53:45

I think I can use a little more of

53:47

that in my life some forgiveness for things I

53:49

resent. And so thank you.

53:52

Yeah. Thank you for that. It

53:54

was really beautiful and I agree with

53:56

Vanessa. A good reminder and modeling of

53:58

forgiveness in a beautiful way. It

54:03

is now time for us to remember members

54:05

of our community who have been loved and

54:07

lost. David

54:13

Bransstrom, 37, a

54:15

sweetheart, husband, son,

54:18

brother, and coworker. Sonia

54:24

Bose, 89, a grandma

54:27

and where our listener got their sense

54:29

of humor. Caitlin

54:35

Burns, 39, hilarious, sensitive, and thoughtful

54:38

adventurer. Martine

54:46

Bryan, 97, the best

54:49

nana and a big Hagrid lover.

54:56

May their memories be a blessing. Jackson

55:08

it's now time for us to offer blessings

55:10

to characters. Who would you like to bless

55:12

this week? I would

55:14

like to bless Cho Chang because

55:17

I love seeing a little bit of her in

55:19

this chapter. These books are from Harry's

55:22

perspective and so a lot of what

55:24

we see of Cho Chang in these books is

55:26

like the object of Harry's desire. But

55:28

she is a full person who is

55:30

going through a lot as a 16 year old

55:32

and that is so so hard and

55:38

it doesn't sound like from the little bits

55:40

we get that like she's getting maybe the

55:42

support she needs at home like her parents

55:44

are maybe not realizing the kind

55:46

of grief that she's going through. She's

55:49

not getting it at Hogwarts and so I

55:51

just wanted to send a blessing to Cho who

55:54

is doing great despite not quite

55:56

getting the support she needs. Amen.

56:00

So I would like to bless Ginny

56:02

for her team moment with Cho. So

56:05

they're coming up with a name for

56:07

this organization. And

56:10

Cho comes up with the great idea of calling

56:12

it the Defense Association. And then

56:14

she's like, but for code reasons, we can call it

56:16

the DA. And her team

56:18

member Ginny turns it into the best

56:20

name ever, Dumbledore's Army. Because

56:22

she's like, no, let's just call them what

56:24

they're afraid we are. And

56:27

it's very confrontational and very humorous.

56:29

And I love that it's a yes

56:32

and moment between two brilliant young women.

56:34

It's true. Next week, we'll

56:37

be reading book five, chapter 19, The

56:39

Lion and the Serpent through the theme

56:41

of heartbreak with Matt Potts. Just

56:45

a few reminders before we give our

56:47

thanks. We have some amazing classes coming

56:49

up early in the new year. Find

56:51

out about those by going to not sorry works dot

56:53

com. And also we have some

56:55

amazing new iTunes reviews that

56:57

we want to thank. The

57:00

writers of ESM 888, The

57:02

Noah, Brit 1135, Rational Passion,

57:06

Kusebella 007, The

57:09

DeBola, Burr Pommie, Jillian Bell and

57:11

Evangeline. Thank you so much for

57:14

leaving reviews. It really helps new listeners find

57:16

us and we're really grateful. This

57:19

is a not sorry production. We are a

57:21

feminist production company. Our executive producer is Caitlin

57:23

Hofmeister. We are edited and produced by AJ

57:25

Yurama. Our music is by Ivan

57:27

Paizau and Nicole and we are distributed by

57:29

APAL. We want to thank Serena for

57:31

your great voicemail this week. Laura Glass,

57:34

Ariana Nettleman, Julia Argy, Margaritie Twiels

57:36

and Nikki Goldkine, Hannah Rehac, Tiffany

57:38

Brown, Christopher Torquayle, Matt Potts, Natalie

57:40

Feltert, Stephanie Pasell and everyone who

57:42

sent in the names of their

57:44

loved ones. Thank

57:54

you. for

58:00

eight years. I'm

58:02

like, what does this bad dad sound like?