Latest Posts by jjayolsen - Page 9

Bill Weasley

I went back and forth with doing a “what I learned from Bill Weasley” because I feel like I barely know Bill.This is especially apparent in comparison with the rest of the Weasleys (sorry Charlie--ha). I know he’s a good son and husband. A werewolf and a hard worker. But not so much of Bill, as Bill.

But, while we don’t learn much about Bill directly, he does remind us of some things quite prominently. From his relationship with Fleur, we are reminded that relationships are deeper than appearances, the importance of being a good person and son with his relationship with his parents (and especially his mother), and from his experiences with Goblins and at Gringotts the importance of deep respect and politeness. Finally, do not be a prat. as he was so excited to join his mother at Hogwarts to wish Harry good luck before the third task of the Triwizard tournament. 

So thank you Bill, we might barely know you, but you still have taught us well. 

Tonks!

Nymphadora Tonks (can definitely understand why we went with the later name). While Hermione and Luna are polar opposites each taught us how to accept ourselves for who we are, Tonks was just, different. Maybe it was because she was older and more established, maybe it was just because she was the epitome of cool, but she was always, from the moment we knew of her, knew she was cool and who she was. She didn’t care about her flaws because they were just part of who she was and she was awesome and continues to be the only person who wears their flaws with pride and confidence as how they are

While re-reading and knowing about her live and difficulties with Lupin, I get pissed of at him of course, but just want to tell her that I know she’s right and to just told on because it seemed for once she was afraid of not knowing, of not being that confident person and not because she might be wrong or lost or confused but because of living without love. And how horrible a life that would be

“Don’t pity the dead, Harry. Pity the living, and, above all those who live without love”

Oh, and what a true werewolf at HEART

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore

20Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore

An important and crucial character, Dumbledore was to us as he was to Harry, a role model, with whom we learned more about character, personal growth and the complexities of human nature than we would’ve learned from him about Transfiguration (had we known him as a Professor and not Headmaster).While Dumbledore had his reasons, our journey with him thru the final book held the most important lessons he could have and I feel should have bestowed upon us. While difficult, by being ashamed we lost out on his wisdom on the loss and guilt of his sister and brother, the complexities of choosing the right path as when Voldemort chose the wrong path, and of course his relationship with Gellert Grindewald. Thru Dumbledore, we see and are shown how our idols, and more importantly our parents, are human and as such, perfectly, imperfect

On the other side, we also learn about how one can be powerful, important but also still childlike as we saw with his obsession with sweets and socks (regardless of what he might have really seen in the Mirror of Erised).This is important because as we age we lose some of our sense of wonder, and are told we must always be mature and un-childlike.

Throughout the series Dumbledore also bestowed wisdom with many fabulous quotes; here are some of the ones that have always stuck out with me

"It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live”

“You will find that help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it”

“Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light”

"It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends"

"We must all face the choice between what is right, and what is easy"

"Do not pity the dead, Harry. Pity the living and above all, those who live without love"

One I believe is a nod from JK about Harry Potter and the world she created for us

"Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?"

Here, Harry Potter is comforted by Dumbledore about his journey during the seventh book, his life so far, his relationships with others, answers to some of his most crucial questions and who he wants to be if he chooses to live.  

So thank you JK Rowling for giving us a man from whom we learned so much, and were able to learn from as we grew up, and grew, with him.

Professor Flitwick

Professor Flitwick, my Head of House, was all I love about Ravenclaw. A proven underdog, he was passionate about learning, studied hard and had some serious talent. While we didn’t get to interact with him much, he was ecstatic by Hermione’s 112% in her first year and graded it as such, which to me showed how he didn’t care about whose house you were in and pushed for all to excel. From this, I would believe that he would have been a great supporter of Hermione’s efforts during her third year to try with the time-turner and learn as much as she could, would have worked with Neville so he could exceeds with getting a N.E.W.T. in Charms after the pep-talk from McGonagall and of course was in awe of Fred and George’s final salute to Umbridge and traditional education. So thank you Sir for your true intelligence about the type of learning that is truly important, how we learn in matters of personal exploration, kindness and individual creativity.

Bonus Points: Hogwarts School Choir!!

Professor McGonagall

Today is the birthday of Professor McGonagall, our stern but motherly figure while attending Hogwarts, especially for those in her house, Gryffindor. While off topic, as JK Rowling stated she wanted English actors only to portray the Hogwarts students, she also stated that she always wanted Maggie Smith to portray Professor (Minerva) McGonagall who not only played the part but held it as dear to her heart as we do, as she continued to film both Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part II. 

Professor McGonagall was always a great mother figure to me as she was clearly an independent woman; she was also strict and fair: important qualities for someone who is going to need to guide young wizards, teach, and be a guardian at a boarding school. She was also a role model, maybe not directly as Hermione Granger was, but she taught all of her students (readers included) to stand up for themselves, believe in themselves, and be honest and truthful about yourself, to yourself, and your surroundings. 

Some of my best moments with her will always be in regards to Neville, who throughout his years as a students at Hogwarts she repeatedly told him that all he needed was confidence. She further pushed this when after the O.W.L.S. she stood up for him to himself, reminding him that he should be proud of his accomplishments and not base his happiness on his grandmother. With these developments, and her change from guardian to friend as our Hogwarts friends grew older, there was much to admire and adore and want in a personal relationship with Professor McGonagall, all before getting to her history and heartbreak pre-Hogwarts years and her odd relationship with Dumbledore. She was force to be reckoned with, her and her Maggie Smith, and I encourage all to re-read the books and explore her history more to understand how truly Brave, Clever and Kind she was. 

OH MY GOODNESS and her AND her patronus was a Cat!!! <3

Professor Quirrell

Professor Quirrell, Harry Potter’s Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher (the first of many) that turned out to be trying to help Voldemort return to power. There is not much to say about this character; as he played dumb so well, he kind of was very easily forgettable. I don’t even remember much of what they learned from him. (Also thou, it’s upsetting that there is a specific Defense Against the Dark Arts class that children are required to take for 5 years--why aren’t there more prevention for this, why do kids have to be SO prepared).  While definitely not the best person to learn from, unexpectedly he can be a great lesson to all of how (1) book smart is not the same as street smart and (2) to be careful, cautious and not overconfident about who you are

But I will say that while it was unfortunate it was him, I always loved how excited Harry was to meet him. All of these wizards finally get to meet “The Boy Who Lived” and here Harry is just as excited to meet Professor Quirrell because to Harry THIS is someone important, someone, he can and will learn from about magic. I always loved that.  

But, there are a few things that bother me as going back in history, the main two are: 

1. Why didn’t Voldemort mention to Quirrell (he was there) that he could ask Snape for help to get the Sorcerer's Stone? Voldemort always trusted Snape! 

2. Why didn’t Snape share his concerns with Dumbledore? I know that Snape’s concerns with Lupin held more to the story, but I feel like he still would have mentioned it, especially considering how much he pursued Quirrell. Did he not bring it up, or was he ignored?

** Bonus moment: Obviously the later fact how Fred and George were hitting Voldemort with snowballs <3<3<3

Mr. Ollivander

Today is Mr. Ollivander’s birthday, the wandmaker who sells Harry his wand on his 11th birthday, measures the wand’s of all the Champions in the Tri-wizard Tournament and is held prisoner during the Second War at Malfoy Manor. According to Pottermore he was influential to the wizarding world as he completely transformed wand making when he took over his family’s business. While I would have also liked the previous method of bringing something personal to have a wand made out of, Mr. Ollivander’s method of creating wands from selective materials and selling them to the wizard who had a connection with the wand is both a more logical approach and produced a noticeable change in strength and beauty for the wand holder. 

But there is more to his story....

As with the first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Mr. Ollivander was Harry Potter’s, and our’s, first taste of magic. In his wandshop is where Harry first gets to perform just a bit of magic and, as he repeats throughout his years, how much he loves it. While Harry Potter might have been a special case, I believe that Mr. Ollivander was passionate and caring about each new (or older) wizard who came in for a companion in their wand and enjoyed being with them as they started their journey and full embracing the beauty that is magic. So thank you Mr. Ollivander for your passion, compassion, brilliance and heart. 

Hermione Granger

Hermione Jean Granger. Holy Crap, what can’t I say. You were EVERYTHING to me. Brilliantly confident, fierce, strong, brave. You were the first. Before Tris, Katniss, you were the diverse, WHOLE package. True and Strong. 

First, you were the best friend anyone could ask for. Almost every year Harry and Ron fought with you, exiled you, one thing or another, real or BS. But it didn’t matter, you PERSISTED, stayed strong, stayed with them. You saved there asses more times than JK Rowling could ever count. You are the golden standard of friendship and bravery. Seriously, I think he knew this as get got older, but YOU were Harry Potter’s best friend. Yes, Ron was there as someone who would go out with him, go on adventures with him, but you always knew what was going on his head and how to get to him, what he needed; again, you are the standard of true friendship we should all aspire to.  

Second, you are inspiring and compassionate and open-minded. Emma Watson has your influence to be grateful for in becoming who she is. Not only were you compassionate about House Elves but you didn’t care what anyone thought. You proudly and loudly kept fighting for their equality, fought when even your friends kept attacking you, and when you found out Dumbledore had house elves at Hogwarts you lost some respect for him, even thou he was doing the best he could with them. 

Third, you were just you. Luna was also unique and fascinated by the world around her, but you were also someone separate. You loved books, loved learning, always were intrigued and believed there was more out there than you previously thought (GIRL TOOK MUGGLE STUDIES--to be fair I probably would too). You re-awakened the part of me that loves the world around me, that’s curious and un-apologetically so. 

We could all go on forever, but these were the main things. You taught us how to be true friends, true to ourselves, and kind to all. While the Harry Potter Series has been a key component in the millennial outcry against hate and separatism, you were the reason we actively, loudly and strongly spit it in the face. Thank you so much Hermione Jean Granger, we did not deserve you, but we hope we are doing you proud. 

20th Year of Harry Potter

Nineteen years ago in the US (September 1st, 1998) Harry Potter was released. Hearing of it’s success in the UK, my mother ran out and got it for us to read together. While It would not become more common in my community for another few years, it quickly became very important to me. My mother read it to me at night the first time around, miss-pronouncing Hermione until my dad who grew up for a time in England corrected her, and then I read it many times over to where the book started to fall apart. 

The Harry Potter series is a big deal for many reasons, and has shaped our world and helped us connect with more than just the theme parks, midnight book releases, Emma Watson, movies and expansions such as Quidditch Throughout the Ages. The story of Harry Potter has shown the ridiculousness of racism, the promotion of helping those less fortunate, of doing what is morally right and reminding us that what we see is not always accurate as with depression or social differences. The Harry Potter world created by J.K. Rowling (who I also first assumed was a male) was the first apocalyptic universe where everyone was fighting to survive, but also win the world for good; and make the world better. Hermione Granger might not have been the main protagonist as with following series that all became about the sole female heroine, but she was the first to be brave regardless of her fears, rely on her smarts, and always be there for her friends. In studies the Harry Potter series have been noted as a large influence on combating race and social-class status as the absurdity of separation on these qualities were shown in the books with werewolves, elves and with half-bloods and muggles. While not the sole supporter or eye-opener, it is a reason why younger generations believe it is their responsibility to make sure everyone is treated with equality and respect. 

September 1st is widely known in the Harry Potter Universe as the day that those who were fortunate enough to receive their Hogwarts letters would get on the Hogwarts Express and get to begin their official journey into the wizarding world, and while intended enough, it is when those in the US were able to join as well with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. In this story, we were Harry, we were learning everything as he did--something that would continue for the rest of the series (very eloquently referenced with each new book I might add) that entranced us. But more than with the wizarding world, we were like Harry in learning about the problems arising and feeling that we had to stop it, how it was our duty to stop it, part of what has spread outside the pages to common activism and empathy in our day to day lives. Again we were Harry Potter, we were young, new to this world and with our humbled experience prior, we wonder if this world we were growing into was as magical and perfect as we were led to believe. This is what this Harry Potter journey taught us and continues to remind us, that not everything perfect or fair but that we can all, individually make a difference 

Mother: Maybe if you went out of the house more you'd have more friends

Ravenclaw: I already have two. What more do you want?

I haven’t seen this episode yet but oh my, it’s glorious

Three protests in Five days

Three protest in Five days and I’m exhausted. 

With the hail coming down, hands and feet frozen, voice crackling, stomach empty I am so fully exhausted; but proud, because even though I feel dead, I also feel..

Last night it’s become clear to me that I must I must bring gloves to work to stand outside as the protest last Thursday, January 19th and last night, January 24th at Trump International Hotel Columbus Circle were last minute with the Women’s March in NYC on Saturday

There were definitely some eye-opening experiences in both good and bad ways; and I’m glad I experienced them both. First, I realized how bad my social anxiety is as it took me a while to feel comfortable chanting in the crowd. 

Second, and more global, was that I don’t believe in always chanting the phrases or agreeing with them just because I’m in the group and while for now I can just not chant what I don’t believe in, I wonder how I will feel in the long run. Being at the protest, demonstration is a show of one more person who doesn’t want the Dakota Access Pipeline, or is upset that woman are still not equal. But does my being there for one action, even though a lot of these are connected and I agree with most, automatically support the others.

Ones I agree with:

“Native Life Matters”

“We Stand with Standing Rock” and “City by City, Block by Block”-->This was probably my favorite overall as it encompasses not only the protest and the Dakota Access Pipeline itself by that those at Standing Rock and across the country were together 

“Water is Life”

“Show me what Democracy looks like, this is what Democracy looks like”

“Love Trumps Hate”

“Whose streets? Our streets!”

And Ones I didn’t agree with:

“Stop the pipeline, not the people” 

“Dump Trump”--> I don’t like him either, but this just isn’t going to solve anything now. I understand what is meant behind this when they say “Not My President”. They want to make it clear that all of the hate he spews is not representative of all of this. But I feel this is more of a divider than anything else

My final and most critical eye opening experience was the fear. I’ve been trying, as a white person, to see how those of other races feel walking down the street. I cannot fully ever understand it, I wasn’t raised to because I wasn’t raised to have to but I feel I got some of it last night. Walking from Trump International Hotel across Central Park South the police were at first just casually around and helped direct a few people and then escorted us blocking traffic as we went towards Trump Tower. but then, two blocks north of our destination we were stopped. Directed onto the left we were lead into, what seemed to be a trap. The gates went all around and we were not allowed to move them. For the next thirty minutes I saw the police officers surrounding the front of the protest grow, and I don’t mean grew as we were all closer together and now so were they grow, I mean REALLY GROW. 

At first nothing was going on, but when asked why we weren’t allowed to cross and why were trapped in we received no response (but this I understand as the officers around us surely weren’t the ones in charge and didn’t want to escalate any feelings). But as the Women’s March Protest on Saturday and the previous Trump International Hotel Protest on Thursday had been peaceful it didn’t make sense and obviously protesting two blocks north would not be effective as we are protesting the President’s actions that day of moving forward with the Dakota Access Pipeline and KeystoneXL. All I know is that the police number grew slowly at first and then in a surge. They had called for backup and where officers had stood comfortably apart, they were now forming a barricade; in a protest of an estimated two thousand, I felt overwhelmed by their presence. Overwhelmed and scared. Eventually the protest got around the barricade and moved all they way down to Time Square and I’ve yet to hear of any violence. 

Overall I am happy I went to these protests as it reminded me, if for nothing else, to get involved and was another way of casting a ballot for myself and against harmful policies. Now onto the next

Psst, I totally get it, you're by yourself And the last thing you want to do is take a picture But seriously, my little girl loves you She's always singing, "I'm gonna pop some tags" I'm not kidding, my oldest, you even got him to go thrifting And "One Love", oh, my God, that song - brilliant Their aunt is gay, when that song came out My son told his whole class he was actually proud That's so cool, look what you're accomplishing Even an old mom like me likes it cause it's positive You're the only hip-hop that I let my kids listen to Cause you get it, all that negative stuff isn't cool Yeah, like all the guns and the drugs The bitches and the hoes and the gangs and the thugs Even the protest outside - so sad and so dumb If a cop pulls you over, it's your fault if you run Huh?

Food, Inc.

Director: Robert Kenner

Film website: http://www.takepart.com/foodinc

Images: google search

To open my mind I decided to watch a documentary per week, the first one was Food Inc. the idea of this documentary was to show the public the truth about the food industry, the truth that is being deliberately hidden from us. Over the past fifty years the industry has changed more than the previous ten thousand, but “the image of our food is still the image of Gregorian America”.

Learning about sustainability, I was taught that you must think about it as a pure solution, meaning it must be socially just, economically just as well as environmental. A product is not sustainable if it is cheap and doesn’t harm the planet, but those who make it are treated poorly or underpaid.

This documentary is broken into related chapters that discuss how this omission of truth is perpetuated throughout the food industry. First in Monopoly of Food you learn the basics of how the assembly line being integrated into the food industry, enabling them to grow and grow into a power, absolute power. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

One woman, Carol, works as a chicken farmer for Perdue. Even with open windows, it looks and feels like a concentration camp—thru the screen into my NYC apartment. The chickens are all bocking and running but nowhere to go. But there not running, the rapid growth of their breasts does not match with the normal rate of their bones and internal organs so they can only take a few steps before they collapse.

She talks about her own lack of control—the initial agreement with a company is an “initial investment” into t a chicken house, but then you have to pay for new equipment, upgrades and maintenance as said by the company or lose your contract so you just go deeper and deeper into a financial hole. She feels degraded, Perdue declined to do an interview for this film as many others and ended Carols contract when she refused to “upgrade” to windowless coops. I guess she didn’t want to degrade her chickens.

On the other hand we have Vince, a chicken farmer for Tyson. He comes on before Carol with sweet light country music in the background and more than a bit of hillbilly in his voice. He talks about how the chicken industry saved his neighborhood when the tobacco industry left and proudly shows off the coops of his and local farmers. But what gets me is where his heart is; ““if you could grow a chicken in 49 days why would you want one you gotta grow in three months—more money in your pocket. These chickens never see sunlight, they’re pretty much in the dark all the time”. On screen a message comes up

Vince had offered to show us inside his chicken houses. But after multiple visits by Tyson representatives, he changed his mind

Carol feels degraded, Vince is in the dark.

But it’s not just how the people are treated that is deplorable or how animals are treated beforehand that make them unsafe, it is also how they are processed after. CAFO short for Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation deals with both the before and after their death.

The true deplorable outcome is seen with the death of two-year-old Kevin Kowalcyk who died due to as explained to his parents Hemorrhagic E.Coli (you know Hemorrhagic, internal bleeding, like Hemorrhagic fever also known as Ebola) from eating a hamburger contaminated with E.Coli. His mother, Barb, in a meeting with her Colorado State Representative Diana DeGette, tells that while her son was already in the hospital when the plant that processed the hamburger was inspected, it took another 16 days after he died for it to be closed. That delay is inexcusable. Now, Barb is meeting with her representative in her fight for Kevin’s law which would give the USDA back the ability to close down plants that repeatedly failed inspection, a responsibility and job taken away from them when sued by Supreme Beef. In December 2001 the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed that the Agriculture Department does not have the authority to shut down a meat-processing plant that repeatedly failed tests for salmonella contamination. This makes me question that USDA organic stamp of approval, and as Barb says

“we put faith in our government to protect us, and we are not being protected at a most basic level”

The Dollar Menu

I remember seeing this clip in school, and it’s a great additive to see things from a different perspective of understanding the situations of the poor; and a very, very hidden cost of food. Maria Andrea Gonzalez talks for –and she can go on for much longer. She feels guilty, now that she knows that the food is unhealthy for her children and her husband who is very sick and takes many, expensive, medications. But they work hard long hours and she would love to feed her children better. But they can get 5 hamburgers, 2 chicken sandwiches and 3 drinks for $11.48. The pears and broccoli are $0.99 and $1.29  per pound and it won’t feed them. Candy is cheaper, chips are cheaper soda is really cheap and when you only have a dollar to spend to feed your kids—you don’t want them to go hungry. They are not the only ones in their community that are facing these problems, and there’s is not the only community facing these problems. There are people in your community who deal with this too, you included. Maybe you just don’t know

What would you find if you calculated the cost of multiple fast foods, stomach cramps, diabetes, extra health insurance extra tests and so on and so on into your monthly budget of fast food? Would it really be cheap?

In the Grass

Faster fatter bigger cheaper is the mindset of the industrial food industry, not of what process makes healthy, good food. The decisions of what we eat and how what we eat is handled and created is no longer done by farmers, but of corporations that are far from seeing the ugly truth. You can get arrested and fined for taking a picture of a food processing plant, because they want you to be in the dark. If the process, as we saw with Vince from Tyson earlier in the film, was shown the companies know that people would not be happy. The live off omitting the truth, survive off it, profit off it.

You hear a lot about how illegal immigrants take your jobs; but how?

Eduardo Pena, a union organizer, shows how illegal workers of Smithfield Foods slaughterhouse in Tar Heel, North Carolina are taken in the middle of the night with an agreement with immigration to avoid slowing of production by only taking a few each night instead of a big raid. No one arrests anyone Smithfield managers,

“We want to pay the cheapest price for our food, we don’t understand that that comes at a price” these workers have been here for ten to fifteen years, processing your bacon packaging your ham and now they are getting picked up like they are criminals and these companies are making billions of dollars”

Hidden Costs

We dive more into the hidden or displaced costs of our “cheap food” with David Runyon asking the main question

“Is cheapness everything that there is? I mean are we willing to buy the cheapest car?”

He likes where he is, he makes enough to live and supplies the customers that he has, for him if more and more people come well then he’ll see. But he fears that once you “go for that growth” how you see your customers and products and market changes. But that’s for him, a ‘corporate organic’ food company, is not an oxymoron.

I cannot speak for Gary Hirshberg, the CEO of Stonyfield Farm.But starting from scratch, an idealistic background and working on bringing organic to the forefront and not only an option but a preferred option for consumers; to have Walmart knock on your door to hear how you do it and have you two work together so your product can grow more must be a top ten if not the highlight my career so far.

In addition, Tony Airoso, the Chief Dairy Purchaser of Walmart confirms the old thought and expression that the consumers do have the power of the dollar even with the biggest companies and monarchies. They’re going organic, having it as an option because with every scanned product the saw a trend in their customers wanting organic and when they know it’s what their customer’s wants, “it’s really easy to get behind it”

But on the road to change in every battle there are peaks and there are valleys and even if you know nothing about the food industry, going organic, equal rights, the rights of farmers, I’m sure you now the company Monstanto

From Seed to the Supermarket

Here we meet Moe Parr a Seed Cleaner and Troy VP American Corn Growers Association. Both tried to continue their careers, unrelated to Monstanto, but we’re sued anyway. Both gave in, Moe who had spent over 25,000 dollars before even stepping foot inside a court room and Troy who had spent 400,000 was going to have to spend at least another million to go to court settled because they just couldn’t afford it

Another, more famous case not with Monsanto but similar, was when Oprah was sued due to the Veggie (ironic) libel laws when she gave her opinion about not liking a burger by texas cattleman for loss of profit. After six years and nearly one million in litigation she won—but really, who other than Oprah can do that

The food industry fights and fights to not have food labeled as being for foreign countries, as containing GMOs, the calories, so much that we now label things organic. But really think, why should it be labeled organic. A carrot is a carrot unless it’s not, why can’t we assume that a carrot is a carrot. Why isn’t is the other way around?

The documentary ends a few more shocks, but mostly tips and hope for us and the food industry, with “This Land is your Land” playing in the background. Because we do have the power, every conscious buy tells the food industry what we want and if Walmart will change and see’s it profitable to change; then we can get them all to change.

That’s what i’m talking about

you have no idea

When you realize Emma probably can’t shoot a gun because Kieran taught her