'Harry Potter' fans form Alliance to discuss movies, books, charities
“Harry Potter” fans don’t need a chamber of secrets to discuss their favorite moments from the popular series. Instead, they can join the Harry Potter Alliance.
The group of Central Michigan University students, faculty and alumni gather to discuss and celebrate the Wizarding World created by author J.K. Rowling, said Megan Kowalski, a temporary English professor and founding member of the RSO.
The group meets from 6 to 7 p.m. Sundays in Anspach 166.
At MainSTAGE, the group had only three sheets for interested student’s information, and each was filled by the end with fans, said Nicholas Armes, vice president of the alliance.
“We had over 150 people sign up,” the Livonia sophomore said. “It was incredible, to say the least.”
Kowalski said the group is working closely with the national Harry Potter Alliance headquarters to participate in events like the Deathly Hallows Campaign.
It is set to run for the nine months between the first and second parts of the final ‘Harry Potter’ film and mirror Harry’s battle against the evil Voldemort, she said.
“During those months," Kowalski said, "we’ll be fighting seven real-world horcruxes.”.
A horcrux is an object in which a dark wizard or witch stores a portion of his or her soul in the series, making them invulnerable unless that object is destroyed, Kowalski said.
The RSO’s first horcrux was starvation wages. The group sent a letter to Warner Brothers asking them to consider using only fair trade chocolate in Harry Potter candy, in hopes of securing better working conditions for cocoa farmers globally.
Kowalski said over 20 pages of signatures were collected at the premiere of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1.”
The group is also working with After Hours Improv comedy group to put together a fundraising Harry Potter show to donate a farm animal to a Third World family through Heifer International.
“I would love to be able to talk to other people about Harry Potter,” said Phil Engel, a Grand Blanc senior interested in joining. “All my friends play video games and don’t read, so something like that would be great.”
After business is closed at meetings, members enjoy book discussions or watch the newest trailers and film clips together.
“Sundays have been the best day of the week for me,” Armes said. “I always looked forward to going to meetings, seeing my friends, talking about the upcoming movie, planning our charity events and just talking ‘Harry Potter’ with other hardcore fans.”
