I plowed through all four seasons of Mad Men recently. It's one of those shows that tries to remind us the the past was not a great time in which to live and yet makes you want to live in that time period anyway. Mad Men is unique from all those other shows, books, and movies in that it examines angles other than that of the suppressed and unhappy housewife.
The deal is that back in the 1950s and early 1960s the American dream for a man was to find a successful career, house, and wife who would subsequently take care of the house and future children. The dream for the wife was to find a husband whose house and family she would take care of. We've learned since then that this sort of lifestyle obviously does not buy happiness. In fact, the media continually likes to remind us that these products of their time were severely UNhappy.
I would like to point out that in today's society it is generally expected (of men and women alike) that at some point in your life you will:
A. find a successful and fulfilling career
B. buy a house
C. get married
D. have children
E. be a well-rounded and sincerely HAPPY individual
Um, really? The people in the 1960s weren't expected to be really, truly happy and the women didn't even have the pressure of finding a job. The only thing today's generation has got on those of the past is that we have until we are 30 or so to reach that goal. I, however, will be 30 in a year (and a month) and have yet to acquire any of these things. I mean, usually I'm a reasonably happy and well-rounded individual, but then I take a look at factors A through D and realize I have a long way to go before I can attain COMPLETE happiness.
Thankfully, I have also learned from Mad Men that drinking and smoking can solve all of my insecurities and make me look insanely suave. Pass me a bottle of brandy...
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Friday, July 8, 2011
A Week At Wizard (Harry Potter) Camp
Last week I spent time with a group of witches and wizards. Seriously. I got a job this summer teaching Wizard Camp and, oh my, was it a fun time. And tiring. The kids (ages 6-11) were dropped off at 8am and I had them until 5pm. No breaks, no down time, and we went swimming for two hours daily. Exhausted as I was at the end of each day, I never knew a job could be so much fun.
So what do you do at Wizard Camp? The first thing we did was find our wands. This consisted of going outside and looking around for sticks on the ground. If they wanted, I had glitter and other materials on hand so they could decorate their wands. Most kids were happy with their sticks plain. Wizard Camp kids, you see, have a lot of imagination.
In fact, these kids were hardcore Harry Potter fans. Now, I consider myself a fan of the series BUT I had nothing on some of these self-proclaimed wizards and witches. One explanation would be that they have read all of the books multiple times within a short time period, while my Harry Potter reading, although I've read all of the books at least twice, has been spread out over the past 11-12 years or so. Or else they're just plain crazy. (I'm kidding, obviously. I adored them.) A fun fact I shared with my Wizard Camp kids? When the first movie came out in the Fall of 2001, I was in college. They either were not born or were babies. Yep.
I am now kicking myself for not taking pictures of some of the activities we did. The only time I remembered to take out my camera was to take a few pictures of the group creating the Tri-Wizard Tournament Maze (out of sidewalk chalk) on our very last day of camp.
My most popular Wizarding activity? Every day we made a different Harry Potter-themed treat (we were lucky enough to have access to a kitchen). Butter Beer was, by far, the biggest success, followed closely by Chocolate Frogs. The Butter Beer recipe I found is apparently really similar to what is sold at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios and consists merely of cream soda, butterscotch sundae topping, and whipped cream. (Recipe here: http://www.mugglenet.com/misc/rosmertas/cicisbutterbeer.shtml )
For Chocolate Frogs, I purchased this mold from Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B003QMMOZ8/thehomeimprovemz ) and they turned out beautifully.
Before putting them in the refrigerator to harden, I had the kids stand around (with their sticks/wands) and perform various enchantments on the frogs to make them hop like the ones in the books. I then told them that if anyone opened up the refrigerator door to see how the frogs were turning out, the magic might get out. Well, as luck would have it, a few peeks were made, so we had lifeless Chocolate Frogs. Lifeless, but delicious.
Quidditch proved to be more of a challenge. After doing some research on "Muggle Quidditch", I came up with a version that represented soccer more than anything else. I gathered all of my witches and wizards together and presented my ideas and asked them how they wanted to play. One girl had brought her copy of Quidditch Through the Ages and wanted to stay true to all of the fifty gazillion fouls mentioned. A boy was upset that I was downsizing the amount of goals to two. A couple of the less athletically inclined wanted to sit out and watch. I reminded them that at 10 wizards and witches (including myself) we were already short and need all the players we could get. So we finally were able to agree on most aspects of the game, found a place outside, and played. After lots of running around and being confused about who exactly was keeping score, among other things, one of the Seekers finally found the Snitch (a tennis ball the Keepers hid before the game started). We never played again. Although during our final hour, while sharing our camp memories around a Pasta Pensieve (a bowl of spaghetti noodles with some dry ice mixed in to give it a nice magical effect), playing Quidditch frequently came up as a favorite. Score!
One day, as we were going back inside after playing a game of Aurors and Death Eaters (i.e. Cops and Robbers), I heard an outsider mutter, "Harry Potter nerds," under his breath. He received a very dirty look from my direction. Anyway, being a Harry Potter Nerd is quite a wonderful thing to be, if you ask me.
So what do you do at Wizard Camp? The first thing we did was find our wands. This consisted of going outside and looking around for sticks on the ground. If they wanted, I had glitter and other materials on hand so they could decorate their wands. Most kids were happy with their sticks plain. Wizard Camp kids, you see, have a lot of imagination.
In fact, these kids were hardcore Harry Potter fans. Now, I consider myself a fan of the series BUT I had nothing on some of these self-proclaimed wizards and witches. One explanation would be that they have read all of the books multiple times within a short time period, while my Harry Potter reading, although I've read all of the books at least twice, has been spread out over the past 11-12 years or so. Or else they're just plain crazy. (I'm kidding, obviously. I adored them.) A fun fact I shared with my Wizard Camp kids? When the first movie came out in the Fall of 2001, I was in college. They either were not born or were babies. Yep.
I am now kicking myself for not taking pictures of some of the activities we did. The only time I remembered to take out my camera was to take a few pictures of the group creating the Tri-Wizard Tournament Maze (out of sidewalk chalk) on our very last day of camp.
 | ||||
| The Sphinx at the end of the maze. |
My most popular Wizarding activity? Every day we made a different Harry Potter-themed treat (we were lucky enough to have access to a kitchen). Butter Beer was, by far, the biggest success, followed closely by Chocolate Frogs. The Butter Beer recipe I found is apparently really similar to what is sold at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios and consists merely of cream soda, butterscotch sundae topping, and whipped cream. (Recipe here: http://www.mugglenet.com/misc/rosmertas/cicisbutterbeer.shtml )
For Chocolate Frogs, I purchased this mold from Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B003QMMOZ8/thehomeimprovemz ) and they turned out beautifully.
Before putting them in the refrigerator to harden, I had the kids stand around (with their sticks/wands) and perform various enchantments on the frogs to make them hop like the ones in the books. I then told them that if anyone opened up the refrigerator door to see how the frogs were turning out, the magic might get out. Well, as luck would have it, a few peeks were made, so we had lifeless Chocolate Frogs. Lifeless, but delicious.
Quidditch proved to be more of a challenge. After doing some research on "Muggle Quidditch", I came up with a version that represented soccer more than anything else. I gathered all of my witches and wizards together and presented my ideas and asked them how they wanted to play. One girl had brought her copy of Quidditch Through the Ages and wanted to stay true to all of the fifty gazillion fouls mentioned. A boy was upset that I was downsizing the amount of goals to two. A couple of the less athletically inclined wanted to sit out and watch. I reminded them that at 10 wizards and witches (including myself) we were already short and need all the players we could get. So we finally were able to agree on most aspects of the game, found a place outside, and played. After lots of running around and being confused about who exactly was keeping score, among other things, one of the Seekers finally found the Snitch (a tennis ball the Keepers hid before the game started). We never played again. Although during our final hour, while sharing our camp memories around a Pasta Pensieve (a bowl of spaghetti noodles with some dry ice mixed in to give it a nice magical effect), playing Quidditch frequently came up as a favorite. Score!
One day, as we were going back inside after playing a game of Aurors and Death Eaters (i.e. Cops and Robbers), I heard an outsider mutter, "Harry Potter nerds," under his breath. He received a very dirty look from my direction. Anyway, being a Harry Potter Nerd is quite a wonderful thing to be, if you ask me.
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