Posted on 11/16/2001 5:58:33 PM PST by boxlunch
By about noon on Friday, seventh-graders at Richardson West Junior High School should have an up-close-and-personal review of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Ben Buchanan is going to the 9 a.m. show. He promises to make up any missed work, and Mom hopes the teachers will understand.
"We've watched Ben love Harry Potter for several years," Carol Adams says. "I think it's appropriate to honor that." The 12-year-old student recently wrote a book called My Year With Harry Potter, and he and his mom collaborated on a second volume about how to turn your favorite book into a game.
Whether or not that's a good enough excuse, they figure to have plenty of company in explaining their absence back at school or at the office. With the cinematic version of Pottermania officially beginning Friday, young and old fans alike want to beat the crowds that should start as soon as school is out and last all weekend.
"We just had to be at the first showing on the first day," says a Plano mom who's taking her third-grader out of school to catch an 11:15 a.m. show. She doesn't want her name, or her son's, in the paper.
"Last summer when we found out when the movie was coming out, we circled it on the calendar," she says. "He knew he'd get out of school to see it."
At least four area theaters, including General Cinemas at Irving Mall and Loews Cityplace, scheduled showings around midnight Friday for the 152-minute film, probably ensuring some groggy or tardy students later in the day. Plano school spokeswoman Nancy Long says the district expects students to be in class Friday – and to catch Harry Potter on their own time.
"Students reap the most positive educational benefits by attending school each day," Ms. Long says. "Missing school to attend any movie would be considered an unexcused absence."
The 48 third-graders at Ben Milam Elementary School in Dallas won't have to worry about their teachers finding out they're at the 9 a.m. show. The teachers are taking them. "We're using this as a supplement to their learning," says Mary Kaperzinski, one of the three teachers. "These are the things at school you'll remember for the rest of your life."
Ms. Kaperzinski began reading Harry Potter to her class in September. Soon, she says, the children had their own books, either to follow along with her or read on their own.
The teachers channeled their enthusiasm about the books into writing and creativity projects, then got permission for the whole group to attend the movie. Most, she says, are coming in costume.
"They are so excited," Ms. Kaperzinski says. "I'm going to have to bring them down [after the movie], because we definitely have some work to do in the afternoon."
It's not just kids who are rearranging their priorities for Harry Potter. Caroline Prothro, who works for an insurance company in Dallas, doesn't want to face the hordes of young fans who probably will pack theaters from Friday afternoon through the weekend.
"I'm sure it'll be mobbed with kids," she says. "So I decided I'm going to take a half-day off and go to see a matinee. It's the first time I've ever done something like that." ...
... many educators are thrilled at Harry's magical powers to get kids to read, she says some of her son's teachers don't like the supernatural aspects that have offended some religious groups.
"I'll just send a note saying he has to be somewhere," she says. "If he leaves after 9, it doesn't count as a day's absence. But he kind of told the kids on the playground. We hope they won't tell on him."
Honestly, I cannot understand why so many Freepers are so threatened by people who DON'T want to see this Harry Potter movie. Its like anyone who doesn't want their kids involved with Potter-mania is roundly condemned as a fundy nutcase. Freedom of religion is part of the 1st amendment too!
Now, run along and play with your 8 ball.
Still doing the 'acts of righteousness' I see. Enjoy your earthly reward.
I have shared the truth of God's Word, some accept it other reject it - I am merely a messenger not the author of truth.
So, Rather than hitting me with low-blows and spouting foolishness about how Harry Potter is OK, just fiction, let kids have fun, excuses, excuses, excuses - SOMEONE show ME the in the Word of GOD where God condones or winks at witchcraft, sorcerey, wizards, magic, or familiar spirits.
I have an 8-year-old who has read all the books and wants to see the movie (as do I, I don't have the patience to read 700-page books anymore), but there is no way he would even THINK to ask to stay up until 2:30 a.m. or skip school to go see it. He was more excited about finishing his school project, and going to his best friend's house for a sleepover and to work on the book they are writing together. I mean, what is the big deal about waiting until Saturday or Sunday? The kids won't be back to school to talk about it until Monday anyway! I think it really is selfish parents who want to brag to their adult friends, or bad parents who have over-indulged their kids and fed them this Harry Potter stuff through the nose so they feel they HAVE to see the movie immediately.
I think it's because so many of the folks who dislike Harry Potter scream that the pro-Harry Potter folks are participating in psychological child-abuse and will be held accountable to God for their misbehavior. Not to mention the fact that their kids will grow up to be masters of the black arts.
Saying stuff like that can be offensive, ya know.
Wow. What a great way to win folks over to your side. Insult them and call 'em selfish. Can I get a list of non-selfish books to read?
If it is completely fantasy, and is not tied in at all with the true practice of witchcraft, WHY did she do this?
For instance, Slytherin may sound like a harmless pun; but it is actually an actual demon that is called upon in Satanic practices.
Secondly, you need only look at the correlation between one topic and another to see if it is a good thing or a bad thing. Go ahead, do a web search on google.com with search terms like "slytherin witchcraft -hogwarts" (use -hogwarts to eliminate the many uses of this term in kids' pages); it ain't exactly kiddie stuff.
Good luck with your tooth.
Thanks, but no thanks.
So you're saying the Magic 8 Ball is scripturally acceptable even though its name contains the word (gasp) "Magic"? Could I have a yea or nay on this?
If in the course of writing a novel, I do research into Christianity and include some of its arcana in my book, does that make me a Christian or one who is tied in to the true practice of Christianity? Does this also work for Jewishness? the Masons? the Illuminati? the Klan? the Knights of the Round Table?
And so do dry sockets (which is apparently what I have) :(
In my disreputable past, I've had broken bones, road rash from dumping a Sportster on a gravel road at 60 MPH, a fractured skull from a long-ago encounter in a pub in Sydney, and miscellaneous torn tendons, ligaments, and sprains. And I'd put the pain from this blasted tooth up against any of them for sheer agony and relentlessness.
Then, I'm going to run it through the "Disgronificator."
If I hear Slim Whitman singing "Uma Paloma Blanca," I'll have to admit that the Holy Rollers here were right.
But, until I do...
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