Alas, we have reached the end of ‘The Gospel According to Harry Potter’ Week.
In the first book, Harry finds a mirror that allows him to see his now dead parents looking down on him. He is comforted and sits in front of the mirror for lengthy stays again and again. Finally Headmaster Dumbledore comes to Harry and encourages him to move forward in life with the above quote.
In the New Testament dreams play a major role in moving Joseph, the father of Jesus, to take action. He first is told in a dream to not worry about the consequences of marrying Mary after she has proclaimed she is pregnant. After Jesus is born he is again told in a dream that his family is in danger and he needs to leave the country and go to Egypt. In both cases he obeys the dream’s directive.
Harry was stuck in a dream of ‘what if’ and Dumbledore had to gently coax him out of it into his real life. Joseph, on the other hand, was in a different type of dream, a dream encouraging action. He had to decide to obey the dreams or not.
That is the key after all, isn’t it? Dreams, especially dreams of what you want to have happen in life, aren’t really of much use unless you act on them and make them real.
Life doesn’t happen in dreams, life is only imagined in them.
Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily
Quote by J.K. Rowling, British author, 1965 – not dead yet. Quote spoken by Albus Dumbledore in ‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone’. Some interesting notes on the writing of Harry Potter:
You probably know that J.K. Rowling thought of the idea for the books while on a train trip. But did you know she did not have a pen with her? She was too shy to ask anyone to borrow one so she sat and thought the entire story out in her mind for 4 hours before getting off the train and getting to a location where she could get a pen and start writing it down.
You probably know that the much of the story was figured out before she started writing the first book. But did you know she actually wrote the last chapter of the entire series at the time she wrote the first book?
You probably know the manuscript was rejected by many publishers. But did you know it took 7 full years from the inception of the idea on the train until the actual publication of the book?
I am not draggin’ even if it is day #4 of The Gospel According to Harry Potter!
In ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’ Ron asks a rhetorical question at the end of the school year. It’s been a crazy year with death, mayhem, and yes, dragons. He asks, “Do you think we will ever have a quiet year at Hogwarts?” Hermoine replies, “No” to which Ron responds with the above quote.
I was thinking of drawing a scary dragon but I have seen a trend in the story that made me draw a friendly one. What I saw was Harry and his friends constantly being confronted with what looks like an enemy only to find that that enemy is, or could be, a friend. It isn’t true with everyone, but between a villain who turns out to be a godfather (a good godfather, not the mafia type), a giant that turns out to be gentle and creepy skeleton type winged horses that are very helpful we have many examples of an enemy turning into a friend.
Jesus teaches the underlying lesson and it’s quite simple. It’s not enough to love your friends, you must endeavor to love your enemies as well. How does this relate? You can’t love someone or something without getting to know them. Loving from a distance isn’t really love. That only happens when you get up close and personal enough to find what there is to love about the person or thing. It means you forego judgment and take the time to find out what is truly there.
Abraham Lincoln had a great response about this same idea. He said, “Am I not destroying an enemy when I make them my friend?”
Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily
Quote by J.K. Rowling, 1965-not dead yet, British author. Spoken by the character Ron Weasley.
I have a question for the Napkin Kin who look closely at the drawings and like seeing new things. There is something about this drawing that is unique. It’s not about the content, just about a small something I did a bit differently than usual in this drawing. Can you see what it is?
“All things are lawful, but not all things edify.”When Harry Potter looks into the Pensieve in ‘The Goblet of Fire’ he isn’t at all aware of it’s danger. He simply sees this glowing thing while alone in Dumbledore’s office and goes to take a look. It turns out to be a memory machine of sorts, a way for Dumbledore to remember what has happened and what Potter sees in it is important for the story. Dumbledore’s admonition about curiosity isn’t all that convincing in that specific instance but as a general rule it has it’s wisdom.
In the New Testament Paul of Tarsus writes something similar, but within a different context. He is dealing with a group of people who have been freed from a very restrictive set of laws and rules about what is and is not a sin. They are free. But now they need to learn a new way of judging what is good or bad. It can no longer be based on outside rules, it has to be based on something closer to home, more personal. Paul clarifies what that is in this passage from his first letter to the followers in the city of Corinth:
In other words, yes, you are free to pursue what peaks your curiosity. But beware, just because you are curious about it doesn’t mean it’s the best thing to investigate. Investigate your own motives and the potential risks before you perhaps fall headlong into a hole.
Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily Quote by J. K. Rowling, 1965- not dead yet, British author. Spoken by Albus Dumbledore in book #4, Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire.
One of the hardest things to accept is that we can plan the future in great detail and still have no guarantee it will turn out according to our plans. There are too many overlapping elements of cause and effect taking place for precise predictions to be very accurate.
J. K. Rowling’s story is a good example of that. When she started the first book of the Harry Potter series she had a pretty good idea of the overarching storyline. But then her mother died unexpectedly at age 45. That single unpredicted event caused her to heavily refocus the story to have Harry more emotionally in turmoil over the death of his own parents.
One of the strongest elements of the Harry Potter series is the realistic depiction of what a young person goes through when everything they hold dear is taken away. It allows many who read the books to relate to Harry in a way they otherwise might not have. We can’t say for certain, but it’s very possible that one element was critical in the huge audience response, and IT could not have been predicted. Jesus addresses this same issue when he talks about the uselessness of worry, especially about the future. He knows that it’s impossible to control the future (and the past) so in his mind it is much better to think about what you can and should do in the here and now, to solve today’s problems.
Read Matthew 6 in the New Testament for the specific teaching. The chapter ends with ‘Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.’
Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily
Quote by J.K. Rowling, 1965-not dead yet, British author. Quote is spoken by Albus Dumbledore in book #3 – Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
My daughter Caitlin has been reading and watching the Harry Potter books since she was 10 years old. It’s now coming to an end and she is very nostalgic about it all. We are watching ALL the movies, one a night, for 7 days. THEN we will go see the last movie.
I heard a great quote spoken by Headmaster Albus Dumbledore in the second movie, ‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets’. When I came to draw the image to go along with the quote the obvious example that came to mind was the biblical story of the Good Samaritan.
The story is thus: Jesus is being asked how someone can attain eternal life. His response is to ask what is written in the law and how does the questioner reads it.
The questioner gives the answer, “Love your God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself” to which Jesus agrees.
The questioner is being a bit defensive at this point and asks, “But who is my neighbor?”
In response Jesus tells the story of the Good Samaritan.
A man is beaten, robbed and left for dead on the road to Jericho. A priest sees the stricken man, moves to the other side of the road and walks on by. A Levite (one of the 12 tribes of Israel, the tribe from which priests are chosen) also walks by, sees the man, moves to the other side of the road and walks on by. Finally a Samaritan (an ethnic group that did not get along well at all with the Jews of the era) walks by, sees the man, goes over to him and helps him with his injuries. He then takes him to an inn and stays with him overnight. The next morning he gives the innkeeper money enough for 2 more nights. He asks the innkeeper to take good care of him until he returns, at which point he will pay whatever extra expenses have accrued.
Jesus then asks the questioner, “Who among the three travelers was the neighbor?”
The questioner answers, “The one who showed mercy on him.”
Jesus answers, “Go and do the same.”
Dumbledore is teaching the same lesson. What you choose to do is more important than whatever talent or prestige you may have. Many have immense talent and ability but waste it doing stupid, evil, wasteful things. Many who have minimal talent use what they have for good. That is what matters, what you do with what you have.
Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily
Quote by J. K. Rowling, 1965-not dead yet, British author
I have set aside several Sundays to show you some of my photography. I used film until 2005 so any images predating then you can assume are film images, any after that will be digital.
Woman With Oval, 1980
In 1980 I started graduate school at Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. There was a young woman manning the gift shop at the museum and she allowed me to do a series of portraits of her. The best of the bunch were the oval series with the ceiling light alcove being the only other thing in the image.
Woman in Snow and Mist, 1981
My wife at the time had a job at a restaurant in the nearby town. A fellow waitress was hoping to do some modeling so we took some time to do some portfolio shots. We also did some shots on a very gray, foggy day that were mysterious and moody. These were my favorite shots from that year.
Woman and Triangle, 1980
I got a work-study job in the Cranbrook Museum, helping to install exhibitions. One of them was a conceptual art exhibition that took up all the galleries. One of the rooms was a series of geometric wall drawings in pastel by Sol LeWitt. We did the actual drawings with specific instructions from LeWitt as to how they should be realized. When I had some time off from the project I brought in a fellow student and took some photos of her with the walls being prepped as a background.
It’s time to toll the bell. It’s the final day of Public Speaking Week at the NDD.
I come from a family who has the Irish gift of gab and I don’t think any of us would say fear of public speaking is big on our list of phobias. I wouldn’t rather be dead, that’s for sure. I do get plenty nervous though. Usually that is much earlier in the week leading up to the speaking engagement when my presentation hasn’t yet come together. It’s just a hodge podge of images and ideas searching for a hook to hang themselves on. Until I figure out the hook I am very nervous.
It really isn’t a fear of speaking in public. It’s a fear that I won’t be ready, that I won’t have done my job to inform, entertain or enlighten my audience. But once I do find that hook I start to organize the presentation and can start to practice it. Then the nervousness dissipates and confidence that I can do it builds.
My first practices usually are before I am done, maybe just the first third. But the act of practicing it is often the activity that helps me discover the unifying series of words (the hooks) that will make the ideas and images have some logic and purpose behind them. It all starts to lead somewhere in other words.
A couple of days before the presentation I usually am starting to practice the whole thing, timing it and making changes in imagery and flow to make sure what I am saying is as clear as I can make it within the time allotted. In my last presentation I was practicing in my car in the parking garage an hour before I was due to be on stage. That last run-through made a big difference in my confidence.
Do you suffer from fear of public speaking? If you do, what do you do to overcome it?
And so you say to yourself, “Wait a second, this is a writing lesson, not a speaking lesson!” And you are right. BUT, where do you think speeches start? They all start by being written. The only difference is the delivery, will your audience read it or listen to you speak it?The key in writing, no matter the delivery, is edit, edit, edit.
I used to develop, design and write a large website for a medical college. I had to spend a lot of time with doctors who wanted to put up information about their department, research, etc. My main effort was always in first convincing them that their audience on the website was not primarily an academic audience but a general information audience. Then, after they edited down their material based on my instructions, I took that same material and winnowed it down much further with my own edits.
It had to fit the audience expectations, and the expectations for the web reader was to be able to get quick, easily seen and understood information. We always gave them access to more detailed, scholarly information if they wanted it, but the vast majority didn’t.
Who is your audience? It’s important to consider whether writing a query letter to an agent, a thank you note, a novel or a speech. Write for them and leave out the parts they will want to skip.
I am at the edge of ‘Public Speaking Week’ at the NDD!
Speakers have authority. People tend to believe anyone up on a pedestal, altar, dias, podium or stage. Anyone with a microphone, basically. My keynote speech last week was on ‘Change’. I started the presentation with a series of slides explaining my eminent qualifications as an expert in change. They included a photo of when I was younger and when I was older. Photos of when I had hair, and now that I don’t. Photos of me before I had kids, and now that I do.
It was meant to be humorous and it was followed by the statement that if those things made me an expert, then all of my audience were also experts in change. I then proceeded to give some examples from my personal experiences of change and what I learned from them.
The truth is, the reason I was qualified to talk about change isn’t because I have a degree in it. And it’s not even because I have lived it. It’s because I have thought about it. In the end, the experts are those who study. Those who do the research; who examine, investigate, dig, ask questions, evaluate, ponder and ultimately are able to come up with some conclusions.
They aren’t conclusions set in stone, they are conclusions so far in the journey of discovery. That is what we should always remember about listening to authority, i.e. anyone with a microphone and a stage of some sort. They may be persuasive and compelling, but in the end, YOU have to decide whether you believe them. You have to look out in front of you for that cliff because after all, the person talking is looking back at you, not at the path in front.
I am dealing it during Public Speaking Week at the Napkin Dad Daily.
I am a sucker for great speeches. Political speeches, award acceptance speeches, intellectual idea speeches, even sermons. I can get inspired, choked up, motivated, curious, angry, happy and more. All because of a bunch of words strung together. It’s hard not to be persuaded by words sometimes, even when you know you are being manipulated, as in commercials.
What types of words, speeches, writings, etc. do you get influenced by easily? Is there one particular person or group? One particular style of speaking that addicts you?
Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily
Quote by Rudyard Kipling, 1865-1935, English writer
