chapters
Congratulations to our Featured Chapter, Keep Austin Wizard
MONTHLY NEWSLETTER
“We do not need magic to change the world...we have the power to imagine better” Congratulations to our f eatured chapter, Keep Austin Wizard! They are a university chapter from Texas. Some of their many accomplishments include collecting 400 books for Accio Books 2011, hosting a Yule Ball, registering fellow students during Wizard Rock The Vote 2012, and hosting a Deat h Da y Feast f or Halloween. Most impressively, they won last fall's Chapter Cup by making 500 calls for the Maryland DREAM Act! As a side note, they may be a good chapter to contact for Yule Ball resources!
Check out the fancy new website for chapter resources! It’s a little slim right now but we promise that this will soon be your go to place for all your needs. Imagine Better and NIHN 2.0 resources are up! https://sites.google.com/a/ thehpalliance.org/ chaptersresources/home
in this issue: 2 meet the fandom consultants 3 get involved with imagine better 3 featured staffer 4 creating your own campaigns 5 letter from the director 5 imagine better: collab process
What is an Imagine Better chapter? An Imagine Better Chapter is a chapter that will be able to use not only parallels from Harry Potter, but also use parallels from other fandoms, allowing it to be more inclusive as well as attract and encourage more people towards social activism.
Imagine Better: A Collaborative Process Last Marc h, The Harr y Potter Alliance ventured into new territory when it launched its first Imagine Better campaign -- Hunger is Not a Game. This was the first time HPA did a campaign surrounding a fandom other than Harry Potter. The Chapters Department decided this was somet hing we wanted to continue and created The Imagine Better Chapters Initiative. This program allows our chapters to create their own unique identities by creating campaigns around the fandoms they are most interested in. First, the Imagine Better Team needed to isolate which fandoms our chapters were the most interested in. We did this with two surveys. The first included the fandoms we thought people were interested in and the second included additional fandoms that multiple people wrote in on the first survey. In the end we came up with the following thirteen fandoms: • The Hunger Games • Doctor Who • The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings • The Chronicles of Narnia • Star Wars • A Song of Ice and Fire • Game of Thrones • Once Upon a Time • Percy Jackson and the Olympians • Sherlock • The Avengers • Glee • The Dark Knight Trilogy
Once the Imagine Better Team had isolated the fandoms, the next step
would consult the PDF for the campaign. These PDFs are available
was to figure out how they related to existing HPA campaigns. We created
on the Chapters Resources site.
a spreadsheet to map this out;
Additionally, we started on a series
however, the Imagine Better Team found there were some areas where
of multi-week discussions for our thirteen series. These curriculums are
our fandom knowledge was a bit lacking. Since our team cannot know
based off of the “Harry Potter as a Tool for Social Change” one that the
every fandom well, we put out a call
Pasadena chapter created with a
for fandom consultants to help us. Fandom consultants are Chapter
new curriculum being released every month. The first one we worked on
Organizers who are experts on a particular fandom. The fandom
was for The Hunger Games. Imagine Better team members met with
consultants helped us to fill out the
fandom consultants to brainstorm
spreadsheet, and the first version launched on December 11, 2012.
discussion topics. Once the topics were chosen, each member of the
The next step was to figure out what
team was assigned one on which to write discussion questions. The
a chapter could actually do with this
Hunger Games curriculum will also
information. To answer this question, members of the Imagine Better Team
be available at the link above.
worked one-on-one with a fandom consultant. Through Skype meetings
Looking to the future, the Imagine Better team is planning to release
and e-mail, they discussed how to
resources for an authors/classics
transform these ideas into an actual event or project and came up with
series which would focus on a particular author or body of work.
even more ideas along the way. These ideas became a series of PDFs
More information to come.
called Event/Project/Campaign Suggestions. These PDFs will be available for each series and for each HPA campaign. So if a chapter wanted to do a campaign on a particular series, the CO would go to the PDF for that series. Alternatively, if a chapter knew it wanted to do a particular campaign with one or more series, that chapter
Meet the Fandom Consultants Cheryl Ingram Consulting: Doctor Who, Glee, The Dark Knight Trilogy Cheryl is a CO for Charleston, SC’s Society for the Promotion of Equality and Wonderment! Data Analyst by day, she also tutors reading and math, does shadowcasting for Rocky Horror, cosplays, sings, dances (in public without any music), and devours almost anything scifi, fantasy, or horror related thrown her way. She fell in love with Harry in middle school just before the 3rd book came out and has dressed up as Hermione Granger every year since! A major Whovian as well, she helped start the Chuck Town Who Crew (which actually makes up a lot of SPEW, too!). In a fight between Spider-Man and Harry Potter, she thinks Spidey would win, but mostly because Harry would be too busy laughing at his jokes to cast any spells.
Dana Ettinger Consulting: The Hunger Games, Doctor Who, Percy Jackson and the Olympians Dana is a high school senior trying to avoid the onset of post-college acceptance senioritis. She has been a Whovian since last January, and is excited to have finally caught up to the new episodes. She discovered Percy Jackson in middle school, around the same time she was studying Greek mythology in English class. She may or may not have used knowledge gained from Percy Jackson on tests. Her chapter is the MHS Rowling Stones, which is in the process of trying to partner with other fan-based clubs at her school such as Doctor Who club, Brony Club and Anime club for Imagine Better. She knows the Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe by heart and hopes to join the Quidditch team at college next year. Her proudest achievement is converting her mother into a fellow Whovian.
Dorothy Kilvington Consulting: The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Avengers DK is a freshman at Lansing Community College, general lover of everything, and CO for the Noble and Most Ancient House of Awesome. They enjoy too many things to list, most of all food, anime, and helping others. They’ve been obsessed with books their whole life, and grew up with a copy of the complete Chronicles of Narnia attached at their hip. Their favourite book in the series is A Horse and His Boy. In addition to TCoN, they also consider themselves a big fan of The Avengers, The Hunger Games, The Dark Knight Trilogy, Doctor Who, and several other bodies of media.
Hannah Froemming Consulting: Doctor Who, Percy Jackson and the Olympians Hannah is a special education assistant in Oregon, a wanna-be artist and writer, and the CO for Dumbledore’s Army of Lane County. She is always a little late to the party, and so was able to read all the Percy Jackson books at once, just like she did with the Harry Potter series. Percy Jackson is fascinating to Hannah because the books have characters with whom kids with learning disabilities and kids with nonnuclear families can identify. She loves Doctor Who for its mix of silly and serious and rages against a reality in which she cannot travel in time and space. Hannah has a (nearly) full sized TARDIS in her living room that she built herself.
Janae Phillips Consulting: Doctor Who, Once Upon a Time Janae is a senior at the University of Arizona, where she is the CO for the UAHPA. At this point in her college career she’s a full time student almost entirely so that she can keep doing all of her extracurriculars. She’s a Whovian and a Oncer for much the same reason: both shows are all about the people behind the fairy tales (even the intergalactic ones). In her spare time Janae is an indie Internet game developer, which is code for “spends far too much time on the Internet.”
Get Involved with Imagine Better Here are three ways you can participate: 1. Be an Imagine Better chapter Contact Becca and Pam (find their email addresses on the last page). Please put “Imagine Better Chapter” in the subject line. 2. Curriculums in beta We are currently looking for chapters to help us test out our “Harry Potter as a Tool for Social Change” and “The Hunger Games as a Tool for Social Change” curriculums. These are multi-week discussions on the two series. If you’re interested in testing either one or if you ’d like more information, please contact Pam. 3. Become a fandom consultant The Imagine Better Team is always on the lookout for fandom-savvy COs to help us create resources. If you’d like to join our team of fandom consultants, please contact Pam. Please specify which fandoms you would be interested in consulting for. Please note: we are not accepting fandom consultants for The Hunger Games and Doctor Who at this time.
Featured Staffer I’m Kitzia; I live in Mexico City. I’m currently studying Digital Art and Animation at ITESM. I’m also part of the Mexican chapter. I’m a Ravenclaw, and joined the Chapters staff in summer of 2011. I’m also a really big fan of Disney, Once Upon a Time, and movies in general. What I love the most of working in the HPA is that I’m helping to decrease world suck!
Jovanni Gaggero Consulting: The Hunger Games, Once Upon a Time Jovanni is the Founder and CO of the Order of the Falcons High School chapter in Miami, FL. He is a junior in high school, majoring in Choir and Music Education. Some hobbies include singing, acting, cooking, writing, and teaching music. In his spare time you can find him doing musicals or performances with his choir, or on the computer discussing about HP, THG, and OUAT. He has been a fan of The Hunger Games and Once Upon A Time since they came out, and always craves for more information.
Lianne Schuuring Consulting: The Chronicles of Narnia, A Song of Ice and Fire, Game of Thrones Lianne is about to graduate from University College Maastricht to continue with a masters in European law. Together with 2 others she co-founded the Dutch and Belgian HPA chapter last year. The Chronicles of Narnia were the first sign of a deep love for fantasy after which Harry Potter dominated most of her life throughout middleand high school (who is she kidding, it still does). Recently A Song of Ice and Fire has been the cause of many freakouts. Spare time is quickly filled with reading, tv-shows (think everything BBC), local history research, YouTube and tabletop games.
Maya Granger Consulting: Doctor Who, The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings Maya is a high school sophomore at a performing arts school and the CO of the Phoenix Arizona HPA chapter. She loves everything fandom as well as everything literary, including typography, lexicography, and literary history. Maya recently won NaNoWriMo 2012 with a 50,016 word novel that only had one reference to space pirates in it. Current history crushes include William Caxton, Edgar Allan Poe, Emily Dickinson, and Empress Theodora, and her social activism focuses are gender/ sexuality and mental health, especially regarding depression, self-injury, and anxiety. Her favorite jokes are jokes about Hamlet.
Nicholas Hargrave
Don’t forget about Not in Harry’s Name 2.0!
Consulting: The Hunger Games, Doctor Who, The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, The Chronicles of Narnia, Sherlock, Game of Thrones, The Avengers, Glee, The Dark Knight Trilogy Nick is a high school senior and the third president of Alameda High School’s long standing Harry Potter Club, newly joined to the HPA as Chacon’s Army. A member of many fandoms, along with many members of his club, Nick represents different viewpoints on different issues from many people. Reading complex books from a young age, stories have been a huge part of his life and he always tries to do good in the world any way he can, with a little help from his friends.
Stephanie Diaz Consulting: The Hunger Games, Doctor Who, Glee Stepf is a Senior Social Work major at Shippensburg University, in Pennsylvania. She is the President, CO, and Founder of P.O.T.T.E.R.(Proactive Organization that Tackles Evil Ridiculousity). Connecting fandoms and social activism has helped her spend so much more time on the Internet for “work purposes.” Stepf hopes to use her fandom knowledge and and passion for social activism to make a difference in the world. DFTBA!
Thraen
PRINT OUT THE PETITION or showusthereport.com
Consulting: The Hunger Games, The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, The Chronicles of Narnia, A Song of Ice and Fire, Game of Thrones, Sherlock, Percy Jackson and the Olympians Thraen is a highly elusive species of nerd. She is the CO for the Pasadena chapter and the creator of the Harry Potter as a Tool for Social Change Curriculum.
Creating Your Own Campaigns WHAT IS A CAMPAIGN? • A campaign has a beginning, a middle, and an end and usually goes on for a period of time. Events and projects are part of a campaign.
HOW DO YOU DECIDE WHAT TO DO? • Ask your members what issues or charities they're interested in. • Keep the information in a database. Then follow those charities on Twitter and get on their mailing lists to keep up with what they're doing. When you find something that might be good for your chapter, share it. • Decide on something that you like to do, and then invite your members to join you. • See what's going on in your area that you can get involved in.
Letter from the Director Hey Chapters Organizers & Members! Wow! So much to talk about this newsletter and so little space! There are some extremely exciting things going on with the HPA and chapters with the reboot of Not in Harry’s Name (NiHN) and showusthereport.com along with the beginning of the New Year and the HPAImagine Better Chapters Initiative. To say that this has been a busy month for chapters would be an understatement – but I am more than excited to hit the ground running. It’s what we all do best, work under pressure and amazing results come of it. I see that in all of your local campaigns and work in your chapters and reflected in the staff and larger campaigns. We truly are the coolest part of the HPA (like it was a secret)! :) In regards to NiHN, I just wanted to let you all know how much I am looking forward to see all of the signature collections, bake sales, and other events you come up with in order to promote awareness of Child Slavery in cocoa
HOW DO YOU PLAN YOUR CAMPAIGN? • Brainstorm ideas with your members. • Keep a list of what you can do now and what will take more planning. • Keep a list of everything you need to do for your campaign. Make sure you can handle it yourself or you have sufficient helpers. • Keep a schedule to keep your campaign on track in the time frame you want. • If you're delegating, keep in contact with your helpers. Make sure they're on track. • If you're using venues or working with other organizations, keep in contact with them.
production. We want to see everything you do in pictures and in video. Additionally, we want you to take a picture of your chapter or you could have a photo booth at your event with a poster with showusthereport.com written on it and send it to us! A HUGE part of this campaign is going to be about getting the issue out to the press and to everyone. Warner Brothers can only hide and ignore us for so long and we will get to see that report. We are the Hermiones on the ground with our S.P.E.W. buttons fighting for the equal rights and fair treatment for everyone. Share all the videos you see, sign the petition, and get others to sign it to. Remember what you are fighting for. The heart of this campaign in trying to change an entire industry that relies on slavery – and that sometimes can seem large and unwielding. But we can and will make a difference. Because the weapon we have is love. Have a great February everyone! Becca Simpson HPA Chapters Director
HOW DO YOU GET THE OTHERS INVOLVED? • Get press coverage to bring attention to your group. • Pair up with local community group or school clubs.
KEEP IN TOUCH Twitter @HPAChapters | @TheHPAlliance
Facebook CO Group facebook.com/groups HPACommonRoom/ Chapters Page facebook.com/HPAChapters HPA Page facebook.com/thehpalliance Fans for Equality facebook.com/FansForEquality
Chapters chapters@thehpalliance.org Director becca@thehpalliance.org Newsletter shrima@thehpalliance.org Imagine Better pam@thehpalliance.org
Other Room of Requirement http://hpachapters.ning.com