Harry Potter
Harry Potter is widely read by most CTYers and could be called an obsession. This especially came into play during Session 2 of 2005, when the 6th Harry Potter book had been released the day before CTY started.
Although some CTYers stayed up reading the entire book the night before CTY, many brought it with them to camp and proceeded to spend the next week or so reading it. T his mass reading was greatly promoted by at least one "Silent Reading" activity per day.
The final installment of Harry Potter, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, will be released on July 21st, 2007. This date happens to land during the second session of CTY. How CTYers of second session will handle this sort-of dilemma is anyone's guess. It is rumored that at the Bethlehem site, CTYers are required to leave their copies of HP7 outside of their doors after lights-out.
The date of the newest Harry Potter falls on the first Friday dance (the night everyone would be camped out in the book store is Friday night). A Harry Potter themed dance has been organized for that Friday night in LAN (remember to bring costumes). Vague spoiler- Sutff happens.
At Carlisle, Harry Potter spoilers were declared contraband by the RAs and site director, who had not finished reading it yet. Nevertheless, spoiler fear ran rampant and terrorized those who had not yet read the book, spurring them on to even greater reading speeds even as "Harry Potter Discussion Group" became an official activity.
At Hawaii, the shipment of books was delayed, and an anouncement was made that no students were allowed to talk about it. I'm not sure if the books ever arrived, but the adults of the campus borrowed books from everyone else.
It is not true that the shipment to hawaii was delayed. Craploads of books were at Sam's Club the morning it came out. And everyone had a copy. Most of the adults had their own copy, but some had to borrow it (Sara:-)). A common afternoon activity was silent reading (althoug it might have been because of the fact that the RA's were lazy). We also annoyed people by talking very loudly about what happened (and who died). --T. M.
I can vouch for this. I was too young for CTY then, but I was on vacation with my Aunt there, and we went at midnight to get the book.
It should be noted: At the begining of Carlisle Session 2 05, Bret (Site Director) said "And Spoilers are against the rules! If I hear you telling someone that Malfoy dies...." *audible gasps, screams of fury, tears* "Hey, I'm kidding. I haven't even started it yet."
He also told of a student from when Ootp came out (Session 03, I suppose) who fell down the stairs of the HUB whilst reading the book and broke his arm. Potter kills.
I'm going to Lancaster Second session, and because I live about 40 mins away, my parents are bringing me the copy during the weekend. -Wendeth
For those attending SAR during session 2, the town trip on sunday is the day after the release date, which is probably when most people will get theirs.
My plan is to pre-order it, and get it on that town trip w/ insurance on my side. :) BTW in 2005 my roommate SPOILED the huge not-supposed-to-be-spoiled part of book 6. I nearly killed him. I was 5 pages away!!!
Be warned, however; Harry Potter are extremely graphic novels not intended for the sexually squeamish. J.K Rowling cleverly hides her sexual references behind flowery prose, but anyone with a sharp eye and a sick mind can figure it out.
Come on - the basilisk venom impregnated the sword of Godric Gryffindor? The basilisk entered the Chamber of Secrets? Slughorn ejaculated loudly? Voldemort drew out his wand and compared the lengths? Hermione had a suggestion as to where Ron could stick his wand? If you understand the meanings behind "wand" "basilisk" and "Chamber of Secrets" it shouldn't be too hard to figure out. Happy reading!
Also - the ResERECTION Stone? hee hee
