Friday, March 18, 2011

Geeking out the Ceremony

At this point, you guys know about my geekish tendencies.  And if I've had one obsession in my life to stand out above the rest, it's Harry Potter.

I've done it all:  midnight premieres, conventions, dressing up, scouring the internet for rumors.  I have my own website, and I've read each book more times than I care to admit.  I've even taught two classes on Harry Potter at Berkeley.

But over the last few years, Harry Potter and I have grown further and further apart.  I haven't read the series through since before the seventh book came out.  I don't spend hours thinking about it, I don't obsessively check for news, I don't even know what's going on with J.K. Rowling anymore.

But still when I take the time to read a passage or two, I remember how much it meant to me, how much it still means to me.  No book has ever affected me quite as much as Harry Potter, and I will never relinquish my love for it.

And that is why I would like to include a passage from the books somewhere in our ceremony.  It has been important to me and my life and my view on life, and after all, Daniel and I never would have met without those books.

However, finding a readable passage is somewhat more challenging.  As much as I respect JKR and her writing, if there is one thing the woman cannot write about, it is love.  At least, not real love.  Awkward teenage romance sure, but the intricacies and importance of true love between two people?  Not so much.  Dumbledore has a decent number of one liners about love, but the only real passage in the entire series is this one:

"There is a room in the Department of Mysteries that is kept locked at all times. It contains a force that is at once more wonderful and more terrible than death, than human intelligence, than the forces of nature. It is also, perhaps, the most mysterious of the many subjects for study that reside there. It is the power held within that room that you possess in such quantities and which Voldemort has not at all."
    —Albus Dumbledore to Harry Potter, Order of the Phoenix

That's all well and good except for the bit about the Department of Mysteries and the mention of Voldemort.  But I can't quite seem to edit them out without ruining it.

I have not decided whether I actually care if people don't get it, but you all seem like reasonable, mostly non-geeky people.  Would you be confused if you heard this at a ceremony?  Would you care if you were?

4 comments:

  1. I agree that the series, though great in so many levels, doesn't exactly offer a plethora of good love quotes... but with the one you have you could always just cut out the last line and it still makes sense without adding the character names (you have to keep the Department of Mysteries ;) ) haha. Granted my favorite quote (that I remember the best without rereading) comes from book 6 also from Dumbledore "And now Harry let us step into the night and pursue that flighty temptress adventure." Which I always take "Harry" out and it works for so many things. :) But I do love the idea of having one of her quotes in your wedding.

    :D

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  2. If you want, you could piece together different parts of the books. That's what we did with our Princess Bride reading. Thus negating the necessity of a non-existent contiguous diatribe on paramour. (I had some Sherry, so I'm feeling a little bombastic).

    I definitely think it's a good idea to have a reading at a wedding. It gives the ceremony more heft, and allows you to really personalize it. I imagine most people at the wedding (and especially the people who care about you) are already aware of your (pl.) geek tendencies and will forgive mentions of the Ministry of Magic and You Know Who. You could even paste in some lines from something Daniel likes.

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  3. @Andrew: I was thinking about doing some creative editing to put something together. And don't worry, there will be a LotR quote in there somewhere. That is, if we can find a mention of love in those books somewhere. Daniel says, "Damn straight" and "Blasphemy" respectively.

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  4. You guys are funny. Yeah, let's do quotes. I'll start scouring LotR once it becomes available on Kindle (talk about blasphemy) and let you know what I come up with.

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