wands out...

the other day a friend (can’t remember who) reminded me of one of my favorite lines from harry potter. cedric diggory and harry are in the maze hunting for the goblet of fire (book 4) and it becomes clear very quickly that he and harry are about to have to enter a wizarding fight. cedric looks over and says to harry “wands out, d'you reckon?”

i’m really feeling that idea right now. like… the idea of getting your wand out because… well… you’re gonna need it and soon. and it’s not the first time either of them had needed their wands during their time in the maze, but cedric had identified that a moment was coming that harry seemed not to be ready for.

there are a couple of other things floating around for me that also make the “wands out” phrasing interesting, mostly in relation to how important imagination is to the future. i really love the work of intelligent mischief and a tagline for one of their projects: “when reality becomes absurd, it’s time to get surreal.” i also really like bayard rustin and one of my favorite quotes of his is on my website: “i believe in social dislocation and creative trouble.” finally, for a while i was really into simone campbell’s idea of holy mischief.

anyway, over the weekend i had something like six or seven different meetings (some physical, some virtual) with friends and different groups. i’ve also been collecting different resources, some old, some new (i may or may not have thought about myself as preparing for my o.w.l.s… >_>).

here’s some stuff i gathered, but i’m curious what other people are learning and getting skilled up by…