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New York, 10:08 AM
Fri Dec 18
42 posts in the last 24 hours

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    Of Harvard and Hogwarts: Ivy League Schools Using Harry Potter to Whore Themselves Out

    Children, Feeble-Minded Adults, Cannot Get Enough 'Harry Potter'

    'Harry Potter' Ending Revealed
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    Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×
    Image of drunkexpatwriter drunkexpatwriter
    12/13/09

    In reply to Of Harvard and Hogwarts: Ivy League Schools Using Harry Potter to Whore Themselves Out
    Reading that op ed piece in the Herald Tribune the other day I really, really hoped the unnamed liberal arts school was my old school, Bard.

    When I was there we renamed several of the dorms after the members of Steely Dan.
     Reply
    drunkexpatwriter was starred drunkexpatwriter was unstarred
    Image of Our Lady of the Massacre Our Lady of the Massacre
    12/13/09

    @drunkexpatwriter: I was thinking it might be Bard too!
     Reply
    drunkexpatwriter promoted this comment Our Lady of the Massacre was starred Our Lady of the Massacre was unstarred
    Image of drunkexpatwriter drunkexpatwriter
    12/13/09

    @Our Lady of the Massacre: It sounds like something we would have done if Harry Potter had been around when I had been there.
     Reply
    drunkexpatwriter was starred drunkexpatwriter was unstarred
    Image of raincoaster raincoaster
    12/13/09

    In reply to Of Harvard and Hogwarts: Ivy League Schools Using Harry Potter to Whore Themselves Out
    Does any of the college marketing material ever tout their resemblance to the school in The Secret History?
     Reply
    raincoaster was starred raincoaster was unstarred
    Image of moonfaerie moonfaerie
    12/13/09

    @raincoaster: one would sincerely hope not!
     Reply
    raincoaster promoted this comment Edited by moonfaerie at 12/13/09 12:15 AM moonfaerie was starred moonfaerie was unstarred
    Image of raincoaster raincoaster
    12/13/09

    @moonfaerie: Are you kidding? Sounds like just my kind of place.
     Reply
    raincoaster was starred raincoaster was unstarred
    Image of moonfaerie moonfaerie
    12/13/09

    @raincoaster: well then if frenzied Roman orgies and violent crimes are your kind of thing...i guess you'd fit in there, then?
     Reply
    moonfaerie was starred moonfaerie was unstarred
    Image of raincoaster raincoaster
    12/13/09

    @moonfaerie: GREEK orgies. Jesus, what do they teach kids in schools nowadays.
     Reply
    raincoaster was starred raincoaster was unstarred
    Image of moonfaerie moonfaerie
    12/13/09

    @raincoaster: well, clearly it wouldn't be my kind of place...
     Reply
    moonfaerie was starred moonfaerie was unstarred
    Image of randomnessish randomnessish
    12/12/09

    In reply to Of Harvard and Hogwarts: Ivy League Schools Using Harry Potter to Whore Themselves Out
    I always thought it was funny that my school (not one of the ones in the article) always liked to say how ITS new freshman dining hall "looked like the Great Hall"...because it had high ceilings and communal dining tables. Seriously? I mean, nothing about how it has totally modern, non-medieval-y architecture and therefore it could NOT look like Hogwarts, but...high ceilings. Dumbasses.
     Reply
    Edited by randomnessish at 12/12/09 11:23 PM randomnessish was starred randomnessish was unstarred
    Image of RocktheDebit RocktheDebit
    12/12/09

    In reply to Of Harvard and Hogwarts: Ivy League Schools Using Harry Potter to Whore Themselves Out
    Please. Everyone knows the University of Chicago is the real American Hogwarts:
    1. Our symbol is the phoenix. That's right, THE PHOENIX.
    2. In order to get to Hogwarts, you have to take the train from a hidden platform through Scotland and then take carriages through the Forbidden Forest. In order to get to the U of C, you have to take the Red Line through the South Side to 55th/Garfield and then take the 55/Garfield bus through Washington Park. I'm not sure which is scarier late at night.
    3. Ambitious, wanted to take over the world, sent the world into darkness and dispair. Am I describing Slytherins, Chicago School economists, or both?
     Reply
    raincoaster promoted this comment RocktheDebit was starred RocktheDebit was unstarred
    Image of Glitterberries Glitterberries
    12/12/09

    In reply to Of Harvard and Hogwarts: Ivy League Schools Using Harry Potter to Whore Themselves Out
    I was a young, sex-starved Mormon girl at the University of Utah, and reading this made me disappointed I didn't run into you while I was there. No longer Mormon, but now living in China. Rats, foiled again.
     Reply
    Phyllis Nefler promoted this comment Edited by Glitterberries at 12/12/09 8:58 PM Glitterberries was starred Glitterberries was unstarred
    Image of Julia Allison Julia Allison
    12/12/09

    In reply to Of Harvard and Hogwarts: Ivy League Schools Using Harry Potter to Whore Themselves Out
    "Hopes! Let people have them."

    Wow, Foster. This is a clever and enjoyable little piece. Didn't know you had it in you. ;)
     Reply
    Julia Allison was starred Julia Allison was unstarred
    Image of snugbug snugbug
    12/12/09

    @Julia Allison: What up, dood? How's the lifecasting enterprise hopscotching along?
     Reply
    snugbug was starred snugbug was unstarred
    Image of Helio Helio
    12/12/09

    In reply to Of Harvard and Hogwarts: Ivy League Schools Using Harry Potter to Whore Themselves Out
    Nerds are taking fictional stories too seriously and incorporating them in their assuredly mundane lives? You don't say!

    Also, yale is the ivy most like hogwarts. end of story.
     Reply
    Helio was starred Helio was unstarred
    Image of pureblarney pureblarney
    12/12/09

    In reply to Of Harvard and Hogwarts: Ivy League Schools Using Harry Potter to Whore Themselves Out
    I wish my college had been more like Hogwarts... because at least then I would have been sorted into Hufflepuff, where all the chill-as-fuck people are. All these complainey bitches can head to Slytherin.
     Reply
    pureblarney was starred pureblarney was unstarred
    Image of Matt Cherette Matt Cherette
    12/12/09

    In reply to Of Harvard and Hogwarts: Ivy League Schools Using Harry Potter to Whore Themselves Out
    God, this piece was beautiful.

    I have nothing more to add, other than this picture.
     Reply
    Matt Cherette was starred Matt Cherette was unstarred
    Image of DahlELama DahlELama
    12/12/09

    @Matt Cherette: Totally thought both were Bill Hader for a minute.
     Reply
    DahlELama was starred DahlELama was unstarred
    Image of Seeräuber Jenny Seeräuber Jenny
    12/12/09

    @Matt Cherette:

    So the gene wasn't so selfish?
     Reply
    Seeräuber Jenny was starred Seeräuber Jenny was unstarred
    Image of i'm a bottle i'm a bottle
    12/13/09

    @Matt Cherette: Wow. It's so difficult to process this all.
     Reply
    i'm a bottle was starred i'm a bottle was unstarred
    Image of ronniedobbs ronniedobbs
    12/12/09

    In reply to Of Harvard and Hogwarts: Ivy League Schools Using Harry Potter to Whore Themselves Out
    Sigh. Why are the Penn kids so outraged? They weren't even mentioned in the original article. Oh, that's exactly why they're outraged.
     Reply
    ronniedobbs was starred ronniedobbs was unstarred
    Image of magnets magnets
    12/12/09

    In reply to Of Harvard and Hogwarts: Ivy League Schools Using Harry Potter to Whore Themselves Out
    I went on school tours before I ever got near some Harry Potter shit and residential colleges and old-timey dorms invigorated my spirit even then - it's just that now admissions offices have a universal pop culture ref to invoke and exploit, no harm done. Basically, this kid is a huge gaylord who no-one likes
     Reply
    magnets was starred magnets was unstarred
    Image of ArleenCabango ArleenCabango
    12/13/09

    @magnets: yes but when every school does it. and doesn't even do it well. It is one thing to explain the relationship between a university and it's Colleges as being 'similar in some ways to the houses of Hogwarts' but it's another to reference the Great Hall because your ballroom has arched ceilings.
    especially since not everyone is a HogHard, a TwiHard or whatever. Some potential college students are actually more interested in real historical facts or, even more shocking, none of that trivia small talk at all.
     Reply
    magnets promoted this comment ArleenCabango was starred ArleenCabango was unstarred
    Image of magnets magnets
    12/13/09

    @ArleenCabango: Oh only a teenager could give this much of a shit what particular shape their college's cheeseball recruitment tactics take. It's gonna be okay, kiddo - better a couple of infantilizing Hogwarts refs during the campus tour than, say, the Beloit College Mindset List
     Reply
    magnets was starred magnets was unstarred
    Image of jwallace28001 jwallace28001
    12/12/09

    In reply to Of Harvard and Hogwarts: Ivy League Schools Using Harry Potter to Whore Themselves Out
    "Students had voted to name four buildings on campus after the four houses in Hogwarts: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin."

    there's finding magic in life and then there's just ridiculous. seriously? renaming the buildings? it's college, not nursery school...
     Reply
    Arken promoted this comment Foster Kamer approved this comment jwallace28001 was starred jwallace28001 was unstarred
    Image of Arken Arken
    12/12/09

    @jwallace28001: You'd think so, but when I was in college in the late 90s, there was a request board in the dorm for things people want added and the most popular one was, I kid you not, a swing set. I facepalmed back then and I continue to do so whenever I remember that.
     Reply
    Arken was starred Arken was unstarred
    Image of raincoaster raincoaster
    12/13/09

    @jwallace28001: One of the most desirable residential colleges at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario is "Elrond." Yes, it was the Seventies...
     Reply
    raincoaster was starred raincoaster was unstarred
    Image of drunkexpatwriter drunkexpatwriter
    12/13/09

    @jwallace28001: My school rennamed two dorms after the members of Steely Dan and the student council considered renanaming two others Marx and Guevara.
     Reply
    drunkexpatwriter was starred drunkexpatwriter was unstarred
    Image of The Test The Test
    12/12/09

    In reply to Of Harvard and Hogwarts: Ivy League Schools Using Harry Potter to Whore Themselves Out
    I stopped reading early, at the exact point when she followed up her Harvard visit with a Dartmouth visit. That's all it takes with me.
     Reply
    Foster Kamer promoted this comment The Test was starred The Test was unstarred
    Image of hermento hermento
    12/12/09

    @The Test: And, why exactly is that a bad thing? Because she has more brains than you do to realize that Dartmouth is a much better place for an undergrad to get an education than Harvard?
     Reply
    Matt Cherette approved this comment hermento was starred hermento was unstarred
    Image of Matt Cherette Matt Cherette
    12/12/09

    @hermento: Oh, SNAP.
     Reply
    Matt Cherette was starred Matt Cherette was unstarred
    Image of dumblonde dumblonde
    12/12/09

    @hermento: If a better education is learning how to call Wellesley women whores... [jezebel.com]
     Reply
    Foster Kamer promoted this comment dumblonde was starred dumblonde was unstarred
    Image of MyNameIsChris MyNameIsChris
    12/12/09

    @hermento: Ooooooh nerd fight! Oh wait, I'm sorry... yuppie kid nerd fight!
     Reply
    MyNameIsChris was starred MyNameIsChris was unstarred
    Image of The Test The Test
    12/12/09

    @hermento: I kinda just dislike Ivy League aspirants in general. Maybe because they have more brains than me, true.
     Reply
    The Test was starred The Test was unstarred
    Image of Senor_Macho_Solo Senor_Macho_Solo
    12/12/09

    In reply to Of Harvard and Hogwarts: Ivy League Schools Using Harry Potter to Whore Themselves Out
    I go to Rutgers. They used comparisons from 'The Wrestler' and 'that one episode of the Sopranos'.
     Reply
    If_I_Had_a_Poodle promoted this comment Senor_Macho_Solo was starred Senor_Macho_Solo was unstarred
    Image of La Mareada La Mareada
    12/12/09

    @Senor_Macho_Solo: There's also The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Great book, but maybe they should stick with The Wrestler's daughter.
     Reply
    i'm a bottle promoted this comment Edited by La Mareada at 12/12/09 6:06 PM La Mareada was starred La Mareada was unstarred
    Image of anya629 anya629
    12/12/09

    In reply to Of Harvard and Hogwarts: Ivy League Schools Using Harry Potter to Whore Themselves Out
    People should not take themselves so seriously. The smartest people usually have the best senses of humor and find "magic" in everyday life.

    If you truly think Harry Potter references should be eliminated because the deciding factor for choosing your college might be based on its likeness to children's books, you have problems too severe for tour guides and college recruiters to solve.
     Reply
    If_I_Had_a_Poodle promoted this comment anya629 was starred anya629 was unstarred
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