02:39 - 30.03.07
speculation
One of the questions the irate new Returning Officer had for me the other day was why hadn't I gone to the press with my documentation of the abuses of election workers - including myself. When I was an at-home Mom volunteering was a major part of my life. Very few of my co-volunteers wanted to talk with the press. They said they felt they were made to look stupid or foolish. Personally, I didn't care what a reader thought of me so long as the coverage boosted the work we were volunteering for. Certainly very few of the projects I worked on would have succeeded if it hadn't been for the help of the press. Up until the wide spread use of the internet, for example, there was no way that Amnesty International could have carried out the work of advocating for the release of prisoners of conscience - in their 10's of thousands - without the press pulling back the covers on the dirty tactics used by abusive government regimes for all to see. That "sunlight disinfects" principle. The number of journalists killed in the line of duty doing that work has always been a very high price to pay for human rights. In the community-based initiatives we undertook the press also was a key factor for us, since we lived in an area where poverty and high stress conditions like chronic illness (affordable housing was the draw for those in distress) meant we had very little access to the levers of power - you know money, the ear of powerful people, time and authority as defined by those who valued everything only by it's dollar value and what they get out of it directly. The idea of "common good" was and still is very poorly developed in this province. The only institution other than educational facilities to promote social capital as critical to quality of life in the community was the press. They were our friends.
However dealing with the press can be a two edged sword too. It is especially dangerous when one is dealing with personal issues. It isn't an act of malice on their part. Their greatest value and service to a community is to present all sides of a story or argument. When it comes to labour issues, the idea of worker rights is one that is not well received by most of their readers and especially not by their advertisers. It has to be a very cut and dried situation before most editors will agree to risk a financial hit from disapproving funders - publishers even less so. I've mentioned labour abuses rampant for journalists before, so I think that publishers tend to want to keep those issues out of their papers because they can't bear similar scrutiny themselves, you see.
In addition, once a story hits the newspapers it tends to take on a life of it's own. If one isn't ready to accept all the potential backlash that is normally inevitable, then it is "better not to tickle a sleeping dragon". I didn't mind that fallout during the two decades I was immersed in volunteer work, because the benefits to my family and the communities we were advocating for far outweighed the inconvenience or embarassment. It is now a decade later and quite frankly I am tired. A decade of trying to raise six sons on my own while carrying a job or two at the same time has made it so. Truth is I did - even before the most recent problems - have a brief chat with one journalist I know and trust about some of the issues I've discussed, but they have to have concrete and provable facts to tie in with their stories. Big government departments are notorious for retaliating and destroying anyone in their employ or those who would expose their shadow side - financially and career wise - who speaks out against their abuses. I still have at least another decade of work that I must do so that I can afford to pay my bills. I took a lot of personal hits when I was a liaison to the press for my volunteer work, but I just don't think I have enough energy left to run with it now. Maybe later or in another way. I don't know. I do understand the impatience of the new RO, but I wonder if they are willing to go up to bat and take the penalties that would go with it.
The webinar I was involved in this morning was fascinating. A compare and contrast of Canadian and US legislation and regulations with respect to environmentally dangerous chemicals and products. Very instructive. I took copious notes as the presenters - lawyers who specialize in that field on both sides of the border - spoke. The implications for cross border trade were significant and became even moreso as one contemplated international trading blocs like the European Union. I think I'll be writing my Member of Parliament quite soon - one of the renewed freedoms I do have now that I am not a Returning Officer. I used to write to individual politicians at every level of government and every political party a lot on a variety of issues. I sometimes wondered if one of the factors in awarding me that Returning Officer appointment was simply a way to shut me up. As in the case of the media, my letters all arose out of what I learned while volunteering. I felt very strongly that elected representatives had a responsibility to take my opinion into consideration when making legislation that affected my home, my community and family. Sometimes my definition of community was pretty broad too, such as when I was volunteering for Amnesty International and the Red Cross's Survivors of Torture program. Oh boy, Free at last!
I read one article today about the new cover art for the last installment of the Harry Potter series - "The Deathly Hallows". The writer commented that the three versions gave nothing away about the probable story. I disagree. The adult cover features a silver locket with a very intricate design of embedded emeralds and filigree work on it. That locket is a key part of the story in both "The Order of the Phoenix" and contributes to the "death" of Dumbledore in "The Half Blood Prince". It appears to be the locket that was found in Sirius Black's home. Remember it was stolen when he died either by his house elf or by Mundungus Fletcher on one of his visits. Mundungus was in the prison Azkaban at the end of the latest book, while the house elf, Kreacher, was working in the kitchens at Hogwarts school. It was suspected that it was one of the horcruxes created to hold a portion of Tom Riddle's shredded soul. It was the horcrux that Harry and Dumbledore risked their lives to retrieve from the cave in Cornwall in book six. I'm wondering if the unique pattern of emerald studded filigree on the locket isn't a map to finding the other horcruxes that Harry must destroy in order to remove Tom Riddle's power.
The two children's cover art - one for the US market and one for everywhere else - appear to illustrate two different scenes from the last book. In each there are also some visual clues in the book jackets/versos that also lend clues to the story.
The British children's jacket art show the three main protagonists breaking into a treasure trove - maybe one of the vaults of the goblin's Gringott's bank. It appears that a house elf is riding into the vault on the back of Harry and he is carrying the ruby encrusted sword of Godric Gryffindor - the one Harry used to kill the basilisk in "Chamber of Secrets", the second book. The treasure appears to contain several gems cut into the shape of scarabs, maybe indicating either the vault of Sirius Black - or the Black family - or that of Tom Riddle - the collector of such treasures when he was in the employ of Borgin and Burkes. Pieces of magically and powerfully imbued treasures. It is reasonable to guess that another horcrux would be contained there. One of the hints given by the character of Hagrid about "security measures" in that bank in the first book "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" deals with dragons and other powerfully magical creatures. One wonders if Hagrid or Bill Weasley - as a Gringotts curse breaker - is part of that scene in some way. And where is the sorting hat? There is also, on the back cover a picture of Hogwarts castle - the school - limned at night during a full moon. A stylized drawing of Harry's owl, Hedwig, is worked into that moonscape. Are those dementors from Azkaban high up beyond the moon? A picture of Harry's patronus - Prongs, the one he shares with his father - is on the inside of the jacket. A full moon might indicate a scenario where a battle with the werewolves might take place at the castle led by Fenrir Greyback whose preferred victims are children. It might be surmised that Remus Lupin and Bill Weasley - both previous victims of Greybacks' attacks - would be the protagonists in that particualr scene. Would the magical creatures such as the owls, cats, and centaurs be part of the battle, in addition to Hagrid and his brother the giant? Or are the cats under the direction of the squib Mrs Figg in the opening chapter when Harry has to escape Privet Drive with their help as well as the members of the Order of the Phoenix.
The US childrens' version of cover art features the figures of Lord Voldemort, looking very snakelike - maybe Tom Riddle hiding inside his familiar, the snake Nagini - and Harry. Harry has the locket, described from the adult cover art, strung around his neck. Both seem to be looking toward an article just out of sight in an arena that shows signs of great destruction. That article is represented by a very small piece of cloth in the lowest right hand corner. It is almost certainly the veil found in the Ministry of Magics' Deparment of Mysteries. The veil was in the room where Sirius "died" by falling through it. There were voices speaking from the other side of the veil. The intact souls of the dead. Maybe the horcruxes' contents - the pieces of Tom Riddle's soul - would possibly go there to await completion or reunion so as to end Voldemort's power to live forever. Perhaps there is a battle in which Tom tries to prevent the last missing piece of his soul from crossing over to that place of the dead. Maybe Tom's second body, created in "The Goblet of Fire", was destroyed in the battle in the Ministry so that the last part of his soul has repossessed Nagini. Or maybe that final shredded piece of his soul is still in the locket Harry is wearing or maybe it AND the miniscule part of the soul left inside the body of Tom/Nagini that is outside the veil now are both waiting to reunite with the pieces released from the other horcruxes. Maybe there is a spot for the ghosts of Hogwarts to be involved here. The two way mirror that Sirius gave Harry might also come in here to guide Harry in releasing those last bits of soul. Also there is the factor of the one sealed room in the department of mysteries which has not been opened yet - the one containing "love", which Dumbledore said was the most powerful force in existence. What part does that assertion about love play in the final scene? How does love create the space for redemption or forgiveness? Does it have anything to do with the Malfoys or Snape? Can Tom forgive his mother as maybe Severus must forgive his? Or did Severus's mother die protecting him from his father, leading to the reason that Dumbledore felt his regret over Harry's parents' death was real? Does a visit to the pensieve reveal any of this to Harry so he understands the pain that drives the antagonists to act in such destructive manners? Does his resulting compassion open that sealed door in the department of mysteries? Does Neville's love for his parents redeem them? Can souls return from beyond the veil? Can Sirius and Dumbledore return through that portal by some form of transmutation? Love maybe? Dumbledore's familiar is the Phoenix and Sirius represents the Dog Star - fidelity, loyalty - (Sirius) at 14 degrees of Cancer. Maybe not. In many worldwide spiritual traditions including the Egyptian and the North American natives, the dogstar Sirius has always been deemed to be the final home of souls who migrate to earth for their lifetime visits. Hmmmm. All purely speculative questions, of course, but there is a lot of substance in those pictures - if one knows the story to date.
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