End of First Semester

Wow, we have come to the end of the first semester of DA. We have gotten the club off the ground! It has not crashed and burned somewhere along the semester. Maybe we shall really launch it and get a large group of members. If not, I still love our group. It was a wonderful last meeting of the semester. We did a little bit of everything, ate (thanks for the cookies, Maddy :) ), discussed (especially the various tragic deaths :( ), and played charades AND the name game! Thanks for a great first semester, everyone! (Oh, by the way, I just remembered that today is Charlie Weasley's birthday. Happy Birthday, Charlie!) Hope you all have a wonderful break and holiday season. We shall see you all next semester (with all of you having read Beedle's Tales!) <3 ~Tiffy

December 5 Meeting

So a quick update, my dears. Today's meeting was amazing - it ended up being Storytime! Sitting in a circle on the floor reading and listening to "The Fountain of Fair Fortune" (one of the tales of Beedle the Bard) was a lot of fun :) Anyway, remember, incase we are not allowed to have a club meeting, next Friday we are meeting as a group of friends. It will be a little end of the semester party, so you are welcome to bring treats to share! See you all then. ~Tiffy

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Also, HAPPY ONE WEEK 'TILL THE RELEASE OF THE TALES OF BEEDLE THE BARD! So just a quick update about the release: Copperfields is not having a midnight release --- we are trying to figure out if Borders is having a midnight release though so far it does not look like it, if they are we are going down to the Borders in San Rafael --- since it is unlikely that there will be a midnight release anywhere near us we were going to throw our own but have run into issues with the administration and with Copperfields. Anyway, email me if you want. Have a great Thanksgiving and rest of break. ~Tiffy

November 14 meeting

Jeopardy! At today's meeting, we played Harry Potter Jeopardy. It was amazing... and surprising. Team Maverick won (the smug look on one member of that team, who seems to have won the game single-handedly, was priceless xD). Teams The Three Horcruxes, Awesome Sauce, and Dobby-Dumbledore also did commendable jobs :) Anyway, there really is not much to update since our outside of club meeting activities have dwindled away. However, only 20 days until the release of The Tales of Beedle the Bard! Hopefully, Copperfields will have a midnight release (go tell them to!). ~Tiffy

November 7 meeting

Hello one and all. Now, most of our DA witches and wizards were conspicuously not present today... However, kudos to those who came. It was so much fun playing Harry Potter charades! Also, a big Thank You to Mrs. Granger for the blood pops. We had wonderfully bloody mouths :) Wow, charades, that was amazing. Oh, and we should plan quidditch some time. Also, possibly a fundraiser, since that was part of our club's thing, but if you guys are not really into it, we can do other fun things instead :) So 'till later, everyone. ~Tiffy

Mrs. Weasley and Hallows-ween

Happy Birthday Mrs. Weasley!!! Yay :) Okay, we are not meeting tomorrow because 'tis Halloween, or Hallows-ween as us dumbledorks like to call it. Now, incase the announcement person does not get it right tomorrow, and because I do wish you all a Happy Halloween - Happy Deathly Hallows-ween!!! Get it? ;) Harry Potter related puns are the best. Have a great Hallows-ween everyone! ~Tiffy

New HP Trailer

Check out the newest trailer - youtube link and traileraddict link. ~Tiffy

October 24

We will not be having a meeting on October 24th. It is a break, and also the homecoming parade is that lunch, so incase you wanted to go see it... Oh dear, and next Friday is Halloween... We will not meet then either... Wow, well I guess we shall see you all in November! 'Till then, email me about stuff. We do need to get the fundraiser along, so if you are interested, please contact me. Happy rest of October, everyone :) ~Tiffy

October 17 meeting

Ciao everyone! First, Happy Birthday, Professor Flitwick! :) So, today's meeting was great. You all are awesome! We actually did not get to any club affairs. However, we played Harry Potter trivia. Thanks to Mrs. Granger for bringing in the board game! It was all so wonderful. Also, the diversity of people there was fantastic! Well 'till later, darlings. ~Tiffy

Post #2! (with no incentive this time!)

Hello again! Have you guys experienced the magic (no pun intended) of Wrock yet? If you do not already know, Wrock, or wizard rock, as defined by the always dependable Wikipedia "is a musical movement dating from 2002 that consists of at least 500 bands made up of young musicians playing songs about Harry Potter." If you want to hear some Wrock bands just go to wizrocklopedia.com and you can find everyone from Draco and the Malfoys to Romilda Vain and her Chocolate Cauldrons. There is an entire Wrock world out there thats waiting for you!

By the way, the reason I was posting this in the first place is that there just so happens to be a Wrock Concert on November 12 somewhere in the vicinity of San Fransisco. (When i get the specifics I will let you guys know.) Now it is a Wednesday night so perfectly understandable if you can't come, but it would be really great if we could get some wizards and witches together and car pool down there. The Whomping Willows (who are GREAT) AND Justin Flinch-Fletchley and the Sugar Quills (whom I'm sure are great) are playing and it will be a great time. It doesn't cost money but they do ask for a donation which is always a nice gesture. There's food too and if you have not experienced a Wrock Concert yet, than you should really try to come! I guarantee you will not be disappointed! And remember, in the wise words of Harry and The Potters "Voldemort can't stop the rock!"

Love your secretary/propagandist/fellow Wrock fan, Rosella :)

October 10 Meeting

Ciao everyone. So today's meeting, though small, was wonderful because of the devout Harry Potter lovers who were there. We love you guys! Bake sale has been decided for early November. We may also have tee-shirts. Who: us all. What: sale for fundraising, so we need baked goods and signs. Where: probably Putnam Plaza. When: Saturday afternoon. Why: now that should be obvious :) The rest of the meeting was discussion, mostly about the seventh book, quidditch, the movies, and Tale of Beedle the Bard. (Side note: I cannot believe the newspaper has to get pictures of all the club presidents! I did NOT sign up for that! *simmering outrage* Don't mind me...) So this has been rather iffy, the status of our members. I am sure we shall have it figured out by second semester. Now we are just trying to get our club off the ground in a school that is not big on club participation. So bring your friends! (as long as they have read the HP books) Also, all you often attendees of our meeting, you shall be invited to our invite-only Slug Club Christmas party at Lesley's house! We may finally have all our members at the same place at the same time! - instead of various members at random meetings, diminishing the size of each meeting. So, that is all for now. Have a good weekend, everyone! ~Tiffy

Moving On

Greetings. So the meeting this Friday was going to be mostly about float construction planning. Not anymore obviously. So, to keep you all updated, our meeting on the Eighth will be a. planning fundraising and b. plain discussion about the the wondrous phenomenon of Harry Potter and all that encompasses :) ~Tiffy

Homecoming Death

Well, all club activities related to Homecoming have pretty much been obliterated. (Unless you guys step up and still want to do a float.) We do NOT get a homecoming queen nominee. There goes the amazing video. Another crushing blow we received today is delayed funding. Delayed till next week. So my fellow officers and I have met, we do not see a practical way to make the float work out. If you think otherwise, we might be able to still work it out. If not, the next thing to throw our efforts into in fundraising. *sigh* All this planning and preparation to waste. We have a truckload of cardboard. Jeez. Well, time to move on. We might still build a little Hogwarts out of some of the cardboard... ~Tiffy

October 3 meeting

Hello hello, everyone. We had our second meeting of DA yesterday, which was just some discussion about club activities and also included introductions all around. Thanks to everyone that came! You guys are awesome. Now where did the rest of you go? The small numbers from yesterday's meeting confuses me on how well we are getting this club off the ground... However, we are obviously doing well since I convinced the club commissioner that we deserve to have a homecoming nominee (even though the rules state that a club has to have been running for two consecutive years or semesters - depending on who you ask as to the answer to whether it is two years or two semesters - before you may choose a homecoming nominee). Also, for those who did not attend the meeting, we have nominated Annika L. for our homecoming queen nominee. We hope to make an amazing video for the rally! Speaking of making amazing things, we decided yesterday to make a homecoming float for the parade. A Harry Potter float, just imagine how amazing it will look! So a couple people have talked to me about plans for the design. If you have ideas, email me. Also, if you have supplies (cardboard, something with which to cut the cardboard, paint, paintbrushes, wire, etc) for making a float, that would be VERY helpful! Our crash course weekend for float building will probably be October 10-12 (Friday after school and a few hours of Saturday and Sunday) in Lesley's yard at 25 Brown Ct (it's really close to downtown), so drop by whenever to help out! It'll be fun, a bunch of us DA kids hanging out to the sound of Harry Potter music (soundtracks to the movies and wizard wrock) and building an amazing float! Bring a friend along too! We could use plenty of wizard and witch power, also along with supplies you may have like paintbrushes, sharpies, and cardboard cutters. This is quite an undertaking for our new club so email me questions, comments, suggestions, etc :) ~Tiffy

Professor McGonagall Day

Happy birthday, Professor Minerva McGonagall! Today is her birthday! ~Tiffy

Making an emblem takes a little longer than I anticipated. Darn standards...

(Note: I am so sorry everyone. George sent this to me Thursday night, but I did not get it on time. So this post is a little belated. ~Tiffy)
Hey everyone, it's George , the undersecretary! Sorry, I can't make the meeting on October 3rd, but I've been working hard on our emblem! (Click to see current verson) Finding time to work on it was miraculous, my teachers randomly decided no homework, all of them at the same time. So I started working on the shading of the metallic bits, and the structure of the mascots. The house animals are going to be worked hard on, cause I can't draw animals crappy and get away with it. Rest assured they will end up looking okay. But yea the Emblem is well on its way to completion. Learning Photoshop all over again too, its pretty fun. (Everytime I use it I forget EVERYTHING USEFUL.) Well, see all you guys eventually, DA soldiers, wizards, witches, warlocks, warlettes, and whatnot. Talk to me in the halls too, I'm not afraid to guffah about Harry Potter with all my chums. Show them muggles who's boss, dah. George P. ~ The SENIOR undersecretary of the Oh So Esteemed and Publicized, Majestic, Most High, Dumbledore's Army! P.S. Everyone yell thank you at Tiffany at the meeting. She's a good president. Or maybe wizard chant her. =P

Lesley, HP, & Politics

Hey everyone this is Lesley and since I love Harry Potter so much I thought I would try and express my passion through words. Actually, I mostly just wrote this because Tiffany has sent me and the other DA founders upwards of thirty emails encouraging us to do so. In any case, Harry Potter is unlike any other series that has ever been written. Or will be for that matter. But to truly understand the miracle that is Harry Potter, one must also explore the culture that surrounds the series. When JK Rowling wrote her exquisite chronicles, she laid the groundwork for the greatest cultural revolution that readers have ever seen. Harry and his crew have inspired numerous fanfic and forum sites, musical groups, and short film makers. Today, I want to alert all Harry Potter lovers to the phenomenon that is HP Alliance. This organization applies Dumbledore's ethics and morals to the real world by battling the Sudanese government, world hunger, big media, and corrupt economic policies. This week the alliance urges you, as Harry Potter fans, to encourage anyone who is 18 or older to register to vote in celebration of National Register to Vote Week. Lets Wizard Rock the Vote!!!!

Club Rush Success

Club Rush was rather successful considering. After perusing around a few tables, I noticed that we got more sign-ups than many... and I was NOT spying! xD Disregarding personal friends of mine and my fellow DA officers, we got about 45 legit sign-ups!!! Thank you for all the support! Anyway, so all I believe you need to know for now is that our next meeting is the coming Friday (October 3) at lunch in room F-8. Hope to see you there :) In the meantime, questions/concerns/rants/whatever can be sent to me at tiffydepoudlard@gmail.com. ~Tiffy

Club Rush

Hello, everyone. Just wanted to drop a quick word about club rush. We are planning to have cookies, so you should come by and signup for DA even if you came to our first meeting. Also, you all should come and loiter around our table for awhile to encourage more signups (people tend not to approach signups at a club table that is devoid of anyone standing around, makes them feel awkward). So come on over on Friday! Your presence will encourage others to come over! ~Tiffy

Works in Progress

Ciao, everyone! I think tis nigh time for an update concerning our emblem. So, as you know, I sketched in ink an idea of what our emblem should look like (check profile picture right now to see it). Daunted by the notion of creating a wonderous emblem on photoshop, I decided to commision the job to your fantastic senior undersecretary, George. Here is his emblem so far. Also, apparently George and Will (a member of DA) are competing and each making their own version of the emblem... what trouble, now we shall have to pick one or the other. Unfortunately, I cannot post Will's emblem-in-progress because he does not have it anywhere online at the moment. So that is all the updates on the emblem design so far. In other news, I believe that I have not yet explained my email address to all, "tiffydepoudlard" is French for "tiffyofhogwarts" - Hogwarts = Poudlard! ~Tiffy

Rosella's first post- yay!

Hello fellow wizards and witches! So I am finally blogging for the first time because Tiffany insists that the rest of the officers participate, even though she is doing a fantastic job by herself. This is Rosella by the way, and I am your secretary/propagandist. Well, our first meeting was on Friday and I just wanted to say that we really appreciate you guys coming and showing your support and we really hope you had a good time because I know I did. So, I just wanted to say thanks and how truly awesome it is that Harry Potter fans are able to come together to celebrate their love for such an amazing phenomenon. And thats all thanks to you guys. Dumbledore would be proud! ~Rosella

Fundraising across the school year

Greetings. What do you all think about having three main fundraising events per semester? For this semester, the tentative plan (meaning we would love your guys' input) is October= bake sale (pumpkin cookies, cauldron cakes, etc.), November= book drive (though we accept book donations years round), December= participate in Holiday Craft Fair. For second semester, three ideas are the Cultural Food Fair, possibly a rummage sale (that idea came to me today because I volunteered at a rummage sale this morning that seemed pretty successful from what I saw during my shift, plus I have a lot of good stuff for a rummage sale accumulated at my dad's place), and another book drive or maybe even a raffle (for the raffle we would need a grand prize of some sort, any ideas? however I am sure we can get some vendors, like Copperfield's and Fruit in Motion, to donate oh maybe five dollar gift cards as mini/sub prizes for the raffle). Now though this is thinking way ahead, we definitely need to get England (location of Hogwarts!) for our country in the Cultural Food Fair (wait... they ARE having one this year, right?). Though, English cuisine is a little harder to define. I can think of 'fish and chips' and 'Knickerbocker glory'. Anyway, the main concerns right now are the bake sale (Oct.), book drive (Nov.), and craft fair (Dec.). So mull it all over and leave a comment or email me with ideas, questions, concerns, suggestions, etc. This club is going to dominate! and have a blast doing it! ~Tiffy

First Meeting

Yay, so we had our first meeting today! Thank you to all who attended. On behalf of your officers, I would just like to say that we were extremely pleased with the first meeting and quite impressed at your knowledge of spur of the moment Harry Potter trivia. For all who were not present, we basically did Harry Potter trivia for pumpkin cookies as a low-key first meeting. If we had time, we were going to do introductions all around. However, we did not have time, so we will just do that next meeting. We will not meet the coming Friday because it is club rush. So we will have our next meeting the Friday after club rush. It will be basically a group introduction and/or discussion (maybe you having a pressing question you would like to ask, like How do wizards ever learn the stuff we learn in school before they get to Hogwarts? or To what extent does the portrait of a dead person contain the knowledge/soul of the person?). We will also throw around some fundraiser ideas (for more on that, see previous post about fundraiser ideas). Anyway, thanks again to all you wonderful attendees! ~Tiffy

DA Emblem

A profile picture for this site is now up! Check out the inked DA emblem. Hopefully we shall soon have the improved, photoshoped emblem done. ('sirius' -do not mind the silly pun on "serious"- voice: Will you glow with pride with our DA emblem blazing on your chest?) ~Tiffy

Funds, not just for Books

Hey. So not only are our fundraising efforts going towards donating books and spreading the love of reading, they are also for a. a club set of the HP series, b. prizes, generally yummy food ones, for games and activites we do, and c. funding the (possibly Slug Club) Christmas party we are planning to have in Decemeber as a celebration of the first semester of DA. Thus, the money we raise also goes towards our own enjoyment (in addition to the joy of doing good by donating books and spreading reading)! ~Tiffy

Ideas for Fundraisers

1. Telling people what we are fundraising for and asking for donations.
2. Bake, food sale. We can sell butterbeer, treacle fudge, ton-tongue toffee, and the likes! Another possibility for selling pumpkin cookies and/or butterbeer, pumpkin juice, or pumpkin shakes at tutorial.
3. Book drive, possibly a week-long one where people can drop off their books and we will deliver them to school libraries. Of course, anyone cannot donate books at any time. However, we could have a drive right before Christmas to give the books as a Christmas present to elementary schools.
4. Holiday craft fair. What are you all handy at making? We could make scarves, possibly tee-shirts, wristbands, quote books, other items students might buy during the Chrismtas season.
What do you guys think? ~Tiffy (P.S. Today I learned not to talk about anything Harry Potter related while driving cause I got so excited that I almost hit a car. So be warned.)

The Beginning

Greeting to all! This is the beginning of DA (Dumbledore's Army). As we all know, Dumbledore lives!!! I shall start with an introduction of the founders of this club. Us founders consist of me (your president), Ciara (your vice president), Rosella (your secretary) and Lesley (your treasurer). Now, this club is mainly just a place for Harry Potter fans to enjoy the company of fellow Harry Potter fans. However, besides a wide variety of Haryy Potter related activites (discussion/debate, games, and parties), we are also a group dedicated to fundraising to put more books (especially the Harry Potter series) into public schools and libraries. Our meetings will be on Fridays in F-8. I, and I am sure my fellow officers, are extremely excited to get started! (We are also very excited for the release of The Tales of Beedle the Bard. 81 days!!!) Come join us at our first meeting on Friday the 19th. There will be treats! In the meantime, this website (and more specifically blog) will continue to be updated. As of now, you can subscribe to this blog. Also, below the posts, there is a gadget of Harry Potter news from four different websites (which eliminates the need for such news to put posted in these entries), and there is a Harry Potter poster of the day. Please feel free to leave comments on blog posts when you come buy, in fact we love and encourage comments! If you have an questions, concerns, suggestion, or something you would like me to post here on the site for others to comment upon, email me at tiffydepoudlard@gmail.com. For posts (which can be anything from a rant to a question addressed to members of the club and readers of this site), I only ask tht u dnt type liek this cuz its hrd 2 read. Anyway, more to come later! ~Tiffy