At our live DA meeting on June 10, Andrew Slack, Hope Mullinax, and Karen Bernstein had a fabulous discussion with each other and the listeners in the USTREAM chat about the Harrry Potter Alliance’s What Would Dumbledore Do? campaign, which was launched at LeakyCon 2009.

Among the many ideas and actions discussed were:

-Why is it important to think about what Dumbledore taught us?
-What is What Would Dumbledore Do? and how long will this campaign last?
-How to harness the media blitz surrounding the movies to bring attention to important causes and events that might otherwise go unreported or under reported
-How Dumbledore moved from an inspirational, untouchable “God-like” character to a more relatable human being in the later books and what we can learn from this transformation
-How we can all be true to the spirit of Albus Dumbledore
-Harry’s hero complex and how our human experience can help us when working on difficult issues like genocide and poverty
-The differences between a wizarding mindset and the muggle mindset when it comes to issues of social justice and social action
-The impact of death and grief on our own lives
- How can you get involved? Blog on the Common Room, post a video response to the WWDD video on the Harry Potter Alliance’s YouTube channel, or contact dumbledore@thehpalliance.org for other ways to get involved.
-The USTREAM chat room discusses bacon, and Andrew, Karen and Hope call Paul DeGeorge and wish him a happy 30th birthday.

Live Dumbledore's Army meeting on April 22, 2009, featuring Evanna Lynch and introducing our new Head of Hufflepuff: Lauren from the Moaning Myrtles! Also announcing the new HPA Book Club, and a few surprise guests!

Wed., Dec. 3, 2008 is STANDfast, where we ask you to give up something you regularly spend money on, and instead donate that money to STAND to help protect women in Darfur and ethnic minorities in Burma. Just $3 can help one woman in Darfur remain in a refugee camp and not have to venture out to collect firewood. Just $5 can help protect a family in Burma by providing access to a radio which can warn of an impending attack. A small donation will certainly go a long way.

In this podcast the HPA takes a look at what has been going on in Darfur and Burma, and how you can help.

To donate, please visit http://thehpalliance.org/civilianprotection, on Dec. 3 and before and thereafter. For more information e-mail standfast@thehpalliance.org.

Wed., Dec. 3, 2008 is STANDfast, where we ask you to give up something you regularly spend money on, and instead donate that money to STAND to help protect women in Darfur and ethnic minorities in Burma. Just $3 can help one woman in Darfur remain in a refugee camp and not have to venture out to collect firewood. Just $5 can help protect a family in Burma by providing access to a radio which can warn of an impending attack. A small donation will certainly go a long way.

In this podcast, the HP Alliance's co-coordinators for STANDfast -- Brenna and Haley -- speak about Wrock for Darfur, an amazing event they put on this past summer to raise aid for Darfur as well as what they're planning for STANDfast in early December. They are joined by a fellow Wrock for Darfur organizer, Nava, and Charlotte, a wizard rocker who played at the event and who is working on a compilation CD with music from the event. They also talk about how you can get organized and make a real impact for STANDfast and beyond (it doesn't take much!).

To learn more about STANDfast visit http://thehpalliance.org/civilianprotection or e-mail standfast@thehpalliance.org.