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Wizards and wands bewitch the young-at-heart Bill Glavin

HarryPotter

in advance; he buys the tickets and chooses to go to a specific theater that isn’t as crowded as the others. Chessher’s even convinced that Glavin bought a “ginormous flat-screen TV” solely so he could turn his living room into a personal theater to watch the Harry Potter movies. Glavin always gives Chessher’s daughter the latest Harry Potter DVD for her birthday. And Chessher adds that he pre-ordered the novels and stood in line at Barnes & Noble to purchase them when they arrived.

“It’s Glavin and all the 9-year-olds in their Harry Potter outfits,” she says with a laugh.

Glavin is a bit more reserved about his love for Harry Potter. He gives logical reasons for why he enjoys the books: they’re fun, well written, and enjoyable thanks to Rowling’s talent.

“One of the things that children’s story writers know that adult story writers too often forget is that you’re supposed to entertain your readers, and she’s always entertaining,” Glavin says. “Her novels move quickly. There’s not a moment wasted in them.”

Certain parts of the series stand out in Glavin’s memory. He’s partial to Luna Lovegood, one of Harry’s wackier friends. “She’s candid. She’s in some ways naïve but not really — she’s courageous; she believes in things, and she’s not afraid to tell

anybody,” he says. “She’s been my favorite character from the time I first came across her in the books.”

But it’s more than fun and games: Glavin has also channeled his fandom into his teaching. He uses Rowling’s work as examples of concrete,

descriptive writing. “Make sure every sentence you write has a coconut in it,” he advises students. This nugget of writing wisdom comes from a scene in Harry Potter and The Sorceror’s Stone, where Rowling describes an onerous troll as having a “head the size of a coconut.”

SU senior Tory Marlin took Glavin’s critical writing class in fall 2008 and says Rowling’s writing was the “standard of

Professor Bill Glavin contemplates what house the Sorting Hat would place him in were he a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He crosses off Hufflepuff (they just don’t seem to have a great future in front of them). He nixes Ravenclaw (the name of the house just sounds awful, and Ravenclaws don’t get much attention). That leaves two options: Gryffindor or Slytherin. For Glavin, the choice is clear: Slytherins are evil while Gryffindors are honest, and Glavin is an honest person. Plus, being a Gryffindor makes him housemates with Harry Potter, the wizard wonder.

It may be surprising to discover that a professor who compares his age to that of Hogwarts’ headmaster Albus Dumbledore is so knowledgeable about the fictional world of Harry Potter. But Glavin, who teaches magazine journalism at the Newhouse School, believes that if he didn’t know anything about Harry Potter, his students would consider him “the worst kind of Muggle.” So he decided to give the books a shot to ensure that when future students gushed about Harry and Hogwarts, he’d know what they were talking about.

Now, Glavin openly chimes in on the Potter lovefest. The first novel of the series hooked him into the world author J.K. Rowling created. He went on to read all seven books and see all six of the Potter movies released thus far. He constantly references both the books and movies in his classes. Professor Melissa Chessher, head of the magazine journalism department in Newhouse and a longtime friend of Glavin, calls him obsessed.

“I’m surprised he doesn’t have his own owl and his own wand,” she says.

Chessher has experienced her fair share of Glavin’s love for all things Potter. She and fellow Newhouse professor Larry Mason have joined Glavin for more than one opening-day showing of a Potter movie. She says Glavin organizes everything weeks

words :: Andrea Roxasart :: Genevieve Tabios

and

SlIghtly Obsessed Professorthe

“I’m surprised he doesn’t have his own owl and his own wand.”

— Professor Melissa Chessher

:: Feature

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comparison” in class. Marlin isn’t surprised that someone like Glavin loves Harry Potter.

“Take away all the magic and Harry Potter is just about a kid growing up [and] trying to be a good person,” Marlin says. “And Glavin is a good person, so it makes sense that he likes Harry Potter so much.”

Glavin’s kindness and wisdom actually remind Marlin of a revered character in the series: Dumbledore.

“In my college career, Glavin’s been someone I go to when I need the answers,” Marlin says. “Glavin doesn’t necessarily give you the answers, but he helps you work them out. I definitely see parallels to Dumbledore in that.”

Glavin certainly is wise, but the series’s ending shows he isn’t always right. Chessher says that for three years, Glavin repeatedly shared his theory about why Harry would have to die in the final novel. Since Harry ended up living “happily ever after,” Glavin’s mistake is the one instance Chessher remembers of him being wrong about anything. Glavin, however, still makes a case for his preferred ending.

“If Harry lives to be a hundred, the highlight of his life will be when he was 18,” he says. “There’s nothing he can do to top it. I don’t know if I’d want that to be true of my life. At age 30, I don’t want to be saying, I wish I was 18 again.”

To Glavin’s credit, he was quite forthcoming about his faulty prediction, showing the honesty and valor of a true Gryffindor.

Editor’s Note: The reporting for this story was completed before Bill Glavin, esteemed and decorated professor of the Newhouse School, took medical leave in March. We’re sure Madame Pomphrey is taking great care of him while he watches Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince in his robes.