Subscribe to Knight Errant Watch our YouTube Channel Follow us on Twitter Follow us on Facebook
American Studies class formed to combine American history and literature

American Literature teacher Ms. Anne Marie Dominguez teaches The Great Gatsby to her students in the newly developed class, American Studies, alongside U.S. History teacher Ms. Megan Kern. (Chris Bell)

American Studies class formed to combine American history and literature

February 3, 2012

Nicole Sarquis, Staff Writer

History teachers tend to ramble off unrelatable facts about flappers, bootlegging, and the ease of life in the “Roaring 20s” during a typical U.S. History class, leaving their students with no real understanding of the subject. At the same time, English teachers’ enthusiasm over F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” can only be understood... Continue Reading

Besse stays hot with two more goals against Wayzata

February 6, 2012

Matt Muenzberg, Sports Editor

“We need our Kyle Rau,” said boys’ hockey head coach Mr. Ken Pauly, referencing the former Eden Prairie Eagle who not only led the team in scoring on their way to last year’s state championship, but also consistently showed up when his team needed a goal. BSM’s Kyle Rau is junior forward Grant Besse, who has been on a roll lately, averaging over 2.8 goals a game in his last seven games. He twice found the back of the net and added an assist in a 4-3 win over section rival Wayzata on Monday, Feb. 6. With section seeding on the line, there was a playoff-like atmosphere at the packed Plymouth Ice Center. “I loved it,” said Besse. “I thrive on that stuff.” Head-to-head match-ups... Continue Reading

Rising actors partake in Les Miserables performance

Junior Shannon Galvin rehearses for the upcoming Les Miserables performance wither her fellow cast members. (Giulia Imholte)

Rising actors partake in Les Miserables performance

January 27, 2012

Emily Kline, Staff Writer

Blue Water Theatre Company, one of the Twin Cities’ top performing arts groups for youth, is taking on “Les Misérables,” one of musical theatre’s most famous works, for their winter production. Juniors Rachel Hogen and Shannon Galvin, along with sophomore Rachel Wallace, joined the cast in late November and are currently in rehearsals for the... Continue Reading

SOPA bill is ineffective, inefficient, and infringing

February 1, 2012

Nick Hillson, Staff Writer

The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is a bill running through Congress in an attempt to curb the illegal uploading and downloading of copyrighted information and programs. Unfortunately, due to extremely vague wording and unclear definitions, the censorship proposed could extend to websites such as Facebook, various e-mails, and any other free forum. Not only is SOPA ineffective for all but the technologically impaired, but it violates our rights and benefits only a small handful of elites. SOPA works by requiring websites and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to search through sent information and to censor any infringing material. Not only does this ignore the privacy guaranteed in the Constitution... Continue Reading

Mock Trial season testifies the team’s talent

The Mock Trial team had a succesful season at several competitions due to immense practice and help from professional lawyers. (Photo courtesy of Jim Vogl)

Mock Trial season testifies the team’s talent

February 3, 2012

Mallory Hoch, Staff Writer

Beginning in October, the Mock Trial team has practiced every night from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. in room 121 in preparation for upcoming competitions. Coming to a close on January 31st, the season ended on a strong note, making it to subsections before loosing their last competition. The season commenced with general practices to help initiate new members.... Continue Reading

SportDateOpponentResultW/L
Girls HockeySat, Feb 04 Totino-Grace9-0 Read StoryW
Boys HockeySat, Feb 04 Spring Lake Park15-0W
WrestlingSat, Feb 04 TBA9th Place
Girls BasketballFri, Feb 03 Spring Lake Park57-39W
Boys BasketballFri, Feb 03 Spring Lake Park67-65 Read StoryW
Girls HockeyThu, Feb 02 Spring Lake Park6-0 Read StoryW
WrestlingThu, Feb 02 Dassel-Cokato21-58L
Girls BasketballTue, Jan 31 Minneapolis Southwest70-38W
Boys HockeyTue, Jan 31 Jefferson7-1 Read StoryW
Girls HockeySat, Jan 28 Hill-Murray1-3 Read StoryL
Boys BasketballSat, Jan 28 North Branch82-21 Read StoryW
Girls BasketballSat, Jan 28 North Branch66-40 Read StoryW
Click on any sport above to see a full schedule for that sport.
SportDateTimeOpponentLocation
Boys HockeyWed, Feb 08 7:30Shattuck-St. Mary'sShattuck-St. Mary's
Girls BasketballFri, Feb 10 7:15St. Louis ParkSt. Louis Park
WrestlingFri, Feb 10 6:00Chisago LakesHome
Boys HockeySat, Feb 11 2:30Totino-GraceSt. Louis Park
Dance TeamSat, Feb 11 1:00SectionsAustin
Boys HockeyTue, Feb 14 7:00Chisago LakesChisago Lakes
Girls BasketballTue, Feb 14 7:15Columbia HeightsHome
Girls BasketballThu, Feb 16 7:15WaconiaHome
Girls BasketballFri, Feb 17 7:15IrondaleHome
Boys HockeySat, Feb 18 2:30StillwaterSt. Louis Park
WrestlingSat, Feb 18 8:00Section OpponentsTotino-Grace
Girls BasketballTue, Feb 21 7:15St. FrancisHome
Click on any sport above to see a full schedule for that sport.

Potter Phenomenon

Bernardo Vigil
March 1, 2010
Filed under Features

The most important pop-culture phenomenon since Shakespeare is Harry Potter. Period. No Arguments. No single media entity has had the cross-demographic appeal that Harry Potter has had; even The Beatles were hated by parents during the height of their popularity. That being said, the multi-national sensation that has dominated the world for the past ten years is swiftly dying out.

Of 31 upperclassmen polled, 24 said that they have read all seven books at least once; several said that they had read them all multiple times. Sharply contrasting this statistic were the freshmen, of which only two of the 21 polled said that they had read all seven; three others said that they had read one or two of the books.

For all of us who have trouble with fractions, the numbers above translate to this: 77 percent of juniors and seniors polled have read all seven books and only about 9.5 percent of freshman have. To properly understand the gravity of these percentages, however, one must first realize how extensive the fanaticism of some older Harry Potter fans is.

Long time Harry Potter fan, junior Alexander Smith, attended the midnight unveiling of the last three books. As if that was not enough to prove his loyalty to Harry, Smith reread all of the books that were published at the time of the unveilings in order to freshen up on his Harry Potter. This means that at the very least, Smith has read books one through four at least four times, the fifth book thrice, book number six twice and the seventh book at least once. That is at the very minimum 11,900 pages of Harry Potter.

The fandom does not stop at the books however. Seniors Kelsey Myhre and Brittni Palkert both own the soundtracks to the unauthorized play “A Very Potter Musical.” Myhre even subscribes to a weekly Harry Potter podcast or “mugglecast.” Junior Nick Brinza knows of more than one Harry Potter tribute band including “Draco and the Malfoys” and “Harry and the Potters.” Elin Lantz, one of last year’s graduates, even joined a Harry Potter club at Hamilton College.

Almost all of the fans, including both of the freshmen, seemed to give the the same reasons for liking the series: Harry Potter is just imaginative enough to take readers to another world, but the characters are real enough to keep people grounded and allows them to relate. Harry Potter provided the perfect escape for anybody who entered its pages.

Freshmen on the other hand, seemed to hold none of the reverence for the series that the juniors and seniors did. Freshman Max Holly simply stated, “That book is too long.” Freshman Alex Rios also summed up what many freshman failed to articulate quite as clearly, “it’s just not that important.” Both statements were widely regarded as borderline blasphemous by the upperclassmen asked to comment on them.

How is it that a media franchise that can, according to Mr. Jere Lantz, be compared to “nothing in history,” be so quickly losing its audience? Alex Plouff blamed the underclassmen’s lack of reading on the fact that “the freshmen are always somewhat awkward and out of the loop.” Although an interesting theory, this is probably not the case.

The few freshmen polled who had read any of the books at all, had older siblings who turned them on to the novels. The ones that had read all seven also seemed unaware that their classmates had not read the novels, but were appalled when they were informed.

It seems that Harry Potter is not losing its appeal, its time has just passed. This year’s batch of freshmen were just born a little bit to late to catch the literary portion of the Harry Potter wave and most of them don’t have older siblings to drag them onto it. Besides, why would anyone read a series of books that they didn’t grow up with, when they can just watch the series of mediocre movies that they did grow up with instead?

Comments

The Knight Errant intends for this area to be used to foster healthy, thought-provoking discussion. Comments are expected to adhere to our standards and to be respectful and constructive. As such, we do not permit the use of profanity, foul language, personal attacks, or the use of language that might be interpreted as libelous. Comments are reviewed and must be approved by a moderator to ensure that they meet these standards. The Knight Errant does not allow anonymous comments, and the Knight Errant requires a valid email address. The email address will not be displayed but will be used to confirm your comments.

Leave a Reply