Well, color me stupid! They DO read!

My family and I went to see Harry Potter over the weekend. I should, at this point, give a little family history. My family is new to me. My wife has 3 children by a previous marriage and they came for their summer visit. I am the very proud step-dad of 3 very intelligent, and therefore challenging, children. Ages are 18, 14 and 10.

It turns out that all of them are well read in Harry Potter mythology. The two oldest very graciuosly allowed me to copy their posts from a Harry Potter blog site onto my own site under "Movie Reviews". They both gave very pertinent and intelligent comments and comparisons between the movie and the book on which it was based. I somewhat lamely added my own comments and thanked them.

But, it was absolute music to my ears. Not only had they read Harry Potter, but they knew it so well that they were able to very cogently compare the movie to the pertinent book, and make references to previous movies and books. I am so proud, I could pop. And mine is only pride by marriage. Imagine how their mother must feel!

So take heart America! Out culture isn't crashing down around our ears, We're simply doing what we've always done historically -- we're borrowing it from England! And then, of course, we make it our own.