Harry Potter
Harry Potter is widely read by most CTYers and could be called an obsession. This especially came into play during Session 2 of 2005, when the 6th Harry Potter book had been released the day before CTY started.
Although some CTYers stayed up reading the entire book the night before CTY, many brought it with them to camp and proceeded to spend the next week or so reading it. T his mass reading was greatly promoted by at least one "Silent Reading" activity per day.
The final installment of Harry Potter, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, was released on July 21st, 2007. This date happens to land during the second session of CTY during Second Saturday. How CTYers of second session handled this sort-of dilemma is anyone's guess. It is rumored that at the Bethlehem site, CTYers are required to leave their copies of HP7 outside of their doors after lights-out.
The date of the newest Harry Potter falls on the first Friday dance (the night everyone would be camped out in the book store is Friday night). A Harry Potter themed dance has been organized for that Friday night in LAN (remember to bring costumes). Vague spoiler- Stuff happens.
At Carlisle, Harry Potter spoilers were declared contraband by the RAs and site director, who had not finished reading it yet. Nevertheless, spoiler fear ran rampant and terrorized those who had not yet read the book, spurring them on to even greater reading speeds even as "Harry Potter Discussion Group" became an official activity.
At Hawaii, the shipment of books was delayed, and an announcement was made that no students were allowed to talk about it. I'm not sure if the books ever arrived, but the adults of the campus borrowed books from everyone else.
It is not true that the shipment to Hawaii was delayed. Craploads of books were at Sam's Club the morning it came out. And everyone had a copy. Most of the adults had their own copy, but some had to borrow it (Sara:-)). A common afternoon activity was silent reading (although it might have been because of the fact that the RA's were lazy). We also annoyed people by talking very loudly about what happened (and who died). --T. M.
Nah uh. At the meeting thing on the first day, the site director said that the shipment of books to HPU for the staff had been delayed. Yeah, they could have gone out and bought books elsewhere, but a lot waited or borrowed books instead.--Emma 16:31, 21 October 2007 (PDT)
I can vouch for this. I was too young for CTY then, but I was on vacation with my Aunt there, and we went at midnight to get the book.
It should be noted: At the beginning of Carlisle Session 2 05, Bret (Site Director) said "...and spoilers are against the rules! If I hear you telling someone that Malfoy dies..." *audible gasps, screams of fury, tears* "Hey, I'm kidding. I haven't even started it yet."
He also told of a student from when OoTP came out (Session 03, I suppose) who fell down the stairs of the HUB whilst reading the book and broke his arm. Potter kills.
I'm going to Lancaster Second session, and because I live about 40 mins away, my parents are bringing me the copy during the weekend. -Wendeth
For those attending SAR during session 2, the town trip on Sunday is the day after the release date, which is probably when most people will get theirs.
My plan is to pre-order it, and get it on that town trip w/ insurance on my side. :) BTW in 2005 my roommate SPOILED the huge not-supposed-to-be-spoiled part of book 6. I nearly killed him. I was five pages away!!!
At Lancaster, Harry Potter and the Great Book Distribution was carried out thusly: The bookstore on campus received a HUGE shipment. All students desirous of a book signed up into one of four houses: Gryffindor (preordered and prepaid), Slytherin (preordered but not prepaid), Ravenclaw (preordered and prepaid but are sent to Thomas instead--ie. pick-up at Thomas), and Hufflepuff (didn't preorder but desirous of purchase). The reading commenced with extreme speed. Most of Saturday, one could see dozens of CTYers prone on the Quads with their noses in books---the ones who hadn't locked themselves in their rooms for fear of spoilers. The entire campus was practically held in limbo while a furious read-a-thon commenced. Meals were oddly hushed, as people were reading as they ate. Spoilers were declared contraband except in the Discussion Group activity. After the majority had finished reading, though, there was hardly any discussion of the book at all.
At Lancaster, books were so widely distributed that an entire weekend was wasted. Many spent the entire weekend indoors or outside reading, which infuriated their friends to no end. A certain photographer/videotaper who attended videotaped his friends spoiling the entire story, and told those who wanted to know. He also happened to insult his roommate and call him boring. This story was repudiated from positive proof that his roommate was the biggest "spaz" ever born.
