Some of you may be aware by now that I spent the previous four months studying abroad. While living in Scotland for a semester abroad, I also managed to travel as often as possible. What surprised me more than anything else was how often I managed to bring up Wizard Rock when talking to perfect strangers. I would be on the way to a gig when I met someone on the train, so naturally they wanted to know what gig. I would be bopping along to my music so joyfully, people just had to know what it was. I would strike up a conversation with the person next to me just because I was bored and decided to see if they had heard of Wizard Rock. The list goes on!
Whatever the reason, I always seemed to bring it into the conversation. It was always in the background of my time abroad, and I want to spend some time over the coming weeks telling you all a little about my Wrock-coloured lenses.
One of the most memorable Wrock experiences in my travels began on the train from Paris to Stuttgart, Germany. Anyone who has done much traveling will know that when you are in a foreign-speaking country, you will be subconsciously drawn to anyone else who speaks the same language – especially if they have the same accent as you do. Fortunately for me, while I was sitting on the train by my lonesome, I suddenly realised that the small group of boys sitting a row up were not only speaking English, but they were clearly Americans from the West Coast. Naturally, I moved seats and struck up a conversation. Over the course of the train ride, I learned that they were traveling in a group of eight (all of whom were scattered a bit around the train), and that they were excellent fun to chat with. As it happened, they were staying in Stuttgart that night as well, so I offered the poorest and hungriest of them dinner.
As we sat around the table at Pizza Hut, having folded our menus and placed our cloth napkins (yes, Pizza Hut is fancy in Europe!), we got into a discussion about Harry Potter, as I am wont to do. Naturally, Wrock made its way into the conversation. These boys were extremely curious about the movement and asked a lot of questions. At one point I was interrupted with the most intriguing observation. “You keep saying ‘we’ when you’re describing things,” one of the boys said. That made me pause and think back on my descriptions, and it was entirely true.
Without realising it, he had pinpointed one of the qualities of the Wizard Rock community that I love more than anything else. We’re a community. I may not be a Wizard Rocker. I may not be a Wrock groupie. I may not have any musical abilities or close friendships with a ton of bands… but I am part of Wizard Rock. We all are.
We are Wizard Rock and we are what makes this movement so beautiful, loving, and open.
I explained how I traveled around the UK and Sweden, staying at the houses of friends I had met through Wrock and how, should anyone in the community show up in Chico, they would have a place to stay. I explained how many people only had the ability to chat with others online, but that didn’t make them any less loved. I explained how no one is excluded for any reason. We are all different, yet we share this love of Harry Potter and Wizard Rock, binding us together as a whole.
So I guess what those boys I met in Stuttgart taught me was nothing I didn’t already know. I just didn’t realise it was there until they pointed it out. Sometimes the most wonderful things are so close to us that we can’t bring them into focus.
Feel free to use the comments to tell us your stories about being a part of the Wizard Rock community. Or, if that’s too public, email me at: WrockDinahSaur@gmail.com
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