I've never really been one to get obsessed with any cultural phenomenon, not even those pecuilar to my era...The Beatles, for instance. Oh, I liked them well enough, but nothing on par with my cousins, whose turntables spun their lp's endlessly and whose walls were plastered with pictures cut from every fanzine published about them. Since I've lived for half a century now, I've seen quite a few phenomena come and go. I'm always amazed at the lengths people will go to indulge their obsessions, and of course, the Harry Potter craze is certainly no exception. Like everything in the 21st century, it's bigger and more fantasmagorical than anything in my memory. I feel as if I'm admitting to heresy when I say that I'm not a huge Potter fan...ok, truthfully, I haven't read any of the books. (I started to read the very first one, and I got so upset at the way Harry's mean Aunt and Uncle treated him that I had to put it aside!) People told me I should have finished it, to see that they got their comeuppance...but I don't know, I think I had a huge stack of other books calling more loudly to me at time.
Maybe my life would be more exciting if I could throw myself wholeheartedly into these types of phenomenal trends. I'm certainly not arguing that J.K. Rowling's huge success is a phenomenon, as was the Beatles. But I guess I'm just more comfortable observing these phenomenal success stories from afar, while I putter around in my totally non-phenomenal life.
more phenomenal scribbling here