PS Picks: Deep Diving With The Ringer's 'Binge Mode'
PS Picks is a selection of the best things that the magazine's staff and contributors are reading, watching, or otherwise paying attention to in the worlds of art, politics, and culture.
Harry Potter
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Down Syndrome and the Stories We Tell
My non-verbal son’s reactions to stories and films tell me he’s competent in ways he can’t yet express — and I can’t yet fully understand.
In Defense of Gay Subtext
Fans get angry when creators are coy about beloved characters’ sexual preferences. But queer scholars say there’s value in reading between the lines.
The Magic of the Annual Harry Potter Conference
Behind the scenes at the only recurring academic event devoted to J.K. Rowling's beloved novels.
The World's Most Progressive Sport: Quidditch!
How one alternative sport is helping further gender equality, in athletics and beyond.
What Voldemort and Climate Change Have in Common
At Hogwarts and in Florida, respectively, the threatening phenomena must not be named.
Harry Potter on the Brain
New research finds fictional descriptions of fantastic events tickle our brains in unique ways.
There’s Nothing Subversive or Anti-Business About ‘The Lego Movie’
More than just a set of plastic bricks, Lego has positioned itself as the perfect toy brand by working to inspire nostalgia, creativity, and wonder. And the hottest film of the year to-date is a celebration of that.
The Exploitation of Muggles in Harry Potter's World
In this edition of The Cocktail Napkin, we look academics' fixation on the social and economic problems in the world of Harry Potter, and how music festivals impact the psychological and social well-being.
Harry Potter and the Hallowed Halls
Fans aren't the only ones under the spell of the seven-tome series. Academics at non-Hogwarts institutions find a great deal to study as well.
I Am Forever in Your Debt — And I Mean Forever
Excessive atonement can result from inextinguishable guilt, report two researchers who have named the effect after a perpetually apologetic character from the Harry Potter series.