Jody Amable

Jon Stewart, step aside. Your heir apparent has arrived.

Like most nerd realms, music writing is a predominantly male world. Especially if, like me, your greatest love is classic rock.

I'm 30 years old and stuck in San Jose, the hometown I always wanted to leave. What happened?

So far, Deathly Hallows is, to me, about the divide between the living, the dead, and the living who have seen death. Harry and I are part of an exclusive club: Those under 30 who have experienced death. And when I say “experienced,” I don’t mean “witnessed.” I mean really, really felt it, all the way through.

I was waiting to finally not like a Harry Potter book, and folks, I found it. Half-Blood Prince was boring.

Forget a cute story of wizard wonderment — the real moral of Harry Potter is that life is an endless parade of pain and turmoil where you have to watch everyone you’ve ever loved die.

The further I get into this series, the harder time I am having remembering what the eff has happened so far. You see, I am an Old Lady.

I couldn’t help but assume the reason these people were telling me not to say even a word to this troll was because women aren’t supposed to fight back. We’re supposed to rise above — to “not stoop to their level,” as my mom used to say.

In this time of toy-giving, I'm reflecting on the impact one doll made on me and, I'm willing to bet, a small subset of other girls, too.

FINALLY someone acknowledges professional boundaries at Hogwarts.