LeakyCon: Made of Awesome

Okay. I'm going to do this. A blog about LeakyCon is in every way long overdue, but there's no time like the present, right? In all honesty, I think the time that has elapsed since that special weekend in Boston has not made the memories fade but instead has strengthened my overall impression - the impression that will stay with me into the future. It's this impression that I hope to convey to you.

But where to even START to begin? A definition, I suppose:

LeakyCon: (n) A conference put on by the staff members of the Leaky community (the hundreds of staff members and thousands of members that discuss news and ideas about the Harry Potter books and films on the Leaky Cauldron or the Leaky Lounge). The first of, hopefully, several LeakyCons took place at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel on the weekend of May 21-24, 2009 and was, in every possible way, a made-of-awesome weekend and a wild success. The second LeakyCon is scheduled for July 2011, in Orlando, Florida.

May 21-24, you might say if you know me... wasn't that the date of your high school graduation? Why, yes, I would answer, it was; a realization that came to me with a sudden burst of horror in December of 2008. I checked, re-checked, and probably triple-checked calendars and dates, but there was no way around it: I was faced with a big decision. I won't go through all the details or the whys and hows of what I chose what I did... I'll just make a long story short and tell you that I chose LeakyCon. With a hint of foreshadowing for what I hope to express in this blog post, I don't regret this decision AT ALL.

I very well could spend thousands of words breaking down everything I said, saw, heard, or did during the entire weekend in an attempt to SHOW you what made LeakyCon amazing, but I still doubt that would cover it. Instead, I'm going to break down exactly what made the weekend special into a few manageable pieces.

The conference itself: I haven't been to any other Harry Potter conferences, but I'm pretty darn sure it's safe to say that this one blew the others out of the water. From the people who were there - all the PotterCasters, the Wrockers, the VlogBrothers, Maureen Johnson, Michael Goldenburg - to the programming, to the details like the drool-worthy decorations in the Castle... the LeakyCon staff simply thought of everything. It was so very cool (in a nerdy way) to turn around at any point during the weekend and see Dumbledore buying a drink for John Green, John Noe filming for his documentary (which looks amazing, by the way), or Melissa Anelli and Hank Green dancing like maniacs.

It was incredible to hear the thoughts of a *real* Hollywood screenwriter in an intimate luncheon setting. It was SO much fun to see the vlogbrothers off a computer screen and to see PotterCast to come to life. It was fabulous to be introduced to wizard rock through live performances of the groups themselves. (I'm now an avid Ministry of Magic fan, thanks to their show). It was AMAZING beyond words to hold a real life Lily and Stag Inn discussion of Order of the Phoenix. It was surreal to casually grab lunch with Maureen Johnson, and come home to find that she had twittered a photo of ME. Every moment of the programmed weekend was special in its own way. And it didn't end when the Registration Booth closed... every moment spent with LeakyCon staff, even just hanging out, was a moment I will treasure.

That brings me to the staff: This is probably the coolest group of people on the planet, if you ask me. Leaky staff is one big family, devoted to making the world a bit better through promoting fun, acceptance, love, and diversity. The staff members I met are of all ages, backgrounds, nationalities. These are people who spend their spare time volunteering for a community, pouring hours of effort into projects, interactions, discussions, and ideas just because THEY CAN.

I had a bit of a fear walking into Leaky that I didn't wouldn't know anyone. I mean, wouldn't have anyone who knew me. But I got there and... Man, there were the L&S Staffers that I have worked with, and it was bizarre and wonderful to put faces and personalities to the screen names and typed words on a screen. And then there were all the other staffers that I have bizarre pseudo-relationships with through Twitter. I'll say again that I had a moment's fear of walking into a strange crowd, of people with pre-formed friendhsips, of being out-of-place... but I can't tell you how wrong that was. If acceptance can happen in a millisecond, walking into a group of Leaky staffers erases doubts just like that As screen names, twitter names, pictures, and faces came together, this group of people - this family - came to life before me... And this, I will always remember.

Ideologically: There are a lot of things that the Harry Potter books and - by proxy - this conference stood for that made me proud to be there. Of course, this is simply due to the nature of the books, but also to the wonderful participation of the Harry Potter Alliance, a group that takes the messages in these popular books and uses them to fight for causes in the real world. One of the reasons I find these books so powerful is the promotion of LOVE as the strongest power of all. This idea extends to the need for acceptance... and this positively permeated the entire weekend. Andrew Slack's sweet opening speech invited all LeakyCon participants to open their hearts and minds to each other, to welcome strangers into your life for a weekend, to suspend judgement or fear of being judged.

I cannot tell you how liberating this was. To let the "nerdy" or "geeky" facade fall away... To be able to show passion for something that may earn you weird looks in the "real world"... To discuss fictional characters that mean the world to you with someone else who knows how you feel... To honor the message Harry stands for and the lessons Dumbledore taught... this was quite powerful and inspiring.

Personally: Yes, I'm getting to a personal, going-to-tear-up train of thought now... One of the reasons I chose LeakyCon over graduation was that it was all about looking forward. Graduating is about celebrating past accomplishments, saying goodbyes, preparing to move onto the next chapter of your life... But when it came to Leaky, this is a community that I hope to continue being a part of, friendships I wanted to cultivate even more. It was, all in all, about the future. In a lot of ways, this became a self-fulfilling prophecy. As soon as I had this goal in mind, it was sure to come true. Through LeakyCon, I delved deeper into the fandom. I finally expanded my repertoire to include wrock, I got to know various fan"celebrities" in the HP world, I met people who are also in this community for the long-run, and I became invested in looking forward to the next LeakyCon in 2011.

I guess what I'm starting to say is that LeakyCon changed me... It helped me accept this part of who I am, to not want to hide it in college as something people will judge me for. It gave me a community to nestle into when the new world of college is scary. It gave me something to do - I hope to participate in the planning of the next conference - that feels bigger than myself.

So, on a deeply personal note, this weekend moved me. I can't even begin to explain my shock and gratitude for the beautiful surprise graduation party that my lovely L&S friends threw me. I want to thank anyone who welcomed me as someone they already knew, who congratulated me on graduating, who shared a laugh or a story or a moment of fun. I want to thank LeakyCon staff for even thinking of this conference, let alone making it happen.

Above all, I just want to thank the universe for somehow allowing me to go be a part of this weekend... because in so many ways, this was an experience I will never forget.

DFTBA. <3