Accio 2005 press release: new Guest Speaker and Trial of Snape

[Ali]

Accio UK is delighted to announce Professor Edmund Kern as a guest
speaker as part of our balanced programme of events for the Accio
2005 conference being held in Reading, UK. His presentation is
entitled

"The Phoenix in Harry Potter: the Metaphoric Power of the Past"


Edmund M. Kern is the author of The Wisdom of Harry Potter: What Our
Favorite Hero Teaches Us About Moral Choices (Prometheus Books,
September 2003) and "Harry Potter, Stoic Boy Wonder" Professor Kern
received his Ph.D. in Early Modern European History from the
University of Minnesota, and he is currently Chair of the Department
of History at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, where he
has taught since 1992.. He has served as a media consultant on
witchcraft and witch-hunting, historical and modern paganism, and
the roots of Halloween. In addition to continuing work on other
projects, he is completing Witchcraft and the Confessional State, a
book on religion and politics in European witchcraft-trials.

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Accio is also delighted to invite all its delegates to participate
in its show trial of Severus Snape. The trial will take place with
the Potions Master in absentia. He will be tried on the following 4
counts (a Ron style explanation is provided on our website)

1. That the accused did, feloniously, treasonously and with
malice aforethought, combine with others to support the most bloody,
abhominable and beastly cause of the notorious, prescribed and
avowed traitor Thomas Marvolo Riddle, sometime called Lord Voldemort;

2. That the accused did, feloniously, treasonously and with
malice aforethought, voluntarily accept membership within a
prescribed and illegal organisation, vulgarly termed "the Death
Eaters";

3. That the accused, feloniously, treasonously and with malice
aforethought, continues as a member in said illegal organisation

4. That the accused has on divers occasions and under the guise
of lawful chastisement committed assault and battery on minors
in respect of whom he was in loco parentis, such assault and
battery being occasioned by divers magical and physical means,
and resulting in perceptible physical and psychological harm to
the said minors.

To successfully try Severus Snape the Accio team needs you! We
therefore cordially extend an invitation to all attendees to
participate in this event. Further details are available on our
website: http://www.accio.org.uk/snapestrial.shtml

Accio UK is the first conference of its kind in the UK and will be
held at Reading University from July 29th-31st 2005. It is an
unofficial, non-profit making, friendly event that will bring
together academics and adult Harry Potter fans to discuss all
aspects of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. Planned events
include presentations, panels, speeches, games, a feast, and
informal discussions into the small hours. All meals are also
included in the registration fees.

It is recommended that you book prior to 30th April 2005 to take
advantage of current prices. An instalment plan is available until
the month end.

For further information please see our website:
http://www.accio.org.uk. Details of how to register can be found
here: http://www.accio.org.uk/registration.shtml


This conference is an unofficial event and is not endorsed or
sanctioned by Warner Bros., the Harry Potter book publishers or J.K.
Rowling and her representatives