Today’s the day! I am so pleased, so proud, and so excited to announce that ‘We Are Wizards’ is premiering today at the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas! ‘We Are Wizards’ is an exciting new feature-length documentary that chronicles some of the individuals who have helped to create, shape, and develop the subculture that has evolved around the ‘Harry Potter’ books. I was honored to be invited to participate to speak about my work with The Daily Prophet & PotterWar, as well as my personal life, goals, aspirations, experiences, fears, and all this crap I’ve been going through for the past 12 years battling serious illness. It was an absolute thrill to have been chosen for this project, to be included in a group of truly talented individuals who have all made significant contributions to an entire community of individuals that I have such profound love for. My experiences working on The Daily Prophet, tutoring so many children worldwide, and then fighting for the rights of those children to express themselves freely through the landmark PotterWar campaign, those events have significantly changed my life. Those experiences gave me purpose when I was facing mounting threats to my health, taught me that I will never be happier than when I am serving others, and gave me the best most unexpected of friends whom I will for the rest of my life. I can’t even begin to describe how spectacular, how humbling, and how exciting it was to have the most important events of my life – essentially my life’s work – remembered and honored in such a profound way. For that I want to thank Josh Koury, Gerald Lewis, Myles Kane, Gaia Cornwall, and every single person who made ‘We Are Wizards’ possible.
Now on to the information! I figured since many of you may be coming here for the first time after seeing the film, I’d try to make this as easy as possible for you to understand and find your way around to all the various websites I’ve built over the years. Since you’re already here, let’s start with the blog!
The Heather Show – As you can probably tell, this is my personal online journal. I’ve been keeping up with this blog nonstop since 2002, chronicling so many triumphs and failures, hopes and disasters. The name of the blog comes from the idea of ‘The Truman Show’, because for quite some time, so many strange and funny coincidences kept happening that just seemed too bizarre to be real. This idea ended up becoming a long-running joke in my family; as crazier and crazier things kept happening, from being a medical enigma to having the chance to be a professional driver with Ferrari, we’d just laugh and say, “The producers must have gotten bored again…” This site contains a whole myriad of random information, writing, photographs, videos, projects, and silliness, so take a look around and waste a little time with me. 🙂
The Daily Prophet – This is my opus. Began in 2002, The Daily Prophet is a faux-newspaper for children that pretends the world of ‘Harry Potter’ to be real, for the purposes of giving children a familiar environment in which they can hone the technical aspects of the written word. Through this site I have tutored and mentored over 400 children worldwide in English, Creative Writing, Reading Comprehension, as well as giving them valuable experience working in a professional environment. I have planned an extensive expansion to The Daily Prophet, which would open up this proven platform to educators worldwide completely free of charge. Unfortunately, I became gravely ill before I was able to seek the funding and support necessary to make this happen. But I’m determined to make this dream a reality. If there’s anything you can do to help, I would love you forever for it! 🙂 Feel free to send me an email at hlawver AT gmail DOT com and we can chat.
PotterWar – In 2001, Warner Brothers initiated a policy that sent heavy-handed legal threats to adolescent fan site owners across the globe, accusing them of copyright and trademark infringement for simply shouting the praises of their favorite book. When a 12 year old columnist at the Daily Prophet received one such letter, I was enraged that Warner was attacking the very fans who made Harry Potter a success in the first place. Together with London City Councilman Alastair Alexander, PotterWar launched and became a landmark example of the power of a proverbial David against a modern Goliath. Within six months we had accomplished what no one else could – we established legal precedent that has brought copyright, trademark, and intellectual property law into the new millennium. Using common sense and tenacity, PotterWar merged the spirit of the law with the spirit of innovation on the Internet, ushering in an age of fearless creativity. The site linked to above is the last remaining remnant of the official websites dedicated to the campaign.
Prophet Incorporated – When I was 17, I founded Prophet Incorporated, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that has become the parent company of The Daily Prophet. Hopefully soon it will also have many, many other projects under its auspices. I have so many hopes and dreams for Prophet Incorporated, there’s so much for me to do through it. But just like The Daily Prophet, it too is on hold while I fight serious illness for the twelfth straight year. For now, the site is a great source for information about my overall theories on the future of education and what can be done to improve the lives, minds, and futures of children worldwide.
‘The Toe’ – In my teenage years, in the midst of operating The Daily Prophet and leading the PotterWar campaign, I was battling a debilitating bone infection in my left foot. This is the first of three essays chronicling that time period.
The Dercum Society – Shortly after the bone infection was resolved through the amputation of my left big toe, I soon became drastically ill once more. After three years of winding my way through various medical institutions, I was finally diagnosed with a rare and relatively unknown condition: Dercum’s Disease. The idea that this potentially fatal disease could be affecting the lives of so many women around the world, causing so much pain and premature death without anyone knowing the cause, it broke my heart. I decided to deal with the pain and anguish caused by this disease through helping to educate others in the hope that more individuals suffering from this disease will be properly diagnosed and receive the medical treatment they deserve. The Dercum Society is an online support group and research center for patients, families, and doctors. If you have a moment, please take a minute to look over it – who knows, someone in your family may be suffering from this hideous disease. Knowledge is power, and in the case of Dercum’s Disease, knowledge could save a life.
The Heather Show Vintage Video Kitsch-O-Rama – Enough medical sadness! It’s time to giggle! A few years ago, I started experimenting with video editing, and out of that experimentation came an actual video called The Heather Show! These short films are a collection of vintage educational films that were made available by The Prelinger Archives. I watched hundreds of films, chose my favorites, and played with them to produce these short films. I’m so proud of them, I just wish I had been able to make more. Yet again, another project that fell short due to illness. But oh well, at least I have a few episodes to show for it! 🙂
I think those are all the biggies! There are a million and one little tiny side projects dotted here and there, but if I included all of those we’d be here for years! 🙂 And besides, one of the best parts about all of absolutely everything I’ve done have been all of the remarkable people I’ve met through these various projects. Naturally I have to come up with some way to get you people to introduce yourselves, so if you want to find out about the other little projects, feel free to email me at hlawver AT gmail DOT com. Of course, if you just feel like dropping a line and saying hello, that would be fantastic too. 🙂
I really hope you all enjoyed ‘We Are Wizards’ and I want to thank you for taking the time to visit my little corner of the universe. From the bottom of my heart, thank you! And here’s to hoping I’ll have many, many more years to continue making a million and one more projects, websites, charities, and who knows what else. So keep an eye on this space, cause who knows what the producers are going to throw at me next. 🙂
Big hugs and thank yous to everyone from ‘We Are Wizards’, my parents, my brothers, everyone who was a part of The Daily Prophet & PotterWar, the unbelievably brilliant Dr Henry Jenkins, the incomparable & unstoppable Lawrence Lessig, all my friends who have been so patient and supportive (I wish I had the room to name you all), the many companies and individuals who have donated time, money, and resources to Prophet Incorporated.
To those who believed in a girl & her car – Ferrari of Washington for their continued support, patience, and friendship, Tam McGeady for letting us film on a busy Saturday, Redding Finney for taking me under his wing and treating me with such surprising kindness, Mandy Williams Reimert for being so gracious in uplifting the ambitions of a new generation of female talent, Hal Wing for taking the time to share & inspire, Will Hanney for sharing kindness & his 599GTB, the Bollinger family for welcoming me into their home & their hearts so I could pursue my dream, the Hoffman family for believing in my dream enough to help make it happen.
For my miracle workers – Dr Siegal for showing me what it means to be a good doctor, Dr Sheneberger for giving me hope, Dr Huang for constant genius and humor, Dr Georgia for making me laugh in spite of terrible odds, Schreck for dancing in the OR when I was terrified, the staff at Dr Huang’s office & the Interventional Radiology department at NNMC, Dr Herbst for daring to research an enigma, Dr Brorson for giving a frightened American strength, Dr Ain for giving me respect & the gift of movement, the US military medical system & its massively underrated caring doctors, my understanding insurance companies, and every other doctor & nurse who have worked so hard to save my life.
To the enablers of dreams – Childnet for showing me how much can be achieved through love, Philip Greenspun for inspiring me to do more, The Massachusetts Institute of Technology for showing me the future of technology, and The Courtauld Institute of Art for their unconditional belief in my future.
And last but not least, my best friend and partner in crime, Alastair Alexander. Thank you for making my life and this world infinitely happier, funnier, interesting and worthwhile. You’ve been my my safe haven in the midst of the worst times of my life, and given me my fondest memories. I cannot tell you how much your respect, friendship, protection, and love has meant to me, how much it has changed my life. I am so grateful that such an unexpected, seemingly inexplicable, but irreplaceable friendship came my way. I owe you more than I will ever be able to repay.
And to all of you out there who have yet to come into my life, thank you, and I can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings. Here’s to hoping things just keep getting better.