Now, where does this one go?
Name: Maria (Or, alternately, Ria)
Age: 18
If you could change one thing about the world, what would it be? I really, really wish that I could change the level of tolerance that people have. It makes me sad that there is still an amount of people in this world that continue to discriminate for reasons such as sexuality, race, and religion and I would love for people in this world to just realize that there was never meant to be only one way of doing things. Acceptance and tolerance of the differences we all have would be a great thing for everyone to embrace.
Who is your favorite Hogwarts teacher? When Remus Lupin showed up on the scene in PoA, it was immediate love. He was such an awesome teacher, especially compared to the previous two DADA teachers. He reminds me a lot of a teacher I had in sophomore year, always willing to help and has a sort of air about him that allows you to approach him like a friend but respect him as a teacher. I love how Remus attempted to connect with the students and get them engaged in a subject. He truly appreciated the situation he was in and did everything in his power to help his students succeed. I would love to have another teacher like Professor Lupin. He’s just such an awesome person and it was really unfortunate that he had to resign because I believe that he would be the most best suited for the position of DADA professor.
Who is your favorite character in Harry Potter? Professor Snape. I don’t remember an exact moment when he endeared himself to me specifically, but to me he’s such an intriguing character with a lot of unexpected complexity. I love how he isn’t afraid to do whatever the hell he wants and can get away with a lot of stuff people only wish they could. Yes, he plays favorites but what would you expect from such a magnificent bastard? He’s snarky, makes me laugh (I probably shouldn’t have laughed out loud when he knocked over Harry’s potion in OoTP but it couldn’t be helped) and is just so nasty. I can’t help but love the Git. One of my hopes for the books is that there is no revelation that Snape is secretly nice. I love him the way he is, and changing that would be a total cop-out for his character and an extreme disappointment for me.
Who is your least favorite character in Harry Potter?
Draco Malfoy is an insufferable little turd and I find no endearing qualities about him. What can you say about a person who--as a child, mind you-- wishes death on another person and means it? I know there are many fangirls out there crying for the redemption of Draco, but I can’t see it happening. He’s a horrible, nasty little git who hates people for the sake of hating.
In another vein, I’m not too fond of Hagrid. I find myself more or less skimming over his segments in the book. Draco-little Git he may be-doesn’t bore me at least. Hagrid has lost his whimsy and is more of a bore than he used to be. I think this may be attributed to the fact that I am an older reader and do not have a childlike love for Hagrid anymore. Similarly, I think the Trio have all lost their initial awe of him and come to realize who Hagrid is. Often times he means well, but he ends up putting the students-especially the trio-in danger. To be truthful, he isn’t that responsible, is rather uninteresting, and to me has just become an erroneous character that I skim over. And now we have Grawp to add on, yay.
What makes a person respectable? A sense of self and a bit of confidence and compassion makes someone respectable. I admire self-confidence a lot in a person, because someone who whines all the time about how horrible their life is can be a bit tiresome and irritating. It is also good to be unafraid of adversity, to take on tasks that you know may be difficult but you take them on anyway. A bit of ambition and persistence, with a dash of confidence and self-actualization all combine to make a respectable person.
What is your take on religion? Eh, that’s a touchy subject. I was raised a Catholic but as the years went on I began to explore other means of belief. I believe that everyone is entitled to believe in their faith and practice in whatever means they deem fit. It is not anyone’s right to criticize anyone’s belief system, nor is it in their right to judge others for believing differently. It is not in the place of humans to judge which religion is right or which is wrong, for in the end, even the most pious person is capable of wrongdoing-and often times engage in it. I believe that no matter what religion anyone is, what makes or breaks you is what type of person you are. Every religion has good and bad people who believe in it, and it is the people that should be judged, not their faith.
What do you think about house elves? I believe House Elves may have somewhat of a case of Stockholm Syndrome. However, alternately, it could be the fact that the elves are somewhat akin to guardians to each wizarding family they serve. Generation after generation a house elf serves its master to whatever means, loyally and faithfully. And-though we have only seen glimpses of it as of yet-when the Elf believes that the person he or she serves is in danger, they do anything in their power to help and protect them. However, some house elves are brought up by bad families, and these are the only kind we have seen as of late. Hogwarts house elves, on the other hand, seem very content to help and serve the students so much that they openly refuse pay offered to them by Dumbledore. I believe that it is quite possible that the Wizard/House Elf relationship is more sympathetic than parasitic, in that a good relationship would be that the House Elf and the Wizard help and respect each other.
What do you look for in a friend? I look for someone whom I can trust to be loyal and dependable. I don’t want someone who says they’re my friend and then bails on me when the going gets rough. I also want someone who shares similar yet different ideas and tastes-someone who I can goof off with and yet study with all in the same day. Someone who would enjoy and understand my snarky commentary and not hesitate to join in with a remark of his/her own. Loyal, trustworthy, and fun.
Would you rather have friends and family or money and success?
Oooh, a toughie. I would have to say that I would rather have friends and family because money and success-no matter how great they seem (and Lord knows they do)-aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. Friends and family are more consistent than money and success, because the latter can easily be lost but the bond between friends and family is hard to break. Money and success also comes at a higher price, be it loss of privacy or the inability to find someone who likes you for reasons other than your pocketbook. I would rather have something more stable and firm than something that could fade at any moment.
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? Hmm, right now I don’t think there is much I could change about myself because I am very content with where I am. But, were I to change anything, I think I would try and make myself a bit more emotionally stable and less easily hurt. I would rather I learn to deal with my problems rather than holding them in all the time until they come to be a burden. I should learn to express my troubles with others and especially to those whom I am having problems with. I believe this to be my only hindrance as of now.
What do you feel is your best quality? I believe my drive and passion that I put into achieving my goals in life. In art, for example, I may work on a piece for the longest time and be satisfied with it-however, if I see someone else’s work, I do not whine and complain that my skills are lackluster. Rather, I work at bettering them, studying what changes I could have made and improve upon what I have done before. This often times leads to a somewhat competitive nature, but I believe that one must always be passionate about something in order to wish to better it. I do not let obstacles deter me from achieving my goals and work toward that which I really want. I believe that my persistence and ambition in life have led me to where I am today, I look back and see my improvements and gain a sense of self that I did not have before. If I did not have the ambition, passion, and drive to succeed that I have, I do not think that I would have achieved all that I have. I got into the college I wanted, into the program I wanted, and have met so many new people that I would not have had the chance to meet had I given up on the way. I will not let anything stand in the way of me and my desire to achieve better things for myself.
What are your hobbies? I absolutely love to read, write, and draw. Each time I am asked about hobbies, these are my answers. Ever since I was a wee little one, I’ve adored the written word and the picture. I remember being in early elementary school writing my first stories and drawing pictures to them (I believe I had filled out an entire sketch book by the third grade). I loved to read, and by the second grade I had begun chapter books and small novels. When I was little, I always wanted (especially after watching Disney’s Beauty and the Beast to have a huge library filled wall-to-wall with books. Even now I still read in copious amounts-thus it makes sense that I am currently a literature major. I also continue to draw and write. For almost four years now I have been working on a story that I have put an extreme amount of energy into. My efforts have included maps, languages that I created on my own, character and culture designs, timelines, family trees and anything else you can think of. It is in this sense that I am greatly inspired by and admire both JK Rowling and JRR Tolkien and their respective works. It drives me to work and continue on with my story, even when writer’s block rears its ugly little head.
Along with writing and reading, I also have a passion for drawing. I have numerous sketches and drawings dating back years and years. I love to use graphite, paints, and colored pencils and also to experiment with any medium I have not encountered before. Sometimes when reading or writing my story, I get images in my mind that I absolutely have to get on paper, be it fan art or a character drawing. I constantly doodle in class and on notes so it is not uncommon to find a teeny sketch of the subject in the margins.
Do you want to have children? At some point in time, I do. However, I think I would be more content with one or two, having grown up in a rather large family. I’m already used to babies and children and would like a long break before I have to go through the baby phase again. Having so many siblings and younger relatives, I would much rather have at most two children.
Have or would you give time and money to a charity? For a year or two in high school I was involved in what is called Gospel Mission, in which a group of people from my school would go feed the homeless. It gave me a sense of happiness to help those who are most in need, because I have the feeling that many people in my age group today have little respect and gratitude for what they have and fail to recognize that some people out there are not as lucky as they are.
Similarly, I recently got involved in an Adopt a Family program with a few members from my dorm this holiday season. We collected money and bought presents for a needy family’s Christmas.
If your friend was attacked (by a person, animal, or (in the magic world) beast), what would you do? Do my best to protect them, of course. I would do as I would expect my friend to do for me and do my best to get them out of harm’s way. I would not run directly into danger unless it is absolutely necessary but would rather try and get the both of us out safely.
What is the one thing you would most like to accomplish? I would absolutely love to have a book published. I adore the world I have created and would love to share it with other people. Just the thought of seeing it bound in hardcover and printed makes me smile at how awesome that would be. Even if it doesn’t have massive success a la Harry Potter, it would be great as long as someone-even a small group of people-out there picked it up, read it, and enjoyed it. Looking at what many books have in the way of fan art and fan fiction, it would be so cool to have people out there drawing their versions of my characters, writing fan fiction and generally taking interest in what I have dedicated so much time and work to.
Who is your role model? I would have to say that my role model-and this may sound a bit cliché-is my mother. She had me at sixteen and at that point, after three more children and the subsequent falling apart of her relationship with my dad, she had many chances to give up to her lot in life. She could have had us all live in a cramped apartment, struggling to get through every day life as a poor single mother. But rather than accepting life as it was, she brought herself up with the help and support of my grandparents who accepted her and her choices, got a job, and never gave up on caring for her children. Now she has a good job and does anything in her power to make life comfortable for me and my siblings. I like to think of how proud I’ve made her now that I’ve gotten into college and am succeeding in life rather than succumbing to the many vices teenage life offers. It is her determination and pride that gives me my own personal drive for success, because I know that if she can overcome what she had to, I can take on any obstacle as long as I set my mind to it and never give up trying.
What trait most annoys you about other people? What annoys me most about other people is when they are inconsiderate of others. I absolutely cannot stand rudeness and uncalled for belligerence. For example, just the other day, my grandmother was at the grocery store and turned a corner with her cart, only to almost bump into someone who was walking and talking on their phone, not paying attention to where she was going. Rather than saying nothing at all-or better yet, apologizing-the woman spoke loudly into her phone that she was “about to beat this lady’s ass” for almost hitting her cart. Stuff like that just gets on me. I cannot stand when people just don’t act like decent people and would rather go around insulting, threatening, and ostracizing others. In high school, this was a big issue I had with many of my classmates and has come to be one of my biggest annoyances.
What do you want to do for a living? Right now I think I would probably choose a career as a publishing editor. I’ve already had some practice in editing the works of others thanks to the writer_girls community, and think it would be an awesome thing to help other writers like myself perfect their works. I’ve had a lot of my stuff edited on that community, so I know the value of other people’s opinions. I would love to help someone polish up their work, because even with a little help, a piece can be vastly improved.
Would you ever use an Unforgivable Curse for any reason?If the reason was an absolute necessity, then yes. I would only use it in terms of desperation, never out of vanity, vengeance, or for my own personal benefit. If it were a life or death situation, of course; though I cannot say that if someone killed my Godfather that I would not Crucio the mess out of them if I could.
What house do you think DOESN'T fit you? (This question is optional for those who feel they just DO NOT fit in a house. Please explain WHY.) I’ve never really felt like a Gryffindor. I know that there are a lot of people who probably think I’m crazy, but for some reason I feel as though were I in that house I would feel a bit out of place. I think it might be the fact that I probably lack a bit in the bravery department. Unlike Ron (brave little thing he is), I probably wouldn’t follow my friend into a spider-infested forest. I tend to be a bit of a wuss at times, I’m not afraid to admit that.
What do you think are your top five abilities or qualities?
-My drive to succeed
-My ability to adapt to different situations (moving to a different place, meeting new people, etc.)
-My snark, I’m very proud of that
-My passion and love for my writing and artwork
-My dedication to my friends and family
Where did you find out about us?
cleolinda