“ Sometimes while I ride the subway I try to look at each person and imagine what they look like to someone who is totally in love with them…It’s a wonderful thing, to look at someone to whom I would never be attracted and think about what looking at them feels like to someone who is devouring every part of their image, who has invisible strings that are connected to this person tied to every part of their body. I think this fun pastime is a way of cultivating compassion. It feels good to think about people that way, and to use that part of my mind that I think is traditionally reserved for a tiny portion of people I’ll meet in my life to appreciate the general public. I wish I thought about people like this more often. I think it’s the opposite of what our culture teaches us to do. We prefer to pick people apart to find their flaws. Cultivating these feelings of love or appreciation for random people, and even for people I don’t like, makes me a more forgiving and appreciative person toward myself and people I love. Also, it’s just a really excellent pastime.

“ I always get nervous talking about anything [from the Harry Potter books] in front of Evanna, because you sort of go “Oh God, if I say something not quite right you’ll pick me up on it, because you know everything!” So if any of us ever have a question about something like what a spell does, we go to Evanna. She’s kind of like a walking book.