everything but the girl

No, not that kind of plug.

As a part of my project to Avoid Being Spoiled for Tonight's Supernatural, I'm in an HP kind of mood today, so...

1. The hard drive on the HPEF server crashed completely, so while we're still getting everything back online (wow, there was a lot of content there!) you can get info about the event, and register, via portus_2008 - and if you haven't made your hotel reservation yet, you should do so now! You can do so by going here - and if you have any questions before the site goes back up (hopefully this weekend) you can ask them here.

2. Coming soon - submit a play for the SpellCast Podcast Plays that we'll be recording at Terminus and Portus this summer. And if you're attending either event, please consider setting aside some time to participate in the recording, either as an actor or an audience member.

3. If you're a full-time college or grad-school student, the Katie O'Brien Scholarship Applications are open for a few more weeks - we're awarding a writer, an artist and a community service volunteer each a $500 scholarship. Rules, info and the application are on the website.

And in non-HP news, has everyone heard the casting spoiler for S3 of Heroes? If you haven't, the spoiler info is here. Now it's time for me to go avoiding those SPN spoilers again....

Maybe I should head back to Target and pick up another Tater of the Lost Ark.

Applications can now be submitted for FictionAlley.org's three Katie O'Brien Scholarships.

A year ago this month, Katie O'Brien, one of FictionAlley's longtime writers, lost her battle with leukemia. Even while she was in the hospital fighting against her illness, she continued to find strength as she wrote her story, assisted by her father, Dave O'Brien. As her father said, "Katie always wanted to be a writer, and she used this forum [FictionAlley] to fulfill her dreams. Correspondence with those who read and enjoyed her story sustained her even during the worst of times."

Katie finished writing her story six days before she died; her father continued to upload those chapters onto FictionAlley through the spring.

When we at FictionAlley learned that Katie had passed away, we realised that the best way we, as a site, could honor her memory would be to provide other writers, as well as artists and those who give back to the community, with some help in making their dreams come true. With the permission of Katie's family, we have established three annual scholarship awards of $500 — the Katie O'Brien Memorial Scholarships for Writing, Art and Community Service. The scholarship funds can be used for tuition and/or books and materials.



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The criteria and application information for the three scholarships - one each for writing, art and community service, are shown ( behind the cut. )
The application page is here, and if you're still interested in helping the fund, you can donate or order a wristband here. We're fully funded for 2006, 2007 and 2008, but we hope to keep the scholarship awards going into the future, so donations and wristband purchases will go a long way to making that happen.