Canadian writer Margaret Atwood has just published The Testaments, the sequel to her 1985 classic The Handmaid’s Tale, to great acclaim- including a nomination for the Booker Prize before it even arrived in the shops! We went to the Bridgeway in Northcote to see the English National Theatre film of an interview with Margaret Atwood […]
Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori
September 19, 2019 by Leave a Comment
This year, to celebrate Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori, we joined a hikoi up Maungakiekie (One Tree Hill) with a couple of thousand young people, their teachers and family members. At the top of the mountain there were prayers, haka, waiata and the call of the conch. We talked along the way […]
Place as Person
September 19, 2019 by Leave a Comment
‘Place as person, landscape as identity: ancestral connection and modern legislation’ The 2019 Cumberland Lecture at the University of Auckland was given by Kennedy Warne, founding editor of the the NZ Geographic magazine, and a sensitive man with a deep feeling for Aotearoa and its many environments. We really enjoyed his lecture on 22 August […]
Bike Auckland
September 19, 2019 by Leave a Comment
Bike Auckland’s AGM was the best AGM I’ve attended! Over in 5 minutes-” totally rigged!” as the dynamic silver-haired chair, Barbara Cuthbert, announced gleefully, ” because all the current committee members want to continue,” – “but”- she added “we can easily coopt any other keen bikers!” An evening to celebrate a busy year of hustling, […]
Rangitoto…
August 19, 2019 by 2 Comments
“Where shall we go for my birthday treat, I wonder? Somewhere not too far away, close to nature, simple to arrange, and with a low carbon footprint. How about Rangitoto Island?” Tanya asked herself…and Charmaine … So here are Tanya’s reflections on 14-17 August 2019… For both of us, the skyline of Auckland has […]
Good Judgement
August 19, 2019 by Leave a Comment
If you’ve ever wondered what the induction of a new judge into the court system in New Zealand might be like, you might have imagined rows of dark-suited lawyers, and elderly be-wigged Pakeha men presiding. When we were invited to the swearing-in of Auckland barrister Faumui Penelope (Lope) Ginnen as a Judge in the Manukau […]
Best Book, Best Writers, Best Bookshop…
August 19, 2019 by Leave a Comment
(Charmaine’s unabashedly personal views…) A Teaching Life, by Carol White, has just been published by The Cuba Press. It has been eleven years in the making, since Carol retired from her position as Co-Principal of Selwyn College, in East Auckland. I was delighted to be asked to write a foreword to it, and then to launch […]
Charm from the Chathams
August 19, 2019 by Leave a Comment
Kaa’i and Francesca, our friends from Rekohu/Chatham Islands have been in Auckland again, this time supporting and judging the culinary efforts of children in South Auckland, and extending the marketing of their new unique freeze-dried honey from the Chathams. They are also finalists in the NZ Artisan Awards…to be decided later in the year.. It’s […]
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