Mulame: Lema Shamamba’s Exhibition

    We went to the opening of  Mulame in Objectspace Gallery in Rose Road, Ponsonby.  The exhibition, curated by Ane Tonga, comprises  a series of framed, embroidered  panels by our friend Lema Shamamba, depicting aspects of life in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and it is powerfully political.  Since she came to Aotearoa ten […]

A Fearful Future…?

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 […]

Grieving

In the last two weeks, two of my special friends and colleagues from Auckland Girls’ Grammar School have died.  Both joined the staff of AGGS in 1966, and were in senior positions with me during 1978-88. Elaine Craig was my deputy principal for ten years, and stood in for me as principal four times when […]

Best Book, Best Writers, Best Bookshop…

(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 […]

And finally, a celebration… a political activity…and a great writer

Charmaine celebrated her 77th birthday on Thursday 11 July, and Tanya had organised  a lovely day- a cuppa in bed and a beautiful gift, breakfast at a cafe in Grey Lynn, and a surprise outing in the evening- all Charmaine  knew in advance was to be ready for an Uber at 5.40pm.  We went outside […]

Postscript: Oranga Tamariki enquiry: a letter from Laura O’Connell Rapira

Some of you who read our newsletters will have received the letter below as supporters of Action Station.  But for those who have not seen it, we would like to share this very fine statement by Laura  O’Connell Rapira, the Director of Campaigns at Action Station: Over the weekend, I had the honour and privilege […]

.SAME BUT DIFFERENT!

Another film worth seeing! A very feel-good film- funny, romantic and true- a real-life love story between two women – Rachel (Pakeha), and Nikki (Samoan)- the two have been together for some years now, and decided that their own story was a good one to make into a film, with two other great women playing […]

Friday 15 March 2019: a day to remember with pain

You will all have heard about the terrorist attack on Muslim people praying in two Christchurch mosques last Friday, 15 March. Our hearts go out to the families who have lost dear ones, and to all Muslim people in Aotearoa, whose hopes for a safe country to live in have been so cruelly shattered. E […]