The day after our return from Heretaunga we spent some hours enjoying the enormous diversity of Auckland today, especially in dance, drama, sport and food. There were recycling centres staffed by young volunteers who explained what went where, and good humour and respect was evident everywhere.
Anzac Day: Celebrate or Commemorate?
April 19, 2015 by 4 Comments
I’m alarmed about the extent of the commemorations of Gallipoli, which are beginning to verge on celebrations. Celebrations of what? Of men from New Zealand going to Turkey to try and kill other men they’ve never met and have no personal reason to hate? Of their bravery in the face of death? Of their loyalty to […]
Women’s Days …
March 17, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Every day we see strong women, creative women, women changing the world for the better. Almost every day we’re also confronted with images of women demeaned or brutalised. So for International Women’s Day, March 8, we are featuring some of the women we’ve seen this month. The appalling… Franklin Plumbing – which used to be a strong New Zealand […]
More Women’s Days…
March 17, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Many women use drama, weaving, tapa cloth making, knitting and crochet, food preparation, to affirm goodness and to assert their positive power. We’ve experienced a wealth of this creativity in March WISE (Women, Inspired, Strong, Empowered & Enterprising) and the ARMS Trust (Auckland Refugee and Migrant Services) had a splendid display of craft work at the Corban Estate […]
More Women’s Creations…
March 17, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Nicky McFall-Hastings has lit up the trees in Aotea Square to make the Festival Garden for the Auckland Arts Festival. Tanya marvels at the work involved in making Pasifika lei and weaving them around the trunks and branches… …and many women have knitted or crocheted woollen squares to clothe the trunk of a giant pohutukawa outside Te Pataka Korero […]
Auckland’s Anniversary
February 19, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Sunday 25 January: we took a morning train to downtown Auckland Thought we’d better go and see what Auckland City was doing to celebrate it’s “175th birthday”. Tamaki Makaurau has been loved and lived on by Maori for more than seven centuries; but our Anglocentric culture only starts counting from 1840, when 3000 acres of land were […]
Waitangi Day
February 19, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Friday 6 February: 6am on the foreshore at Okahu Bay. We came for the dawn blessing, and found the ceremony was also the opening of the Auckland Pride Festival. With the sun about to rise, the inimitable Mika (a wonderful performer, and a powerful voice for the marginalized young people in our society) with support […]
Our 30th Anniversary
February 19, 2015 by 9 Comments
In 1985… 30 years ago, Tanya rang Charmaine, then principal of AGGS, to book a room at the school for a “Lesbians Opposed to Waitangi Celebrations” meeting on Waitangi Day. After a chat we made a date for dinner on Friday 8 February “to share our experiences as women in leadership positions in “the system”.” And the […]
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