Newsletter I'm checking in on you How are we, e hoa mā? It feels like we're all struggling for morale right now. Our resilience was already kind of low, and the events of the last few days have been a kick in the pants. More of us are succumbing to COVID - and sure,
Newsletter I can't believe I'm saying this: let's be nicer to the police Until yesterday, I hadn’t seen the protest up close and personal. I skirted around the edges, on my way to the office, by the placards and the flags and the vitriol-laced unreality; gawking though I knew I shouldn’t, feeling a faint mix of horror and sickness. Wellington has
Newsletter Thought for the day, 16 February 2022 One of the many things I can't forgive the protesters for is stealing our thunder, on the day the Conversion Practices Prohibition Bill passed. It was a day that Parliament grounds belonged to rainbows, love and celebration, not barbarous and incoherent hate. But the victory was no less
Newsletter Thought for the day, 15 February 2022 As a straight single woman, I'm wondering if the protesters have a point. I too have had some pretty bad man dates, and I'm afraid of getting toad.
Newsletter The Speaker and the sprinklers As they said back in the day, I've had a gutsful. They make death threats, spit and shout, brandish the imagery of white supremacists. They harass school kids in masks. They block the streets, sabotaging businesses already hurting. They make public servants feel unsafe - those same ones
Newsletter Thought for the day, 4 February 2022 Me, after my younger son’s first day of year 11: 'How did it go? How are you feeling about NCEA?' Boy: 'OK'. Me: 'You'd ask me if you needed help, wouldn't you?' Boy: 'No'. Me: 'Probably
Newsletter Does my imposter syndrome look big in this? Kia ora, e hoa mā Whether you’re new to The End is Naenae, or you’ve been hanging out with me for a while, I’d like to welcome you and thank you. When you’re a writer, being read is great. Being read by people who are thoughtful,
Newsletter Decolonisation and the forty-something white lady The beginning: summer, a pint of beer, and the gift of a book Just before the Christmas break, I was given a book, and a few days ago - in the holiday sun, and over a very decent Croucher beer - I pulled it out. It’s a BWB Text,
Newsletter Thought for the day, 25 January 2022 There was an item tonight on the news, about death threats against the PM. Jeez. Not liking people, the PM or otherwise, is a spectrum. Disagreeing civilly in a democratic society? We might not see eye to eye, but I recognise you're part of a healthy and peaceful
Newsletter Too happy in Taihape This is day one of our adventure to Rotorua, the first family holiday we’ve had in years. We broke the driving up over two days, which turned out be a good idea, because that's how long it takes when I'm navigating. But hey, without my
Newsletter Thought for the day, 12 January 2022 This time, I think I've lost the plot. There's some sort of process going on to figure out whether Boris held a party at 10 Downing Street, breaking the COVID rules of the time. This isn't something that needs a process to clarify -
Newsletter Happy new year from Atawhai! Kia ora friends It's Atawhai here. You might know me from classic moments like being a dick with my mum's lemon tree (featured). You haven’t heard from me for a while because I'm chronically lazy. This summer, I've been spending some
Newsletter Haere rā, Keri Hulme Always loved the story of Keri Hulme. She was the most badass of the underdogs, icon to any writer - or anyone at all - who wasn't believed in, not even by themselves. I loved that The Bone People was picked up by a tiny feminist publisher, after
Newsletter Thought for the day, 27 December 2021 The news just reminded me of something good that happened this year: complaints about te reo are no longer accepted by the BSA. Because they're BS, eh?
Newsletter Better late than never I've been doing a lot of complaining about 2021. It's kind of funny, because last year I gave complaining everything I had, and I really thought I had nothing left to give. Turns out 2020 was just a training ground. I was only warming up. In
Newsletter A Christmas miracle with a bad photo Meet this guy. He’s kind of chubby, vibrantly orange, and has a constant puzzled look on his face. I don’t even know his name - but he’s one half of the best Christmas present ever. If you follow The End is Naenae, you’ll know we lost
Newsletter Separation Aotearoa has lost our first child to COVID. We do not know about this little one, except for the sparse demographics of the media: that he was a boy, aged under ten, and Māori. We do know, although the news didn't tell us, that when a child dies
Newsletter All you have to do is ask I once got suckered by a fake website. The content made me angry - probably the exact intent of the website's creator - so I posted about it on Facebook. Someone then pointed out to me, gently and tactfully, that the website wasn't real. Once I&
Newsletter Tāmaki Makaurau, you're a bloody legend Tomorrow's the day. I can't think of an ethically trickier decision than the ones our leaders have just made. I can't imagine what it is to weigh up the community that's scared for its kaumatua against the kids failing school, against the
Newsletter I just want you to ask, what kind of people would do this? When I first started writing about this stuff, I was warned. That sounds histrionic; cloak and dagger, even. But I took it seriously. The warnings came from people with first hand experience. Sure enough, I soon understood why. One person had made a pro-trans comment under one of my posts.
Newsletter If you're at a loose end this Monday evening We were watching telly on the couch. E, then a young teenager, told me he was non-binary. There wasn't much to be said except 'I love you', or much to be done except hug. And then we kept watching the telly, my arm around him. I&
Newsletter Locker room talk It's a universal law. Whenever some bloke says something crass, gross or sexist, another will rush to downplay it as 'locker room talk'. In the past, it's been Trump. Yesterday it was Barry Soper. It's kind of weird, invoking locker rooms. The
