Monthly Archives: September 2014

‘I shall try to do what is right’

Just a little post prompted by a quote: Cry, the Beloved Country is one of my favourite and most formative books. I read this quote from it today at the beginning of a collection of photographs and stories, Displaced Reflections, by Oddny Gumaer, cofounder of Partners Relief & Development. You can see more on this book here, her second […]

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Two Ideas for Post-Election Action

On Saturday night (or afternoon, Thai time), the New Zealand general election results rolled in, faster than ever before, and they led to the first outright majority government in the twenty years we’ve had MMP, our proportional representational voting system. And it’s the centre-right National government who has been voted in for a third term with […]

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On Being a Social Entrepreneur and a Parent (at the same time) [Guest]

Jess Berentson-Shaw lives in on the side of a windswept Wellington hill. Jess has two kids, is a part time researcher and scientist, and runs (and blogs about) her social enterprise called muka kids (mukakids.com). Muka kids is her plan to bring about a sustainability revolution in the world of kids’ clothing production. She has […]

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My Feminist Parenting Humiliation

Oh, the shame! I love the days when my 2.5 year old son gets mistaken for a girl (Yus! No arbitrary gendered fashion advice for us, thanks!), when he plays with a tea-set, or when he says his favourite colour is pink (just the once, and I’ve seen no actual evidence of this, but it’s […]

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Education and Schooling #14: How to Teach an Introvert

Remember Susan Cain? You may have seen her fabulous TED talk that I posted a while ago, based on her book, Quiet: the Power of Introverts. The guru on introverts in an extraverted world, she gives ten tips for parenting introverts on her website, and now she’s got some ideas for how teachers can nurture introverts in […]

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The Sacrament of Breastfeeding #5: Bible Blokes and Cultural Capital

Nah, don’t worry, I’m not going to launch into a breastfeeding campaign using biblical texts to convince you of anything. I just thought this was a nice point made by someone on the Dulce de Leche blog. Peter writes in his first New Testament letter: Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, […]

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Ten Books, Four Words Each: Most Influential

The latest booklovers’ chain-letter going around Facebook seems to be a challenge to list (without too much agonising) your ten most ‘influential’ books. Heavens. To stay in the spirit of the challenge I’ve tried to write this in one sitting, presumably missing a lot of worthy contenders, but hopefully capturing some kind of truth. And […]

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