Kia ora koutou! Welcome to the Down Under Feminists’ Carnival, chock-full of blog posts and great writing from around Australia, Aotearoa and the Pacific. I’m Thalia, a New Zealand lawyer-turned-minister-turned-mother-turned-writer-turned-development-worker. You are very welcome at my place. This is my first time hosting, and heck, it has been a lot of fun. Of the nerdy, […]
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 […]
A warm welcome to Rochelle Gribble, here with an insightful analysis of the recently-introduced, highly controversial ‘National Standards‘ that New Zealand primary schools are now required to report on twice a year. Rochelle is a once-was, sometimes-is, may-be-again secondary teacher. She has a Masters degree in Education and sometimes even gets to use it! However, […]
This is a post about crisis pregnancy that is aimed mainly at those in a position to support an unborn baby and its family. If you are facing an unplanned pregnancy yourself, you may prefer to read this accompanying post dealing directly with such a situation. Inspired by Germany In the United States it’s […]
Wanna hang out in the Mighty Manawatu? SBJ are going to spend a few days with my parents in PN, so I wondered about hosting a Sacraparental hangout. Whaddaya reckon? I know a few regulars there, but I suspect there are others I’m not in contact with, so now’s your chance. If you’re based in […]
My lovely cousin Scott recently visited the grave of my great-great-great-grandfather, the last of my Drysdale ancestors to be buried in Scotland, before his widow and children emigrated to New Zealand in the 19th century. A cousin of my Dad’s had done the sleuthing to find the unmarked grave in the 1970s and wrote […]
This is the first in an occasional series on our experience of co-sleeping with our baby (and toddler, as he becomes later on!). You can see the series list here. We didn’t intend to become ‘attachment parents.’ We don’t tick all the boxes, but we could certainly sneak into an AP Christmas party and fit […]
For the first time in 16 months, the fog is lifting. I am feeling ‘normal’ over half the time now, and it feels amazing. Most of the time, now, I can cope with the unexpected, I can make decisions, I can bounce back from disappointments. I am regaining creativity in a few directions. I’m […]
Like many of you, I feel almost unresolvably torn when it comes to little kids and games of murder. Raising SBJ to be a kind, non-violent man is a high priority for us, so what do we do about games of cops and robbers or pirates? My besties Nicholas, Richard and I played ‘Luke and […]
I was driving up Ngamotu Road a couple of years ago when someone on Radio New Zealand National made a brilliant suggestion. Given what we know about the power of hope and positive thinking, perhaps the Ministry of Health has got it wrong about the warnings on packets of smokes. Rather than pictures of diseased lungs and […]