P-cubed Newsletters

Contents HeadsUp Feminist geographer Heidi Nast memorably said “we are always, already in the field”. Amid the twin limitations of the Delta lockdown and the preoccupations being Head of School, I recently turned my attention again to writing about where I live.  In...

Contents HeadsUp Lately I’ve been pondering what it will be like to be back on campus. What will I most appreciate in being there in person? I’ve concluded its the opportunistic encounters I miss most. Life becomes a very choreographed performance by zoom. You need to...

Contents HeadsUp The final comment in an email from a workmate last week read: “I think I hit the motivational low point today”. Two aspects struck me. First, the candid admission itself, and second the implied fatigue. I’m not sure I would have encountered that sort...

Contents HeadsUp The world is full of surprises. Here on the motu, a resident was woken at 3am on the weekend to fine a kororā (little blue penguin) among the dishes on his kitchen bench.  Political surprises too. Who’d have thought of the audacity: a pekapeka (native...

Contents HeadsUp I was clearing out in the dusty, spider-colonised space under the old homestead on the weekend and came across a heavy box with large objects wrapped in newsprint. On close inspection the wrapping was sheets of 1989 copies of the NZ Herald. In the...

Contents HeadsUp So, we’ve descended a level. The main indicator as I walked the beach this evening was the smells of deep-fried food and fresh-roasted coffee from up at the shops. Last night, however, two parties raged across the valley with a crowd singing ‘happy...

Contents HeadsUp Kia ora koutou. It’s Te Wiki o te Reo Māori (Māori language week). Polling last December revealed that over 80% of New Zealanders see te reo as part of their national identity and something to be proud of. We have come a long way as a nation since the...

Contents HeadsUp It’s an old cliché that a week is a long time in politics. Perhaps a new one should be that a day is a long time in Covid. Within 24 hours we were gone from Symonds St. I sometimes think of that half-eaten apple I left on my desk in a distracted...

Contents HeadsUp Last week all New Zealanders were reminded of the ever-present possibility of a Delta-variant outbreak and the likely response: ‘short, sharp’ Level 4 lockdowns. ‘Be prepared’ is the imperative at all levels, Meanwhile I was having my own little...

Contents HeadsUp At least on Level 6, last week seemed consumed by conversations about a letter in that very unscientific but high-impact journal, The Listener. The best responses are invariably the most pithy. Rangi Mātāmua, a new Fellow of Te Apārangi / the Royal...