P-cubed Newsletters

Contents HeadsUp To quote the recipient of the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature, ‘the times they are a changin’. In our case, from after the mid semester break, “subject to any Government requirements in place at that time and with limited exceptions” activity will...

Contents HeadsUp Some of us feel like we’ve been here a while and have seen a fair few changes. This dinosaur was an undergraduate student here when geographic data analysis was taught using punch cards and a mainframe computer. Then when I returned as a postdoc,...

Contents HeadsUp Kia ora tatou As there’s sadly, no in-person all-School gathering I’d like to wish you all a relaxing, safe and enjoyable time of annual leave over Christmas/New Year and, for most of you, well into January. It’s a cliché to say it’s been a tough...

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...