Affirmations come in all shapes and sizes

Sometimes you just need to be able to laugh your way through it

Kia ora and welcome to The Weekend. If you’re in Auckland, I hope you’re safe after last night’s severe flooding. In this morning’s light, people will be assessing damage and seeking help and advice. Last night, before the state of emergency was declared, people asked whether that was done fast enough and questions about leadership in times of crisis emerged. Madeleine Chapman posed the question many had - where was Auckland’s mayor? Our live updates ran late into the night and will keep people updated over the weekend. In this week’s newsletter we’ve also got: the value of disappointing affirmations; missing macrons matter; the importance of using Māori cultural concepts around alcohol appropriately; and Chris Hipkins contemplating changes. Make some fresh Coffee Supreme and keep reading.

-Shanti Mathias, staff writer

Sometimes disappointing affirmations are essential

A sample of the disappointingaffirmations oevure. Image: Archi Banal

The sign in the women’s lounge at the psych ward was supposed to say “Live Laugh Love”. But an accident of design had concealed the word “love” behind the door. It was exactly what writer Paula Harris needed: wasn’t the endless tragedy of being stuck in the mental health system nothing if not a concealing of love? Wasn’t laughter the best way to keep living? For tangata whai ora like herself, Harris writes, Instagram account @disappointingaffirmations has been much more helpful than a motivational poster. It’s been an acknowledgement that lots of things suck, and it’s okay to laugh about it.

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The signals Hipkins is sending

A new prime minister has been sworn in since my last newsletter. News outlets have been keen to grab onto any indication of what kind of PM Chris Hipkins might be and which policies he might pursue or abandon. Stay tuned early next week for a cabinet reshuffle and some kind of agenda setting. Duncan Greive writes about Hipkins choice to huddle in with eager CEOs at the Auckland Chamber of Commerce on Thursday. He notes that an orientation towards business and Auckland interests may be a sign of how Labour seeks to broaden support ahead of the election.

• Gone By Lunchtime on Chrises Hipkins and Luxon, bread and butter, Pepsi and Coke

• Stewart Sowman-Lund with a wider analysis of what policies may be up for review

Once you see the missing macrons, they’re everywhere

These “stink” letters are everywhere you look. Image: Toby Morris

Wonderful edition of The Side Eye from Toby Morris this week, discussing something that’s everywhere but easy to miss. Macrons are increasingly common in written te reo Māori. Used to convey correct pronunciation, they’re often incompatible with lots of fonts used online. Missing macrons mean that word meanings can be completely changed and the incorrect pronunciation of te reo kupu is perpetuated. It’s a question of how language and technology merge, says Te Kuru Dewes, an expert interviewed for the comic. Each missing macron is an unstitched seam in a system not designed for te reo Māori.

Why are overseas breweries still getting it so wrong when it comes to Māori?

There’s a complex set of tika around alcohol in te ao Māori, which Charlotte Muru-Lanning was reminded of when she saw an Italian beer company advertising a “Kia Ora” IPA using tā moko imagery on their packaging. It’s not the first time that brewers, especially those using New Zealand hops, have used Māori kupu and concepts to market their alcohol; there are hundreds of examples of it. Muru-Lanning talks to cultural advisor Karaitiana Taiuru and beer writer Denise Garland about why using Māori cultural concepts around alcohol appropriately is important, and what changes need to happen to make cultural respect standard practice in the alcohol industry in Aotearoa and overseas.

• Charlotte Muru-Lanning is also the editor of our food newsletter

  The Boil Up
  This week she writes: childhood nostalgia is lovely, but what about when it extols bad quality kai?

Were was Auckland’s mayor?

On Friday night, before the state of emergency was declared, many people, including Auckland councillors, questioned whether that was done fast enough and questions about leadership in times of crisis emerged. As Madeleline Chapman asked, where was the mayor? Wayne Brown, aka The Fixer, was silent and out of sight until 7.17pm, after a major concert (Elton John) had already been cancelled due to the weather. As minutes ticked by and residents of New Zealand’s largest city waited for any sign of help, the mayor’s office had remained silent, and his luddite insistence on staying off social media suddenly started to look like wilful ignorance.

Everything else

• Why mangrove forests are pretty magical

• Remembering good times at Vic Books

• Some of the weirdest Jacinda Ardern merch

• I finally read this New Yorker longread about superyachts which is evocative and infuriating

• I had to run around Delhi a few weeks ago to find a very sparkly traditional lehenga for a wedding. Next time, I could just use YouTube, as shown in this beautiful photo essay

• On hearing Marcus Lush lose his keys live on the radio

• Why does widening highways never reduce traffic?

• Morning TV is back! And so is Shortland Street! Does a new year mean new tricks for these beloved programmes?

• Alice Webb-Liddall puzzles over a bizarre decision in an international netball game

• Delicious yerba mate, designed to be consumed communally, has never quite taken off outside of South America (a real shame because I would love to be able to find it easily in cafes here!)

• It’s the 100th anniversary of Katherine Mansfield’s death. I wandered through the lovely park named after her in Wellington this week — and so did Kirsty Gunn, who writes eloquently about growing up with Mansfield and other colonial inheritances (More Mansfield: why is her legacy divisive?)

• Sela Jane Hopgood loved growing up in a house filled with her extended family and siblings. Why is new housing in South Auckland not built for intergenerational living?

• A beautiful piece about the complexity of participating in the ‘taniwha’ economy

• Rec Room rounds up some great podcasts to listen to this weekend (I loved this list because it is completely different to what I enjoy — there’s a whole universe of podcasts out there!)

• Celebrity Treasure Island Fans vs. Faves starts on Monday! Get hyped with this wild teaser and the contestants favourite inspirational quotes

• There’s no shortage of shortages

• And finally, this video of The Worst Idea of All Time reviewing the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie by living in the New York sewers is something I return to when I need a dose of pure sincere silliness.