ICYMI: In praise of the magazines of Bauer Media
30 March - 6 April
Should we all be wearing face masks to prevent Covid-19 spread? According to Dr Siouxsie Wiles, the answer is more complicated than you think. When it comes to wearing a face mask there are pros and cons that differ depending on where in the world you are. Here, Siouxsie (along with the help of illustrator Toby Morris) lays out all the different types of face masks, the evidence behind their efficacy, and why she’s been reluctant to recommend masks to New Zealanders.
The squeeze on healthcare in locked-down New Zealand. With so many of our resources concentrated on dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic, our already thinly-stretched healthcare system is starting to feel the squeeze. As Josie Adams reports, Labtests is turning away patients with respiratory or feverish symptoms, STIs are going untested and untreated by a stripped-down Family Planning, while a handful of healthcare clinics that are normally used by the general public have been turned into dedicated Covid-19 testing centres instead.
A story ended too suddenly: In praise of the NZ magazines of Bauer Media. Last week, Bauer Media announced that it was closing its New Zealand operation. The news came as a huge shock to not just those who work in the media industry, but also the readers of Bauer’s many publications, among them Metro, Woman’s Day, North & South, Next, Home, the Listener, Kia Ora and the NZ Women’s Weekly. We asked readers, writers and former staff members pay tribute to the people and stories that have been lost.
“The Spinoff produce considered, nuanced stories that make me think, provide varied perspectives and are thoroughly enjoyable to read.”
- Mariam Young, Spinoff Member.
My mum, on the frontline. “Any time I had to reveal my mum’s job to someone, hastened justifications would also fall out of my mouth, reeking of shame,” writes Yawynne Yem on her mum, a Cambodian immigrant. “Tens of thousands of people have passed through my mum’s till over her 11 years as a supermarket checkout operator, many of whom would have been too blinded by the stigma of her job to see much else… My fears once were of people’s judgement, but now are for her health.”
The Single Object: The internet cable that connects us to the rest of the world. “There’s a disconnection, I’ve found, between how we think the internet works and how it works in reality,” writes Bronwyn Holloway-Smith in the latest for our series examining objects that surround our everyday lives. “With terms like ‘the cloud’ it’s easy to imagine the internet floating above our heads in the atmosphere, but it turns out we’re looking in the wrong direction. It actually travels through cables, buried underground and laid along the ocean floor.”
You aren’t the only one having buzzy Covid dreams. It’s a weird time to be alive and that weirdness seems to be seeping into our sleep. From nightmares about getting Covid-19 (“a direct fear”) to dreams about being stuck on the toilet/pissing on the carpet (“the theme there is exposure and feeling embarrassed”), Alex Casey spoke to an expert about why so many people are suddenly remembering their vivid and often horrible dreams.
Do Māori Made Easy with me. If you’ve ever wanted to try learning te reo, now is the perfect time to start. Leonie Hayden (an intermediate beginner herself) is going to work through the first four weeks of Scotty Morrison’s book Māori Made Easy and wants everyone who’s keen to follow along. There’s a new video every weekday and she’s just finished week one. If you haven’t started yet, you’ll want to kick things off with lesson one below.
