ICYMI: Transphobic. Biphobic. Misogynistic. Welcome to Christchurch’s only ‘gay bar’
November 11 - November 18
A search for the truth behind the strangest news story of the year. A woman was reading a book when an axe flew through the windshield of the car she was travelling in. But by some miracle, the woman managed to escape the incident largely unharmed – the axe striking not her, but her book, like a pocket bible stopping a bullet during the war. Obviously, a story like this poses many questions: where did the axe come from? How big was the axe? Was it an axe-ident? And most importantly: what book was she reading? Senior writer Madeleine Chapman went in search for the truth.
Crimson Education’s bills keep coming, even if your child isn’t going. In a fascinating series of documents leaked by a concerned former Crimson employee, business editor Maria Slade discovered that not only does the startup lock families into contracts even if the child decides not to apply to an overseas school, but that its claim that families typically spend up to $15,000 is actually a massive understatement (sales reps are told that parents willing to invest over $30,000 should be their primary target). For a company reputed to be worth $380 million and with former prime minister John Key on its board, it certainly raises a few eyebrows.
Transphobic. Biphobic. Misogynistic. Welcome to Christchurch’s only ‘gay bar’. Cruz insist they’re “the safest place for Christchurch’s gay community”, but their attitudes towards women and transgender people certainly suggest otherwise. After posting a picture of a sidewalk sign advertising its misogyny and transphobia on Facebook, Cruz continued its assault with hateful comments. “Some seem to think that displaying an open hatred for women and gender minorities is revolutionary,” wrote Hadassah Grace. “In fact, it’s the same misogyny that straight culture has been struggling with for centuries… It breaks my heart to think of young queer and trans people seeing this sign, and thinking there are no spaces where they will ever belong.”
Five key questions about the new super-broadcaster to replace TVNZ and RNZ. There are a number of critical questions which need answering in light of reports that the government is considering disestablishing TVNZ and RNZ to create a new public media entity. Will TVNZ and RNZ cease to exist? How will the commercial and non-commercial be balanced? And what would happen to NZ On Air? Duncan Greive spoke to several well-placed sources in public and private media in an effort to get some answers.
Just quickly, a brief word from Sam Brooks, culture editor at The Spinoff:
"The Spinoff is one of the most unique places I've ever worked. Part of that is the working environment, part of that is the opportunity to write passionately about what matters to me, and part of that is the engagement we get from our audience. The Spinoff Members is a way to turn that passion into a real tangible action. What we write about won't get written without your support."
We welcome Behrouz Boochani – and we can learn from him, too. “What made the wait at Auckland Airport difficult for me was the memory of my own walk through that airport as a child with my asylum seeker parents,” Green MP and former refugee Golriz Ghahraman wrote in the wake of Behrouz Boochani’s arrival in NZ. “We got to arrive in a nation that recognised our humanity and afforded us a legal process where we could prove our persecution. We were treated as equals, because inherent in the right to claim asylum is the acknowledgement that no one deserves to live with the risk of torture or violence. I got to escape that world, while Behrouz grew up in it. He paid a high price for holding on to his humanity under an oppressive theocracy.”
Who really owns Ōwairaka? Last week, there was a protest over the removal of non-native trees from Ōwairaka (Mt Albert) to regenerate thousands of native plants, but as Ben Thomas pointed out: loving something doesn’t mean owning it. “What’s really grating about the Ōwairaka protestors is an almost brattish refusal to recognise that this is just one more act in a long tradition of iwi generosity in Auckland… The iwi of Tāmaki Makaurau continue to welcome guests with open arms. And they continue to have it thrown back in their faces by a small but noisy minority.”
When having two kids is infinitely easier than one. In this incredibly sweet and heartfelt piece, Catherine Woulfe reflects on life since the birth of her daughter, Leo. She recounts how she struggled when her firstborn, Ben, was a baby: “I loved him but I lost myself, and cried a lot. It took years to let go of the anxiety that surrounded his traumatic birth,” she wrote. “Everyone told us having two would be worse, like that first baby squared times a thousand, that we needed to brace… [but] two has not been like that. Two has been the easiest thing in the world. Easier than one. We have our sweetheart, our missing piece. We have our family, finally, and we have perspective.”
Gwen Stefani’s Love. Angel. Music. Baby. was a pop gem flung out of time and space. It’s been 15 whole years since ‘What You Waiting For’, one of the great pop songs of the decade, hit airwaves. It was Gwen Stefani’s debut song from her debut album, an album that was – and still is – weird, wild and wonderful. “It’s a reminder of when a debut by a major pop star could be an aural throw-paint-at-the-wall affair that was only held together by the charisma and presence of that pop star,” wrote Sam Brooks. “It’s something that I miss in an age where cohesion and publicity have dulled the edges and weirder sides of our pop pioneers into projects for maximum streams and social engagement.”
The Spinoff Weekly is written by staff writer Jihee Junn.