ICYMI: What Taika Waititi directing Star Wars means for Māori
4 May - 11 May
Siouxsie Wiles & Toby Morris: Why our run of low Covid-19 numbers does not mean jump now. Last week, New Zealand reported it’s first few days of no new cases of Covid-19. Considering that at one point we were recording more than 90 new cases in a single day, our recent run of low numbers is an incredible feat – a testament to the good that can happen when we work together for the public good. As a result, we’ll soon be moving to alert level two, but as Dr Siouxsie Wiles explains, that doesn’t mean we can afford to be complacent.
How 26 nations are responding to the crisis, in one place. All over the world, governments have taken extraordinary measures to stem the malevolent spread of Covid-19. Each country’s approach has been unique in its own way, deploying policies with varying degrees of success. There’s a lot we can learn from looking at what other countries are doing which is why the Policy team, which many will be familiar with for their comparison tool at the last general and local elections, has created Covid-19 Policy Watch. This time, reinventing the system from those elections to track government responses to the virus around the world
Empire and rebellion: What Taika Waititi directing Star Wars means for Māori. After making his mark on the Marvel Universe with Thor and then the Oscars with Jojo Rabbit, filmmaker Taika Waititi is now set to direct the next instalment of one the most popular movie franchises of all time: Star Wars. Dan Taipua, who last wrote about the indigenous ideologies present in Thor: Ragnarok, is back to explain why having a uniquely Māori spirit at the helm is so exciting. (But also: don’t get too excited. There’s still a massive challenge left to overcome.)
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Apiecalypse now: The baker battling lockdown bleakness with pastry. This isn't your usual “channelling lockdown emotions into baking” story – these expletive-laden, highly creative pies by Devoney Scarfe takes pastry to a whole new level. Fiona Fraser talked to Scarfe about channelling her hopelessness and frustration through the medium of pies and recounts that her first was a “pie” chart with three sections labelled Fuck. This. Shit. “I presented my family with my pie chart and said, ‘This is how I feel about today.’ I sliced the pie, passed my oldest son a portion and said, ‘Here you are darling. You can eat shit.”
Punakaiki: What the Covid-19 crisis means for a small West Coast tourist town. “Halfway between Westport and Greymouth, Punakaiki usually heaves with rental cars, campers and buses during the summer. More than 400,000 people visit the unique geological formations known as the pancake rocks every year, according to a footfall counter near the entrance,” writes local freelancer Teresa Wyndham-Smith. “Today the walkway to the quintessential West Coast tourism attraction is deserted, yellow tape and a Covid-19 sign barring the way. In recent weeks the only vehicle that has passed through on SH6 is the occasional milk tanker. Apart from the weka and about 75 locals, the township is empty.”
Children don’t need to be in a classroom to learn. Every parent trying their best right now deserves a round of applause, because between feeding/bathing/supervising children and taking care of household chores and bills, you’ve probably also had to add homeschooling to your lockdown list of things to do. While schools have said to parents they “do not expect you to be a teacher”, many still worry their kids are missing out on “real” learning. But as Jessie Moss explains: “learning happens everywhere… [and] we don’t need to be trained. How we connect and relate to our children is what counts”.
Art in the waiting room. “Who cares about the art in the waiting room?” art editor Megan Dunn asks at the beginning of her piece. “[It’s] not art with a capital A, not the kind of art that an art writer such as myself would bother to write about”. But in the last year, Megan has had a chance to reevaluate after spending many hours in waiting rooms at Auckland Hospital. She reflects on her experience in this beautiful and affecting personal essay.
The Spinoff Weekly is written by Jihee Junn