Kia ora and welcome to The Weekend, where I try to export my hobby of reading all weekend (and all week tbh) to my beloved subscribers. Last Saturday, I was reading a book about exercise in a hut I’d tramped to, which was a delicious juxtaposition of two of my favourite activities: absorbing fun facts and moving my body. This weekend, I do not want any juxtapositions and intend only to read articles on the couch, ideally accompanied by some Coffee Supreme. This predilection made me especially appreciate Claire Mabey’s ode to sustained silent reading — I hope you get to make some time for words this weekend.
-Shanti Mathias, staff writer
Ingrid Hipkiss had to say yes to Morning Report
This is only Ingrid Hipkiss’s second time being the new person at work, she tells Stewart Sowman-Lund. After two decades in the media, all of it spent at Newshub and its predecessor 3News, the presenter is excited about trying a new medium as the newest co-host of RNZ’s flagship programme, Morning Report. While she’s been presenting the half-hour late night show on Newshub, and the weather before that, Hipkiss started off as a political reporter. With Morning Report, she plans to use that skillset again. The show is an institution in a rapidly-shifting industry and Hipkiss knows she’ll be compared to those who’ve gone before. “At the end of the day, you go in and you do your very best.”
Introducing the Coffee Supreme Iced Coffee range. Roasted for flavour, cold-brewed for taste and canned for convenience —good times by the can are here. Perfect for those rushed mornings, sunny arvos or when you’re packing the chilly bin. Available online by the 4-pack now or by the can at your local cafe who uses Supreme. Grab yours.
At The Spinoff, we’ve started a new weekly series called The Cost of Being, where anonymous people from around the motu talk about what they buy and how it makes them feel. In this week’s instalment, a vegetarian Aucklander saves money for an overseas holiday and indulges in a one kg pot of hummus. Home ownership doesn’t appeal, she says: “I realised that for people of my age, stage and circumstance, there are other, better ways to build wealth.” Instead, she’s riding an e-bike and investing money where she can. If you’re keen to be part of the series, get in touch!
Traditionally, museums haven’t been very good at collecting recipes — partially because many recipes just don’t get written down. But when museum curator Nina Finigan discovered a handwritten book of recipes from 1813, it made her think about how loud the voices in collections can be — and how much doesn’t get collected at all. “Objects like this recipe book are so precious because, among many things, they document the lived, everyday experiences of women. They whisper to us of their interior worlds and about what knowledge they held,” she writes. To make some of these voices louder, Finigan is looking for more recipes, from more people, to keep a record of what has sustained different people through the generations.
Our editorial work is made possible by Spinoff members. Yesterday, The Spinoff was nominated in 14 categories at the Voyager Media Awards. I was nominated (😇) in the junior feature writer category for some of myfavouritestories from last year, all of which took weeks or months to write. I'm so grateful for the time to do this kind of journalism - but these nominations only represent a fraction of the work published on our reader-supported website. If you're a member already, thanks so much from this first-time nominee. If you appreciate the stories shared in The Weekend and want them to keep happening, become a member or donate to The Spinoff today.
Around our country’s biggest city is the Hauraki Gulf, dotted with islands, home to seagrass and snails, sharks and snapper, shearwaters and scallops. It’s also an ecosystem in deep distress, says Alex Stone. There’s an estimated 57% decline in fish and a 97% decline in whales and dolphins, confirmed over decades of scientific research. But while the fact of the destruction is widely acknowledged, successive government have ignored an obvious solution: a network of marine reserves, covering different habitats through the gulf, and more stringent regulation to prevent overfishing. It’s vital to listen to the evidence, Stone says. “We must do better, for the sake of our mokopuna.”
Ronan Payinda is a second year medical student at the University of Auckland. Part of his education is dissection. “Before I first cut into a dead body, it was as if there had been a curtain blocking me from a clear view of mortality,” he writes in this essay. In the past, the bodies for dissection were sometimes dug up by grave-robbers — a brutal process that didn’t respect the gift of learning the bodies offered. This year, after requests from students, the university lifts the tapu from the bodies, acknowledging that the process has a spiritual significance. “I held the instruments more steadily. Nerves and muscle and tissue were revealed under the stark lights of the lab. But even as the hours went by, the thought kept returning: this could have been the tūpāpaku of somebody I knew.”
Doing a solid for early risers BurgerFuel is fuelling the AM with its first ever breakfast menu! And because they want you firing on all cylinders, the all-day menu will also be cranking first thing. Want a Bastard with onion rings before 9am? You’re in luck, the full BurgerFuel menu will be available from 8am Wednesday - Sunday. Pair your favourite meal with a cup of Good Joe Coffee* and you’re set for the day. Head to your local BurgerFuel or the BurgerFuel website to learn more. BurgerFuel breakfast is available Wed-Sun, 8am to 11am for a limited time. *Coffee available at select stores.
Extremely great narrative journalism abouta mountain disaster (if you enjoy this subgenre, this podcast about a winter summit of K2 is another great example)
And finally, Gone by Lunchtime says: The old Three Waters can’t come to the phone right now. Why? Because it’s affordable water reforms.
