Reasons to repair your clothes

Less plastic going to landfill, for one

Kia ora and welcome to The Weekend, where articles of all shapes and sizes are welcomed and linked to according to my (Shanti’s) sensibilities. The winter solstice has just happened (as an aside, solstice is a very nice word to say) which means that FINALLY IT IS GETTING LESS DARK. I quite like complaining about the tilt of the earth’s axis that bends us towards and away from the sun, because there is nothing I can do about it and it feels good to experience reactions to the seasons (surely a universal human experience) that are not connected to our collectively-created climate crisis. Cheerful! Anyway I have to go and think about my inability to get through sentences without adding parentheses but I will leave you with lols (lots of links). Have a great weekend 🌅

-Shanti Mathias, staff writer

Repairing is the best way to love your clothes

Janhavi Gosavi loves clothing: suede skirts, shiny dresses, interesting T-shirts. And while most of this clothing is secondhand, she also knows that she has way too much of it. “My pants’ synthetic threads are more durable than my flesh and bones; I will be absorbed into the earth while my clothes break down into microplastics,” she writes. Repairing her own wardrobe has helped her to love what she has a little more; to let her clothing be a friend to her, not a stranger. As someone who has been known to demand payment (in ice cream) for stitching people’s buttons back on then giving them sewing kits so they can fix it themselves, I approve this message.

• New plastics rules mean no more plastic straws for most (but plastic textile waste isn’t covered)

How not to go to the moon

Space programmes are absurdly expensive, especially programmes that send humans to space, writes physics professor Richard Easther. Looking through a list of experiments conducted on the International Space Station, he had to wonder: does the scientific value justify the cost? While Easther loves the “nitty gritty playground provided by material experiments in space”, he thinks that the public needs to know what impact this research is having. New Zealand is teaming up with NASA on its Artemis moon project and we already have launches happening here thanks to Rocket Lab. Easther hopes that the government’s contribution can go beyond the space hype cycle.

• Read some of The Spinoff’s previous reporting on Rocket Lab, including its involvement with the US military

Giving and receiving go hand in hand

It’s National Volunteer Week, and Alice Mander wants to add nuance to the idea that disabled people exist to receive the services of volunteers. She interviews her friend Lauren — who has volunteered with Girl Guiding, St John and Otago University student welfare and is also disabled. Sometimes, Lauren has encountered people who don’t think she has something to contribute because of her disability. “People say ‘Oh no, you can’t do that’, but have you asked if I can do that? Or did you discuss that with me first?” says Lauren. It’s time to widen that view, argues Mander. “We know that giving and receiving is not a binary, and that you can help others, even if sometimes you need help too.”

• A new TVNZ programme shows people with dementia working in a restaurant. It’s a compassionate watch, says Tara Ward

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The inescapable pain of cluster headaches

It started in 2020. Spinoff live updates editor Stewart Sowman-Lund was woken at 3am by a blistering headache, so painful and intense he couldn’t lie still. Twelve hours later, it happened again, continuing in this pattern for several days. Cluster headaches — the kind Stewart experiences — are relatively rare and poorly understood. They occur regularly for several days or weeks, then disappear. For people going through a cluster, the lack of clarity around how to manage the condition magnifies the pain. “I was literally swigging whiskey straight from the bottle to get some shut eye before facing another day,” says Craig Stewart, who gets cluster headaches too. As applications for new treatments go through Pharmac, doctors want people to know: there is hope.

The incredible rediscovery of a waka in Pātea

A precious taonga has been discovered in Taranaki; a waka at least a century old was found as part of surveying in Pātea earlier this month. Airana Ngarewa, whose father is an iwi historian, was part of a spectacular moment for the community as the waka, carved from resilient tōtara, was lifted out of the mud. “Because of its make, the area where it was found, the adze marks on the hull and the lashing holes, it is believed to be at least 154 years old,” he writes. It’s a reminder of how Māori were forced to leave the area after colonial forces attacked the Kuranui Pā where they were sheltering. Named Kuranui, the waka has been taken away for conservation, which may take several years.

Watch: Does everyone have a right to learn te reo Māori? 

In the first episode of 2 Cents 2 Much, Janaye Henry dives back into her reo journey. The revitalisation of te reo Māori is well under way and more and more New Zealanders are (re)learning the language. But resources for more intensive learning are limited, so how can we ensure that the right people are learning the language? Janaye speaks to her kaiako Jordyn with a Why and asks if Māori language classes should prioritise Māori applicants over Pākehā and tauiwi. And is Jordyn mad that Janaye dropped out of her own classes? Featuring an original revitalisation song from Janaye and Jordyn with a Why. 

Everything else

• Yes, there’s a good reason that ethnicity should be a factor to prioritise healthcare

• Another young public sector worker in Wellington explains why his $500 shoes were a good investment

• Shanti’s podcast corner: have been meaning to recommend The Good Sex Project for a few weeks — a very curious and compassionate show about sex and relationships which is great for nosey people like yours truly. We’re so lucky to get this kind of audio programming in New Zealand!

• Kate Raworth invented Doughnut Economics. What happened next?

• Homebound 3.0 — about adults living with their parents — is the romcom you’ve been waiting for

• How to be a good strip club guest

• Discovering some of the oldest-known cave engravings from human ancestors

• Ko wai matou: looking at artistic responses to how Māori interact with water

• The origin of supermarket own brands — some are decades old!

• Shanti does stupid things corner: I went an entire week without leaving the street I live on. Luckily, it’s a long street.

• Why does a maritime disaster involving the ultra-rich and a submarine get so much more attention than one involving hundreds of refugees?

• Claire Mabey goes for a wander with New Zealand’s literary witches

• Using fungi to understand the lost world of a remote Pacific island

• In palm oil land, indigenous people race to put their land on the map

• “Is it worth making friends when I know I’m going to leave, even if I’m getting sick of my partner?” Help me Hera!

• Every. Single. Kiri and Lou song. Ranked!

• Is the age of influencers dominating Instagram coming to an end?