This newsletter is NOT breaking the law
Election day = no politics content
Kia ora and welcome to The Weekend brought to you by Coffee Supreme. It’s election day! Please go and vote if you haven’t already — and I’m going to be having one of the most relaxing days I’ve had in months by keeping up with live updates about dogs at polling booths and no information about politics at all. Why? Because it’s illegal, due to rules that were written before the internet age. Billboards have been completely removed overnight, and political coverage on websites is allowed but only if it was published before midnight yesterday. All the rules are here, if you’re curious, and this is some information about when we’re going to know who has won the election and specific electorates. Political coverage is back on from 7pm when you’ll all presumably be heading straight to thespinoff.co.nz, but in the meantime please enjoy this newsletter full of non-election content!
-Shanti Mathias, staff writer
Join us for election night
We have a massive weekend of election coverage planned. We’re incredibly proud of our work this election. Thanks to the generous support of Spinoff Members, we were able to cover this election more expansively than ever before with writers reporting from Dunedin, Christchurch, Wellington, New Plymouth, Wairarapa, Gisborne, Auckland and Northland. If you’ve valued our 2023 election coverage, now is a great time to join the thousands of people who support The Spinoff by becoming a member or making a donation.
— Madeleine Chapman, Spinoff editor
I keep dreaming about my (married) ex. Should I text him? Help Me Hera!
A reader writes: “Over the past couple of months, I’ve kept having recurring dreams about my high-school ex and I don’t know if I’m trying to read too much into it, but every time I wake up from one, I have a huge urge to text him. I’ve had some great relationships and dates since, but he was my longest relationship (4-5ish years) and I haven’t been in anything that long term since. Is my brain secretly trying to tell me that I need to be more open to pursuing things long-term/taking relationships a little more seriously in the dusk of my youth?” What did Hera advise, and were metaphors about pigs involved? Read the column now!
A blend of several excellent Brazils, roasted medium-dark to give a sweet, milk chocolate cup, a smooth silky body and a long finish. Grab a bag.
Some dogs don’t make it to the polling booth
During lockdown, hundreds of New Zealanders adopted dogs and didn’t spay them, leading to record numbers of dogs needing adoption. That’s had tragic consequences for very full kennels, as Rachel Judkins found out this week, talking to animal shelter workers. “The cost of living can’t be ignored as a catalyst for the roaming dog explosion. Dogs are expensive – not just the basics of food and vet bills but all the things that go along with responsible ownership like registration, neutering and adequate fencing. Many would-be dog owners understand this so adoptions are currently down (putting further strain on shelters) but others don’t realise until it’s too late.”
Get more youthful skin with this one weird trick (owning a house)
Gabi Lardies reports on recent research that shows renters bear the physical impact of ageing sooner than homeowners, even when you control for factors like smoking, stress or diet. “We may have just missed the dip in house prices which are expected to rise again soon, especially if there’s a new government, but at least we all know now that we should stop buying bottles of $50 face slime and save up to buy homes instead. Retinol is the new avocado. If that doesn’t do it, the authors of the study say there are other ways to prevent premature housing-related ageing. “What it means to be a private renter is not set in stone but dependent on policy decisions,” they wrote. Limiting rent increases, giving renters security of tenure and improving their living conditions are cited as ways to help.”
How recipes knit the past with the present
For local artist Bev Moon, creating a knitted version of a yum cha feast was a way to honour her heritage. As part of a collaboration between Auckland Museum and The Spinoff to uncover family recipes, Nina Finigan speaks to Moon about her life and art. Here’s an excerpt. “It’s only recently that I started making stuff to show people. My mother was a refugee and my dad worked two jobs day and night for years. They really wanted us all to be doctors and accountants and lawyers and art was just this frivolous thing. My dad slaved away for 32 years on this wet concrete floor in the fish and chip shop – my art probably wasn’t what he slaved away for. I used to always feel guilty about it. I think that’s why I picked up knitting, because it was useful and there was a reason to do it.”
Does art help us remember the 2010s?
The artists behind public art projects Letting Space have just released a book about the work they did during the 2010s. Here, Mark Amery wonders about the value of art in a time of social crisis. “Perception of visual art remains with painting and sculpture, despite a catalogue of high profile Venice Biennale projects over 23 years. We have not been reaching them. Art’s effect is always dispersed. While you may privately treasure an art object or moment, the artist wonders what good they’re really doing. People, I hope, were inspired by new pathways, new alternatives. The challenge has been to take what we have learnt and work the knowledge into a more embedded engagement over time in a place.”
Everything else (no politics)
It’s always a good day to read some Sunday Essays
“From the womb my body floated, signalled unsafe, my hip detached from the socket even before I entered this world”
“There is comfort in the annual ritual of transferring anniversaries of births, deaths and marriages from one year’s diary to the next ensuring, in my lifetime at least, they will never be forgotten.”
“You’re not born brave, you practice it and you get good at it, and I’m really fucking good at it.”
“In that narrative of anxiety, the inability to trust or love, bodies shaking, nightmares, flashbacks and addiction, I recognised our broken young neighbour straight away.”
“I think of it like a sailboat moored to a jetty. It nearly gets carried away by the ocean’s tides, but keeps coming back.”
Four cool science stories
There is a little bit of science in this neat audio story about jellyfish!
Ellen Ryker’s
unpacks what extreme weather could mean in AotearoaUnderstanding the contagious cancers afflicting Tasmanian devils — and a vaccine that could help
BMI is an ineffective measure of health. This is what could replace it.
Three delicious food stories
What does it mean to cook Modern Chinese food?
The joys of solo eating in the latest edition of
If you want to grow vegetables you need to figure out which bugs are enemies and which are friends
Two fascinating celebrity interviews
Such a cool interview about how Martin Scorscese gained the trust of the Osage nation to make Killers of the Flower Moon
One collection of amazing photos
It’s always so cool to see the photos in New Zealand Geographic’s Photographer of the Year competition, and if you love elections, you can vote for some of your favourites!
