Throw the kitchen links at it
Our annual summer reading extravaganza
Kia ora and welcome to The Weekend brought to you by Coffee Supreme. This is our last edition for the year so it has a LOT in it, and can hopefully be a reference for long dreamy holiday mornings when you really need some good journalism to dive into. Speaking of diving in, a piece I wrote about swimming this week was sparked by the question: why is it that in this country of oceans and rivers, water in major urban centres is so often unsafe to swim in? And what can we do about it? The answers are complex, and involve both regulation and investment, but the joy and pleasure of swimming is a reminder of why change is vital. OK, now on to great reads from this week and this year, plus podcasts and videos too!
-Shanti Mathias, staff writer
Six things to read from this week
This week, we lost legendary writer Renée, who has been described as a “taonga”: funny, generous with her time, thoughtful of other’s needs. The Spinoff’s books section gathered notes from many Aotearoa writers who wanted to say goodbye.
New regulations mean that thousands of disposable vapes are being sold at cut prices before the law changes next week. Stewart Sowman-Lund talks to industry representatives and advocates about the issues this raises.
Winston Peters courted the conspiracy vote. He now has a rabbit hole problem.
Viva La Dirt League has six million YouTube subscribers and an incredibly expensive studio in Henderson. Sam Brooks, who sometimes seems to be the only journalist who pays attention to gaming culture in New Zealand, talks to them about their filmmaking.
Duncan Greive goes to Auckland’s TikTok house, where three young creators have amassed millions of views and are asking: what’s next?
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Podcast break: Dear Jane
The Spinoff produces heaps of good regular podcasts, from the insights on Business is Boring to the new ideas of When the Facts Change to the hilarious political analysis from Gone by Lunchtime to the media goss on The Fold. But the standout show from this year was undoubtedly the limited series Dear Jane, where a woman comes to terms with a secret sexual relationship she had in her teens with her older youth pastor. It’s heavy, complex stuff, but done with an incredible amount of care and thought — and it’s also just great storytelling.
Six of The Spinoff’s best longer reads from 2023
Kim Hill retired last month. Toby Manhire’s longform profile of her is excellent - and RNZ’s Nights is airing some of her best interviews as reruns.
The Spinoff’s Quarter Million series has tracked the inquiry into Abuse in Care. There are testimonies from individuals about the abuse they experienced, and profiles of places where abuse took place, from a Catholic boys school, to an institution where disabled people were kept from their families to a “bootcamp” on Great Barrier Island to a children’s home. Keep an eye out for two final pieces wrapping up the series next week, reflecting on what survivors want from the inquiry and how this must never happen again.
This essay about the generosity of cadaver donation for medical learning is so beautiful.
What does the system of international student visas tell us about New Zealand’s relationship to overseas labour? I wrote a story about Indian students, the second-biggest “market” for our education sector, to find out.
When supermarkets are ever-more expensive, special deals become more attractive. But who really pays for these offers?
Alex Casey wrote this oral history of Dei Hamo’s We Gon’ Ride and its music video, and the full story has heaps of incredible details.
Thank you, and welcome to the table
We launched our fundraising campaign for What’s Eating Aotearoa just over three weeks ago. The line we tagged to it was “an ambitious fundraising campaign for an equally ambitious editorial project”.
We did not anticipate just how many of our supporters would rally four weeks out from Christmas at the end of a tough year to support longform journalism. We had an inkling the idea would be received well, but to have had more than $54,500 pledged from 1,148 people in three weeks has been an extraordinary reminder for us of the strength of our community, the merit of the idea and people’s goodwill towards (and belief in) The Spinoff.
We hit our target and then some. We end this year ready to take a break, enjoy some good kai and prepare for this ambitious editorial project. We cannot wait to share the work with you.
Ngā mihi nui, thank you and have a restful holiday season.
— Mad Chapman, editor of The Spinoff
Video break!
Maybe your ideal summer will involve some time shuffling letter tiles around a board? If so, you’ll love The Spinoff’s documentary Every Word Counts, about the Scrabble community, and you might benefit from these scrabble tips too.
There was an election this year! That’s right… The video series Youth Wings has a refreshing take on politics from young people signed up to different parties.
For a nostalgia throwback, the entire series of Get It To Te Papa is now on YouTube! Get amongst!
Six good bits from regular features
This year The Spinoff introduced features that offer advice, a look into other people’s spending patterns, bookshelves, and TV habits (in addition to our long running series The Friday Poem and The Sunday Essay). Here’s a favourite from each.
The Cost of Being: A thrifty rural nana living with mokopuna
“My friend’s boyfriend is my nemesis for no good reason.” Help me Hera!
Raf Manji’s esoteric book taste and hatred of a TikTok favourite
Robyn Malcolm still gets called “Mrs. West”, and more of the After The Party star’s life in TV
There’s something so warm and tender and funny about the Friday Poem 021 by Emma Shi
The entire Sunday Essay archive is full of treasures, but this essay about bugs particularly reminds me to keep an eye out for things that crawl and fly
My six favourite links from beyond The Spinoff
I listened to the stunning short podcast series The Outlaw Ocean in January and have been thinking about it ever since. It’s about all the ways the fluidity of the ocean also creates legal challenges — leading to overfishing and human exploitation. The sound design is very very good.
This was the year of Ozempic. This longread from Elle Hunt on Vice is a compelling way to understand what the drug says about eating and desire.
Inside the device you’re reading this on, miniature etched circuits are flowing with electricity. But what really happens inside a semi-conductor factory?
After Cyclone Gabrielle, images of the damage wrought by forestry slash were vivid reminders of destruction. But after the cameras go home, someone has to clean up; Aaron Smale’s visit to Tairāwhiti in October revealed the longer story about forestry in region.
The Guardian’s My Best Shot series has heaps of interesting images and I feel like every entry gives me a sense of how to see the world differently.
Sometimes beautiful animals don’t get the attention they deserve — because they’re worms. And yet the descriptions in this story about New Zealand’s unique, complex velvet worms made me feel awe for the endangered creatures.