Bonjour tous le monde, from a TGV (high-speed train). As I write this, I'm somewhere between Lyon and Zurich. As the third largest city in France, I did not know what to expect from Lyon. Already lucky enough to have visited Europe on two separate occasions, the only places in France I had been were Paris… Continue reading Je ne suis pas Lyonnaise… encore
It has been more than a little bit heartbreaking seeing the fear and frustration from students post-NZ election. Many of my students are fierce climate activists, proud tangata whenua, queer, trans and/or advocates against social injustice. One came up to me after class recently and said in a panic, will National really get rid of… Continue reading Painful Politics, Indigenous Rights and Climate
Daily writing promptList 10 things you know to be absolutely certain.View all responses I have never used a WordPress prompt before, but I have been tempted! The philosopher in me could not resist today's prompt: List 10 things you know to be absolutely certain. There are so many different tacks I could take here, but… Continue reading 10 Things I Know to Be Absolutely Certain
While in the changing room post-swim the other day, a poster caught my eye. Christchurch City Council's new campaign, It's Cool Not to Be Cruel centres around reminding people to treat CCC's employees with basic human decency. Abuse towards customer service employees has been on the rise. Part of me was shocked to learn this,… Continue reading Kind Strangers, Angry Strangers
Just a quick one from me today. I'm well aware of the gravity of my two previous posts. I think this calls for an explorative, gratitude-focused interruption of my doomsdayism journalling. Keeping it simple, I've decided to share an exhaustive list of current things I'm grateful for. Perhaps you could give one a go? While… Continue reading Flexing the Gratitude Muscle: A Tempeh-Loving 90s Baby’s Exposé
Western paradigms, systems and ideologies (*cough* capitalism, neoliberalism) are unequivocally to blame for the predicament unfolding before us every single day. So far, Jason Hickel's Less is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World has laid out emergence of capitalism, and it's pretty dang ugly. In short, there was a gradual shift humanity's relationship to… Continue reading Climate Change: Adapting, Accepting and Actually Having a Life (Part Two)
Genuinely - I never thought I could be this happy. Weird way to start a climate change post, but how goes it? I'm currently reading Less is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World by Jason Hickel, and I'm simultaneously enthralled, numbed and compelled. Compelled to talk about this shit once more, to build upon… Continue reading Climate Change: Adapting, Accepting and Actually Having a Life (Part One)
I never thought I'd get paid to pass on existential dread to teenagers. I'm kidding of course: they bring their own, and they bring it in bucketloads. We share in the joy that is questioning everything, including but not limited to unmovable movers, uncaused causers, infinite regresses, and... temporality. Enter: Jeremy Bearimy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFm9ClqlGuo This term… Continue reading Philosophising with Kids, Paradoxes and Inventing Religions
It's Christchurch Pride, and what better way to celebrate than to throwback to a spoken word I wrote about religious trauma, crushing on a straight girl, and the catharsis of coming out? (yaaaay) For realsies though, even though this is an old poem now, and I have outgrown it in many ways, I love how… Continue reading Confession (Spoken Word Poem)
This may surprise some, but I don't write-off my entire Christian past as negative. The relationship I have with that life stage is a complex and nuanced one, and I learned a lot through this time - through people, experiences and community. Autistic Burnout My mental health as a Christian teenager regularly fluctuated. I had… Continue reading Ex-Christianity Revisited: Mental Health, Autistic Burnout & the Church
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