Posts by Dinah Dunavan
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Southerly: Getting There is Half the Fun, in reply to David Haywood,
It seems like a dream now, but last year when we landed at LAX the immigration man actually joked with us.
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Woohoo!
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Some time in the past, over 20 years ago, I was at a family dinner with a (now former) MP. He talked about supporting choice in abortion law. At the time the new law was being debated he had been warned that his electorate would not support his pro-choice vote. That the (silent) moral majority would be so angry at his stance that he would lose his seat, or his majority would be drastically reduced. The reality was that his majority increased quite substantially at the next election.
So what does this tell me? That the silent moralist are not in the majority, and/or that election night gains have little to do with how an MP votes on one or more issues.
It is just weasely for an MP to refuse to state what they believe in.
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I went in 1980, or was it early 1981. Between 4th and 5th form years. Dad wanted to see a jazz musician, or was it a band?
We arrived late so camped amongst the cars, which would have been a relief to my parents. Ensuring their innocent children avoided the late night partying and drugs, I guess.
I have almost no memory of it. Except buying the coolest singlet (I think it had a rainbow on it), sunbathing topless (next to our tent) and missing out on seeing any penises (my younger sister was more observant ) until I sat up from the topless sunbathing at the same moment a totally naked man walk out of the river in front of me! I think I lay back down and pretended I hadn't seen anything, what a drip I was. My friend Sarah was there, but I never found her, she was busy being baptised, which was never my thing.
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So if I keep being really attracted to Capt. Jack, one day we'll meet and the attraction thing will cause him to instantly (or maybe gradually, that could be more fun) find me really hot too.
Mmmmm I'm just going to think about that for an hour or two.
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Hard News: A week being a long time in politics, in reply to Sonic,
Any candidate who goes into the last week of a campaign complaining about “media bias” is in a losing position, that line may shore up your core support but looks whiney and dishonest to the undecideds
Unless you happen to be Winston Peters, in which case you look strong and pricipled and the swing voters head towards you in droves.
Not releasing the tapes is playing right into Peter's hands. He is getting way more news time than he might have done otherwise and I haven't heard anyone calling "bull shit" on his pronouncements regarding the content of the tapes. Which makes me think that either he knows the content, or the media is his poodle again.
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I came in part way through the Key question time on National Radio and it took three or more questions for me to realise that it was a party political broadcast and not a genuine meeting. I think the (and I am paraphrasing) "I'm a hard working tax payer and I want to know how National is going to screw those dole bludging young people" question was the light bulb moment for me.
Ah! Not just patsy questions but a fake forum.
What was truly amazing was that given such an easy question, Key failed completely to answer it.
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We bought a little house recently (barely 2 bedrooms). On one door frame is a record of the 13 year old's growth spurt in 2006. I'd guess he grew 20-30cm plus that year, he grew nearly 3cm in one month alone. I wouldn't be surprised if his mum was more than happy to leave behind the record of that terrible year of hormones and empty larder and rocketing boy in that tiny space.
My thought on moving is to take everything that you can get in the largest shipping container you can afford. You can always give stuff to the sallies when you get it here and unpack. It is really annoying to unpack and realise that the cheese grater (for example) is an important part of your daily life, and it is a pain having to go out and buy a new one. Especially when there was room for it in the shipping container.
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A tree house doesn't have to be small, but the tree does have to be big.
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I was 16 in 1981 and about as anti-tour as I could be. I marched in Wellington with such joy and excitement to be part of the good fight. But before things got scary I had an operation on my foot which meant I couldn't walk long distances and so I missed out on the really intense marches.
I do recall my father coming home gray faced after Molesworth street and I realised that his view of NZ police had taken a severe turn. Considering that he had been 16 at the time of the 1951 waterfront dispute I am surprised now that he had such a rosy view of NZ authority.
I look back on that era as the golden days of protest. Anti-tour and anti-nuclear marches following not long after the era of anti-war. Such a wonderful time to be young and politically aware.
It is sad that just a few years later not nearly as many people showed up to protest the sale of state assets under the Labour government, or changes to NZ employment law under the National government. It seems incredible that we could muster such feeling to protest against things that we were not directly affected by but when it came to our own futures and jobs we (as a country - not individually) remain silent and apathetic.
