Posts by Jackie Clark
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Can I confess to being a Waitangi Day slacker? I'm glad the ceremonies up north went off without major incident, but I felt nothing much about the day.
Same, same, same. I feel so removed from it, really. Haven't always, but do now. Very weary of the hooha. John Key and Tame Iti? The credibility of both gentlemen was not enhanced by that particular little scenario, IMHO. Otherwise I just don't care. A propos of nothing much, when I got to work this morning, none of my colleagues - all Maori - had done owt except take themselves to the foreshore, the sandy bits with sun and pohutukawa. Just another day off, all of us in Mangere agreed.
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The police said yesterday that it was wrong to make a distinction between tagging and graffiti as both were illegal activities that were antisocial, costly to tackle and made people in communities feel unsafe.
God, it's all so small minded. There is a vast difference between tagging, and people who engage in street art. In the not too distant past, there's been some stunning art on the Metrowater tower up the Big King. (Large hill visible from Mt Eden Rd, lge concrete tower on top, fabulous dog park). We've had great discussions about it, my people pack and I. (That would be the owners of the other dogs that go up there. They're a dog pack, we're a .......) Some, one of whom's a police person, don't like it that much. Others, like me, think it's very clever. One of the loveliest is a dog - just that. In other instances, the people who've done it, have written lovely messages to the dog park people by their art. We look forward to seeing new ones.
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I don't know if this is a very profound insight, Rob, but the Queen also pronounces the days of the week that way..
. Angela d'Audney always pronounced the days of the week thus. The intimation, to me anyway, are that broadcasters in that day and age - in NZ, Australia, and Britain - were taught to speak BBC English, and so the posh speak of the Queen and her ruling classes is the source of it.
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A young mother and son had climbed aboard at a childcare centre called Caring and Sharing...........that shearing is being taught at kindergartens
Since we're all being a weeny bit pedantic here, and since you have a wee person, David, who will maybe end up in some sort of preschool educational facility, and since I am a dyed in the wool fiercely proud PUBLIC (ie I work in the public sector) kindergarten teacher, I'm allowing myself to be a little wanky. May I correct you? (please read this with tongue in cheek - sort of). Daycare centres (those that are privately run, be they sessional or all day) and kindergartens are not the same thing. I know most people don't care, and when you're a parent, one thing is much like the other, I would imagine. But since I have to have a degree and be a registered teacher, and I am paid on a par with the Primary sector, and no-one profits from the money that parents give us, and my employer is a registered not-for-profit organisation but the children - the difference is quite significant to me, and to my colleagues in the public sector. No part of Kiddicorp or ABC or Kindercare or other spuriously insulting named organisation are we. So if you could keep those two concepts different please? Cheers :)
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I'm with Deborah - not really sure that consent is possible when one is that intoxicated. Whatever way you look at it, though, did anyone else look at his wife with their wee baby on her hip, and feel uneasy? He had sex with a drunk woman, maybe nonconsensually not that long ago, and here's his young blonde wife with a baby only a few months old, and she's smiling at him, holding his hand...........I know that when times get tough, all else gets pushed aside while the battle is being fought, but still.........
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I've got a solution - bit radical, although quite obvious considering how all the experts concur that a person's future behaviour and psyche is predicated and shaped by the time they are seven. How about compulsory early childhood education? I always find it very interesting that people nod their heads and say "mm, yes, birth to three, most important years........." and then that's it. A lot of head nodding, not much else, really.
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If he was 15, I wouldn't keep control over his account, but I'd look in on it occasionally to see what he used it for, in much the same way before he went out to town with his friends I'd find out where he was going and who he was going with.
Reason 1,099 why I would never want children. So hard, so hard, especially with teens, I think. My colleague at work has a 12 year old who wanted a bebo account. Fair enough, Mum says, as long as I get to edit the content and check what's on it. And she has, much to her daughter's chagrin. I just don't know that they understand, at such a tender age, about how many people will have access to their private thoughts and feelings, and how vulnerable that makes you.
I attempted suicide when I was fourteen because I was a very, very unhappy wee chap.
I'm sorry to hear that Craig, and very glad you didn't succeed. The world would be a much less interesting place without people like you, in it.
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Oh Steve - not quite how we want our holidays to go. Still, you're in one piece, and here to tell the story. And that's the main thing.
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Men in New Zealand, I theorise, bond by swearing at each other. They're uncomfortable with real displays of affection, so they call each other things like wanker, dick, marnus, munter, etc. There's not the slightest overtone of insult, and this kind of interaction is reserved for your best mates. From about my generation on, this behaviour applies to women as well. And I only ever use that kind of light-hearted insult behaviour with good friends. So if I've ever told you to 'harden the fuck up', you can rest assured that I really like you. And if I've always been unfailingly polite, I probably don't feel entirely comfortable with you.
Absolutely. And the Brits do it too. I remember very vividly when living in the UK having a discussion with a couple of Americans re British politeness. They maintained that Brits were very polite - I assured them that that politeness simply meant they didn't like you very much. Stiff upper lip = fuck off out of my face type of thing.
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I guess I’m the only one who would find a tee shirt with Old C**t on the front and Old Coot on the back fun.
Probably not, but I'd leave it at home come the next PA System barbie. I can't imagine bing given a F2F ticking off by Deborah, Emma, Robin, Jackie, Fiona and Tze Ming would end anywhere except behind the couch, curled up in the fetal position and twitching. :)
I'm with Emma, Craig. I like invective - particularly fuck and cunt - probably far more than a woman with my career should, probably. I don't use it in front of my charges, of course, but I do at all other times. To me, it's just good old Anglo Saxon, really. Very expressive and sometimes, just no other words will do. I find women calling themselves and other women "girls" far more offensive.