Posts by Jolisa
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Chiming in belatedly on the original subject: You know that feeling of disappointment, when you discover that everyone was actually way smarter and better-looking in your imagination than they turn out to be in real life?
Me neither.
It was delightful to meet so many of you in person. What a splendid bunch!
(Hope I haven't just re-proven Giovanni's point.)
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Susannah, and hungrymama (and everyone else reporting in, but those are the names I see on the page in front of me): thank you for writing. There is honesty in complexity and it makes the whole picture bigger.
And Jackie: oh. Just, oh.
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Hard News: Mind Blending, in reply to Deborah,
Deborah, so bummed to hear you can't make it on the night. BUT: I am in Wgtn from Tuesday morning. Email me?
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Hard News: Mind Blending, in reply to Danielle,
That's the one - bunt away!
I understand David and Bob are looking for a few hot playdates, as well... know a good playground?
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Hard News: Mind Blending, in reply to Russell Brown,
David last seen in Fruitvale (who knew there was a part of Auckland called Fruitvale?) where we dropped him off at his vehicle. I trust he made it safely the rest of the way.
Also, for the record: apparently he only hugs fellow introverts. I was never so glad to be one!
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Local variations thereupon, using found materials.
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Hard News: What Now?, in reply to Robyn Gallagher,
Oh yes! The paper loghouses by Shigeru Ban. I'd forgotten about those. Wonder what we have to hand, for similar use...
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Hard News: What Now?, in reply to Kate Hannah,
Where all the different ways people contribute to society count, not just the things they get paid for. (small rant: when my father-in-law was out of work last year, he went on every school trip with the grandies. The teachers LOVED having this engaged intelligent grandparent who would spend his whole time explaining things to the kids – how does the welfare working group even pretend to understand how to value that contribution?).
Yes. Precisely. A pause while we all go and re-read Counting for Nothing (with appropriate revisionist nuancing, where necessary, of the old-school gender binary it sprang from) (probably not that much nuancing needed, more's the pity).
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Hard News: What Now?, in reply to Tom Semmens,
The replacement street doesn't have to be in the same place (see also: New Orleans) but yes, point taken.
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Hard News: What Now?, in reply to Emma Hart,
What Emma said, re affirmative action for people working out of Chch.
And this:
Poor people, poor housing, distinct lack of resourcing. A lot of people who were about to get kicked in the crotch by Welfare Reform anyway.
Is it naive to hope that a pause button has been pressed on that proposal by the horrible coincidence of nature randomly kicking these people in the crotch? And not just a pause button, but a rewind. Indeed, an eject. Taking us back to first principles: inasmuch as we do to the least of our brethren, etc.
Not to get ahead of ourselves or anything, but: like many an aesthete & utopian I can't help hoping for really positive and beautiful things to come out of the rebuilding process, especially in the visible heritage areas. Old made new, new that looks old (it can be done), brilliant hybrids, safe and gorgeous. The symbolism will be huge.
But that will be mostly for show if creative rebuilding doesn't start immediately at the other end, too: neighbourhoods constructed around the needs of the neediest. New urbanist principles, mixed-income housing communities, post-oil transport strategies. If a whole street is uninhabitable, make a new one that embraces a mews for bikes and collective cars. Facilitate collective onsite childcare, collaborative cooking. Ensure supermarkets within walking distance of all. Rethink house design that assumes all families are nuclear. Rethink state housing altogether. I'm just randomly brainstorming, really, howling into the dust, but I'm inspired by examples like this and this, and always by this and this.