Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: LATE OCTOBER: Life in the Margins: Otherness in New Zealand

74 Responses

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  • Andrew E,

    No one seems to think we'll see riots like those in England recently

    I know some (non-stupid) people that think we will, particularly if the current lot are re-elected for another 3 years.

    However, that's a bit OT, so, as you were, and best wishes for a successful event.

    174.77 x 41.28 • Since Sep 2008 • 200 posts Report Reply

  • Peter Martin,

    any variation from the norm

    We have a wee note in the kitchen..: 'Normal: the average of abnormal'.

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 187 posts Report Reply

  • Jackie Clark,

    Fantastic. Tickets purchased.

    Mt Eden, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 3136 posts Report Reply

  • Christopher Dempsey,

    Great - got my tickets - looking forward to it!

    Parnell / Tamaki-Auckland… • Since Sep 2008 • 659 posts Report Reply

  • Euan Mason,

    Interesting to see how we have progressed since Pearson's time, not the least in that his focus on "man" appears quaint and old fashioned. No doubt our descendents will think some of our unspoken biases are equally quaint.

    Canterbury • Since Jul 2008 • 259 posts Report Reply

  • JamesPL,

    There is no place in normal New Zealand society for the man who is different.

    That isn't the most penetrating insight; if you consider yourself 'different' then, yeah, you won't consider yourself a part of 'normal' society. Plenty of teenagers have had that feeling.

    London • Since Aug 2011 • 4 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to JamesPL,

    That isn’t the most penetrating insight; if you consider yourself ‘different’ then, yeah, you won’t consider yourself a part of ‘normal’ society. Plenty of teenagers have had that feeling.

    Being different and having a place are two different things, though.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Kate Hannah,

    have season tickets - and will not be mising this one.

    Auckland • Since Mar 2010 • 107 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Christopher Dempsey,

    Great – got my tickets – looking forward to it!

    Tell your friends! I really want to get ticket sales roaring for this. Not least because that'll mean I do more of them.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Young,

    We do have *one* gay Cabinet Minister (we used to have two to three under Clark). However, the transgender community still isn't covered under antidiscrimination laws. I take your point about 'marginality' though, Russell, and I've often argued that most of us aren't anymore.

    In contemporary NZ/Aotearoa, most marginality seems attributable to economic inequality and compounding factors like mental illness and community care inadequacies, untreated substance abuse, homelessness and vagrancy and (in New Right discourse) 'welfare dependency'. Ah, for some good old fashioned red-blooded socialism right now...

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 573 posts Report Reply

  • Tony Siu,

    3 refresh, 2 different browsers and half an hour later - I am finally able to buy a ticket to LATE. The Museum's site doesn't really like Safari does it.
    And also, can anyone figure out what's the differences between the payment option Visa and Visa - box office?

    Auckland • Since Mar 2008 • 82 posts Report Reply

  • Jackie Clark, in reply to Tony Siu,

    Yes, Tony, I had to try 4 times before I had any success. And I'm on Google Chrome.

    Mt Eden, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 3136 posts Report Reply

  • Hilary Stace,

    What a great line up and hope it will be available somewhere on line for those of us not in Akld.

    Some comments:
    a)Philip Patson is one of the wisest people I have ever heard
    c) Jacinda Adern will go far - I've long predicted she and Grant R will be Labour's leadership team one day (probably not too far away)
    b) Gender and Women's Studies at Victoria University was a safe place for academic research by/for/about trans gender issues, and it is very sad that this whole department has recently been exterminated.

    Wgtn • Since Jun 2008 • 3229 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    I'm beginning to think we all both at a margin and a center - it all depends on where you're standing, and how self-aware you are that "normal" is a minefield. After the best part of a decade in Auckland, I barely notice that there's a hell of a lot of stores on the Shore where English signs are almost an after thought. And I don't mind being on the bus and eavesdropping on teenagers babbling away languages I don't understand.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Craig Ranapia,

    I’m beginning to think we all both at a margin and a center – it all depends on where you’re standing, and how self-aware you are that “normal” is a minefield.

    Ooh. I'm going to quote that. With due attribution, naturally.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • recordari,

    Can I play Suzanne Vega yet? This song has always been a favourite of mine, out on the fringes.

    AUCKLAND • Since Dec 2009 • 2607 posts Report Reply

  • Jackie Clark, in reply to Craig Ranapia,

    Wise, wise words my darling. We are all, at some stage of our life's work, the ones peering in from the outside, aren't we?

    Mt Eden, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 3136 posts Report Reply

  • chris,

    Sounds superb Russell, hemorrhaging kudos, fittingly timed. With Hilary I'm also hoping some of it makes it online.

    And I don't mind being on the bus and eavesdropping on teenagers babbling away languages I don't understand.

    Oftentimes an infinitely more interesting experience than understanding. When I first moved here (with every intention of returning to eavesdrop....on buses) it was a bit of a let down to find that the phrase I'd overheard most often in NZ net-bars was simply the Mandarin 'fuck!' -Teenagers....

    Mawkland • Since Jan 2010 • 1302 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca, in reply to Russell Brown,

    Being different and having a place are two different things, though.

    That’s really lovely.It's helpful and simplistic

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report Reply

  • Islander, in reply to Sofie Bribiesca,

    +1

    -but I’d say it was simple rather simplistic e Sofie (have just recovered your email – response coming!)

    I am different but I -very fortunately- have several places – home-wise; within the family; within my tribe, and within our motu = lucky lucky lucky!

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca, in reply to Islander,

    yeah, I guess I use simplistic because that does become the most simple experience, the understanding side? Which as a matter of course for me is the best. I have a consistant awareness, that minimal in everything, pure, simple, simplistic is completely helpful to a healthy brain. "Spose because I lost time and am interested where mine went helps :)xx

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report Reply

  • Islander, in reply to Sofie Bribiesca,

    Simplistic means " adopting an over-simple or unsophisticated approach to a complex problem" (Heinemann NZ dict.) whereas Russell's -I think aphorism- had simplicity...which your wonderful brain does have! The pure simplicity of your jewellery - and your words...cheers e hoa-

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    XOXOOo

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia, in reply to Jackie Clark,

    Wise, wise words my darling. We are all, at some stage of our life's work, the ones peering in from the outside, aren't we?

    That's true - and we all live betwixt and between more than most of us think. For the first time in years, I remembered a Polish brother and sister I went to primary school with, who'd talk to each other in Polish. And there were Italian and Greek kids who'd go home to families, and communities, where "normal" was a whole other thing. I'd argue that it's always been a rather simplistic (in a bad sense) reading of this country that it was, and is, a vast Borg Collective of pseudo-Englishmen. The reality, as it always is, is much more complicated - and interesting.

    As the academics say :), the whole concept of "otherness" becomes problematic when you start asking who draws the boundaries, who defines the terms. I also think for all our "Godwits fly" cultural cringing, the best of us are keas - curious, eclectic, constantly looking around and seeing what we can steal and adapt. We go away, come home, asking "what do we keep, what do we put aside and what do we make new?"

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Rich Lock, in reply to Craig Ranapia,

    I'm beginning to think we all both at a margin and a center - it all depends on where you're standing, and how self-aware you are that "normal" is a minefield.

    Also, that generally no-one deliberately chooses to be the outsider.

    back in the mother countr… • Since Feb 2007 • 2728 posts Report Reply

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