Good Friday chats!

Fun, weird, interesting reads!

Kia ora! I said last Friday that I wouldn’t do a Friday Night Chats this week because of Easter weekend but decided instead I’d just do Good Friday Chats for anyone stuck at home who wants to read and chat.

We loaded up the car yesterday for our wee roadie and I feel so lucky to be able to take a few days off. If you are stuck where you are due to Covid, cost of living or mahi - never fear! Here are some chats to keep you entertained (hopefully).

Every Friday we do Friday Night Chats (FNC) at 5pm so if you like this please consider becoming a paid subscriber and you’ll get it too. Usually it includes a personal update from me, some insider goss maybe, or just some inane family stuff that might be relatable.

But becoming a paid subscriber also means you can comment and chat and it means you’re supporting me to do this mahi that I love. Which is covering issues I think are important to all of us in the community, and doing advocacy work to support the community.

So please sign up if that appeals to you! Thank you to everyone who already subscribes, it means the world to me. And this past week when I’ve been collecting hundreds of stories from the community about the cuts to disability supports your subscription has made the biggest difference. It’s because of you that I’ve been able to devote each day to making sure politicians get all of these stories and we plan strategically to ensure our community is supported.

Oh and I wrote all of this before Penny Simmonds’ latest attacks on the community. Best believe I have already put in an OIA 😠

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

And Happy Easter to all who celebrate. If you have a moment please join the call for the New Zealand government to grant emergency humanitarian visas to Palestinians in Gaza who have family in Aotearoa. It is beyond easy. Just use this template - I promise you it’s super fast to do. If you’re on social media please encourage others to do the same by sharing the Grant The Visas website and the hashtag #GrantTheVisas.

Onto the chats:

What I’m reading:

A Crowded Dinner Table

Tina from Turners

Two sets of twins discuss queerness, disability and ‘twintersectionality’

Chumbawamba wrote Tubthumping as a working-class anthem. We won’t have it stolen by the right

After seven decades of fighting, disabled people are still vulnerable when it comes to support

Concerts are too expensive right? by

Chris Schulz

Can a friend be your most significant other?

The demise of TVNZ’s Sunday spells the end of long-form current affairs – just when we need it most.

I absolutely adored this wonderful article - ‘At 80, I’ve discovered a sexual energy I didn’t know I had’

Chris Hipkins might just be the one to make a wealth tax work for Labour

21st-Century Missionary Style - How Christian social-media influencers, from Hailey Bieber to Ballerina Farm, made their faith—and the trad-wife trappings that come with it—palatable to the mainstream. (If you don’t want to sign up to AirMail just use Pocket to read this).

‘End of the world vibes’: why culture can’t stop thinking about apocalypse.

Deciding whether to publish my book in Israel by

Tusiata Avia

This is very American but still interesting Who pays when AI steers your doctor wrong? And related: Treatments tailored to you: how AI will change NZ healthcare, and what we have to get right first.

I was 14. He was 22. If it wasn’t grooming, what is?

I knew the facts about millennials but I wasn’t ready to admit the life my parents had would never be mine

Filipovic says generational inequality is not simply a concocted culture war but a tangible economic and political divide which has the potential to worsen divisions.

I have seen this online and in real life. As my elders blame younger generations for not pulling themselves up by their bootstraps, I watch as friends and family fall down rabbit holes looking for answers to why they can not create the life they feel they have been promised.

Too many movies are way too f***ing long at

The Review

The U.S. Government Defended the Overseas Business Interests of Baby Formula Makers. Kids Paid the Price.

How Covid changed nursing - I would really like to read a New Zealand version of this.

I loved this piece so much - Road to Polyfest

On Sunday, I got to the kitchen at 6.30am. That’s kaupapa, right? Makes you wake up at ungodly hours of the morning when you never otherwise would. Has you joking with the other parents as someone does the fry-up of the leftover potatoes and kūmara, and someone scrambles the eggs. I reheat the panikeke.

Winston Peters and Phil Collins by

Simon Sweetman

I don't want a Mom Water™ by

Sara Petersen

The latest drama in “poverty porn” YouTube, explained

On Princesses and Privacy by

Clementine Ford

And Announcing Kate Middleton’s cancer diagnosis should have been simple. But the palace let it get out of hand.

What I’m watching:

I rewatched Road House the fantastic 1989 Patrick Swayze movie on TVNZ on demand. There has been remake which is on Amazon Prime. I don’t have any interest in watching the remake unless someone can guarantee that Jakey G is going to bang a hot blonde against the wall to the 1962 classic by Otis Redding “These Arms”.

So, I decided to see Road House (89) again because I remember seeing it when I was a lot, lot younger and just being absolutely ferally horny for Patrick Swayze.

In particular, the aforementioned banging scene where Swayze lifts Kelly Lynch into the air and bangs her against a wall was important to my youth. As was Swayze doing Tai Chi by the river while all sweaty. As was Swayze climbing a rope in an angry workout montage.

Patrick Swayze was my first love and I’m happy to say that not only does Road House absolutely hold up - I actually appreciated new things which are in no particular order (and almost all related to Sam Elliot) are:

• I am now deeply attracted to Sam Elliot whose appearance in the film I did not care about when I saw it as a teen.

• Swayze wears some pants in a fight scene at the costumer purposely cut out the top of them so you can see his belly button.

• Sam Elliot’s hair.

• Sam Elliot’s character is called Wade Garrett which is basically the two most popular first names in all cowboy smut.

What I’m listening to:

I’m going to listen to RNZ’s new podcast called Nellie’s Baby. It’s an eight-part documentary series that follows Sarah’s journey to uncover the truth about her birth mother’s tragic life and mysterious death. It’s hosted by one of NZ’s best journalists Kirsty Johnston.

I absolutely loved Blindboy’s latest podcast about the history of the digestive biscuit. Just truly wonderful and a balm to my tired old soul.

Still bored?

I’m very much enjoying Sideswipe being back!

Sideswiped: The comfort of nostalgia

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