Fickle feminism better than none at all?
So Paula Bennett is our new Deputy Prime Minister and has five portfolios: State Services, Climate Change Issues, Police, Tourism, and Women. Hmmm. I wonder which of those will fall Continue Reading →
Author Archives: writehanded
That nondrinking life
I’m reading Kim Addonizio’s Confessions From a Writing Life. I’m surrounded by piles of junk mail from various supermarkets filled with holiday deals on beer and wine. The sun is Continue Reading →
What it takes to feel “normal”
If you’re a person living with mental health challenges or mental illness, you’re probably very familiar with the many hurdles you have to jump to get help. Are you sick Continue Reading →
The Walking Stick Tree
Someone told me about Trish Harris’ The Walking Stick Tree – a memoir by a woman diagnosed with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis when she was six – a week ago, and within a Continue Reading →
‘No one would choose to live in poverty’
The National government reckons they’re getting more and more people off the benefit – but is that true? And if it is, what is happening to those people? Guest writer Alicia Continue Reading →
Disasters and people with disabilities
What happens if a quake hits and you can’t look after you? There are many people in our communities who are vulnerable. I’ve been thinking about what that means since Sunday Continue Reading →
Please don’t cut our lifeline
New Zealand is in a mental health crisis. And the services at the front lines of that crisis are under threat. What will happen if they don’t exist anymore?
Folks: inside chronic illness
I write for Folks magazine. They feature people living with disabilities or chronic illness – the stories are about who these people are, not just their diagnosis.
I’m a slacktivist and I’m alright
Yeah, I’m a slacktivist. I don’t go to protests. I don’t look at news sites. I rarely give money. And I haven’t even been writing. So where does that leave Continue Reading →
‘I hate almost everything about poetry except poetry itself.’
Hera Lindsay Bird was here for the Nelson Arts Festival. So I took a bunch of painkillers and drank a lot of coffee and went, because. Well. There’s no way Continue Reading →