I haven't been writing much here lately, but I have been up to bits and pieces elsewhere - in particular a fortnightly post at The Daily Blog (you can see them all here - I missed last fortnight cos I was sick - would people mind if I cross-posted them here or is that not cool?). I had an opinion piece published in the Herald about the dodgy SkyCity deal too. Oh, and a bit on my attempt to become a regular cyclist for Frocks on Bikes.
Most of my spare time though is currently in election mode (what election, you say?) campaigning for re-election to the Puketapapa Local Board on the Roskill Community Voice ticket (part of City Vision). If you are interested in following my adventures in local government the best way to do that is to Like the Facebook page for Roskill Community Voice and/or follow me on twitter @juliefairey.
I do miss blogging here - I often start posts in my head and then never get a chance to get them out into the ether before the moment of relevance has passed or I forget what I was going to write about. Sorry about that.
Showing posts with label About. Show all posts
Showing posts with label About. Show all posts
Monday, 22 July 2013
Saturday, 29 December 2012
Farewells and welcomes
We've got some exciting new bloggers, four in fact, coming soon to The Hand Mirror.
Some are still working out what to call themselves and how to do their introductions, and we are all stoked to have them on board. There will be some interesting and challenging reading ahead I'm sure!
And we also farewell, fondly, three who haven't written for us in a long while, Enid, Lil'E and Undomestic Goddess. They may pop up as guesties we hope.
Some are still working out what to call themselves and how to do their introductions, and we are all stoked to have them on board. There will be some interesting and challenging reading ahead I'm sure!
And we also farewell, fondly, three who haven't written for us in a long while, Enid, Lil'E and Undomestic Goddess. They may pop up as guesties we hope.
Sunday, 18 March 2012
The Hand Mirror turns four
Today, 18th March 2012, marks the fourth birthday of this here blog.
Many thanks to all involved in our shenanagins over that time, and in the time to come.
Statcounter tells me we have had nearly 800,000 hits. Blogger tells me we've written 2861 posts, but I'm pretty sure there's a number still in draft in that count, and published 18,790-odd comments too.
The writing crew here has changed a bit over the years, and it's been great to see some of our alumni pop up elsewhere in recent times. I really need to update the About page!
Thank you again to all of you who make this blog worthwhile - for the posts that you write, the comments you contribute, the tips you send through, the pictures you share, the response you blog at other places, the reading, the talking, the everything, which makes up The Hand Mirror.
Many thanks to all involved in our shenanagins over that time, and in the time to come.
Statcounter tells me we have had nearly 800,000 hits. Blogger tells me we've written 2861 posts, but I'm pretty sure there's a number still in draft in that count, and published 18,790-odd comments too.
The writing crew here has changed a bit over the years, and it's been great to see some of our alumni pop up elsewhere in recent times. I really need to update the About page!
Thank you again to all of you who make this blog worthwhile - for the posts that you write, the comments you contribute, the tips you send through, the pictures you share, the response you blog at other places, the reading, the talking, the everything, which makes up The Hand Mirror.
Friday, 12 August 2011
poverty, inequality and cultural privilege
the human rights commission diversity forum is an annual event that has been going on for several years. you can get a background information here. this year, for the first time, it's going to be held in hamilton, at the claudlands event centre on 21 - 22 august. it's an excellent opportunity for the people of the waikato to get involved in discussions around various aspects of diversity.
the main part of the forum starts from sunday afternoon, and the only problem is that there are so many wonderful sessions happening at the same time. at 1.30pm on sunday, there are two sessions run by organisations i'm actively involved with - the session on raising awareness of religious diversity hosted by the waikato interfaith council, and the session on domestic violence run by shama (hamilton ethnic women's centre).
however, i won't be at either of those two sessions, because i've been working with poverty action waikato on a session that deals with the intersection between race and poverty. it's called living in nz in your culture: poverty, inequality and cultural privilege. i was really keen to have a session on poverty as soon as i attended a meeting in april regarding the forum, where the HRC was seeking expressions of interest from organisations wanting to host sessions. i approached poverty action waikato because of the excellent programme they'd put on for international women's day - i've put up posts about them here and here.
the purpose of the session on sunday 21 august is to gather stories from people who live with or have ever lived with poverty, or who work with those living in poverty. the key focus is on the way racial or cultural discriminations feeds into poverty and vice versa. the goal is to compile these stories into a document, which the human rights commission have assured us they will use to push for policy change and which we also hope to use to push for social change.
of course, we understood immediately the challenge. it isn't easy to share stories at a time of vulnerability, and particularly in a culture that is so judgemental. it's hard to share personal stories at the best of times, and to share stories around things which society deems a failure is that much harder still. so we've had a think about how we can create a safe space for people to share.
one thing we have done is provide a variety of mediums. if people feel comfortable with small group discussions, we have those. if people want to leave short and simple messages on post-it notes, we'll have those. if people would prefer to share through a longer written piece, we'll have the materials available. and for those who don't feel comfortable with writing, we'll have a dictaphone and a booth, so that can provide a short recording. in all cases, we will preserve anonimity.
in all the demonstrations, rioting and public agitation across the middle east, europe and now england, there is the common thread of people feeling disaffected and angry at economic inequality and the daily struggles of survival. there is the common thread of voices needing to be heard. in a nz context, this is one small way for people to have a voice. maybe it won't make a difference, but hopefully it will. there are enough people around this particular project who care and who want to take the message further - as far as we possibly can.
so. i'm asking those of you who read this to promote this event and to encourage people to attend. please use your organisational and social networks to pass on the message.
the main part of the forum starts from sunday afternoon, and the only problem is that there are so many wonderful sessions happening at the same time. at 1.30pm on sunday, there are two sessions run by organisations i'm actively involved with - the session on raising awareness of religious diversity hosted by the waikato interfaith council, and the session on domestic violence run by shama (hamilton ethnic women's centre).
however, i won't be at either of those two sessions, because i've been working with poverty action waikato on a session that deals with the intersection between race and poverty. it's called living in nz in your culture: poverty, inequality and cultural privilege. i was really keen to have a session on poverty as soon as i attended a meeting in april regarding the forum, where the HRC was seeking expressions of interest from organisations wanting to host sessions. i approached poverty action waikato because of the excellent programme they'd put on for international women's day - i've put up posts about them here and here.
the purpose of the session on sunday 21 august is to gather stories from people who live with or have ever lived with poverty, or who work with those living in poverty. the key focus is on the way racial or cultural discriminations feeds into poverty and vice versa. the goal is to compile these stories into a document, which the human rights commission have assured us they will use to push for policy change and which we also hope to use to push for social change.
of course, we understood immediately the challenge. it isn't easy to share stories at a time of vulnerability, and particularly in a culture that is so judgemental. it's hard to share personal stories at the best of times, and to share stories around things which society deems a failure is that much harder still. so we've had a think about how we can create a safe space for people to share.
one thing we have done is provide a variety of mediums. if people feel comfortable with small group discussions, we have those. if people want to leave short and simple messages on post-it notes, we'll have those. if people would prefer to share through a longer written piece, we'll have the materials available. and for those who don't feel comfortable with writing, we'll have a dictaphone and a booth, so that can provide a short recording. in all cases, we will preserve anonimity.
in all the demonstrations, rioting and public agitation across the middle east, europe and now england, there is the common thread of people feeling disaffected and angry at economic inequality and the daily struggles of survival. there is the common thread of voices needing to be heard. in a nz context, this is one small way for people to have a voice. maybe it won't make a difference, but hopefully it will. there are enough people around this particular project who care and who want to take the message further - as far as we possibly can.
so. i'm asking those of you who read this to promote this event and to encourage people to attend. please use your organisational and social networks to pass on the message.
Monday, 4 July 2011
Are we there yet? No not yet
We've made some interim decisions for a few short-term changes we hope will help while we do more thinking and work for the medium and longer term stuff that is needed.
We're just having a small technical hitch with a key part of the first bit (which is mostly around moderation and commenting), hence the delay. Hopefully there will be something up later this week letting you know about the first step in more detail once we have that sorted.
Thanks for your patience while we work through this. And for your generosity in helping us learn and grow.
Friday, 17 June 2011
i'm sorry
i've been taking my time about this because i wanted to get it right, and i wanted to process all the things that have been said. we've had a lot of anger expressed at the blog over the last week, and i acknowledge it is justified. for myself, i apologise for not being a better moderator. i saw things that i plainly knew were wrong and did nothing, and its inexcusable.
for those who felt hurt and angered by that, i do understand. i understand about there not being many safe places on the internet where you can feel able to participate. i know that feeling myself, and can't even begin to number the places i never visit because of the bigotry and hatred directed towards people like myself. the places i don't visit because i don't want to be looking at certain things or hearing certain arguments.
so when you come across a place that looks to be somewhere you can participate and be yourself, it is a big deal. a place where you don't have to find constant battles just for the right to be. and when that place lets you down, i understand how frustrating it can be.
the thing is that it also takes a lot of courage to fight back, to tell people what they've done wrong & where they need to change. i also know how that feels, because i've looked at sites where i would have thought i would be comfortable, that are run by people who are progressive in a lot of areas. and then they aren't, in a way that is more than just careless. there is no way that i would have the energy or the strength, knowing the strong possibilty of a hostile or defensive reaction to my concerns, to even take the trouble to speak out.
so to those who we hurt by our actions and inactions, who came back here and spoke up, thank you for doing so. thank you for persisting and for clarifying, and in the end, for your acceptance of julie's apology. i can only hope that you will also accept mine. i also want to acknowledge that my first attempt at an apology was lacking. i should have taken the time to listen, instead being defensive.
as for preventing this sort of thing in the future & making changes, we are working on that and i can only ask for your indulgence as we work through the process. i am going to be away from the internet this weekend, so won't be able to respond to any comments on this post. possibly not a good time to be posting it, but i didn't want to leave it too long.
for those who felt hurt and angered by that, i do understand. i understand about there not being many safe places on the internet where you can feel able to participate. i know that feeling myself, and can't even begin to number the places i never visit because of the bigotry and hatred directed towards people like myself. the places i don't visit because i don't want to be looking at certain things or hearing certain arguments.
so when you come across a place that looks to be somewhere you can participate and be yourself, it is a big deal. a place where you don't have to find constant battles just for the right to be. and when that place lets you down, i understand how frustrating it can be.
the thing is that it also takes a lot of courage to fight back, to tell people what they've done wrong & where they need to change. i also know how that feels, because i've looked at sites where i would have thought i would be comfortable, that are run by people who are progressive in a lot of areas. and then they aren't, in a way that is more than just careless. there is no way that i would have the energy or the strength, knowing the strong possibilty of a hostile or defensive reaction to my concerns, to even take the trouble to speak out.
so to those who we hurt by our actions and inactions, who came back here and spoke up, thank you for doing so. thank you for persisting and for clarifying, and in the end, for your acceptance of julie's apology. i can only hope that you will also accept mine. i also want to acknowledge that my first attempt at an apology was lacking. i should have taken the time to listen, instead being defensive.
as for preventing this sort of thing in the future & making changes, we are working on that and i can only ask for your indulgence as we work through the process. i am going to be away from the internet this weekend, so won't be able to respond to any comments on this post. possibly not a good time to be posting it, but i didn't want to leave it too long.
Sunday, 12 June 2011
All apology
I stuffed up, with my moderation on the Queer the Night guest post promo, on Friday afternoon. I've hidden comments on it for the timebeing (which were closed anyway). Anyone who wants to see them will of course make the effort, but hopefully the degree of difficulty will put off the casual observer who wants to just goggle at the feminists fighting.
I wasn't happy with what was happening on the thread - any of it really. I identified earlier on that I was too close to it and asked Maia to step in, which she did, and things calmed down, but then became inflamed again when a new voice entered the thread. I could see the comments coming in but was not able to do anything to step in, wasn't sure if Maia was either, and then finally just did something on Friday.
This was definitely a case of doing something being worse than doing nothing. I am deeply sorry.
By the time Maia emailed me to tell me, gently, that that wasn't my best moderating work I was aware I'd stuffed up, because I felt bad about how I had handled the thread. The comment I made to close things off didn't even make proper sense - I asked someone to stop commenting on the thread at the beginning and then a sentence or so later said I would be closing comments entirely. How nonsensical is that? And it should have been a signal to me that I wasn't in the right headspace to deal with it, and should think about doing something less definite or just keeping away and seeing who else was available.
I've seen a few critical tweets and I'm pretty sure there are some critical blog posts out there too - I haven't read those yet, and I mention that only so that you have that context in mind as you read this. I may not be responding to a question or point you've made because as yet I'm unaware of it. Yes it's a willful ignorance, in part, although mostly born of having no online time this weekend to look at blogs or write this, any earlier than just now. I sincerely wish I could have got to this sooner. I hope to be able to read that stuff, and reflect on it, sometime this week.
For the record, I think the key error I made was picking a side. And picking a side not based particularly on merit but on who was annoying me least at the time. Crappy decision-making process leads to crappy decision. Both the process and the outcome were mine to control, and I stuffed it up.
What to do now with that thread vexes me, and I welcome feedback, in comments here or by email if people prefer. I am not that keen on reinventing history by just deleting my mistakes. That feels dishonest. However there are things on that thread, some written by me and others not, which probably shouldn't stay here. And, as said previously, the only tools we have for moderation here are total deletion or making a guidance comment ourselves. So none of us can excise the bad bits from any comment and leave the rest untouched, or indicate that we've made some snips.
Please accept my heartfelt apology. I know some people may feel they can't and that sucks, and it is my fault and I have to wear that.
Comment direction: If people could kindly stick to topic, which is discussing what to do with that comment thread now, and/or tips for moderating better, that'd be appreciated. If you want to ask me questions I'm ok with that, but may not be able to reply promptly over the next week. Please don't take silence as anything other than I can't get to the blog much over this time. I won't be the only person modding on this thread, and in fact I may not mod on it at all, will see who else is able to do so.
ETA, 1050 Monday: Very quick note to say as a result of the discussion in comments my thinking has shifted on a bit since I wrote the above. Please read the comments if you want to engage in this discussion. And a warning, it is quite a robust discussion, so I suggest people be prepared for that. Hope to be able to write a proper update to this post in the next day or two. Just to confirm, I am not moderating this thread, but am participating (although probably not much today).
ETA, 11.59pm Monday: Things have moved on quite a lot for me since I wrote this. You can follow that thought process in the comments, where I've tried to record it. As this post is no longer accurate and at the risk of disappearing into my own navel, I'm going to summarise where my thinking is now at so that this is a bit of a more accurate record for those who don't/can't wade through the nearly 70 comments currently on here.
I wasn't happy with what was happening on the thread - any of it really. I identified earlier on that I was too close to it and asked Maia to step in, which she did, and things calmed down, but then became inflamed again when a new voice entered the thread. I could see the comments coming in but was not able to do anything to step in, wasn't sure if Maia was either, and then finally just did something on Friday.
This was definitely a case of doing something being worse than doing nothing. I am deeply sorry.
By the time Maia emailed me to tell me, gently, that that wasn't my best moderating work I was aware I'd stuffed up, because I felt bad about how I had handled the thread. The comment I made to close things off didn't even make proper sense - I asked someone to stop commenting on the thread at the beginning and then a sentence or so later said I would be closing comments entirely. How nonsensical is that? And it should have been a signal to me that I wasn't in the right headspace to deal with it, and should think about doing something less definite or just keeping away and seeing who else was available.
I've seen a few critical tweets and I'm pretty sure there are some critical blog posts out there too - I haven't read those yet, and I mention that only so that you have that context in mind as you read this. I may not be responding to a question or point you've made because as yet I'm unaware of it. Yes it's a willful ignorance, in part, although mostly born of having no online time this weekend to look at blogs or write this, any earlier than just now. I sincerely wish I could have got to this sooner. I hope to be able to read that stuff, and reflect on it, sometime this week.
For the record, I think the key error I made was picking a side. And picking a side not based particularly on merit but on who was annoying me least at the time. Crappy decision-making process leads to crappy decision. Both the process and the outcome were mine to control, and I stuffed it up.
What to do now with that thread vexes me, and I welcome feedback, in comments here or by email if people prefer. I am not that keen on reinventing history by just deleting my mistakes. That feels dishonest. However there are things on that thread, some written by me and others not, which probably shouldn't stay here. And, as said previously, the only tools we have for moderation here are total deletion or making a guidance comment ourselves. So none of us can excise the bad bits from any comment and leave the rest untouched, or indicate that we've made some snips.
Please accept my heartfelt apology. I know some people may feel they can't and that sucks, and it is my fault and I have to wear that.
Comment direction: If people could kindly stick to topic, which is discussing what to do with that comment thread now, and/or tips for moderating better, that'd be appreciated. If you want to ask me questions I'm ok with that, but may not be able to reply promptly over the next week. Please don't take silence as anything other than I can't get to the blog much over this time. I won't be the only person modding on this thread, and in fact I may not mod on it at all, will see who else is able to do so.
ETA, 1050 Monday: Very quick note to say as a result of the discussion in comments my thinking has shifted on a bit since I wrote the above. Please read the comments if you want to engage in this discussion. And a warning, it is quite a robust discussion, so I suggest people be prepared for that. Hope to be able to write a proper update to this post in the next day or two. Just to confirm, I am not moderating this thread, but am participating (although probably not much today).
ETA, 11.59pm Monday: Things have moved on quite a lot for me since I wrote this. You can follow that thought process in the comments, where I've tried to record it. As this post is no longer accurate and at the risk of disappearing into my own navel, I'm going to summarise where my thinking is now at so that this is a bit of a more accurate record for those who don't/can't wade through the nearly 70 comments currently on here.
- Basing moderation decisions on who was annoying me least = WRONG. And for clarity it was Acid Queen who I found difficult to deal with in comments, not Scar. This has led me (with some appreciated prompting in comments) to think about why I found that difficult, and reflect on AQ's v valid point: "If you find yourself getting annoyed by what somebody is saying, please take the time to question whether that irritation is actually a feeling of privilege being called out. Often it is." I'm particularly ashamed that I didn't even understand that the sides I was putting people on and picking between were lining up as cis versus trans. What a dolt!
- My moderation stuff up was intrisincally related to the subject matter of the thread, i.e. transphobia and cissexism. I was thinking about them (in my post above) as separate things, but understand now that wasn't right. I apologise wholeheartedly for enabling and reinforcing transphobia in a way that was in itself also transphobic.
- Writing the moderating comment that closed the thread in a manner that acknowledged the difficulty some parties must have had in writing on the thread, yet missing the difficulties for those calling out the transphobia in the first place was an awful way to end things. I was trying not to read as thanking one side, but that's totally how it came across, so I failed badly.
- Good intentions don't mean a whole lot to the person who you've hurt. While I think there is value in doing the right thing for the right reasons, if you do the wrong thing for the right reasons, well, you've still done the wrong thing. Which isn't to say good intentions are worth nothing - they are imho the best starting point for doing the right thing next time.
- In moderation I have struggled with identifying transphobia and cissexism in comments. I have deleted some blatant (to me) stuff in the past, but the more subtle (to me) bits evade me. This is not because they aren't there, or can't be understood, but because I haven't noticed them. And I can improve what I know and what I notice.
- I've written all this not to make excuses or to justify. I genuinely want to learn from this and do feel like I have learnt (although a lot of what I've learnt is that I have a lot more to learn!). For me part of how I learn is to discuss, clarify, think things through, and I do this most effectively in writing and with assistance from those with more knowledge. I've written all this to explain what I thought I did wrong and why, and it's turned out that actually I was largely off target about that, so I'm glad I went about it this way, otherwise I probably would have worked that out by making a similar stuff up in the future. For those who think this is an unnecessary exercise in excessive apologising on my part, you can think that and I can't do anything about it.
- This whole experience has been a big wake-up call for me and I have some significant self-educating to do. Thank you sincerely to those who have been helping me to do that with their comments below (and privately, and elsewhere), you shouldn't have to do this and I appreciate the effort very much.
Thursday, 9 June 2011
Mobile version hopefully up and working
Did some low impact clicking just now and it looks ok from my iPod Touch - very very simply mobile appearance, but does the trick.If you are looking at the blog through a non-mobile device (PC, Mac, tablet, laptop) then it should look the same as it did before.
Please comment here if any troubles, or indeed if it is working and you want to let us know what you think!
Sunday, 15 May 2011
We are for Scuba (Nurse)
Very excited to have another feminist voice on board (especially someone so staunch on the health issues). I've known Scube for a really long time in real life and we've shared some formative feminist experiences. I often learn something new, or am prodded to a new way of viewing something old, by reading her posts.
Over the last month or so we've added three new bloggers - anthea, Luddite Journo and now Scuba Nurse. We hope to bring some other newbies on board in the near future too, as we look to broaden the feminist viewpoints presented here.
I'm really enjoying seeing what anthea and Luddite Journo are writing in this space, and I hope you are too. Let's see what Scube adds to the mix!
Tuesday, 3 May 2011
Guest blogging from Luddite Journo ahead!
I've long been an admirer of LuddsyJ's clear way of writing about feminist issues, particularly around violence against women, and how she manages to make points that can be quite challenging (to me anyway) in a way that prompts reflection.
Really looking forward to seeing what you write in this space, and the discussions that shall ensue.
Monday, 2 May 2011
Some new voices coming to The Hand Mirror soon
We also have at least one other person joining us in the next few weeks, so keep your eyes peeled for the new posters, and we hope you'll enjoy reading and discussing the new views they will bring.
Sunday, 24 April 2011
Couple of boring adminy things you probably ought to know
I really appreciate the free nature of Blogger. In the five years plus that I've been using it, here and elsewhere, there have been significant improvements and personally I haven't had to pay a cent, or put ads on any sites. html is not even my second language, so a platform that can do a lot of that tricky stuff for me, through widgets and a little bit of coding, is necessary for us to be able to provide a site that can allow posts and pages and pictures and blogrolls and comments and linky loving and so much more.
But there are some definite downsides to Blogger for those operating in a commenting environment that can at times be hostile and difficult to moderate, in particular:
- No ability to identify IP addresses or similar for any commenter, let alone the anonymous ones
- No facility for banning specific people, whether they are anon or have a profile
- Can't filter which comments go into moderation - meaning it's either every comment into moderation or none, on every single post. And the same with Anon comments - have to allow everywhere or nowhere.
- No help available for dealing with abusive commenters, even if they are making threats
- Can't edit anyone else's comment (even my own), so disemvowelling and similar are not troll-ridiculing tools we can use here
You probably won't have noticed that we have been getting some troll attention again for the last three weeks or so, because we've been pretty handy with the delete button. The comments are awful, mainly targeted at myself and Anjum, and quite uninventive so not even worth leaving up to take the mickey out of. They are not political at all, not on the borderline of "well I can see what they are trying to argue, it's just the way they are saying it is Not Ok." It's just name-calling and threats, and serves no conversational purpose whatsoever. This is true true trolling - aimed at shutting people up through those two chief weapons; fear and annoyance.
They made a stuff up on Saturday and I now know they are someone we had troubles with back in mid 2008. Emails have been sent to various authorities over the weekend (not Blogger though, only interested in hate speech in actual blog posts, not threats of violence in comments, oh and of course copyright infringements, bah). I have a couple of other leads out there too. We shall see what fruit the new week brings.
I'm also interested in bringing this person's various handles to the attention of other feminist blogs who may get targeted too, so if you are a mod or blogger who would like a bit more info so that they can't just reinvent the wheel elsewhere then feel free to email me and I'll let you know what I know. I can be found at the Mail of G by my firstname dot lastname.
It would be very easy just to turn off anonymous comments or restrict who can comment even more than that. But I don't think that would be a win. So many of the valuable conversations that happen here involve people who don't blog, or don't blog with Blogger, and so they don't have a profile, at least when they begin to engage. There are times when someone needs to share something anonymously, and I'd really like it if we could maintain that facility.
Ultimately though this blog is not run by me. We are a collective here, in that no one is In Charge of anyone else. I do a lot of the back-end stuff, but not all, and if I'm not writing blog posts I'm generally not reading the comments in a timely fashion either, as it'll be a paucity of time behind my silence. We moderate our own threads, although anyone can do some moderating anywhere that there is a clear breach. As the only moderation tools we have are rather blunt - deletion or a comment by ourselves asking for people to do X or Y or Z - what tends to unfold can sometimes seem strange to the reader. Some of us get all the comments emailed to us, and Blogger now keeps them too, so nothing is ever totally lost. This is very handy for emailing abusive comments through to relevant authorities, for example.
Thank you a thousand times and more to all the many awesome peeps who comment here. Not everyone has the same approach to blogging as me, but for me a big part of it is the conversation that may occur after the post is out there - your thoughts and feedback. Thanks for sharing that.
* This is not to be taken lightly. Current number of laptops wrecked by my three year old = 2. One screen crunched (on a two day old laptop, luckily quickly replaced by the employer with no questions asked, phew), one totally fried by water spillage (only discovered in the last fortnight and appears irreparable, which is particularly galling given I recently spent $500 getting it fixed to limp through for the next year or so until we can afford a decent new one.) Yesterday he broke the handle off my favourite mug and the Porridge Making Bowl. Apparently we have to go get a new one from the Porridge Making Bowl Shop, which is next to the Food Shop where you get the porridge, or so I've been reliably informed. He's not at all concerned about replacing the handle on my beautiful blue mug though.
Friday, 25 March 2011
New laydeez on the blogroll
Octavia's Spitfire Emporium by Octavia
I am Offended Because by Ally (I think she may have been added earlier, but not entirely sure as I kind of stuffed it up slightly then had to fix it, so sorry Ally!)
come again? by cjmax02
All explicitly feminist, wohoo! So I'll shortly be adding them to the Feminist blogs in NZ page also. Big ups to Deborah for setting it up.
You don't have to be writing a feminist blog to be added to our NZ Women blogroll, just be a woman living in or from Aotearoa who has a blog. Please don't hesitate to comment on this post if you want to be added.
And apologies for the delay with these additions, I am finally starting to get on top of blog stuff a little better.
Friday, 18 March 2011
Three years of Hand Mirrorness
Today marks three years since The Hand Mirror launched. We've cracked two thousand posts, had over 500,000 hits (in fact closing in on 600,000) and I like to think we've had a bit of impact on the general NZ Pol blogosphere, by encouraging more women and more feminists to comment and have their own blogs.
Not bad for a three year old!
Big thanks to everyone who makes this work - those who write, those who read, those who link, those who comment, those who send us stuff behind the scenes, those who think, and those who support those of us who write too.
Monday, 7 February 2011
marie curie lecture series
thanx to stef for alerting us to the marie curie lecture series. from the blurb on their website:
Female Chemists from New Zealand reflect on how chemistry improves our lives and society
The Marie Curie Lecture Series is a year- long national tour of talks by female New Zealand chemists in honour of Curie’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her ground-breaking studies in radium and polonium.
looks like a fantastic line-up of women who will be speaking, as well as good geographical coverage around the country. the first one is in wellington at 6pm on 24 february, at te papa's marae. professor margaret brimble speaks on the followin topic:
The intricate chemistry of nature has evolved over millions of years and we are in the exciting position to be able to recreate and craft the compounds that already exist in the world, in the laboratory.
This lecture explores such possibilities and how we can best use these discoveries to create new medicines. It will showcase how natural products derived from microorganisms that live in extreme environments, and natural products produced by algal blooms, can be harnessed to develop novel anticancer, antibacterial and antiviral drugs and drugs to treat neurodegenerative diseases.
hope our wellington readers will try to get along.
Saturday, 29 January 2011
The Candidate's Wife
Just when I thought I'd have some time to get back to blog my partner, Michael Wood, was selected as the Labour candidate for the Botany by-election on March 5th.
It's an amazing opportunity, and will be taking up a lot of my time and energy for the next wee while. We've had to re-juggle our divison of labour, and I'm not sure if this will mean I have more or less time to blog, as I'll be upping my childcare duties and it's hard to tell if that might result in a bit more time at home waiting for a child to awaken or be ready for pick up from their centre. We shall see!
What I can say for sure, right now, is that I'm unlikely to be writing anything about the Botany by-election. Anything I did write would be taken as conflicted, no matter how perceptive or neutral or just downright correct, so I'm going to stay away from it here.
This should not of course stop my fellow bloggers from covering Botany to their heart's content. We don't operate an editorial line here at all, so you can safely assume that anything anyone else blogs about the Botany by-election has not been vetted or suggested by me or Michael or his campaign team. Just wanted to make that crystal.
In due course, after the by-election, I may write something reflecting on the experience of being The Candidate's Wife. I've been one before, he's been The Candidate's Husband, and we've both run together (and been elected too) recently, but this time is different because it's so high profile. There will be new experiences for me both behind the scenes and in the public eye, and I hope to share my thoughts in time.
Thanks for your patience with my blog absence, and for keeping on keeping on, it's nice to be superfluous :-)
It's an amazing opportunity, and will be taking up a lot of my time and energy for the next wee while. We've had to re-juggle our divison of labour, and I'm not sure if this will mean I have more or less time to blog, as I'll be upping my childcare duties and it's hard to tell if that might result in a bit more time at home waiting for a child to awaken or be ready for pick up from their centre. We shall see!
What I can say for sure, right now, is that I'm unlikely to be writing anything about the Botany by-election. Anything I did write would be taken as conflicted, no matter how perceptive or neutral or just downright correct, so I'm going to stay away from it here.
This should not of course stop my fellow bloggers from covering Botany to their heart's content. We don't operate an editorial line here at all, so you can safely assume that anything anyone else blogs about the Botany by-election has not been vetted or suggested by me or Michael or his campaign team. Just wanted to make that crystal.
In due course, after the by-election, I may write something reflecting on the experience of being The Candidate's Wife. I've been one before, he's been The Candidate's Husband, and we've both run together (and been elected too) recently, but this time is different because it's so high profile. There will be new experiences for me both behind the scenes and in the public eye, and I hope to share my thoughts in time.
Thanks for your patience with my blog absence, and for keeping on keeping on, it's nice to be superfluous :-)
Thursday, 11 November 2010
p is for politics
i've been meaning to put this up for ages, and now it's a little late, but i'll be speaking at the women's studies association conference this year. it's going to be from 19 - 21 november, and i believe registration is already closed.
i'll be speaking of my experiences as a political candidate, focussing on issues around identity, minority rights & racism. i've titled my talk "p is for politics", and here is the abstract:
Being visibly different has an impact on each of the factors which determine political success, and I’m fortunate enough to be different in a variety of ways. This is a sharing of my personal experience as a candidate for central government, which will be used to highlight the difficulties in achieving political success.
Political success is dependent on a number of crucial factors:
- the people you can influence to support your cause and your own candidacy;
- your ability to navigate the political process;
- the perceptions of the wider public about you and your party;
- the strength of your personality in dealing with the challenges you will face;
- the profile you have built up before entering politics; and
- your ability to match the priorities of your party and the wider electorate.
How much of my success or failure is dependent on my individual strengths and weaknesses; and how much is determined by the processes and institutions developed from a demographic and cultural framework that is alien and often forbidding? Politics is never pretty, but we need good people from a variety of backgrounds to step forward if we are to have the best representation possible.
and, i get to be on the same panel as sue bradford - woohoo!
one of the problems i'm going to have with this particular speech is to share my experience without it being a criticism of the labour party. because i think many of the issues i've faced aren't particular to the party, but would equally be issues for any political party - and probably a greater problem in some of the others. and there's plenty of stuff that i just won't be able to share for reasons of confidentiality. so it's going to be a pretty tight balancing act. wish me luck!
i'll be speaking of my experiences as a political candidate, focussing on issues around identity, minority rights & racism. i've titled my talk "p is for politics", and here is the abstract:
Being visibly different has an impact on each of the factors which determine political success, and I’m fortunate enough to be different in a variety of ways. This is a sharing of my personal experience as a candidate for central government, which will be used to highlight the difficulties in achieving political success.
Political success is dependent on a number of crucial factors:
- the people you can influence to support your cause and your own candidacy;
- your ability to navigate the political process;
- the perceptions of the wider public about you and your party;
- the strength of your personality in dealing with the challenges you will face;
- the profile you have built up before entering politics; and
- your ability to match the priorities of your party and the wider electorate.
How much of my success or failure is dependent on my individual strengths and weaknesses; and how much is determined by the processes and institutions developed from a demographic and cultural framework that is alien and often forbidding? Politics is never pretty, but we need good people from a variety of backgrounds to step forward if we are to have the best representation possible.
and, i get to be on the same panel as sue bradford - woohoo!
one of the problems i'm going to have with this particular speech is to share my experience without it being a criticism of the labour party. because i think many of the issues i've faced aren't particular to the party, but would equally be issues for any political party - and probably a greater problem in some of the others. and there's plenty of stuff that i just won't be able to share for reasons of confidentiality. so it's going to be a pretty tight balancing act. wish me luck!
Wednesday, 13 October 2010
save gender & women's studies at vic
just received this notice that women in wellington may be interested in:
THE FIGHT IS ON AGAIN!
The GWS working party has just released a consultation document saying they want to cut the GWS programme! For more information and to download the consultation document, check the VUWSA website.
Just like last time "consultation" is a sham. It doesn't matter how good a submission is written. They handpick a group of people with the conclusion already agreed on. The only way to stop this is a public campaign to force the University to back down.
VUWSA will be holding a meeting on Monday 18th October at 10am in Meeting Room 1, Student Union Building, Kelburn Campus to meet with students who are interested in the proposed changes, to talk about a student stance and a plan of attack.
For anymore information and if you are interested in joining a campaign committee please email the VUWSA Education Organiser, Fiona Beals, at eo@vuwsa.org.nz
THE FIGHT IS ON AGAIN!
The GWS working party has just released a consultation document saying they want to cut the GWS programme! For more information and to download the consultation document, check the VUWSA website.
Just like last time "consultation" is a sham. It doesn't matter how good a submission is written. They handpick a group of people with the conclusion already agreed on. The only way to stop this is a public campaign to force the University to back down.
VUWSA will be holding a meeting on Monday 18th October at 10am in Meeting Room 1, Student Union Building, Kelburn Campus to meet with students who are interested in the proposed changes, to talk about a student stance and a plan of attack.
For anymore information and if you are interested in joining a campaign committee please email the VUWSA Education Organiser, Fiona Beals, at eo@vuwsa.org.nz
Wednesday, 29 September 2010
Issues with comments
Just a very quick note to say we are having some trouble with Blogger automatically deciding a comment is spam and not publishing it. As the main person who checks these kinds of things (me) is currently on a break we are not able to check these as often as we would like. Please don't assume we have deleted a comment if it hasn't appeared, especially if you had a link in it, as we usually do say we've deleted something and why. When I get a chance (possibly not for a week or two) I will try to have a look at the back end to work out what is wrong and fix it. Until then your patience is appreciated.
Friday, 10 September 2010
Back in a bit
I'm on a blog break, have been for a little while actually (thank goodness for scheduling content ahead!), so won't be writing or moderating or doing much for a few weeks I expect. Nothing wrong, just got stuff going on in real life that needs my attention and I'll be back when that's more manageable. Thanks to my co-bloggers for keeping up the posting and monitoring the threads. See you again soon!
Don't forget we now have a generic email address, thehandmirror at gmail dot com, so if you have stuff you want to get to us you can use that rather than my email address.
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