WRITING
CURRENT
WRITING
In my early thirties, I'm
increasingly thinking of myself as a writer by "default". After
a dozen years in various high-level career jobs, and samplings of other ways
of life around the world, I'm seeking to apply my writing abilities back to
thoughts on Aotearoa New Zealand, its peoples, and cultures. Living in the
states for five years, I found myself constantly applying a lens to life there,
particularly to life experience in San Francisco. The City of San Francisco
was a unique place to live.
Towards the end of my time there, in what is quite a spiritual and uplifting
place, I found myself drawn back spiritually to my homeland with a radically
altered perspective about what it was all about. I guess you could call it
a case of OE-deluxe, or maybe this is what all my older peers
were all going on about so much for.
So this will be the home for a number of writing projects in gestation, commencing
with "The Sentient Islands". I'm not going to say much about what
it will be about, but here's a couple of portion to whet the appetite:
ON IDENTITY: "What is identity about in Aotearoa New Zealand at the dawn of a new century? What does it mean to be Maori when Temuera Morrison is vilified as a negative stereotype of Hispanics following his portrayal of Jango Fett in Star Wars Attack of the Clones? We sympathised with Americans post 9-11, but the impact of such earth shaking events were tempered by both time and distance -- our 9-11 was in fact 12-9. We cheered for Queen Lizzie at her 50th celebrations this year, but equally cheered when Helen Clark showed up in trendy slacks at a Wellington royal luncheon. New Zealand in 2002 finds itself in a "middle space", our children now dwelling in a global info-space, but our institutions still stymied in the notion of New Zealand as the mother-knows-best Nanny State."
ON HIPSPRAWL: "Five years away allows the senses to be heightened when looking for signals of social and economic change. Returning to these sentient islands, I find a New Zealand emergent as a melange of European, American, Asian, and Pacific flavors, a hipsprawl emergent across the landscape that has brought lattes to Levin, Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc to the Carterton pub, and Mother Jones and Yoga Monthly to the newsstands of Wairoa."
"Waitakere City is at the cutting edge of this new hipness, but such symptoms are not confined to the large urban centres. You can get a great cafe lunch in Matamata (now dubbed "Hobbiton")... Chatting with friends, I'm not at all surprised to hear one has bought a new inner city apartment. In New Plymouth."
ON CULTURAL CRINGE: "You watch TV One news and there, amidst the nanna chat of Richard Long and Judy Bailey's serious presentation of real news, they all a sudden launch into the latest on Winona Ryder's shoplifting excursions and Rachel and Robbie's naked romps. One becomes overcome with a massive dose of "What's that all about?" until you become self-aware of the cultural cringe of remote nations. The romance and mysticism and sheer old-fashioned delusion of Hollywood drags them in and betrays our nation for the sake of ratings.I can already see the housewives of Stratford forming their Tom Cruise-spotting club..."
PAST
WRITING
I have written extensively
for the Resource Renewal Institute on U.S. and international environment and
sustainability issues. Many of these articles were published in the “International
Green Planner”, the newsletter of RRI. A report comparing state-level environmental
policy across the U.S. (of which I was co-author) is forthcoming, due for
release in late 2001.
I've also written on contemporary social
issues, particularly as it relates to the physical and sociological construction
of space (such as the article below on shopping malls). These writings are
mostly academic in nature. Links related
to the topics below are in the column opposite.
The following is a sampling of my published
and unpublished writings.
WRITING FOR THE RESOURCE RENEWAL INSTITUTE
UNPUBLISHED WRITING
ACADEMIC
RESUME
My professional resume is also available, online. The resume is hyperlinked to examples of my work, and past speaking engagements.
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