Laura Williamson
-
A plague on both our islands
The 1964 guide to pest control in Aotearoa. The American at the dinner table is telling us about coming across a woman, who from the sounds of it was a West Coaster, in the act of dispatching a possum. I won’t get into it, but a rock was involved. He goes a bit pale as…
-
The Right to Repair
Can we fix it? Yes we can, and we should. It’s Sunday morning, and the Wānaka Community Workshop is abuzz with power drills, bobbin winders and hammers. Outside under a marquee, someone is sorting out the drivetrain on a vintage Mongoose hybrid bike. In the main workspace, a wooden chair, a planer and a toaster…
-
Book review: Performance
By David Coventry Simply put, Performance is a memoir detailing David Coventry’s experience of living with ME (Myalgic encephalomyelitis), a debilitating illness that has a way of defying diagnosis, treatment, causation, and sense. But Performance can’t be simply put. It is a memoir, but also a novel, a work of autofiction, and a space in…
-
Book review: Heart Stood Still
by Miriam Sharland After nearly two decades in the country, Miriam Sharland was set to move back to the UK in early 2020. Then the borders closed. Heart Stood Still (Otago University Press, 2024) is a series of personal essays based on her journal entries from that time. The pieces follow the pattern of the…
-
Album review: Midnight Hours By Killergrams
An alt-country/rock band based in Arrowtown, Killergrams is singer-songwriter Tom Maxwell, singer and bassist Sam Maxwell, as well as Nick Lynch on piano and Reuben Pearce on drums. More a reintroduction than a release, Midnight Hours has an interesting backstory. A change in distribution companies saw the original album, their 2019 debut, taken off streaming…
-
Music review: Merchants by Powder Chutes
Wānaka’s Powder Chutes have dropped a new single and it’s a “hell, yes” from me. ‘Merchants’ is just the thing for our times, a bundle of joyous grunge-infused angst that simultaneously looks forwards and back. Sonically, it’s smarter than your average rock anthem. Powder Chutes reminds me of the musically-sophisticated rock bros of my youth…
-
A fort story
Fort Jervois on Rīpapa Island is a legacy of New Zealand’s Russian Scare. No not that scare, the other one. On February 17, 1873 some alarming news came out of Auckland. According to the Daily Southern Star, an iron-clad Russian warship, the Kaskowiski, had entered the Waitematā Harbour, discharged a fatal “mephitic water gas apparatus”…
-
We’ll all only be images
Marti Friedlander turned an outsider’s eye on the countrysides of Aotearoa. “When you’re born in a land you become blind to it. You no longer see the beauties within.” – Daniel K. Brown, School of Design, Victoria University The sheep seem to know something. Some are minding their own business, but most, ears perked, eyes…
-
Book release: Ski Bum
By Sam Masters Powder Press (2024) We were excited in the 1964 office recently to receive some promotional material from Sam Masters, former editor of Powderhound and author of The Story of New Zealand Freeskiing about a new book: Ski Bum. Along with a curated collection of the world’s best ski photography, Sam promises “shocking…