One too many morningsUp that precipitous hillOne too many beats of that sterling heartOne too many longingsFor truthAndChristSuddenlyYou were gone You were gone In a manner ostentatiously matter of fact Your traveler’s litany begun … Arch and Milly would have grievedFor their son(named for an illustrious man)Who becameThe illuminationOfLettersInAotearoa AndWouldTodayHave voted green No doubt But […]
Month: May 2025
‘Good times and bum times I’ve seen ’em all and, my dear, I’m still here’
Day 49 (51): a pretty shitty day today. Sick of some of our ludicrously purple media. Their bias and turgid bloody-mindedness is really distressing. It’s been like this for a long time but right now the negativity is at an almost all time high. This first slapped me in the face in 2015 when we […]
Weaponise Difference
Add this to the litany of reasons I am excluded from any governance roles, the latest: I’m a Matheson. Seems there’s a limit, a maximum, to the number of Matheson’s you can have at any one time in any one organisation. Remember – it’s important – management is doing things right, leadership is doing the […]
Pink Shirt Day
In a few hours it’s Pink Shirt Day, the day where all those who participate commit themselves to standing strong and eliminating bullying. I really like the concept, but the reality is something quite other. Wherever I see evidence of bullying or hear of it I confront it. It’s not easy, but there it is. […]
Proud to be the Happiness Queen
A maths teacher says that the top priority for his students is that they be happy. Then they’ll ace their learning. Been preaching this and getting profoundly good results for four decades but nobody’s listening. Why aren’t they listening? Because they’re too busy collecting data that proves we’re failing, covering up the failure and writing […]
‘Stronger Together’
What an INCREDIBLE three days – and what a difference ‘hope’ makes. 170+ of the best people it’s possible to imagine from every corner of the tertiary education sector and from almost every walk of life, all totally committed to making the world a better and more equal place for everyone. It’s not often that […]
Lockdown Day 44
Rāhui Day 42 (44): two days in a row with no new infections and no deaths which, looking at the rest of the world, is pretty bloody amazing. There are seven counties that have populations of between five and six million as we do and their statistics – as of 6 May – are: Denmark […]
Facilitating learning
Lexie is having thinks about facilitating learning and what gets in the way. The five blocks, according to Lexie who wouldn’t really know zip, are fear, power, favouritism, humiliation and mockery. If you are my teacher and have any of these weapons in your communications toolkit, you won’t teach me anything except to be frightened, […]
I’ve hated this woman.
I’ve hated this woman. I’ve not loved her at full capacity. I’ve fed her lies & told her she wasn’t good enough and have allowed others to tell her she wasn’t good enough. I’ve allowed her to be broken. I’ve allowed others to treat her disrespectfully. I’ve allowed her to run through brick walls & […]
‘If you have lost your honour, you can lose nothing more.’
Rāhui Day 36 (38): ‘Henry Ford said ‘Don’t find fault, find a remedy.’ It’s the essence of all leadership. Remedies aren’t always easy to find, and they often require a 24/7 commitment to never giving up – on anyone. And teams aren’t really teams, that’s a misnomer. Just like the idea that there’s no ‘I’ […]
dykiegirl 