This would be your first stint under a Tory NZ government Dan? They have a way of suffocating the will and life out of the populus, with the tube squeezing starting in Wellington.
Hi Graham! Gee, how you could tell?? :) Yes indeed, we dreamy Americans decided to stay in Jacinda's NZ. Not a different place now, I have to tell myself, but just another side of the same. Fair to say her second term lacked a bit of the vision thing, too. But I'd rather have Labour treading water than these clowns tearing down everything but the housing racket. Grim days but 2026 is right around the corner, no? Wellington needs a break!
We do indeed need a break! And yes agree, that second Labour term was underwhelming. The problem of being in your own majority echo chamber. Some hope for 2026, but some real damage has already been done by this three-ring circus.
Another great piece, and I agree that the healthy balance ("pragmatism and love of the simple things, with a dash of the ol’ American moonshot") is elusive but the ideal place to be!
I wonder if your perspective might be different if you were anchored in Auckland or Christchurch, where building projects are still proliferating (for better and worse). Wellington's economics and growth have steeper challenges than AKL/CHC.
On the dream/innovation side, I suspect you'd enjoy spending time with some of the wild-eyed startup founders building reusable rockets and world-class software from little ol' Aotearoa... our team of 5 million punches somewhat above our weight, which isn't to say we don't aspire to bigger global impacts and bigger dreams, but it's heaps bigger than 2 decades ago and still improving, even if investments in public infrastructure aren't.
Hi Jeremy! Thanks for reading! Good point. Welly casts a big shadow of late. They're rambling on about saving the funky wooden bridge downtown, while zoning the hell out of anything bigger. I give them massive points for the cycleway around the bay, though, whenver that gets done! As Rose noted above it's a mistake to conflate the particular grump of this government with the whole country, or to conflate long-held narratives I've inherited from reading & gossip & cliche from what's really going on out there now. The story of stasis is out there, certainly, even as much the wheels are turning more now, yes?I need more Kiwi dreamers in my scene, obviously. Off to look up more & I welcome any recommendations!
Fixed, thanks!! Dammit, I knew that one. Old spelling vs. new, right? Do I have it right that there was a switch in vowels at some point? Thanks for the correction. Defend your home range, absolutely. Mine (adopted) would be the mighty Tararuas, which had a dusting of snow as I drove the kids to school this morning.
All good Dan. And you’re right about the spelling change. Enjoy your writing and perspective very much. NB - careful with that plural ‘s’ on Tararua aye.
Thanks, Ed! Really enjoyed your solo travel piece. The Great American Upsell tracks there too, I think. A wander through the hostels is neither a product or 'productive.' We'll take the so-called upgrade everytime, unfortunately.
Leonard Cohen wrote, I want it darker. This is darker than I ever imagined and yet not as dark as the reality, Dan. What’s happening on a global scale is horrific. We can only hope there’s enough political will in Aotearoa to follow the lead of Australia and Canada and reverse the slide into darkness at the next election.
Hi Anna! Uncle Leonard, he knew: Everybody knows the war is over / Everybody knows the good guys lost... America does indeed have a special dark roast in its soul that doesn't always creep out, even through the flood of media Kiwis are forced to watch. But you're right, it's everywhere now. Aotearoa gives me hope (kicking the Treaty Principles Bill to the curb) and then snatches it away again (this stupid suspension over the haka.) The struggle never ends, not anywhere. Bring on next year!
We Celtic imports also see it dark, but through an ancient lens, or veil, to a place where be ghoulies and ghosties and things that go bump in the night. Whenever we stayed at Granny’s she used to say this at night, as a prayer of deliverance. Scared the shit out of me😂
I was astounded, on a recent trip back, of the lack of selection of coffee beans in the coffee isle. There was just like.. Starbucks and Dunkin. Every other product has options galore. Guess coffee keeps you awake.
Beans are boring, man! What's a bean? A dirty thing from a plant. F that. Gimme vanilla bomb K pods! I felt the same looking at the beer aisle in HEB. It was half hard seltzer, in all the same flavors you can buy a vape. The facsimile over the real every time
Hi Tim! Thanks for reading, and glad to hear I'm not crazy about this! The seeing/attacking thing--oh man, this is the struggle, to write about America from outside and balancing the intertwined good & bad. I miss the big and loud and dreamy and I hate the fakery and emptiness...and they keep turning out to the be two sides of the same coin. Hitting the tone right on both simultaneously feels more or less impossible. Back to the overthinking, right??
That is an impossible battle to be one, especially in today's climate. I say write your heart tells you to be true to your experience, and all will be well. Some will disagree, maybe loudly, but that doesn't mean they're right. Actually, what I find is that often those that protest the loudest or usually in the minority. Especially when it comes to how we should enjoy coffee.
Yes! Funny how long dinking around on this platform it's taken me to figure out what Write Your Heart actual means, in practice?? Drinking homemade long blacks on these chilly fall mornings helps!
Great piece, but I would be wary of conflating what the current Government's doing / not-doing with the broader NZ mood or character... It's more a question of riding-roughshod-over than channelling the will of the people
Fair point. Tough for me to draw a line between a broad, vague 'she'll be right' vibe and actual policy evil from these guys. On the other side I'm totally conflating one weird American sect with the whole dang country, because--I don't know, it's my country, I feel it not in headlines but in my gut? Thanks for reading, and teaching!
Well I didn't expect all of that from just looking at the title. I thought I was going in to learn a bit more about coffee and almost clicked away because I don't actually drink coffee. Instead I got philosophical thoughts about the US and death, and our current political climate and I loved every second of it! Kiwis do need to dream a bit bigger than what they currently do, but please, not as big as the US - we've seen where that took you all.
Also, total sidenote - there is actually a difference between tomato sauce and ketchup and you can usually buy both here in NZ. If I'm not mistaken tomato sauce is a bit sweeter and ketchup is a bit more vinegary. Or the other way around. I don't like either of them.
This would be your first stint under a Tory NZ government Dan? They have a way of suffocating the will and life out of the populus, with the tube squeezing starting in Wellington.
Hi Graham! Gee, how you could tell?? :) Yes indeed, we dreamy Americans decided to stay in Jacinda's NZ. Not a different place now, I have to tell myself, but just another side of the same. Fair to say her second term lacked a bit of the vision thing, too. But I'd rather have Labour treading water than these clowns tearing down everything but the housing racket. Grim days but 2026 is right around the corner, no? Wellington needs a break!
We do indeed need a break! And yes agree, that second Labour term was underwhelming. The problem of being in your own majority echo chamber. Some hope for 2026, but some real damage has already been done by this three-ring circus.
Agreed. Won't be a simple repair this time!
Another great piece, and I agree that the healthy balance ("pragmatism and love of the simple things, with a dash of the ol’ American moonshot") is elusive but the ideal place to be!
I wonder if your perspective might be different if you were anchored in Auckland or Christchurch, where building projects are still proliferating (for better and worse). Wellington's economics and growth have steeper challenges than AKL/CHC.
On the dream/innovation side, I suspect you'd enjoy spending time with some of the wild-eyed startup founders building reusable rockets and world-class software from little ol' Aotearoa... our team of 5 million punches somewhat above our weight, which isn't to say we don't aspire to bigger global impacts and bigger dreams, but it's heaps bigger than 2 decades ago and still improving, even if investments in public infrastructure aren't.
Hi Jeremy! Thanks for reading! Good point. Welly casts a big shadow of late. They're rambling on about saving the funky wooden bridge downtown, while zoning the hell out of anything bigger. I give them massive points for the cycleway around the bay, though, whenver that gets done! As Rose noted above it's a mistake to conflate the particular grump of this government with the whole country, or to conflate long-held narratives I've inherited from reading & gossip & cliche from what's really going on out there now. The story of stasis is out there, certainly, even as much the wheels are turning more now, yes?I need more Kiwi dreamers in my scene, obviously. Off to look up more & I welcome any recommendations!
*Remutaka - how very local of me I know, but that’s my home range bud, so . . . yaknow?
Fixed, thanks!! Dammit, I knew that one. Old spelling vs. new, right? Do I have it right that there was a switch in vowels at some point? Thanks for the correction. Defend your home range, absolutely. Mine (adopted) would be the mighty Tararuas, which had a dusting of snow as I drove the kids to school this morning.
All good Dan. And you’re right about the spelling change. Enjoy your writing and perspective very much. NB - careful with that plural ‘s’ on Tararua aye.
Thanks for this, Stephen--I wrote about the hut this week and thanks to you stopped myself from typing 'Tararuas' a couple times :)
“Americans, they like to be upsold.”
Intriguing observation. Great piece Dan!
Thanks, Ed! Really enjoyed your solo travel piece. The Great American Upsell tracks there too, I think. A wander through the hostels is neither a product or 'productive.' We'll take the so-called upgrade everytime, unfortunately.
Leonard Cohen wrote, I want it darker. This is darker than I ever imagined and yet not as dark as the reality, Dan. What’s happening on a global scale is horrific. We can only hope there’s enough political will in Aotearoa to follow the lead of Australia and Canada and reverse the slide into darkness at the next election.
Hi Anna! Uncle Leonard, he knew: Everybody knows the war is over / Everybody knows the good guys lost... America does indeed have a special dark roast in its soul that doesn't always creep out, even through the flood of media Kiwis are forced to watch. But you're right, it's everywhere now. Aotearoa gives me hope (kicking the Treaty Principles Bill to the curb) and then snatches it away again (this stupid suspension over the haka.) The struggle never ends, not anywhere. Bring on next year!
We Celtic imports also see it dark, but through an ancient lens, or veil, to a place where be ghoulies and ghosties and things that go bump in the night. Whenever we stayed at Granny’s she used to say this at night, as a prayer of deliverance. Scared the shit out of me😂
I was astounded, on a recent trip back, of the lack of selection of coffee beans in the coffee isle. There was just like.. Starbucks and Dunkin. Every other product has options galore. Guess coffee keeps you awake.
Beans are boring, man! What's a bean? A dirty thing from a plant. F that. Gimme vanilla bomb K pods! I felt the same looking at the beer aisle in HEB. It was half hard seltzer, in all the same flavors you can buy a vape. The facsimile over the real every time
"We Americans love manipulated anything."
Dan! Why is this so true. I feel both seen and attacked at the same time. I will now be overthinking my morning latte. Add it to the list!
Hi Tim! Thanks for reading, and glad to hear I'm not crazy about this! The seeing/attacking thing--oh man, this is the struggle, to write about America from outside and balancing the intertwined good & bad. I miss the big and loud and dreamy and I hate the fakery and emptiness...and they keep turning out to the be two sides of the same coin. Hitting the tone right on both simultaneously feels more or less impossible. Back to the overthinking, right??
That is an impossible battle to be one, especially in today's climate. I say write your heart tells you to be true to your experience, and all will be well. Some will disagree, maybe loudly, but that doesn't mean they're right. Actually, what I find is that often those that protest the loudest or usually in the minority. Especially when it comes to how we should enjoy coffee.
Yes! Funny how long dinking around on this platform it's taken me to figure out what Write Your Heart actual means, in practice?? Drinking homemade long blacks on these chilly fall mornings helps!
Great piece, but I would be wary of conflating what the current Government's doing / not-doing with the broader NZ mood or character... It's more a question of riding-roughshod-over than channelling the will of the people
Fair point. Tough for me to draw a line between a broad, vague 'she'll be right' vibe and actual policy evil from these guys. On the other side I'm totally conflating one weird American sect with the whole dang country, because--I don't know, it's my country, I feel it not in headlines but in my gut? Thanks for reading, and teaching!
Well I didn't expect all of that from just looking at the title. I thought I was going in to learn a bit more about coffee and almost clicked away because I don't actually drink coffee. Instead I got philosophical thoughts about the US and death, and our current political climate and I loved every second of it! Kiwis do need to dream a bit bigger than what they currently do, but please, not as big as the US - we've seen where that took you all.
Also, total sidenote - there is actually a difference between tomato sauce and ketchup and you can usually buy both here in NZ. If I'm not mistaken tomato sauce is a bit sweeter and ketchup is a bit more vinegary. Or the other way around. I don't like either of them.