Weekend Recommendations
What I've been watching and reading, plus an update on Arise Church and Paora the Kiwi.
Hi,
I wanted to send you a sample of what I send out to paying Webworm members — more informal rantings, I suppose. Updates on stories, photos I’ve taken, things I am reading and watching and listening to that I think you might like.
If you’re a rich lawyer or have excess money sitting around and want to support my work, feel free to sign up to the full Webworm:
If not — I am very happy to have you here just reading! Webworm should never cause you any kind of financial hardship.
David.
A Weekend of Recommendations, a Surfeit of Skunks, and a Gaggle of Wonderful Worms
As we head into the weekend, there are a bunch of things buzzing around in my head that I wanted to talk to you about.
So here they are.
Animals Animals Animals
It’s been a week of animals. There was this kitten in a park — which in this frame is kinda distressing, as it appears abandoned. Rest assured, just out a frame, a loving family who’d decided to let their kitten out for a moment as they had family time at the park.
Later that afternoon, a family of skunks made their way up someone’s driveway. To me skunks will always be a cartoon. And seeing a group of baby skunks made me squeal with joy. Sidebar: a baby skunk is called a “kit”. A bunch of them are called a “surfeit”. I present to you a surfeit of baby skunks:
And even later that evening, talking on the phone to someone I really care about who’d had a really shitty day, I came face-to-face with two coyote’s padding down the sidewalk towards me.
How better to cheer someone up than with a photo of a pair of coyotes five metres away? Fumbling with my phone, they’d made a beeline to the other side of the street by the time I could snap this blurry mess:
I posted some of these photos in a thread over on the Substack app, where I like to make threads where Worms can post their dearest animal friends. When I checked in just now, 145 creatures. Cats, birds, dogs, horses. And Dennis has been fostering fox cubs for his local animal rescue:
Those eyes. My God!
The Kiwi, Everywhere
The story of Paora (the kiwi) at Miami Zoo traveled. I particularly enjoyed this headline from The New York Times:
I’ve reached out to the Smithsonian to ask a few questions about the other kiwis they’ve shipped around America, and if they engage in any training or followup.
I also checked back in with Ron Magill, the Miami Zoo Goodwill Ambassador and Communications Director. Earlier this week Ron had told me, “We are going to begin the design phase of a new habitat that will address all that he needs.”
This made me (and you, going on the 238 comments under that piece) curious about the conditions the kiwi is currently living in. Ron told me his inbox is very, very full — and then clarified things with this:
“With regard to the enclosure for the kiwi, it is presently the same one it has been in since it hatched. It is indoors within the Brooder/Hatchery building here on zoo grounds but off-limits and far away from any public traffic. The enclosure is roughly 12 feet by 10 feet with natural substrate of mulch and other plant material. It includes a nest box that provides a secluded dark area where the kiwi spends the daylight hours. The box has a small access door that allows the kiwi to enter and exit the nest box at its discretion (unless being transferred for cleaning by a zookeeper).
The room in the building where the enclosure is located does have fluorescent lights but since the announcement of changes, those lights are now kept off and there is minimal zookeeper traffic into the area. The animal is not handled at all except to be transferred from one nest box to another for habitat cleaning or for any type of veterinary care that may be necessary. Appetizing invertebrates are distributed throughout the substrate in the evenings so that the kiwi can come out and utilize natural foraging behavior.
We have been in direct contact with several kiwi experts in NZ including Michelle Impey, Executive Director of the Save the Kiwi Foundation, for consultation and guidance in the design process for the new kiwi habitat.”
What I’m Watching, Listening and Reading
With all this talk of animals, some podcast recommendations. Fans of Reply All will adore this episode of PJ Vogt’s Search Engine from back in May. He sets out to answer the question “How sad are the monkeys in the zoo?” It’s fascinating and taught me that whales feel joy when they’re rescued, and that some elephants are serial killers.
I also released a new episode of Flightless Bird about Florida’s exotic pet problem, in which I meet a man named “Snakes” and confuse a Scotsman for an Irishman. Embarrassing.
If there’s one feature you read this weekend, make sure it’s The Cat Who Could Kill Horses. I don’t even know where to begin with this piece, but it’s about a (psychotic?) couple who started a trendy restaurant in LA, before things got… disturbing.
It’s a rough read for animal lovers, a horror movie based in the LA food scene:
He included screenshots of texts where she threatened to kill their dog Pancho and another, from 2018, where she wrote, “If I get famous will anyone ever find out about pancskes [sic] or the cats” — a reference to the deaths of a series of pet cats the couple adopted over the years. (“No,” he wrote back. “Love you.”)
It reminded me of Gone Girl in how utterly deranged and twisted a relationship can get.
In lighter news, I can’t stop listening to The Beths’ record from last year, Expert in a Dying Field, and watching the holy trinity of TV shows: Dave, Barry, and Succession.
I also saw Fast X at the movies and adored it so much I went back and watched Tokyo Drift. While Fast Seven has always been the peak for these films (I will always weep — I am being serious — when the final scene with a CGI Paul Walker plays out), I stick around for the drama.
There’s something magical about what Vin Diesel has created — a series that wears its heart on its sleeve, obsessed as much with “family” as it is with cars and Coronas.
This is a series of films that started with a simple Point Break storyline of a cop infiltrating a bunch of street racers who were stealing DVD players (actual, DVD players and VHS players), and now involves James Bond and Mission Impossible-levels of international espionage and intrigue.
Then there’s the real-life drama: Some is incredibly tragic, like the death of Paul Walker. Some is simply the result of casting too many Hollywood beefcakes in the same film, leading to rules that no boys could ever lose a fight against another boy so no boys would ever get hurt feelings in their sad place.
There was the childish feud between The Rock and Vin Diesel, and the mystery of director Justin Lin quitting Fast X the day after the “Vin Diesel holding Justin Lin hostage” video came out:
That is truly the face of a man who is going to break up with you the next day.
All that being said, it’s just amazing to see a blockbuster series with such a racially diverse cast, and where women are not just there to serve the storyline of the men.
And the publicity. My God. Vin Diesel always makes his face so big.
I’ve Found My Perfect Job
This quietly arrived on Seek this week, a New Zealand job listing site:
I don’t have too much to say about this, besides a frustrated chuckle at something they listed under the “personal attributes that would make you a good fit for this role”:
“Being able to maintain confidentiality where appropriate.”
“Where appropriate.”
Amazing when you consider the shitshow of this church, and its history of “uplining” AKA completely disregarding any sense of confidentiality:
‘Uplining’ is a word seemingly invented by Arise Church, which essentially means telling a superior about information. It’s taking things higher in the pecking order of church management.
I heard it again and again, dropped casually into conversations I was having with former and current members of the church. They would drop it without realising they needed to explain it. ‘Uplining’ would see incredibly private information shared with multiple other people.
“Where appropriate.”
Sigh.
“Our lives really are but a vapor, and we are doing ourselves a disservice by not helping others and being a part of society in some facet.”
I’m still amazed at the comments you’re leaving under Jackson Wood’s guest Webworm, Combating Hypercapitalism with Mutual Aid.
Jackson was preaching, in part, to the converted. I really love how you Worms live your lives. These are three of my favourite comments (and there were many):
Adam:
“After the murder of George Floyd, I got rid of my Facebook account. Seeing the hatred of people being nasty and mean got to me as I was struggling with my sobriety and I wanted out. And after I did, I noticed a change in my behavior. Now, I did start a Twitter, but that was to follow a TV show called The Boys, but after Elon took over, I left. But that's a conversation for another day.
Soon after, I started unplugging from pointless subscriptions I didn't use. An app to help do math better and use my brain more that never seemed to help. Another to help me meditate. One for sober people that you pay to connect with when AA is free. I even canceled my Netflix account much to the dismay of my ex girlfriend who used it after we had broken up.
What I realized is how good these companies are into tricking you into getting your money. I had to take a marketing class for my job due to retailing some of our food items - David, you need to try pimento cheese if you haven't, ask Monica about it - and they went over how these companies pull you in. The ease of use, the color pallets used, the noises and most importantly, the instant gratification of having a trial run but where you're not reminded that you have to cancel or you're going to be charged. Hook. Line. Sinker.
Now, after unplugging and unsubscribing and getting back into reality, I've noticed just how amazing life is. And how important it is to live it. I turn 40 this year, and it's shocking to me the brevity of life; that my memories are now years past though it felt just like yesterday.
And it is better to talk to someone, to shop local and support a cause, to support a minority owned business, to give my dollar to a homeless or unhoused person, rather than give it to some company who gives zero fucks about anyone or anything other than themselves or their checking account. I again still have some things I need to work on, I still use some services like Prime and Spotify, but I do try my best.
I'm just wanting to experience life to its fullest. Our lives really are but a vapor, and we are doing ourselves a disservice by not helping others and being a part of society in some facet.”
Meliors:
The mutual aid organizations and activities I'm involved in are the best things in my day to day life, all with no cash or corporations involved.
Through Timebank I can trade services without paying : I mend clothes and handknit socks to earn time credits, then when I recently had to move house twice in 2 months, 19 local acquaintances helped me in exchange for my credits.
I help organise a Crop Swap twice a month, where we bring surplus from kitchen or garden to exchange. I don't have much of a garden due to renting insecurity, but I can bring some baking and foraged herbs and walk away with a big bag of fresh vegetables.
I recently joined one of the local savings pools, a small group who loan each other money interest free.
Once a month I meet at someone’s house with a few others who share an interest in alternative healing. We spent the past few years holding space for each others grieving, somehow staying connected through great tests of our philosophical differences (alt healers are not all antivax). This year we've evolved into a writers support group, encouraging eachother to produce a memoir, a haiku collection and my own nonfiction book, The Secret Lives of Teeth.
I've struck a deal with a neighboring single dad with 3 kids and a big garden but no spare time. I help plant vegetables and prune fruit trees in exchange for a share of our harvest. It's closer than the community garden a few blocks away, but I can help there too if I want.
Every week I meet up at someone's house with 2-5 people to play board games. None of my old friends like games, but I've found new friendships with this odd bunch of Wingspan and Parks enthusiasts.
I also give and take from Aroha Stands, free pantries (streetside cupboards) where folks can leave surplus food or books etc and anyone can take what they want for free. I found a nearly new pair of winter shoes there a few weeks ago that fit perfectly, my first new shoes in 2 years.
I occasionally go along to one of the knitting meetups at a cafe and get the local gossip while I make socks for timebank trades. Knitters love to share advice, tools, surplus materials, and throwing their efforts into knitting for premmie babies, rest home residents or cyclone
Our little village of 3500 offers all this and more that I'm not involved in personally like the volunteer fire brigade, church and marae based activities, heaps of environmental programs (from seed sorting to pest trapping) and stuff for kids to do.
Oh and our local mutual aid is expanding. We're starting a new Repair Cafe next week. I'm psyched to offer my textile mending services and hopefully get my broken fan fixed.
I enjoy all this while working full time in my own business, writing and self publishing my book and being sole support for my elderly mother. I have no time for Facebook or Netflix and I like it that way!
And finally, Neil:
Though I have always belonged to a union, my big revelation on the power of collective action came with the Christchurch Earthquakes. The initial jolts were devastating but a unique feature of this event was the liquefaction that came sludging up through the ground, eventually setting like concrete. Millions of tonnes of it.
A group of students got together and asked the council if they could help with the clearing up. I'm pretty sure the response was along the lines of "Leave this to the experts, sonny," so the Student Volunteer Army used social media to align "help needed" with "help available" and the whole thing really took off. The model was adopted by farmers (The Farmy Army) and pretty soon there were thousands of people heading off each morning to dig out liquefaction, with the council meekly saying "We're in charge. Which way did they go?"
Two memories stand out from my involvement in this. First was a solo mum whose house, garage and garden had been submerged in up to a metre of sludge. She returned from her job as a postie, saw it had all been cleared up and spontaneously burst into tears. Then she cycled off to buy the workers some beer.
There was also a woman in her eighties, on her own, whose whole pristine garden had been destroyed. She sailed along, unperturbed, dishing up cups of tea to the workers as though it was just another day.
Contrasting with these memories was a guy who had summoned help to clear what appeared to be a single bucketload of powdery dirt on his otherwise unscathed concrete driveway. Five of us stood around, staring at this tiny pile, as he strolled past us announcing that he had somewhere important to be.
People, eh?
“People, eh?”
I often think that when writing this newsletter to you.
It’s time for me to let you get on with your weekend. It’s the Voyager Media Awards tonight. Webworm is up for two awards — ‘Best Scoop’ and ‘Best Team Investigation’.
I can’t go as I’m in the US right now — so I am sending Hayden Donnell along. I love his contributions to Webworm, and I’ve put them all here for a rainy day.
I’ve told him not to get drunk and embarrass himself or Webworm. To not act like a skunk and surfeit himself on booze (writing this newsletter I learnt that as well as meaning an excessive amount of skunks, “surfeit” also means an excessive amount of anything).
As usual, I don’t expect Hayden to listen to me. To which I say to him:
David.