Christchurch City Libraries Blog

Men Alone – Men Together by Mark Beehre may well be up there on my list of top ten books I’ve read this year.

Beehre set out in 2003 to interview and capture in photograph 45 gay New Zealand men who live in committed relationships, some several decades long, or who have chosen to live alone. He simply transcribes their stories from interviews over several years, and the stories capture both the ordinariness of people’s lives, but also some extra-ordinary lives and moments. Some are heart-breaking, some astounding to think how far society has come in acceptance and tolerance, but also perhaps how far we still have to go. I thought of time wasted, lives lived in secret or compromises made to fit into what society deemed acceptable.

This book tells some wonderful stories of hope and courage and people rising above difficulty sure, but it also reminds you of the simple acts of living and loving, finding your soul mate and enjoying the life you have to life with them, whether just starting out, or nearing the end of your life.

Beautiful black and white portraits that capture the men in their homes, add to the detail of the lives you are reading about and I found the whole experience of reading Men Alone- Men together richly satisfying.

Sunday 19 September is Women’s Suffrage Day – a celebration of  New Zealand women getting the vote  in 1893. The Kate Sheppard Memorial in Oxford Terrace celebrates some of our pioneering sisterhood.

The Kate Sheppard Memorial

Another group of leaders are Christchurch’s own Women in the Council Chamber and we have brief political audio biographies  on Ada Wells, Elizabeth McCombs, the famed Mabel Howard as well as more recent councillors.

Our collection of Unsung heroines highlights local identities. These women were characters in all senses of the word. Bella Button – famed for her horseriding prowess – trained cats to jump like horses. Lizzie Coker, of Coker’s Hotel fame, was remembered as a ‘fantastic creature in elaborate wigs and huge fur coats’.

Other things to explore:

• A brief diary written on board the Tintern Abbey en route from Gravesend to Christchurch, December 1874 – May 1875 by Mary Anne McCrystal, 1849-1929.
• Ngaio Marsh – one of Canterbury’s most famous authors.
• Elsie Locke – one of our Canterbury Heroes, her plaque reads ‘Political, social and local community activist, well-loved historian and writer, determined and doughty fighter for the rights of the under-dog, active to the end’.

I recently read in Michele A’Court’s column, in the Press’s Your Weekend (August 14, 2010), an interesting interaction she had with a female bar staff at her local, who announced “I’m not a feminist … I don’t need to be.”

• Brush up on your feminism with titles in the library.
• Otherwise Marilyn Waring has an excellent website which includes links to some recent television appearances and
• Read an in-depth review of Emily Maguire’s Your skirt’s too short – the young adult answer to her Princesses and pornstars

So any inspirational feminist texts that particularly made an impression on you?

Every month on the website we have a different theme.  September’s theme is Learning, and in the spirit of ‘sharing the lurn’, here are a few fings wot I have lurned:

1. Earthquakes (and other natural disasters) are much less exciting when actually lived through, rather than just observed on the telly.
2. You should never leave on your workdesk on a Friday afternoon: anything important (chocolate bars, urgent messages, cellphones, any books that you have been waiting to read for months); anything perishable; anything you don’t want to have collected by Civil Defence guys in hard hats on Monday morning.
3. There are still some words in the world that I do not know the meaning of (and not just rude ones).
4. People, in general, can rise to pretty much any occasion with astonishing levels of community spirit and generosity.
5. It is entirely possible to hear the word ‘liquefaction’ too often, and to have too much of a conversation about porta-loos.
6. I was looking forward to the Christchurch Writers Festival oh-so-much-more than I realised.
7. A really good book (clearly not the one I left on my desk on Friday 3rd September) still has the power to take me out of the rather stressful and shaky real world, and transport me to other worlds.  And I love this.
8. These are really good books:  Kraken, by China Mieville.  The Manual of Detection, by Jedediah Berry. Good Oil, by Laura Buzo.  The Authenticity Hoax, by Andrew Potter.  And I loved them.

Have you ever gone to a country where you didn’t speak a word of the language? The road signs are confusing, the menus are meaningless and deciding which toilet cubicle to use can be a bit tricky.

For over 780 million people (one in five of the world’s population), their native language might as well be a foreign one. They might be able decipher a few words, but they can’t read or write well enough to carry out basic tasks. They face huge barriers in employment, learning and participation in their societies. Two-thirds of these illiterate people are women, and an estimated 75 million children don’t go to school.

UNESCO introduced International Literacy Day in 1965 to focus attention on the need to achieve global literacy. Although New Zealand has fewer problems than some countries, many people struggle in our knowledge-based society. A 1996 survey found that 70% of Māori and nearly 45% of non-Māori adults did not have the minimum level of literacy required to meet the demands of everyday life and work.

There are a lot of resources and information on the library website to help people of all ages improve their literacy. (more…)

The view near Horseshoe Lake, Burwood. 1911.

Horseshoe Lake Reserve, a branch of the Avon River, is to the north-east of Burwood Park. Pre-European Maori hunted there and called it Te Oranga.

Do you have photos of Christchurch? We love donations.

Also contact us if you have any further information on any of the images. Want to see more? You can browse our collection.

One of the biggest factors when people consider returning to study is how on earth they might pay for it.

Financing your study is a guide on The Pulse which  links to lots of web resources  – from scholarships and grants to loans and allowances. It’s aimed at teenagers, but will be useful for anyone considering returning to study.

See also:

• My future – study, jobs and travel options to consider from The Pulse
• Employment and Careers listings from our Internet Gateway
• More education funding websites
• Key skills for getting more out of your library

And feel free to share your best money-saving tip for prospective students!

If you have had to leave your house due to structural damage, you may be eligible for an emergency grant  from the NZ Red Cross Canterbury Earthquake Commission.

These grants are intended to provide one-off, initial assistance. To find out more about the grants process use the links below or contact the Government Helpline (0800 779 997).

Find out if you’re eligible:

• Canterbury Earthquake Emergency Grants Fact Sheet [PDF 660KB]
• Red Cross Canterbury Earthquake Questions And Answers [PDF 20KB]
• Emergency Grant Application Form [PDF 200KB]

If you need help, or know someone who does, encourage them to apply. Read more earthquake recovery information on the library website.

Have you noticed that the supermarkets are running low on essential items at present? There’s been a huge clean up job after the Christchurch quake and my heartfelt thanks go out to the wonderful retail staff who have worked diligently to ensure the shelves are straightened and the food on them is safe to eat. Grocery shopping is once again part of everyday life and I find this little act of normality soothing. Life goes on in spite of it all.

However,  breakages and transport issues aside, there are still some essential items in short supply. I have never seen the chocolate, sweets and biscuits aisles looking so depleted and it’s virtually impossible to find a cheap bottle of wine. It looks like Cantabrians have turned to comfort food to calm their jagged nerves and I must admit to hoeing into the Whittaker’s peanut blocks and the liquorice allsorts myself. A bumper pack of chocolate fish appeared on our workroom desk yesterday. It was circled briefly before colleagues attacked like sharks in a feeding frenzy. Whoomph!

I’ve been doing a little research and found that junk food is not the best solution to dealing with stress. Apparently, our old friends sugar, fat, caffeine and alcohol, while wondrous on the tastebuds, put stress on the body and make us feel more anxious than ever. There are plenty of books available at CCL that give advice on how to deal with stress and keep well by eating healthily. Check out the Internet Gateway too. There are links to several respected sites that give advice on nutrition. If you’re feeling stressed, the Ministry of Health has a page dedicated to the Christchurch Earthquake with excellent links to people and resources who can help.

A chocolate bar in a crisis never hurt anyone and there are times when brown rice, blueberries and green leafy veges just don’t cut the mustard. But, as time passes and the aftershocks continue, I think I’ll pick up some salad veges on the way home. Chowing down on too many chocolate fish has left me feeling a little green around the gills.

In the early days after the earthquake I was pretty fed up with excited geologists all over our television and radio. They were having a ball with all the excitement of discovery. For the rest of us discovery meant finding something else that had been chipped, bent or broken. So baah humbug geologists.

Until today when I read this guy. Mark Quigley, from Canterbury University,  is easy to read and understand. Although there is a lot of stuff for farmers it is interesting and there is fascinating information about aftershocks and hot springs. Hot springs on Banks Peninsula! Is this a new tourism opportunity in the making?