Signing Off

In case the total lack of activity didn't give it away, JIINZ is now shuttering its doors and windows. It has been a great run, but I have gotten married and re-settled happily back in the US, so it is time to move on to the next thing. Thanks to everyone for their participation and feedback. As I am now tending to say, Cheers!

Return from the beyond

It's been very quiet around here lately. Apologies for the slowdown...blogger adopted some new software that appears to be incompatible with my usual computer. So, here's a quick update:

• Had a great winter break in the US. Among other things,
• Dan suggested several fantastic blogpost ideas, all of which I've now forgotten
• I got engaged to Julie

That's right, engaged! We're very excited. Now we just have to figure out how to live in the same hemisphere. Details forthcoming, as available.

No new New Zealand news for now. The new computer that allows me to type this very string of words happens to be in the US, where I'll be on sabbatical for the rest of '07. My sources, however, tell me that NZ is still intact, so, as we say down there, no worries.

Happy Holidays

Well, things have been slower here than I hoped. That's starting to become a trend, I fear: not doing as much as I should. On that theme, I recommend a recent NYT Magazine article by Peter Singer, who is not just a philosopher, but arguably the world's most influential applied ethicist (for several decades now). I think he first found fame with his work on animal ethics, but at least as important has been his work on duties to the global poor. In case, with the holidays afoot, you're wondering what you can do, he's got some arguments that might hit home.

If, in particular, you make more than $92k, he's got his eye on you. But his arguments apply to all of us in the developed world, and that is the theme we philosophers end up lecturing about in many of our ethics classes. Really, his argument here continues his famous "shallow pond" argument from awhile back: if a child was drowning in a shallow pond, would it be okay to let the child die in order to spare your $200 pair of shoes that would be ruined by wading in to save her? Presumably you think it would not be okay. It would be wrong. Very, very wrong.

Now, as it turns out, for $200 (this number, if memory serves, comes from Singer's book, One World), we can save one of many, many children who are going to die from easily preventable diseases. So if it would be wrong to let the child drown to save the shoes, then spending $200 on a new pair of shoes -- or whatever -- instead of preventing one of those easily preventable deaths must be equally wrong.

Now, if you haven't been inundated with philosophy (or, I suppose, even if you have!), you might be thinking: "Okay, but why stop there? That's the kind of reasoning that could have me giving not only until I give up those shoes, but until just about everything I have, other than rudimentary food and shelter and health care, is gone."

And you'd be right to have that thought: cases like the "Shallow Pond" case open up a whole new can of fun philosophical worms. Philosophers refer to it as the "demandingness" problem -- how many demands can morality reasonably make on us, and what determines the point of reasonableness? In the linked-to article, Singer brings this question to life with the impressive case of a Mr. Zell Kravinsky (as compared to Bill Gates and the Blazers' own Paul Allen).

But another thought is this. While we're mulling over the question about demandingness, maybe we should think about at least putting aside that new pair of shoes in order to easily save the child from the shallow pond.

Just some thoughts for the season of giving. I'm personally looking forward to immorally spending well more than $200 and seeing friends and family (and eating long-missed food, and...) after my longest time ever out of the US. If I'm not going to see you, happy holidays!

And if you've got a spare dime sitting around, consider sending it to Oxfam, who's mission is basically to help the world's neediest from certain, but easily preventable, deaths.

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope everyone in the US had a nice Thanksgiving. I spent mine at the Ambassador's, at an event for Fulbright scholars in NZ. It was a good time, and it was nice to have a slice of America right here in NZ.

Today's item continues the education theme. A recent piece of news from CNN reports that students here will be able to use "text-speak" on their national high school exams.

There goes the good writing I've learned to like in Kiwi students. Actually, I have heard a rumor that this is not actually going to happen. So the jury is still out.

(Hat tip: Topher, aka Tophdog)

Detour to NYC

I’ll be spending some time in NYC soon, staying with my brother and sister-in-law. I was very much looking forward to it already. Now I’m even more excited, since their block was rated 21^st best block in the city by Time Out New York. Here’s the blurb:

Park Place between Carlton and Vanderbilt Avenues, Prospect Heights, Brooklyn

Another top-notch brownstone and tree-lined Brooklyn strip; it’s also close to burgeoning, hip Vanderbilt Avenue, so you’re never at a loss for a freshly baked muffin or a cool bar. If you need a dose of Flatbush volume, that’s just a quick stroll away.

Congratulations.

Individualism, Social Responsibility, and Litigiousness

Okay, after the recent blather about not noticing interesting features of NZ, here are two case studies.

The Dentist. A dental school offers free services from its hopefully moderately trained students. A mother takes her child there. The child has several cavities. In cleaning out the holes in preparation for the filling, the dental intern accidentally drills all the way through the primary (childhood) teeth, and all the way through to the permanent teeth still waiting beneath the gum line. Later in life, this causes severe dental problems for the patient. Her permanent teeth are ruined, she’s in severe discomfort, and she must go through several bouts of painful oral surgery.

The Headmaster. A headmaster/principal/CEO/whatever of a secondary school does an undeniably awful job. The school is run into the ground financially, important decisions go un-made, the quality of education declines.

Here’s the question for any Americans out there: how should the dentist and the headmaster be treated in reaction to these cases? My initial intuition is this: the dentist should be sued, and the headmaster should be fired.

Here in NZ, they do things a bit differently. The dentist can’t be sued. This is simply a non-litigious society, and so rather than allow individuals to extract compensation from other individuals, there’s a social insurance scheme, run by the ACC. This covers things like medical bills, although there’s no way to secure those notorious American benefits for vague “pain and suffering.” I guess that’s all in the spirit of the collective responsibility.

I’m mixed on whether I think this is a good thing. It’s good in that, first, interns (and the like) can train without fear of ending up destitute. Second, it’s good that the social compensation scheme isn’t run amok. Finally, the ACC covers not only individual harms, but sporting accidents and just about anything else, and there’s something nice about living in a society that says “Hey, whatever happens, don’t worry, we’ll take care of you.”

The downside is that, as I see things, horribly negligent dentists (and the like) who ruin a child’s permanent teeth should be held personally responsible to some degree. But they’re not. This is where the Headmaster case becomes instructive. Do you agree that the headmaster should be fired? If so, prepare to be disappointed. Apparently, it’s NZ law that once a job search has been completed with due diligence, it is very hard for someone to get fired. At that point, a law kicks in that says that it’s the employer’s responsibility to make sure the employee is doing a good job. So, in the Headmaster case, the negligent employee, rather than being fired, was kept on the job, and the employer had to hire an external consultant to come in and teach/cajole him into doing a better job. Basically, it turns out, you can’t be fired here. (That makes the tenure process a little redundant, I’ve recently discovered; but it makes promotion that much more significant, so I guess it’s a wash.)

So, in my humble opinion, score 1 point for NZ on social as opposed to individual insurance for injuries and health care; score 1 point for the US on holding people accountable for gross negligence.

On Being an Ex-Pat

The blogging has been very slow lately. There are many likely contributory factors behind this. It’s been the end of the academic year, for one. The grading crush is always enough to stifle most other projects.

But another explanation has to do with being an expatriate. Most of the posts here at JIINZ have fallen under one of two categories: travelogues or reflections on unique aspects of NZ and how it differs from the US. Obviously, writing travelogues requires actually traveling. Less obviously, reflecting on unique aspects of NZ requires becoming aware of things that are unique about NZ. But as I become more and more normalized with respect to living here, fewer and fewer things seem unique.

So, after being here almost a year and a half, I suspect that the blogging has slowed down in good part because less stuff seems remarkable. A little of this might have to do with quantity: maybe I’ve just “used up” a lot of the novelty. But I suspect that a larger portion has to do with me: I’m just less observant of the uniqueness, now that I’ve been here this long. Almost everything just seems, for lack of a more descriptive word, normal.

That being said, I’m hoping to be a little more observant. Here’s one reflection on being an ex-pat that I wouldn’t have expected. Last Monday was Labour Day here. It’s a personally instructive holiday, because it’s so similar to a US holiday in what it’s meant to commemorate (unlike, say, ANZAC Day—click here, or watch Gallipoli). It even falls on a Monday right at one end of the academic year.

Now here’s the (mildly?) interesting part. I barely recognized the day. I didn’t know it was a holiday until the last possible minute. It didn’t prompt any behavioral change on my part. It came and went pretty much like any other Monday, except some businesses were closed.

But, just like Labour Day’s similarity to the US in its symbolic meaning, people here treat it just like we do in the US: in addition to taking a day to not work, they plan three-day vacations, barbeque, and so on.

So why didn’t I take note of it? It can’t be that its symbolic value is different (because its not). It can’t be that the surrounding culture treats it differently (because it doesn’t). The only explanation that I can think of is that it’s simply not in my tradition repertoire. Maybe if it had fallen on the first Monday in September. Or maybe if it were the beginning, rather than end, of the school year, or the end of summer, or the beginning of fall. If one of those things had happened, maybe I would have noticed it. But I didn't.

So the surprising (to me, anyway) thing is that one of the casualties of being an ex-pat turns out to be holidays. ANZAC Day feels like neither Memorial Day nor the 4^th of July (its two closest counterparts). And Labour Day felt like a minor speedbump. Even last year, I would have been more aware of the goings on, just because everything was so new.

To return to where this post started, maybe being an ex-pat at this stage is less about noticing what’s different about NZ as opposed to the US, and more about noticing what’s different in me in the recent, as opposed to initial, stages of living abroad.

But hopefully I'll get JIINZ off the schneid and start posting more frequently. I hereby resolve to notice more things, if that's something that is susceptible to resolution.

Personal News

This one really has nothing to do with New Zealand, but I'm assuming some readers might be interested in a bit of personal news on my front.

My girlfriend Sally is pregnant!

No, just kidding! I have no girlfriend, nor, as far as I know, do I have any children.

The real personal news is that I've received both tenure and promotion to Senior Lecturer.

Okay, well actually that gives me another opportunity to note a difference between the US and NZ: academic ranks.

Firstly, we don't actually call it "tenure" here. Rather, we're on probation for a few years (accelerated in my case), and then we apply to go off probation. That's the equivalent of tenure.

Secondly, we basically have the same academic ranks as in the US, but with slight unalignment (is that a word?). Here's a rough translation guide:

US = NZ
Assistant Professor = Lecturer
Associate Professor = Senior Lecturer
Professor = Associate Professor (or Reader)
Chair of Excellence = Professor

In terms of formal address, in NZ only Associate Professors and Professors are addressed as "Professor So-and-So." Anyone below that rank is formally addressed "Doctor So-and-So."

But things are pretty informal for the most part.

So I prefer "Josh."

Or "Your Grand and Omni-Superior Excellency."

Fairness in Education

Awhile back, I posted a discussion comparing fairness in higher education in NZ vs. the US. The short story then was that things are much fairer here than in the States. Just to add another layer to the debate, The Economist has a nice short piece on many ways that class unfairly affects one's higher education (and therefore life prospects) in the US, at a time when social mobility is becoming more important but less feasible.

ECT, Part 5

By the time we got to the end of the East Cape, it had been a long day. We continued on for about another 2 hours--inland and south--to Taupo, where we got some overpriced Indian food and crashed at a backpackers. The Taupo region has been featured before here, during Julie's visit, including Taupo and Rotorua, and also the Tongariro Crossing (here, here, and here). When she and I drove north to Taupo, the final couple of hours were a great drive, featuring Tongariro National Park, in which lies the Crossing. But we didn't get any pictures, figuring we'd get them on the way back south. Big mistake. Never employ that reasoning in New Zealand. If you get good weather, take the picture.

Anyway, that leg of the trip takes place on the Desert Road, which is a pretty cool stretch of high desert. It was summer then, so there was no snow on the mountains. But this time, there was plenty of snow, and thankfully Jesse and I had pretty good weather. So here's what the scene looks like from the Desert Road.

As noted before, the conical mountain is (if memory serves) the one that formed the visual basis for Mordor in Lord of the Rings, and is where Julie and I did the Crossing (from this angle, we headed up its backside, on its right, and then headed further right).

ECT, Part 4

Now we're heading to the crown jewel of the East Cape. As you head north from Gisborne, you spend quite a bit of time inland. Which is frustrating, because you've seen the other side of those hills, and you know that there's some astounding coastline there. But then you come over a hill and there's this amazing azure-turquoise sea. (If there's one thing that I keep being frustrated by on these trips, it's my camera's inability to capture the astoudingly weird and beautiful colors of the lakes, rivers, and oceans. I guess that's one more reason to come see for yourself.) It's the South Pacific, and more specifically the Bay of Plenty. It's beautiful. And, as before, there are lots and lots of beaches.

When the "highway" finally dumps you out to the sea at this point, you're in Te Araroa (#6 on the map). This town is small but charming, and smack-dab in the front-center of town rests what must be the world's coolest skate park. A modest skate park, to be sure, but the picture doesn't lie: it's right on the ocean, with a nice view of the cliffs beyond. Location, location, location.

The low-angle picture of the road heads out to the lighthouse (#7 on the map) which is...you guessed it...the world's most easterly lighthouse. Pretty cool. The road takes awhile, because despite the picture it's mostly gravel. When you get to the lighthouse, you can take short climb up to it. We passed, as the sleepless night before and the difficult (if short) hike were catching up to us around noon. But, hey, it looks like it'd be kinda neat to be at the world's most easterly lighthouse.

From there we wrapped around the Bay of Plenty and then headed inland to Taupo, which we've talked about before, when Julie was visiting. I'll have a new set of pictures from that area in the next post, but it's too soon to leave the East Cape. So a few more words.

The two pictures of that Bay of Plenty drive capture two important things. First, it's a stunning coastal drive. If you're ever here and it's nice weather, it is worth doing. Second, there's that famous church sitting all alone on the headland. Striking site. But what's more striking as you travel the East Cape is that it's one area that hasn't been fully Europeanized. The Maori and Pacific Islander population is significant (both asbolutely and relatively), and--all the way from Te Araroa to Opitiki--there are several small towns, each of which is dominated not by a church, but by a marae. A marae is, roughly, a Maori meeting place. It serves many community functions, only one of which is spiritual. Anyway, it's striking how in this part of New Zealand, but in contrast to every other part I've seen, the marae is the physical centerpiece of many of these small towns.

That probably contributed to this being the first time I've felt a strong sensation of not being in the utopia of racial harmony NZ tends to be: the marginalization of the Maori was made particularly salient. Now, that said, things are waaaaaaay better here than in the US or Australia or Europe on the racial front. Way better. In every way. Jobs, respect, reparations, interracial dating, you name it. It's better here overall. But it's not perfect, and just coincidentally today's Dominion Post (how's that for a relevant title!) had an article on the extensive poverty and other social problems on the East Cape, focusing on Ruatoria in particular. I suppose that for better or for worse, I in many ways had my primary education on these and cognate issues before I ever moved here via two very good films, Whale Rider (again, set and filmed in these parts) and one of my favorite movies ever (and a very difficult one to watch at times), Once Were Warriors. The education, as always, continues.

At any rate, we're now leaving the East Cape. I highly recommend it. If you do make the road-trip, though, pay attention to the guidebooks' advice about where you can get gas, food, and shelter. I'm broken-record-ing this a bit, but it's worth repeating that there ain't much around here. Just the smallest of towns, farms, and logging. But it's a fantastic setting.

ECT, Part 3

Next stop on the East Cape Trip is Anaura Bay, which is about half-way up the north-south half of the East Cape (point #5 on the map). This much must be said: there are a gazillion little bays and coves in New Zealand. You just have to pick a couple at which to spend more time. Jesse and I picked this one because it looked like it had a nice hike through some coastal forest. Turns out there is also free car camping just below the hike, right on the water. Pretty nice spot, actually.

The hike itself was strange. The posted gov't sign billed it as two miles in two hours! That's a slow hike. We did it faster, but it was quite difficult, so not that much faster. A stretch went through mud, another, almost technical stretch had us repeatedly zig-zagging across a creek (basically jumping it each time), and then the rest was pretty much steeply uphill. Until we got lost. Then we re-found the track, and it was an easy downhill from there for the last half-mile or so. A possum, and lots of wild goats, kept us company throughout.

Except for the first picture, which is from the road just above the trailhead, all of these pictures are from the hike itself. You'll notice one shot of the famous Kiwi Silver Fern. (My first one, actually, even though an artist's rendering of the Silver Fern is everywhere as NZ's national flora.) And another I like to call "self-portrait."

I suppose at this point I should say something about this eastern stretch of the East Cape. It's basically all just farming and timber. There is nothing here. And very few people live here. If you wanted to spend the night between Anaura Bay and Te Araroa, it would have to be camping or on a farmstay, I think. Either way, it's a beautiful drive.

Coming up next: the best part of the drive, and the East Cape itself.

ECT, Part 2

Our next stop as we head north--still only on the way to the East Cape--is Mahia Beach. Looks like a great little spot, on the north end of Hawke Bay (point #3 on the map). It's actually only part of the Mahia Peninsula (a scenic reserve). This was another spot where I thought "Wow, I could spend a whole trip just here alone."

As you head north towards Gisborne from there, you also go through the highly-rated Morere Hot Springs, which, unfortunately, we didn't try. (At the same time, hot springs are a dime a dozen here, so it's kind of hard to get super worked up over any one of them.)

The first two pictures from this area are from Mahia Beach, while the third is from the road into the Mahia Peninsula. If you surf, this whole stretch of coast is apparently prime Kiwi surfing territory.

From there we drove up to Gisborne (point #4) to spend the night. We ate at The Wharf, which was nice but overpriced (though they have what looks like a very large wine collection--with several bottles priced at over NZ$500, the highest being NZ$950). We stayed at the Waikanae Beach Holiday Park, a backpackers/budget/campground kind of combo-type place. Not too much to offer, and it was absolutely freezing in the units. However, they do have this: they are right on the beach, which was nice.

Gisborne seems like a sleepy town, without much happening, but it is a prime stopping location for roadtrippers. Perhaps its most noteworthy feature is its "easterlyness." This is something that comes up again and again as you travel around the East Cape. While NZ's two main islands are not the most easterly units of land in the world, they are the most easterly units of land with significant populations. So Gisborne is billed as the most easterly "city" in the world and therefore the first "city" to see the sun each day. Therefore it's ahead of everyone else in the world. So there!

As we were freezing, we didn't get a good night's sleep, so we hit the road at about 5:30am. The bonus to doing this is that we got in a huge day of travelling, plus we got to be among the first people in the world to see the sun that day (Tuesday, August 29, 2006). And what would that be worth without a picture? So, here are two shots of that sunrise, for the record.

They were actually taken just north of Gisborne in Okitu, which has a nice-looking beach, and which is just south of Whangara. (Education moment: in Te Reo [or Maori], "wh" is pronounced "f." So "Whangara" is pronounced fangara. It makes for a chuckle when you finish the East Cape at Whakatane. Say it out-loud.) Anyway, you might not know Whangara by name, but many of you do know it. It's the town that was both the setting and location of the filmshoot for Whale Rider. Nope, we didn't take it in. To access it, you must get an escort. And, even if we had wanted to, we'd have missed it, because we were so tired that we forgot its significance as we passed through.

Anyway, at this point we're now definitely out of the Hawke's Bay region and into the East Cape. We basically spent the whole day travelling around it. And this was just a gorgeous beginning to a gorgeous day. Made lots of driving unquestionably worth it. More to come on that front.

Programming Note

...we interrupt regularly scheduled programming on the East Cape Trip with an administrative note. Until now, every post has been on the main page of JIINZ, going all the way back to June '05. But, with all the pictures I've been posting, it was taking quite awhile to load that main page. So that left me with three less-than-perfect options:

1. Have readers wait for longer-than-normal periods while JIINZ loads.
2. Reduce the amount of pictures of New Zealand.
3. Archive old posts on other pages.

I've gone with option #3. Option #1 makes JIINZ more irritating than it needs to be. Option #2 is just downright unacceptable--it goes against the whole purpose of the blog. So that leaves Option #3. If you're interested in older posts (planning a trip to NZ and interested in finding out what to do in the South Island? want to know some good restaurants in NZ? curious about NZ's lack of religion?), click on the monthly archives on your left. Don't be shy: Go ahead, click! It's easy.

I've set the limit of posts on the main page at (I think) 25 posts. Any feedback on the new format is welcome. I'd prefer to categorize the posts by content (pictures, travel, politics, cultural differences, etc.). But I only know how to do that on Typepad, which costs money. This is Blogger, which is free, and it isn't obvious to me how to set up such categories on this software (I've actually tried, and, clearly, failed!).

ECT, Part 1

This post covers the first, and (sadly!) least eventful leg of the East Cape Trip. Basically, it includes the trip from Wellington to Hawke's Bay. Hawke's Bay is a region; Hawke Bay is, well, a bay. (A fine, and as far as I can tell completely unimportant, distinction.) The southern end-point of both is Napier, which is about 4 hours north-east of Wellington. To get there, you go through the Wairarapa, which is basically an inland farming and low-lying mountain region in the southern North Island.

The Wairarapa not known for being very exciting. However, as you go through its various towns, you can hit Martinborough, which is a so-so wine-tasting town (the South Island is better for oenophiles, in my not-too-informed opinion), and also Carterton, which, while otherwise unremarkable, has the Wild Oats Bakery, which one of my books billed as having the best blueberry muffin ever. As we hit town at about 9:00am, that was too good a recommendation to pass up. Assessment: it was both distinctive and delectable, though truth be told I don't know how to rank blueberry muffins.

In any event, as you can see here, during winter the mountains of the Ruahine Range (point #1 on the map) are nicely dusted in snow. Before you get to Napier (point #2), you can take a short detour into Hastings, which has Te Mata Peak. That's where I took the pictures that have an elevated perspective. Pretty nice views. Finally, this post includes a picture from north of Napier, looking back on the city.

I should say this: because our goal was the East Cape, we didn't really spend much time in Hawke's Bay. But it has quite a lot to offer. Napier is the center of a bustling wine region; the bay and beaches themselves were very pretty; about an hour inland lies Lake Waikaremoana in Te Urewera National Park, both of which I'm dying to see but had to hold off for another time; and there's apparently a very nice track along the beach, in addition to a bundle of other trails and forests. Napier is also known for it's art deco architecture, though I was a bit underwhelmed by it. However, with lots of galleries, vineyards, and other distractions, I could see spending a long weekend there and staying busy the whole time. Finally, Napier is the launch pad to Cape Kidnappers, which supposedly includes a great gannett colony and rugged scenery. Not to mention New Zealand's answer to Bandon Dunes and Pebble Beach. Saving that for another trip!

East Cape Trip

One of the most rugged and uninhabited places in New Zealand is actually reasonably accessible from Auckland: the East Cape. Yet almost nobody goes there. Nobody lives there. It doesn't have many places to eat or stay, other than the occasional farmstay and backpackers. And there are basically no tourist attractions. Travellers and Kiwis alike tend to avoid it, apparently only because it's a bit out of the way as you're travelling in a rough north-south line between Auckland, Taupo, and Wellington.

All of which is to say that there's not much to do, other than see some ridiculously spectactular landscapes and seascapes. It's a fantastic place to visit, especially if it's sunny.

New arrival Jesse and I did it over a 48-hour marathon road trip earlier this week (we're on Spring Break here). We had a great time; while almost all of our time was spent in the car, the scenery was gorgeous, as were some places that we visited only as unintended-but-foreseen side effects of making a roundtrip between Wellington and the East Cape.

Pictures and descriptions to come. In the meantime, here's a map, with noteworthy points indicated numerically. If you're keeping score at home, the East Cape proper is only the bit between Gisborne (#4) and Ohope (#8). Other regions driven through include the surprisingly beautiful Hawke's Bay (#2), the perfectly snowy Tongariro National Park (#9), and the Wairarapa and Kapiti Coast (the coastal and inland regions closer to Welly in the south).

Makara

Just outside of Wellington is a town called Makara. I've often been very close to it, as it's only about 10 minutes past my golf course. But I never got all the way there, for one reason or another. Then I learned that there's a nice hike there. So last weekend Jesse and I went to visit. Very nice place. The drive in tracks along a picturesque creek (though not so picturesque that I have any pictures here!), and then we took the long way back, through Johnsonville, which winds you through a very nice forest.

But the highlight is the hike at Makara. It is supposed to go along the beach halfway, and then the other half loops back up along the cliffs. I was looking forward to the views from the cliffs, but that part of the hike is closed for a couple months. Why, you ask? Well, apparently they need it for "lambing." That is, letting lamb graze, I take it. Definitely an only-in-New-Zealand thing, that one. Oh well, it gives me an excuse to go back in summer.

Until then, here are some pictures from the beach half of the walk. Other than the scenery, which was fantastic, you'll notice a disturbingly windswept version of myself, and one of the many likable birds that is unique to NZ. I haven't talked about the birds here very much, but if you're a birder, here and Australia are fantastic. Very strange, cool birds.

More Wellington Pictures

NZ in general is fairly environmentally conscious. One of the ways that Wellington picks up on this value is by having a nice series of nature preserves and hiking trails that more or less ring the city. Imagine that Griffith Park circled LA, or Forest Park wrapped around all of Portland (Central Park around Manhattan, etc.), breaking here and there for some spots for roads and housing to funnel through. This weekend, my friends Diana, Jesse, and I did a couple-mile section of the City-to-Sea walkway, which is part of this green-belt. Here are some pictures (once again, the South Island is what you're seeing in the distance).

More South Island Pictures

Just some more takes on the same scene. Makara (West of Wellington, on the Tasman Sea) coming next....

Some South Island Pictures

So, as promised, here are some pictures of New Zealand's South Island. These are taken from a stretch of south-facing coast here in Wellington (the southern tip of the North Island), between Lyall and Island Bays. They were taken at sunrise. I might put up a couple of these posts, just because they're kinda cool. Following that will be a post from Makara, where we finally had some winter warmth yesterday. It's the east/nor-east facing part of the southern tip of the North Island. Anyway, here's the South Island at sunrise.

Because of the distances involved, it's probably more important than ever to click for the larger versions. And if you use Mozilla Firefox, click again to enlarge them even more.

Research, and some Wellington pictures

So not much is new 'round here these days. Lots and lotsa work. On that front, here's some good news: in all likelihood, I have a sabbatical coming next year! It still has to go through final vetting (I have to set up an itinerary, etc.), but it looks like a done deal. One of the many ways in which this job is excellent.

The "normal" (in the prescriptive sense) way of doing things in academia is to work a job for anywhere from 3-6 years, and then get research leave for about 6 months. Because so many of us have to work our way up and out of one-years these days, that often ends up translating into 9-12 years before you get a sabbatical. Which, of course, just means that you're further behind the privileged few who end up getting desirable tenure-track jobs from the get-go and are able to do it in 3-6 years, thereby getting a research jump on their peers and appearing more talented or hard-working than those peers.

Anyway, the nice thing about this job is that you get a sabbatical every 3 years. (Oxy was the same, as are many small, private schools; and many other schools give junior hires a sabbatical after 3 years, after which point it then goes to a larger number, such as every 6 years.) For various reasons, such as not wanting too many people on research leave after my 3rd year, I'm going early, after two years. So, just by coincidence, my situation down here means that I'll end up with a sabbatical after being in the profession for...6 years! Not too shabby.

And, for your viewing pleasure, some pictures of Wellington. The first two are taken from the top of the stairs that I head down when I go (gasp!) jogging along the harbour. Show up on that walkway on a warm-ish sunny day, and it will be teeming with people. The close-up is of the Rimutaka (sp?) mountains, which now have snow on them. The third picture is from sunrise at Lyall Bay, one of the few surf spots in town. I was up early that day and went to take some pictures of the South Island, and I got the sunrise as a bonus. Those South Isl. pictures will be coming soon. The last pic here is one teaser of what's to come on that front.

Don't forget: click on the pics for larger shots.

Blazers Nostalgia: Old School Z100 Jamz

Courtesy of Andrew comes a link to fondly recalled days of yore. It has nothing to do with New Zealand, but the Blazers have been a theme in these pages, and this classic video needs a home here. (I'll have an NZ-relevant post soon to compensate for my Blazers obession.)

Hobbes, Censorship, Kiwis, and Teaching

So I'm teaching political philosophy right now, and we just finished a unit on Hobbes, who is famous for trying to justify an extremely totalitarian state. One of the elements of the totalitarianism is that the sovereign has total rights of censorship (that's supposed to keep the peace!). When I used to give these lectures in the US, the students got a kick out of that. Here they take it more seriously.

After all, we have a state censor here in NZ. You get the usual areas of concern being censored, which I guess isn't too surprising, but the whole thing freaks me out a little bit. The worst part is that during the daytime, movies with the equivalent of an American R-rating are banned from TV. That's right--I pay for movie channels, and I can't see the movies I'm paying for. For example, last Saturday Monster was showing, but I couldn't watch it. It's not a parental control thing, although it is aimed at kids, because I have no choice but for my cable box to ban it.

One last swing through Oregon and California

Last post on the trip back to the States, then it'll be a return down unda here on JIINZ...

If you like golf, go to Bandon Dunes. End of story. Ridiculously good golf, and a nice place to stay. Here's a pic from there during the trip Andrew, my dad, and I took. My smile is explained by the fact that while I had 27 pretty bad holes, I managed to pull off my best 9 ever: 41 on the back nine at the Dunes course (two pars and two birdies, unbelievably). Plus you get to go by a National something-or-other where there's an Elk Preserve. And it's a great stretch of coast.

The other photo doesn't feature any amazing destinations or anything. But it is of Steven, Angie, Marty, Julie, and Jordan at a post-Pride barbeque at Guilly and LJ's, which capped off a fantastic weekend in the city. Actually, there's an amazing destination: make time to go to SF Pride at least once. Absolutely worth it. I found that it works particularly well if the weather is spectacular and you go to a Giants/A's game the day before. But that might just be me.

Sonoma, Part Deux

I'll keep this one nice and short, letting the pictures speak for the Sonoma Coast. They're all from the hike proper (discussed in the post below), except for the one of Julie and me, which is from the finishing spot, the beach at Goat Rock.