This is a spontaneous meeting space for Villagers - step onto the virtual Soap Box and share your top-of-brain notions and passions, opinions, knowledge or a story.
The brewing of ideas will help the whole Village to better understand itself and its possibilities.
It can also help generate everyday material and reality checks for academics and policymakers to collaborate in brokering robust solutions that the Villagers want.
The Soap Box
Why I wish to write about Oamaru…
2nd May 2010
Erin writes: Last September was my little girl's 5th birthday and her father came to NZ to celebrate it with her. We took her for a tour of South Island and Oamaru was one of the stops. Not only was the town lovely but the people too. It was certainly comforting for we had earlier experienced some "racist" looks and comments at a much smaller town when we made an emergency stop for my little girl who was throwing up in the car. I won't dwell much on this ugly incident because I don't think it will do anyone any good except to borrow Bob Parker's (Mayor of Christchurch) words: mindless people.
Our arrival in Oamaru was greeted by a drizzle and dark skies (almost 7pm) and one of our car wheels accidentally got stuck in a small drain when we were driving around searching for the backpacker's that was so highly recommended by some Malaysians we had earlier met in Queenstown. To cut the story short, a couple in their 20s were some 20 feet away and walking towards our direction. As they got nearer, they saw our predicament and the guy immediately walked over and helped my husband lift the wheel while I reversed the car. You can imagine our relief. They walked over to help even without us asking.
We finally found Swaggers Backpackers and true enough, it was lovely. Agra was not only a charming host but also very trusting and motherly. She even took the effort to accompany us on that dark night out to see the famous Oamaru penguins. My daughter was so delighted watching the little penguins walking all over the place.
The next morning, after checking out, we walked around town and saw many friendly smiling faces. Then we went to McDonalds. The kids area was empty except for a couple with their little girl. Not only did they smile at us, but we ended up chatting for a while.
All in all, Oamaru left us feeling much welcomed and I would certainly go back and visit again. South Island has always been stereotyped as "more racist" by many of my Asian friends but I can tell you, we did not feel that at all in Oamaru.
Local community practitioners, academics and policy-makers are invited to blend theory and practice to help support a “whole of locality” paradigm, one in which all can flourish by recognising and fulfilling their potentials.
Brokering Solutions
New Media Enables New Participation – So Why Isn’t It Happening?
Knowing who to vote for in an age of social media
What We See: Advancing the Observations of Jane Jacobs - book review
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Following the maxim that “there’s nothing as practical as good theory” the aim here is the co-creation of practical, robust and relevant theory. Blog contributions, comments and suggested links are most welcome.
Theories
Lectures on Ancient Greek Economy & Leisure
From Localities to Network Localities & Nations of Well-Connected Villages
Village Theory Think Piece: How to better understand the global from the perspective of the local
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What kinds of local and local-through-to-global connection-building can help Villagers to better recognize, refine and fulfill their aspirations from the places where they live? You are invited to let us know about projects and share successes and challenges.
Projects
New Local "Currency" Systems by Edward Goldsmith and Perry Walker
Clare Cooper Marcus on "The Needs of Children in Contemporary Cities"
Janine Benyus - Recognizing What Works: A Conscious Emulation of Life's Genius
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