Oh Oh Oh, I'm on fire (Bruce Springsteen)

Tonight and forever (You may say I'm a dreamer - Chapter 6, part 5)

Destiny was working for me in the mid to late eighties. It was the best of times.

Pretty sure this was taken in the Te Kanawa courtyard 1988

Big changes were the norm in those years as both Adam Lennon Purdy (1986) and Samantha Mary Purdy (1989) joined Keegan, Jacky and me in the Purdy household (more of this coming in the Family Man chapter).

3PY of 1986 - Everyone a star!

From 1986 to 1990 I was wildly happy at Macleans College, working with and for some truly exceptional people.

First and foremost, there was Colin Prentice. An exceptional human being and a charismatic Principal. Period. 

As Seth Godin says, "Sometimes, if we're lucky, we get to glimpse those ripples as we stand at the crossroads." During my Macleans years I was privileged to experience Colin's helping hand and to travel on the back of one of those ripples. Colin moved many people forward. I'm lucky to be counted among them.  

We were still in contact up to a few days before his death in 2014. Uncannily, his time on earth deeply touched everyone he came into contact with. We all loved him.

In 1985 he interviewed me for a teaching position at his newish school in the eastern suburbs of Auckland (1980 was its first year), and subsequently Jacky, Keegan and I moved up to Auckland in time to start the 1986 school year.

The school yearbook's staff notes welcomed me with: Miss C L Jensen and Mr W N Purdy...both arrived from different New Plymouth schools to teach English in a variety of coloured clothing.

Hey - it was the eighties and Jacky had taken over my wardrobe. Out with frumpy seventies gear - in came skinny ties, fluro jerseys, bright shirts/socks/shoes and trendy bomber jackets.

Inside T14 with media studies

And so started four incredibly rich years under Colin's leadership. With preternatural brilliance, he knew exactly how to inspire his staff and get the best out of us. Although his standards were high, they were not impossible, and he made it a pleasurable journey to attain them. His decision to leave Macleans was a prime motivation for me to seek promotion elsewhere.

Twice, I broke down in his presence (the only times I have lost it with Principals). Both times he consoled me and we moved on. The first was an angry meeting that, he agreed, we both handled badly. I was upset about a way another teacher had handled an incident and didn't hold back when in Colin's office. 

The second was during a seventh form camp in 1988 when I felt wretched. I believed I'd let a student down by insisting she participate in a staff organised pillow fight (organised by Colin actually). Donna Denize didn't want to but I insisted and she ended up with a dislocated shoulder injury. He was understanding and helped me realise how to learn from these moments. When he asked if I wanted to pray with him I felt honoured and by the end, repaired.

With Kylie and Robin

I cannot imagine repeating those scenes with anyone other than Colin. God bless you C.J.

Whenever the subject of old schools comes up I find myself being quite enigmatic in my Macleans' comments. Summing up the Macleans experience to skeptical outsiders is quite difficult.

Picture a combination of unique geographical location (looking over Eastern Beach out to sea), a staff all working in one direction towards a common goal, a staff refusing to take second best, students expecting the best from their teachers and themselves, and a strong sense of whanau (Te Kanawa was my House).

Similarly, it's tough to pick out my highlights from those four years. There are an incredible amount. 

Kylie and Jody in T14

Here's a list, by no means comprehensive: my car pool buddy for all of that time - Graeme Sterne; runathons, including when standards slipped and Colin called for a repeat - as we ran a rainbow appeared above us - remarkable; my prefab classroom - T14; Te Kanawa House meetings and the Taniwha; all my classes - especially media studies in 1988; 3PY of 1986 containing some of the sharpest, wittiest, brightest minds I've ever come across; Sue Miller as leader of Te Kanawa and our 1986 Form 3 camp; students like Nathan Bradley, Jeanette Harnish, Denene Martin, Catherine Day (whose goodbye note still really humbles me), Tania Pocock, Simon Milton, Lance Dunn, Grant Bodle, Jodie Doherty, Anna Giles, Angeline Allright and so many more; ANZAC services; sports days; assemblies in the gym; Colin's farewell and The Rose sung by the prefects; the staff like Kent Fenneman, Pete Garelja, Steve Lewis and Margaret Methven; Colin's notes on yellow pad paper on a Monday morning...and on and on it goes.

Jody, Julie and Kylie

It was an altogether marvellous, wonderful, stimulating time.  

When it came time to leave in 1990 it was a tough tough thing to do. I had started loving the school too much, there was no clear promotion pathway, Colin had gone to Mt Roskill Grammar, and my dad had remarried and being in Auckland wasn't so important any more. It felt like the time was right.

Tell all your buddies - the one to take is media studies!

Apart from leaving Te Kanawa, it was a big wrench to leave my little sister behind. Jeanette Thomas is now a household name in NZ - radio and TV have become very successful homes for Jeanette.

With Jeanette and Samantha

Back then she was Jynette Harnish (styled after her idol Johnny Farnham). As well as being my student she had become a friend and I had somehow become her big brother. The Harnishes and the Purdy families had become close over the four years. Jacky and I even shared our Christmas dinner with her one year.

Teaching her was easy and being a friend was easy too.

But then we had to go and I will always remember her face when our loaded up van left Macleans, outside the gym. 

She now has a beautiful family, and a successful career, but I'll always remember that farewell day and waving her goodbye.

Love and peace - Wozza

I've said it once and I'll say it again, we've got some pretty soily company (Macca)

I mentioned in a whanau email that one of our number has made the cover of the Australian Woman's Weekly. It's a message worth repeating right!

Jeanette Thomas (a.k.a Jeanette Harnish, a.k.a Jynette) is first and foremost a whanau member but she is also a media darling and she's a star! Actually she always has been and she certainly deserves all the success and media exposure that comes her way. Nu Zilders know her from the TV consumer watchdog programme Target and now she has taken over a role on TV One's Good Morning show - http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv/5978687/New-Good-Morning-hosts-announced

I bought the Aussie Women's Weekly (Jynette's in great company - the only other times I've bought it is if a Beatle has been on the cover) and very proudly read the story of her rise to fame and glory. Of course, it only showed one side of her. It missed the sparkly fun, cheeky wit and personality of the real thing but there you go. Media PR can do that to you. It also glossed over the Macleans College portion of her story - not that I was looking for a mention or anything yunnerstand.

Although, if I was still teaching media studies at that great school I would have a nifty example of how the media feeds upon itself. I could even invite Jynny along to discuss it!

Latest Waffle news:

He continues to act more as a puppy dog following us all over the property and he is very inquisitive as you can see. He especially enjoys helping me in the garden and loves it when I dig a hole to plant Aggys - provides him with endless fun falling into the hole and chasing bits of dirt around (which brings us neatly back to the title).

Bazil, of course, remains totally unimpressed.

The five applicants for alpha male at our place.

Love and peace - Wozza

Loving would be easy if your colors were like my dreams (Culture Club)

Dear PJ

Many thanks for sending your article on culture. A most interesting topic that I’m drawn to from both a schooling context (school cultures are fascinating) and from a pakeha Nu Zild point of view. As you point out I’m also super keen on pop music.

So pull up a chair, reach for a cokerama and a slice of Pav. and consider my response.

Clearly you’re not writing about 'culture' in terms of your taste in high (fine arts) or low culture (the Blue Mink song Melting Pot would be an example of low culture of course).

Nor were you appraising culture as it relates to language and custom I don't think.

Instead you consider culture in terms of national identity, as in Nu Zilders supposedly have a shared culture (a set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that shape and influence us).
Equally as clearly, your basic reaction to this notion is poppycock, fiddlesticks and 'is not'.
Instead, because modern Nu Zild is such a diverse place, you see a 'brave new cultureless world'.

Okay so…my two cents:

Short version:

Are we headed for a brave new cultureless world? No I don’t believe so.

Long version:

NZ icon - Jeanette Thomas

If I think about NZ culture I tend to think of kiwiana (buzzy bees, pavlova, Footrot Flats, Phar Lapp, weetbix kids), iconic kiwi personalities (Barry Crump, Tim Finn, Ginette MacDonald, Ed Hillary, Fred Dagg, Billy T, Jeanette Thomas, Patrick Cameron, Mayor Tim et al), men-in-black sports heroes (‘Pinetree’ Meads, Jack Lovelock, ‘Buck’ Shelford, Waka Nathan, Mark Todd, Don Clarke, the 1972 Olympic rowing 8), national disasters (Wahine, 1981 Springbok tour, Gallipoli, Cave Creek, Pike River, Erebus, various devastating earthquakes), national successes (1987 and 2011 Rugby World Cups, 1982 and 2010 World Cup Soccer teams), great NZ music (Split Enz, Bambino Beats, Daggy and the Dickheads) various holidays/commemorations (ANZAC, Waitangi) and, of course, there is Kapa Haka.




Bambino Beats

Is that eclectic mix shared by all Aucklanders? Um...no, it’s not. Probably only an aging minority could relate to my list. Auckland houses the largest congregation of humans in NZ and as a bunch they are probably the most diverse ethnically speaking (I'm guessing here). So it’s very unlikely.

Is it shared by my neighbours in Waipukurau and Otane? Yes! Pretty much exclusively. Why? Because the rural heartland is definitely neither a large congregation nor is it like Auckland in any demographic way.

As a middle class, middle aged pakeha, I think that cultural history binds me towards my neighbours in many ways. We share some things, in much the same way that Muslims share some things. It does give us (for good or otherwise) a cultural identity.

Whenever I meet other NZers in my work in the Middle East, who also tend towards middle age and middle class status, we immediately have a shared history, shared work ethic, and a similar perspective on the world.

NZ is small, isolated, and, to the rest of the world, inconsequential. The tyranny of distance has meant that we do emerge with a real sense of culture, not a fake one. Gandhi thought 'a nation's culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people'. I think that’s right and it is constantly evolving.

The NZ culture is a cross pollinated mix that resides in all New Zealanders (including you PJ) - whatever they sound or look like. For me, it exists, it’s real and it's useful. We don’t all have to share aspects of my own cultural makeup. We are different but equal, as you originally thought.

My paternal great grandfather brought my grandfather from Rochdale (just north of Manchester) to NZ when he was a young boy. My mother’s side of the family includes aspects of other celtic origins but was essentially of pioneer King Country stock. Where ever I go I take that mixture with me. By a fluke I was born in NZ and started off life wanting to kick a ball like Don Clarke. When I return to Rochdale I immediately feel home but I'm not a Brit and I don't share a British history aside from the legacy that NZ was left with.

Having suggested that cultural identity doesn't really exist anymore, you then appear to want a bob each way and contend that 'cultural identity does more harm than good'. I'm not sure why you think that but George Orwell would be inclined to agree.

In his essay on the sporting spirit George writes:

I am always amazed when I hear people saying that sport creates goodwill between the nations, and that if only the common peoples of the world could meet one another at football or cricket, they would have no inclination to meet on the battlefield. Even if one didn't know from concrete examples (the 1936 Olympic Games, for instance) that international sporting contests lead to orgies of hatred, one could deduce it from general principles.

For me, you and old George are overstating things somewhat. I definitely feel my cultural identity far more when I am away from home. My latent cultural baggage seems to well up and become more obviously part of me. Maybe because of the stark juxtaposition with the Muslim culture that exists all around me. When the world cup was on, it bound me together with fellow kiwis in a very positive way. When I saw the scenes in NZ at the Viaduct Basin I felt a real kinship with a disparate bunch of ethnicities and age groups. All bound by that All Black victory. We were all together, sharing the cultural moment that will continue to link us in the future.

The final words belong to Frank Lloyd Wright (quasi subject of  the great Paul Simon farewell song to Art Garfunkel – hey I needed one arcane pop reference);

Noble life demands a noble architecture for noble uses of noble men. Lack of culture means what it has always meant: ignoble civilization and therefore imminent downfall.

 

It continues to be fine and hot at this end!

Love and peace - Wozza