Tainui Stephens – The Spinoff

Whakamā: fighting the taniwha of shame

13 July 2020 by Tainui Stephens

Whakamā refers to a state of personal or collective embarrassment and shame. Unabated shame can corrode the soul. Tikanga can fix and prevent it, writes Tainui Stephens. This story contains descriptions of racism and racist language. It seems to me some radio talkback hosts suffer from an empathy bypass: a quixotic condition affecting those who … Read more

Blindness to the beauty of Ngāruawāhia is blindness to the beauty of New Zealand

15 September 201631 May 2016 by Tainui Stephens

Heather du Plessis-Allan sparked controversy this week with a column calling the Waikato town ‘rotting’. In fact, Ngāruawāhia is the epitome of uplifting small-town NZ, writes former resident Tainui Stephens. In 1998 I fled Herne Bay in Auckland to live in Ngāruawāhia. It was one of the best things I ever did. I lived there … Read more