Victoria University's students' association is relieved their concerns about a planned freedom of speech event have been taken on board, with the university making changes to the format of the event. Victoria University of Wellington Students' Association president Marcail Parkinson spoke to Charlotte Cook.

Vic Uni Students' Assoc on freedom of speech event

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Hymns for the Feast of Pentecost today, including contemporary hymns by NZ hymn writer Bill Wallace (Wild wind of the Holy Spirit) and the UK's Bernadette Farrell (Spirit of God, rest on your people).

Hymns on Sunday, 19 May 2024

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At just fifteen years old Joy Womack left her family home in Texas and travelled to Moscow to follow her dream of becoming a Prima Ballerina at the world-renowned Bolshoi Ballet Company. In the face of incredible challenges, she became the first American to graduate from the Bolshoi Ballet Academy's punishing training program with a red diploma, and the second American woman to sign a contract with the Bolshoi Ballet. Womack's captivating story has been made into a movie by the New Zealand filmmaking team of James Napier Robertson and Tom Hern. The biopic Joika, which is currently screening in NZ cinemas, stars actress and classically trained dancer Talia Ryder, and the real Womack served as choreographer and consultant.

Joy Womack: the American ballerina who danced for Russia

The incremental stresses of modern life can easily build, to kill joy, and tip us towards physical and psychological burnout. It's tempting to "push on" but Prof Vincent Deary argues we need to accept our capacity to carry stress is finite and work harder at resting - a skill most of us need to consciously practice. The professor of psychology at the UK's Northumbria University and clinical fatigue specialist's new book is How We Break: Navigating the Wear and Tear of Living. It's an exploration of our varying responses to the corrosive pressures of daily life, especially work, and an ode to the necessity of rest, recovery and the lost art of convalescence.

Vic Uni Students' Assoc on freedom of speech event

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