Down to Earth Conversations

My whānau (family) join me for today's episode, sharing their thoughts about kindness, generosity, creativity, making the world a better place, and making someone's day.

The episode is laid out in three short interviews.  First, I talk to Sophia and Mackenzie together, then a brief chat with our four year old Korah, before rounding off the episode with a kōrero with Beks around creativity, generosity, and inclusion. 

 

Find Sugar Lips on Facebook, Instagram, or our website. And learn about our commitment to make a social impact with a generous sprinkling of inclusion.

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Connect with me at downtoearthconversations.com or at

Facebook: facebook.com/downtoearth.conversations 

Instagram: @downtoearth.conversations

Email: [email protected]

 

Music by Strahan:

Spotify: Strahan

Facebook: facebook.com/StrahanMusic  or  facebook.com/commonerscommunion

Instagram: @strahanmusic  or  @commoners_communion

Naomi Toilalo is a wife, mum, tv presenter, reality TV contestant, and a baker. She runs the Instagram page Whānau Kai and has just released her first cook book of the same name, which is in both te reo Māori and English. 

We talk māoritanga, Māori television, family, generosity, and what led to the creation of Whānau Kai. 

Check out Whānau Kai on Instagram or Facebook. You can also find Whānau Kai: the Giving Series on YouTube. 

Check out Naomi's cook book online or wherever good books are sold. 

Donate to my give-a-little page here to help keep the podcast going into 2023. 

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Connect with me at downtoearthconversations.com or at

Facebook: facebook.com/downtoearth.conversations 

Instagram: @downtoearth.conversations

Email: [email protected]

 

Music by Strahan:

Spotify: Strahan

Facebook: facebook.com/StrahanMusic  or  facebook.com/commonerscommunion

Instagram: @strahanmusic  or  @commoners_communion

Scottie Reeve is the author of the book, '21 Elephants', and co-hosts the podcast of the same name with the Reverend Spanky Moore (featured on episode 12).  Scottie is also passionate about living in community with others, about caring for those who are neglected, or even cast aside, by society, and about how the church can make a real difference in the world

We talk about his time working for the Youth organisation, Zeal, the intentional communities he has lived in, including how they held him in both the great times and the very painful times. And we talk about his role as an Anglican church leader and how he is involved in doing church differently in the Wellington suburb of Brooklyn.

It is a powerful, and very vulnerable conversation.

 

Check out 21 Elephants, the book and the podcast, at 21elephants.co

Or the Brooklyn Anglicans at brooklynanglicans.nz

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Connect with me at downtoearthconversations.com or at

Facebook: facebook.com/downtoearth.conversations 

Instagram: @downtoearth.conversations

Email: [email protected]

 

Music by Strahan:

Spotify: Strahan

Facebook: facebook.com/StrahanMusic  or  facebook.com/commonerscommunion

Instagram: @strahanmusic  or  @commoners_communion

This is a very special episode as we prepare to remember the crown invasion of Parihaka on November 5th, 1881.  If you don't know the story of Parihaka, you may wish to pause the episode and follow the links below to read a little about what happened.  But the short of it was that the Crown ordered troops to invade Parihaka in response to the people of Parihaka showing active non-violent resistance to the confiscation of their lands, and the response of the people of Parihaka was kindness and intentional non-violence.

Today's guest, Puna Wano-Bryant, is from Parihaka, and a couple of years ago led the team who engaged with the Crown to negotiate a Crown apology for the atrocities committed in its name. With a background in law and arts, Puna has been actively pursuing justice for Māori in a range of ways for many years.

We talk about her identity as Māori, her passion for justice, Māori wards in local elections, and what it was like to negotiate with the Crown and receive an apology.

Read about the story of Parihaka at parihaka.maori.nz/history or nzhistory.govt.nz/occupation-pacifist-settlement-at-parihaka

See the trailer for the film The Children of Parihaka here.

Read about Minister Finlayson's book, Yes Minister, that Puna refers to here.

And connect with Puna on Instagram 

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Connect with me at downtoearthconversations.com or at

Facebook: facebook.com/downtoearth.conversations 

Instagram: @downtoearth.conversations

Email: [email protected]

 

Music by Strahan:

Spotify: Strahan

Facebook: facebook.com/StrahanMusic  or  facebook.com/commonerscommunion

Instagram: @strahanmusic  or  @commoners_communion

Mohamed is a former NZ Poetry Slam Champion who represented New Zealand in the World Individual Poetry Slam in 2016. Mohamed has also worked in television and radio journalism in New Zealand and abroad over the last decade, and has produced some quality podcast series for Radio New Zealand. Most recently he is the author of the recently released, "How to Be a Bad Muslim, and other Essays".  

We talk about the power of words and storytelling. We hear about some of his experiences as a journalist, including time covering the Middle East including the Palestinian/Israel conflict, and his reporting on the 2019 Christchurch terror attacks, when he was connected in so many ways to so many of the victims from the mosques.

We talk about Mohamed's book which covers themes of xenophobia, islamophobia, whānau, love, and loss. We also hear about why it was important to Mohamed to share about his mental health journey in a number of his book's essays. 

 

Check out some of Mohamed's poetry and writing on Facebook or YouTube or check out his book "How to Be a Bad Muslim". 

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Connect with me at downtoearthconversations.com or at

Facebook: facebook.com/downtoearth.conversations 

Instagram: @downtoearth.conversations

Email: [email protected]

 

Music by Strahan:

Spotify: Strahan

Facebook: facebook.com/StrahanMusic  or  facebook.com/commonerscommunion

Instagram: @strahanmusic  or  @commoners_communion

Dr Amy Kenny is an amazing human being who has recently released a book titled "My Body is Not a Prayer Request: Disability Justice in the Church." In the book, and in our conversation, Amy shares her experiences of living in a world that is not designed with disability in mind. Sadly, her experience is that it is actually worse in the church than elsewhere.

We talk about her role teaching Shakespeare, her book and how it came about, and we tackle issues such as using disability as a metaphor, healing culture, whether she will run in heaven, whether hitting her other knee with a hammer would be helpful (?), how the church can be less ableist, and the difference she sees between inclusion and belonging. 

If you are moved by the episode please consider sharing it with someone else - let's get this message out there.

Check out more from Amy at amy-kenny.com and go find her book wherever you can.

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Connect with me at downtoearthconversations.com or at

Facebook: facebook.com/downtoearth.conversations 

Instagram: @downtoearth.conversations

Email: [email protected]

 

Music by Strahan:

Spotify: Strahan

Facebook: facebook.com/StrahanMusic  or  facebook.com/commonerscommunion

Instagram: @strahanmusic  or  @commoners_communion

This being my birthday, I decided to give you a bit of me as a gift from me to you. So I invited the incredible Tash McGill to take over the episode and put me in the hot seat, taking it wherever she wanted to take it.  And she does just that.

Tash is a broadcaster, podcaster, creative, storyteller, writer, and strategist.  She works in business transformation, especially within the food, beverage and hospitality industries. She is chairperson of the New Zealand Whisky association and has recently been named a finalist in the Spirits Communicator category of the prestigious International Wine and Spirits Competition. On top of all of that, she hosts a podcast called The Transformationist, talking to people who are transforming the spaces they occupy - so definitely check that out. 

We talk about creating yourself rather than finding yourself, about changing our minds on theology and life, baggy jeans and oversized football jerseys, being a white male in a world of white male privilege and we explore how and why my new book came about.

 

Check out Tash's mahi at tashmcgill.com and a further range of sites and links at linktr.ee/tashmcgill

Connect with her online on Instagram at @tashmcGill and @thespiritswriter 

Hear Suzy Cato read "Three Things to Know: and E Tū Tāngata Story" or buy a copy for yourself at etutangata.nz

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Connect with me at downtoearthconversations.com or at

Facebook: facebook.com/downtoearth.conversations 

Instagram: @downtoearth.conversations

Email: [email protected]

 

Music by Strahan:

Spotify: Strahan

Facebook: facebook.com/StrahanMusic  or  facebook.com/commonerscommunion

Instagram: @strahanmusic  or  @commoners_communion

I spend a lot of time talking to people doing amazing things in the world. But today we get to hear about being, noticing, listening, and knowing our worth outside of what we do. 

Donald Scott is a former shearer and pastor, and is now a spiritual director. He has been on a journey of learning to be, for many years. And he takes us on that journey with him today. It's deeply beautiful and deeply challenging.  

We talk about his passion of ornithology (birds), his relatively recent embrace of lengthy silent retreats, how te āo Māori (the Māori world) has influenced his understanding of nature and spirituality, and about hearing the sound that lies underneath the loudness and the busyness.

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Connect with me at downtoearthconversations.com or at

Facebook: facebook.com/downtoearth.conversations 

Instagram: @downtoearth.conversations

Email: [email protected]

 

Music by Strahan:

Spotify: Strahan

Facebook: facebook.com/StrahanMusic  or  facebook.com/commonerscommunion

Instagram: @strahanmusic  or  @commoners_communion

Hannah Hardy-Jones has taken the challenges of life and turned them into something that is changing people's lives.

Hannah worked in HR until the birth of her first child triggered a manic episode and life changed forever. We talk a little of that journey, however you can hear more of it on episode one of Voices of Hope's podcast, A Moment With. 

The focus of our kōrero is what happened from there. How did her newly acquired bipolar disorder lead to the development of her business, The Kite Programme? Why kites? And how does an app help anyone?

We talk mental health, being a mum, gathering a team to turn a dream into a reality, veterinary challenges, the UK government, brand new Jaguars and more.

 

Connect with Hannah on Instagram or at thekiteprogram.com 

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Connect with me at downtoearthconversations.com or at

Facebook: facebook.com/downtoearth.conversations 

Instagram: @downtoearth.conversations

Email: [email protected]

 

Music by Strahan:

Spotify: Strahan

Facebook: facebook.com/StrahanMusic  or  facebook.com/commonerscommunion

Instagram: @strahanmusic  or  @commoners_communion

Sel Leigh runs Leigh Development where she gets alongside people wanting to make an impact in the world through business and helps them to achieve that goal. 

But if I said this was a conversation about business coaching and mentoring I would be doing Sel a huge disservice. Because what Sel is doing goes so much deeper than that. 

We talk about diversity and inclusion, the effects of colonisation even on the way we do business, and about how Sel gets alongside people, encouraging them into and supporting them along their own decolonisation journey. 

We also talk about why Sel is keen for people to know that charities aren't the only way to have an impact, and whether or not it's all worth it in the end.

 

Connect with Sel through Leigh Development's website, or their Linked In or Instagram pages. 

___

Connect with me at downtoearthconversations.com or at

Facebook: facebook.com/downtoearth.conversations 

Instagram: @downtoearth.conversations

Email: [email protected]

 

Music by Strahan:

Spotify: Strahan

Facebook: facebook.com/StrahanMusic  or  facebook.com/commonerscommunion

Instagram: @strahanmusic  or  @commoners_communion