5 ways I'll be celebrating Waitangi Day 2012

List by Tosca

For a lot of people, the Treaty of Waitangi is an uncomfortable and contentious issue that sees a lot of good people come away with rather polarised views. I'd like to assure you that it isn't always this way. I celebrate Waitangi Day every year, without fail. Not always in the same way, though. Some years I'll spend it with siblings discussing how things have changed for Maori (better/worse/indifferent) from the year before. Other years I'll spend it with thousands of others, listening to live music and just being in the moment and remembering that sometimes being Maori is such an incredibly positive experience. Sometimes I'll spend it listening to politicians talk about Maori in a somewhat less than celebratory manner, and come away heart heavy and soul tired. More often than not, though, it's a chance for me to do a quick 'cultural check-in' and use it as an opportunity to re-assess where I stand in relation to, well, everything else. (Big ask, I know). However I choose to celebrate it, I find that there is always room for personal growth, and that I am challenged in new and interesting ways every year. In keeping with our Auckland Libraries theme; Whakamana te Tiriti o Waitangi: Elevate and Celebrate the Treaty of Waitangi, I've decided that this year I would like to attend 4 Auckland Libraries' seminars and an outdoor gathering. Maybe, if you're looking for the same kind of experience, I'll see some of you there, too :)

How are YOU celebrating Waitangi Day 2012?

5 Dresden Dolls library ninja gig tweets by YOU

List by Tosca

"All deep things are song. It seems somehow the very central essence of us, song; as if all the rest were but wrappages and hulls!"
- Thomas Carlyle

Friday. Wow. Friday. I can't thank Auckland people enough for Friday. Most certainly I cannot thank Amanda Palmer and Brian Viglione enough, either. Friday afternoon's library ninja gig at Central City Library was everything I wanted it to be and then some. (I often tell people that my idea of customer service is built on that idea - you give customers what they want, and then you give them something they didn't know they wanted, and the ninja gig was a lot like that). I get such a buzz out of live music. You hear a song, or a group and you listen to them enough that you know every single lyric by heart. You know where to pause, which words to put emphasis on, how to vocally (and emotionally, too) build the song up to this moment of great intensity...and then let it fade away. And start it all over again. Know what I mean? It's a beautiful thing but, let's be honest, it's nothing compared to hearing it live and in your face and, for a little bit there when Amanda Palmer crowdsurfed a seated audience, literally over your head, too. And right then you're shocked out of your musical complacency and you remember why you adore the drama and the theatricality of a group such as the Dresden Dolls, and the words of their songs combined with the outright fun-ness of it all make it that much more real and special. Gah *flails*

I could go on and on about how fantastic it all was (you know I could), but I'm not going to. Instead I've rounded up some tweets that floated across our stream that capture the mood and the feeling of the library gig so much better than I could on any given day. You know that moment when everything comes together and you have the right band, the right crowd and life is good-fantastic-I'm-gonna-be-smiling-for-days? That. So much that. THANK YOU, Auckland, for sharing all of that with us. And, just quietly, thanks Corin (Manager Digital Services, Auckland Libraries) for arranging the library ninja gig. Tres cool, boss man, tres cool :P And thank you to those who allowed me to highlight their tweets :)

@x_chemicalism_x
Made it to the Auckland Library with a bit of time to spare - cigarette then the NINJA GIG TO END ALL NINJA GIGS. 21 hours ago via txt · powered by @socialditto

This tweet? This tweet right here? THAT is what I was hoping everyone else was wanting, too, the NINJA GIG TO END ALL NINJA GIGS. Thank you, @x_chemicalism_x, for putting it in words.