My heart is full 💝
THANK YOU to everyone who came to the Kiwi Diary '24 launch partay - and made it such a beautiful, soul-shining experience! We experienced a bit of kiwi diary in living form - the kind of event that I've always wanted to curate (and a sign of things to come…)
Thank you Christopher Rekatas: when I shared that I was too broken from my first bout of COVID to see the evening through, Chris offered some beautiful wisdom about not needing to *be perfect* but just to *be real* - in this world where everyone is wearing masks. I felt a weight lift and this formed the theme of the evening - celebrating realness! 🙏 Proof of how a phonecall with a friend on the opposite side of the planet can change everything.
Bringing my ‘being real’ I acknowledged how lucky we were to be connecting with what Olivia Lazard has called, ‘positive peace’ - co-creating, co-imagining, arts, culture etc - when parts of the world right now just desperately wish for ‘negative peace’ - an absence of war.
I shared Leonard Cohen's words: “To keep our hearts open is probably the most urgent responsibility you have as you get older.”
Thank you to Wellington City Council’s Deputy Mayor Laurie Foon for opening the evening and for your generous words about Kiwi Diary as a source of wisdom and inspiration. As a leader who puts people and planet first, you're a huge inspiration to me! And as a key sponsor of The Kiwi Diary over 10 years ago when you were the Founder / Owner of New Zealand’s most iconic sustainable fashion brand Starfish - you’ve played a pivotal role in helping Kiwi Diary get to where it is today! 💕 💛
Sally Hett thank you for your courage and vulnerability (& hilarious wit and awesomeness!) sharing a reading on periods! You had the room nodding in empathy and then in stitches laughing with your perfect description of the wild ride of our hormones every month 🙏 🙌 Please keep writing.
Katie Rickson (she/her) your courage, vulnerability and strength touched everyone's hearts. Your beautiful words on optimism will stay with me for a long time. A powerful and important reminder, about the human experience, and about perspective. Please keep writing.
Dr Anita Perkins thank you for observations, communicating them in a way that leaves others more astute (so needed right now!) and heartfelt poem about the emotional rollercoaster of home-ownership in Aotearoa.
Andy Reisinger spoke to his work as a Vice-Chair on an IPCC Working Group. You could have heard a pin drop in the room as our esteemed Climate Change Commissioner described the unenviable intensity of needing to formularise for politicians, how we save the planet - the paradox being that the belief that it all needs to be formularised in the first place is part of the root of the problem. Listening to IPCC report in haiku form felt more like the giving the planet a voice and left a deep impression on everyone. Thank you.
Austin Harrison - and lastly. Austin. You framed the value of art so perfectly. Art connects. Art Heals. Art gives back.
We can't stop talking about your talk and - Poneke is blimmin lucky to have you. Watch this space.
Thank you Rob Cousins - best doorman ever ;-) (just jokes, the most empowering supportive partner anyone could wish for)
As always thank you to the design team without whom there would be no Kiwi Diary. In a nutshell. They’re the dream team, such kind awesome humans - if you need a next-level talented graphic designer, web designer or illustrator - these are your people!
Lou Horner, Caspian Ievers and Sarah Weidig.
p.s. Whistling Sisters Beer Co are the best venue (& most attentive people to work with) ever! Thank you Shelby Farmer and Whistling Sisters Beer Co for making this event possible, and being such gracious, helpful and fun hosts!
Create space for humanning, & keep your heart open 💛
