http://werewolf.co.nz/

Enter the 'Wolf

Hi and welcome to the second anniversary issue of Werewolf – two years of journalism, red in tooth and claw! This month’s cover story is a special report from Hillside workshops in Dunedin, and tackles the pros and cons of outsourcing rail’s major new locomotives, electrical units and rolling stock to foreign suppliers. In microcosm, it is a pretty good example of how short term thinking and bean counting is helping to destroy New Zealand skills and employment base in manufacturing, in the (mistaken) belief that a modern service economy can somehow spring up on its own, without any input at all from a skilled manufacturing sector. As we enter the era of peak oil, other countries are investing in rail. With more faith from Kiwirail and its political masters, Hillside could have become a hub for wealth generation and skills upgrading. Instead, its work force seems caught in a classic Catch 22 : where government won’t invest in it, because its not competitive, and its not competitive because government won’t invest in it.

Elsewhere in this issue, we analyse the surprising similarities ( and differences) between the Slutwalk demonstrations and hijab protests in France, and elsewhere. While the philosophical aspects of voluntary student membership have been well thrashed out, Sarah Robson focuses in this issue on how VSM s likely to cause the demise of the student media we have known over the past 50 years. While analysing Bela Tarr’s swansong film The Turin Horse – now showing at the New Zealand International Film Festival - Philip Matthews takes on the vexed issue “slow cinema.” And considers if there can be any good reason why art directors like Tarr ( or artists such as Anselm Kiefer) should be under any obligation to spoonfeed their audiences.

In his satirical column this month, Lyndon Hood uses the ancient poetry form of the Sestina as a launching pad for observations-in-rhyme, about the SIS, Israel and the Christchurch earthquake. And in her Left Coasting column this month, Rosalea Barker outlines the legal battles swirling around California's latest attempt to deal with its budget crisis. This month, The Complicatist music column is largely devoted to songs about disasters – down the mines, at sea and elsewhere – that don’t treat love and romance as the only things worth singing about. Warning : examples include Gordon Lightfoot’s weirdly compelling song about the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Finally, Mark P. Williams analyses the seven-authored novel Seaton Beach and explores the havoc that this level of multipolar creativity might wreak on our usual assumptions about inspiration, artistic execution and copyright.

Thanks again, to David McLellan for helping me post this online. Werewolf is a thank you to Scoop readers and is intended as an outlet for local writers and artists. If you want to be involved, contact me at gordon@scoop.co.nz and let's talk story ideas.

Gordon Campbell
Editor, Werewolf.

gordon@werewolf.co.nz

The contents of this edition are:

Train Wreck at Kiwirail
http://werewolf.co.nz/2011/08/train-wreck-at-kiwirail/"
Behind the job losses at Hillside and Woburn…
by Gordon Campbell

Losing Student Media
http://werewolf.co.nz/2011/08/losing-student-media/"
Tracing one likely effect of voluntary student membership
by Sarah Robson

Slutwalk and Hijab
http://werewolf.co.nz/2011/08/slutwalk-and-hijab/
An interview Professor Leila Ahmed of Harvard Divinity School
by Gordon Campbell

Why The Long Face ?
http://werewolf.co.nz/2011/08/why-the-long-face/
Bela Tarr’s The Turin Horse, and the controversy about slow cinema
by Philip Matthews

Literature of Resistance, as Literal Resistance
http://werewolf.co.nz/2011/08/literature-of-resistance-as-literal-resistance/
The Seven-Author Novel Seaton Point
by Mark P. Williams

and from last edition...

The case for corporate reform
http://werewolf.co.nz/2011/06/the-case-for-corporate-reform/
An interview with business analyst Rod Oram
by Gordon Campbell

Opening the floodgates to tax fraud
http://werewolf.co.nz/2011/06/opening-the-floodgates-to-tax-fraud/
Is the most significant change in property law in decades slipping through Parliament virtually unnoticed
by Alastair Thompson

Left Coasting: Robbin’ the Hood
http://werewolf.co.nz/2011/08/left-coasting-robbin-the-hood/
California’s latest attempt to escape from its low tax / no revenue straightjacket
by Rosalea Barker

From the Hood: Sestina SIStina Barcelona
http://werewolf.co.nz/2011/08/from-the-hood-writing-the-sistina-sestina/
The art of spying, dying and versifying
by Lyndon Hood

The Complicatist: Love and Mining Disasters
http://werewolf.co.nz/2011/08/the-complicatist-love-and-mining-disasters/
The Complicatist : Love and Mining Disasters
by Gordon Campbell

Classics : The Graveyard Book (2009)
http://werewolf.co.nz/2011/08/classics-the-graveyard-book-2009/
Neil Gaiman’s brand of horror lite is aimed at parents, as much as kids
by Gordon Campbell

* * * * * WEREWOLF ISSUE 28, June 2011 * * * * *
http://werewolf.co.nz/2011/08/werewolf-issue-28-june-2011/
The June / July 2011 Edition of Werewolf
by Werewolf

THE IMPORTANT BIT - WHY WEREWOLF?
from Scoop General Manager Alastair Thompson

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