A Holiday Werewolf for A New Year Blue Moon*

Another full moon equals another edition of Werewolf - Edition No. 7 (See...http://werewolf.co.nz/ ).

Dear Scoop Subscriber,

Thanks to everyone who has helped Werewolf to get off the ground during 2009 – whether by writing articles, or by reading them. Both ways, the effort/response has been terrific, and much appreciated by everyone here at Scoop. Special thanks to the McLellan brothers, David and George, who have helped me lay out the articles for each issue, and post them on the net.

This month’s Werewolf is smaller than usual, mainly because most people are still on holiday – away from their computers and, I hope, far away from their normal cares and routines.

For everyone else still on deck, James Robinson’s article in this issue raises some pretty interesting points about our current social attitudes towards religion. We have all become sensitised to race, gender and sexual orientation – but has intolerance towards people who profess a religion become the last accepted form of bigotry? Admittedly, there are some really sound historical reasons for feeling suspicious of people who hold absolute views about morality and the purpose of existence – but as James says, it has got to the point where socially, not believing in anything has itself become an item of faith.

In other stories in this issue…Wellington writer Nina Fowler has visited a factory in Argentina that has become an inspirational example of social and economic recovery. She explains how workers responded to economic hard times at their local ceramics factory by taking it over and running it successfully – and Nina also deals with how they have since resisted being caricatured as leftist icons.

Here at home Werewolf also examines the jobless recovery – and shows that the much-touted economic recovery will bring few benefits to lower and middle income New Zealanders during 2010. This month our series on classic children’s books looks at Go Do Go! by P.D. Eastman, a book written after the author’s previous career had been destroyed by McCarthyism. In the music column, recent visitor Brian Chippendale of the US noise band Lightning Bolt discusses his debt to the eccentric jazz pioneer, Sun Ra.

Next issue, Werewolf will be back at full strength again. Hope you enjoy your holiday break. If any story ideas spring to mind while you’re kicking back in the hammock, keep us in mind. Werewolf exists as a thank you’ to Scoop.co.nz supporters, and to provide a fresh outlet for writers and cartoonists.. If you’d like to be part of it, email me at gordon@werewolf.co.nz. and we can talk about it.

Cheers,

Gordon Campbell

Werewolf/Scoop

Links to the full contents of this edition follow:

* Tonight's full moon is not actually a blue moon in NZ and Australia as the moon will not become officially "full" until 8am on 1 January NZ Time. We will therefore be celebrating a blue moon Werewolf issue again next month.

1 - Welcome to the Jobless Recovery
http://werewolf.co.nz/2009/12/welcome-to-the-jobless-recovery/

GDP growth without jobs is no recovery at all - By Gordon Campbell

2 - The Jesus Cringe
http://werewolf.co.nz/2009/12/the-jesus-cringe/

The etiquette of fessing up to being Christian - by James Robinson

3 - Owning Upwards
http://werewolf.co.nz/2009/12/owning-upwards/

How workers in Argentina have taken over failing firms, and turned them around - by Nina Fowler

4 - Classics : Go Dog.Go ! ( 1961) by P.D. Eastman
http://werewolf.co.nz/2009/12/classics-go-dog-go-1961-by-p-d-eastman/

The Red Scare of the 1950s helped create this hymn to perpetual motion -by Gordon Campbell

5 - The Complicatist : from Sun Ra to Lightning Bolt
http://werewolf.co.nz/2009/12/the-complicatist-from-sun-ra-to-lightning-bolt/

Brian Chippendale of Lightning Bolt talks about the original urban spaceman - by Gordon Campbell

6 - Best of Werewolf 2009
http://werewolf.co.nz/2009/12/best-of-werewolf-2009/

A selection of our best stories to date

Dear Scoop Subscriber,

For Scoop the launch of Werewolf has been the highlight of a big year.

The first edition of Werewolf coincided with our 10th birthday, and this last edition for 2009 marks the end of a decade of 21st Century online
publishing.

For Scoop Werewolf is particularly significant because it heralds the beginning of a transition of real journalism in NZ into the online medium.

A decade ago Scoop was founded by a group of journalists with the intention of building a future for ourselves in the new online media.

Now we can see more clearly that internet published reporting will almost certainly take over the heavy lifting in the world of journalism as Newspapers decline. But at present we are in a period of very serious flux and transition for the profession, and while the trends are clear, the immediate future for journalism in New Zealand remains perilous.

It is therefore a great honour and delight for Scoop to be involved in Gordon Campbell's Werewolf, a project which is genuinely paving the way forward.

Werewolf is all about finding a new way to enable quality journalism to thrive in an online environment, and it is succeeding in that task.

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