Look who flew into Ara’s Timaru campus library yesterday.
Tom is pictured here in the Ara Library with Helen Purdon, Library Assistant at the Timaru Campus.
Helen Purdon Library Assistant at the Timaru Campus holds Tom the Kāhu
Tom is a rescued Kāhu (or Swamp Harrier), a large tawny colored bird of prey which occurs throughout New Zealand. Often seen in open fields, farmland and alongside roads they are a common sight in Canterbury, Otago and Southland.
Tom (who is actually a female Kāhu ) featured in the recent local television series “One Lane Bridge”. Kāhu are steeped in Maori folklore as the embodiment of warrior traits and their tail feathers were worn by both fierce warriors and chiefs.
An Australasian harrier hawk or Kahu inflight. Photo: Roger Smith
Ron Lindsay, tutor in photography at Ara Institute of Canterbury (Timaru) spends a lot of his private time rescuing injured birds in South Canterbury. Tom is one of the recent native birds he has been rehabilitating.
A pair of Kahu or Swamp Harriers feeding on carrion…
The year is inexorably rolling forward and once again we find ourselves at Easter. Easter Weekend is a great time to de-stress and unwind after the first hectic weeks of the year and gives us all a chance to spend time with friends, family and whanau.
The Library will also be closed over the Easter Weekend break and our hours will be:
Friday 2nd April Closed
Saturday 3rd April Closed
Sunday 4th April-Tuesday 6th April Closed
We will reopen for business at 7 am on Wednesday 8th April 2021.
Don’t over indulge in Easter Chocolate this holiday….
From all of us here at Ara Library we wish you a peaceful and restful Easter break.
The sun’s out in Ōtautahi, the flags are flying, and not every Pride event is covid-cancelled!
If you’re on the city campus you may have already spotted that Ara is flying pride colours on our flagpoles. You can find a breakdown what each flag means, as well as info on other Pride happenings, in the latest issue of Ara Toiora – the Ara newsletter for all things wellbeing, brought to you by Meg (your wonderful Student Advisor for Wellbeing). Our awesome Ara videographer, Grae, stars in our Pride video – watch it here.
If you’d like to fly the flag yourself, you can join a personalise-your-own-pride-lanyard sessionin the City or Timaru campus library this Monday 8th March from 12 – 1pm. (Think rainbow colours, glitter, unicorns…) After the Monday sessions we’ll keep the craft supplies on hand for the rest of the week, so you can pop in any time you’re taken by the urge to kit yourself out with some rainbow sparkle.
Though some of the bigger Pride events have been cancelled or postponed at Level 2, there’s still plenty going on in Ōtautahi. You can find the full range of Pride events on the Christchurch Pride website or Facebook. Personally I’ve got my eye on the Queer Film Festival, which is running from Sunday 7th to Wednesday 10th at Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū (all screenings free/koha).
And if online is more your vibe right now, you might want to check out the history of Pride, at the Stonewall Forever virtual monument. It’s not always at the front of our minds that the origins of Pride are protest – the first Pride marches were held in 1970, to mark the anniversary of the Stonewall riots, which broke out in New York after a police raid on a gay bar called the Stonewall Inn. A flyer for one of these first marches expressed the hope that “the day will come when homosexuals will be an integral part of society — being treated as human beings.” Oof.
Our world is getting more accepting, but we could do better. For lots of people the visibility of Pride is still an important show of unity and support for each other. So whether you’re out and proud, or an ally for the awesome rainbow folks in your life, getting yourself a Pride lanyard is one way you can show your support next week.
See you at the glitter glue!
[Text/image supplied by Kirstie McHale, Disability Services]
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