why not?

from yahoo news

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Award-winning entertainer, businesswoman and education advocate Dolly Parton has a new title.

"Just think, I am Dr. Dolly!" she said Friday after receiving an honorary doctorate of humane and musical letters from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

Always joking about her buxom figure, she added, "So when people say something about 'Double-D,' they will be thinking of something entirely different."

The audience of 1,069 new graduates from the College of Arts and Sciences roared with laughter and gave Parton a standing ovation.

Parton, a Tennessee native who is the fourth of 12 children from a poor Appalachian family, is well-known for her philanthropic work. Her Imagination Library sends a book to about 500,000 children each month from birth until they start school.

ha ha. imagine giving dolly parton an honorary document. i have seen some comments on this, most of it sneering.

however, i country music circles, she is actually well respected-not for her crossover stuff, but for her hardcore bluegrass albums. amongst fans of serious country music, she's up there with alison krauss and gillian welsh.

i was never a fan of dolly parton-dad had a copy of her duet with kenny rogers "islands in the stream" which is horrible. plus all i ever really saw was her public image-how could you take that seriously.

then, a couple of years ago i heard a documentary on national radio about an album that she was making where she was returning to her bluegrass roots. it was something of a revelation. skilfull playing, hearing her as part of a group rather than as a star. her interviews showed that she did know where she came from, as it were.

another surprise was hearing her original version of "i will always love you." if you're used to the bombastic diva version done by whitney housten that infested the airwaves a few years back, then parton's original version is actually listenable. its a wistful afterthought of a song.

ok i'm not rushing out to buy any of her albums, but i would suggest that in terms of her skill, her knowledge of appalachian music, and most of her songwriting, yhe idea of giving her a doctorate is not as ridiculous as it sounds

up and down and down again

i had a bad session on thursday.
they put me in a chair, which seems to hate me because everytime i get put in a chair i go flat

so with an hour and a half to go, i start getting cramps, so i try to adjust the chair so that i can put me feet on the floor.
i blink, and when i open my eyes again, there are four nurses standing around me and an oxygen mask over my face. and i still have cramps. and then i throw up.

so, as you can imagine, friday was a bit of a write-off. i felt seedy all day and for some reason my knees weren't working properly.

so, as you can imagine i approached last night's session with some trepidaton. as indeed did the nurse-tech. i was in a bed and only targeted 3.5l (i usually try to do 4 on a saturday)

the nurse-tech hovered, taking my blood pressure every 45 minutes and asking me if i was alright everytime i cahnged position on the bed.

my arterial line kept clogging, so i reduced my blood flow to 300 ml/min after and hour and after my bp dropped to 103/39 (which is about average for me during a session) she reduced my target to 3.1l.

i kept telling her that i was fine and i was. it was adrian in the chair(!) next to me who started going flat, although she never passed out.

i did my four hours, came off at 120/47 and felt fine

up until this morning when i was hanging my washing out on the line, and my bp took a sudden drop and i had to sit down before falling over.

i now have an excuse not to do anything else for the rest of the day. there is always an upside.

what is a new zealander?

from the herald

Despite almost half a million people claiming their ethnicity as "New Zealander" in the last census, Statistics New Zealand is opposed to making the grouping official.

"Initial consultation and research suggests that including a New Zealander tick-box would alter the meaning of the question so it is more about nationality and less about ethnicity," statistician Geoff Bascand said. "This could affect the accuracy and usefulness of the data collected."

In the 2006 census 11.1 per cent of people gave New Zealander as their response when asked to which ethnic group they belonged.

It was the third largest grouping after New Zealand European and Maori, and jumped from 2.4 per cent in 2001. But New Zealander does not have its own category and falls under "other".

In 1996 Pakeha was bracketed next to New Zealand European but was dropped after some adverse reaction. A high-profile campaign in 2006 sought to get New Zealander its own tick-box, but the status quo remained.

A Statistics New Zealand discussion paper issued yesterday recommends no changes to the ethnicity question for the 2011 census.

It says that, of those who wrote New Zealander, 90 per cent would come under the New Zealand European group.

Academics say the desire to drop the "European" element shows a search for a new identity.

However, Auckland University geography senior lecturer Ward Friesen said that, if more people responded as being New Zealanders, ethnic data would become useless because it was non-specific.

The ethnic groups in the census include Maori, Pacific people, Chinese and Indians. The data is used particularly for planning health and social services.

But Dr Friesen said New Zealand European was not always the most appropriate term, especially for new migrants or those whose families had lived in New Zealand for generations.

Wellington School of Medicine associate professor Tony Blakely agreed: "We are in desperate need of a word that describes those who would fall under New Zealand European."

Statistics NZ is seeking public feedback until May 25.

there has been some discussion over this. what does it mean to be a new zealander. the term pakeha is actually becoming offesnsive to some people, being as it means, alternatly, foreigner, european, or (more offensivly) white pig.

the declamaton on the census of nz european is not suitable as many new zealanders have never been to europe. how many ancestors, they ask, have to have been born in this country before we become a race of our own?

interestingly, there are also some grumbles of another category-that of asian. indians are not the same as chinese and so on

i wonder whether this question is still appropriate. maybe it was a couple of generations ago, when much of the population were immigrants, but the fact that a number of people are identifying themselves as kiwis (myself included), perhaps this is no longer relevant.

what it does say is that maybe the population are starting to see themselves as one people.

FOR GOD'S SAKE, PANIC

its now quarter past six on a monday eveing and all 6pm new bulletin so far has been about the swine flu. the story has, of course dominated news throughout the day.

the goverment have asked that anyone who has been to mexico lately and are showing flu-like symptoms are to wander along to their g.ps and get tested

an expert from WHO has said that while there is no need to panic, this new strain of flu could decimate the human race

and yet, people seem remakably unconcerned. after all, the millenium bug, sars, bird flu, muslim terrorists and robot cockroaches from venus were also supposed to kill us all. the reaction to this new threat is being greeted with a sardonic "yeah, right"

after all this flu hasn't killed any new zealander yet. 14 people died in car accidents this weekend

rainy sunday in front of sky movies part two

second hand wedding

whereas there will be blood was quite heavy going, second hand wedding was a light easy watch. set in a new zealand suburbia of garage sales, fiances called darren,garden sheds and times when a cup of tea really is the solution to all problems, there is an easy connection to its audience. not even remotely ironic (not even the john rowles cameo) its a warm hearted watch

there is anice little sting at the end, though

actually, an ideal movie for a wet post-dialysis sunday afternoon

rainy sunday in front of sky movies part one

there will be blood

hmmm, a linear narrative from paul thomas anderson? well, not quite.

there is daniel day-lewis and some other people, but you really only notice day-lewis.

an impressive performance, but not an engaging one. i felt curiously uninvolved

lest we forget

tomorrow is anzac day

i won't make the dawn service, but i'll try and get to the mid-morning one at the domain, and pay respect to grandad's brother, whose name is carved in the memorial in the museum

i sometimes wonder what would have happened if he'd made it home. we could have had a whole bunch of cousins.

i've also sent a donation to the hamilton rsa in dad's name.