Published in Overland Issue 219 Winter 2015 · Uncategorized Red tiki Ben Brown (New Years Day 2015 on the road between Arrowtown and Hokitika.) Bought a red tiki in a Wanaka souvenir shop for a mere six dollars eighty but red is my son’s colour even if he doesn’t know it yet. And the kitschy little atua will look outrageous hanging around his neck. The greeting card is for my daughter. It has a print on it, playful and surreal; a foundling’s dream beneath a sleeping moon. It cost nearly three times more than the tiki but the image suits her soul. I’ll mail it tomorrow from Hokitika in the envelope provided. A greeting card should be inscribed and arrive in the appropriate manner. My son will have to wait until I visit him. A red tiki must be delivered kanohi ki te kanohi. Ben Brown Ben Brown is an award-winning children’s author, poet, short story and nonfiction writer, though he has never quite been able to work out what the various distinctions are, so he refers to himself primarily as a writer. More by Ben Brown › Overland is a not-for-profit magazine with a proud history of supporting writers, and publishing ideas and voices often excluded from other places. If you like this piece, or support Overland’s work in general, please subscribe or donate. Related articles & Essays 31 January 202531 January 2025 · Racism The QUT Symposium: holding the line against rising racism Elizabeth Strakosch, Jordy Silverstein, Crystal McKinnon, Eugenia Flynn, Natalie Ironfield, Holly Charles, Priya Kunjan, Roj Amedi and Lina Koleilat Last weeks's QUT Symposium met in the staunch tradition of the Brisbane Blacks, who have fought for sovereignty, land rights, liberation and an end to racial violence for decades. It was a gathering of Elders, academics, organisers and frontline community workers who speak, theorise and embody the truth about race and racism in this place. It refused to clothe itself in multicultural platitudes about tolerance, or to speak about racism only in terms of individual prejudice. 29 January 202529 January 2025 · Palestine The demonisation of the Palestine movement fuels anti-Muslim racism Mariam Tohamy and Miroslav Sandev The spate of anti-Muslim racist attacks around the country are being fuelled by the anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian policies of mainstream politicians. Political attempts to undermine the Palestine movement and bipartisan support for Israel’s genocide are causing this.
