B-side Stories

Laura and her special guest co-host Elizabeth hit the streets of Wellington for an honest review of the new Onzo bikes. Listen to our hopes, struggles, and triumphs riding Wellington's newest transport option - dockless rental bicycles.

Jem Yoshioka - local illustrator, storyteller, comic artist and blogger - chats to Perrine about how she works, some of her preoccupations, and the artistic world she operates in. Image by Jem Yoshioka - jemshed.com

Co-host Christine Langdon visits Kapiti Island and talks with Manaaki Barrett of Kapiti Island Nature tours about how the family owned business is sharing the Island's unique birdlife, culture and history. They also chat about how they're taking a sustainable approach to growing the whanau-run tourism operation - which won the Department of Conservation Environmental Tourism Award at the NZ Tourism Awards in September.

Ruth Croft talks to Jake Schultz of Katoa Innovation about the digital platform he is creating. A social enterprise startup to empower communities to restore native habitat and save bees through education and emerging technology.

Ahead of World Prematurity Day on 17 November, we talk with Neil O'Styke, the Executive Director of The Neonatal Trust. One in 10 babies are born prematurely - with 1000 babies a year going through the Wellington Neonatal Unit and 400 babies through the Hutt Special Care Unit. Neil talks about the potential long-term impacts for those babies as well as the stresses their families experience, and how we can all help.

Jellyfish are flowing, and amorphous, and just... blobbie. They've helped to inspire the Artist Louie Neale for his upcoming show in Performance Art Week Aotearoa: Jellyfish Do Return. In this episode, Louie speaks to Laura about his performance, which explores humans using clothing to represent identity and queerness. Don't miss Louie's show and the rest of PAWA: https://performanceartweekaotearoa.com/

Allan Burne's life has been so varied, and he is such a natural storyteller, that we struggled to cover off the basic outline of his achievements in our half hour slot. Allan tells us how rescuing a man from a toilet got him a job with Thunderbirds creator Gerry Anderson, how a bad strategy to improve his modelmaking led to a PhD in Ecology and Biodiversity, and how he's fulfilling his childhood dream of being an actor.

Christine Langdon (in her first interview for B-Side Stories) interviews inspiring Wellingtonian Dee Glentworth, whose philosophy is "don't bin it, share it". Dee has created Free For All, which will rescue and re-home literally anything (for free)!

Want to start a business or have a great idea or just want a catalyst to change your life? Ruth croft talks with Tony Henderson Newport about his PopUp business school. A ten day accelerator that is free to participants.

Chris Tse, guest curator of Litcrawl 2018, talks to Perrine about mourning literary deaths and how great it feels when literature takes over the streets.

Laura jumps on her bicycle and rolls out for a visit with Catarina Gutierrez about the upcoming event taking over the streets in Wellington City. Hear about Te Ara Tapere ki Pōneke/Open Streets, learn about urbanists, hear about Onzo bikes, and generally get pumped to see our city in a new way! It's downtown on Sunday 28 October. Visit http://bikethere.org.nz/te-ara-tapere/ for more info.

InsideOUT works to make Aotearoa a safer place for young people of minority genders and sexualities. Kate Aschoff talks to us about their work with rainbow diversity groups in schools and their other projects fostering inclusiveness and a sense of belonging for all young people.

Perrine goes to an Edit for Equity event run by Antistatic, with members of the public working alongside savvy guides to help correct the gender bias on wikipedia. Image by Antistatic.

The Compassion Soup Kitchen on Tory St. hosted a community fun day. Laura went along to chat to some of the people and organisations there to learn more about homelessness in Wellington. You'll hear from: Regenerate Magazine, Wellington Night Shelter, Compassion Soup Kitchen, Kaibosh food rescue, and St Vincent de Paul's.

Carol Shortis talks to Ruth Croft about the service of The Whakaahuru Singers. Carol is their musical Director and they bring comfort to those approaching the end of life by singing at bedsides, using the gift of gentle singing to deliver moments of peace, comfort and support.

Ruth and Laura close the show by chatting about Forest & Bird's annual Bird of the Year competition! Kereru, kakapo, and kaki are in the lead this year. The last day to vote is Sunday! Visit www.birdoftheyear.org.nz to take part.

Laura tells us about her big bikeride by B-Side Stories

"Creativity is the heart of everything". A longer episode of B-Side Stories with Claire Hewitt and Lee Rutene from Alpha Omega playback theatre, talking to Sadie Coe about the joy in storytelling. Claire loves creating spaces where people can find their voice through play, through her company Igniting the Creative Spark. One of her many projects is Alpha Omega, and in the second half of the episode actor and paraolympian Lee Rutene talks about his passion for disability issues and about the healing power of telling stories.

Suffrage 125 Re - Sew Part 2 by B-Side Stories

Suffrage 125 Re - Sew Part 1 by B-Side Stories