Radio New Zealand - Afternoons with Jim Mora

One birthday dinner at Melbourne's fanciest restaurant at age nine was all it took for Besha Rodell to get hooked on fine dining. She turned that obsession into a career, becoming a James Beard Award winning food critic for LA Weekly, The Age, and The New York Times. Besha Rodell's new memoir goes beyond restaurant reviews. It's an unflinching account of navigating a high-pressure, male-dominated world where every meal feeds deeper questions of self-worth, longing, and the drive to belong. It's called "Hunger Like a Thirst: From Food Stamps to Fine Dining, A Restaurant Critic Finds Her Place at the Table".

Time for Freaky Friday. Our weekly showcase of your spooky stories. It could be unexplained apparitions, a freaky coincidence, or just something weird you can't explain. We've also mysterious religious experiences, healing hands, and a woman who found her recently deceased daughters name written on a rock. If you've got a story to share please get in touch. 2101 on the text or afternoons@rnz.co.nz via email.

A standout on this year's DocEdge Film Festival programme is 'A Quiet Love', which won the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Award at the Cannes Film Festival. The film follows three deaf couples - each from different backgrounds and circumstances - connecting through Irish sign language. The producers of the film Anne Heffernan and Seán Herlihy spoke to Jesse. The DocEdge Documentary Film Festival is underway in Auckland, and it'll be coming to Wellington and Christchurch from the 16th, and the rest of the country from the 28th.

Emergency call operators have to be prepared for anything. It's an extremely demanding role that requires the steadiest of hands. Gemma Cale certainly has them. She's 30 years old and is coming up on 10 years working for Hato Hone St John. A couple of days ago in the early hours of the morning, Gemma helped a couple deliver their baby down the phone after they dialled 111. But it wasn't the first baby Gemma has helped bring into the worth... it was the 19th!

This is our sometimes-regular segment The A-Z of Aotearoa. So far we've covered Aviation & Billy T, so we're up to the letter C. Today we're looking at Captain Charles Hazlitt Upham, the Canterbury man who is New Zealand's most decorated soldier. For his efforts in WW2 he was awarded not one, but two Victoria Crosses, also known as the "VC" and "Bar". He was one of only three people world-wide to achieve the honour, and the only combat soldier.

Our Changing World heads to the Mackenzie region in the South Island to meet one of New Zealand’s rarest fish – the lowland longjaw galaxias.
Dean Nelson, a senior biodiversity ranger at the Department of Conservation, has been looking out for these tiny fish for two decades.
Producer Karthic SS has this story, and he joins Dean during one of his monitoring trips at a place called Fraser Stream, near Twizel.

This is the story of a single flower that took Europe and America by storm. The exceptionally rare orchid, dubbed 'Cattleya labiata', had a striking purple and crimson bloom, and quickly became one of the most coveted flowers in the world. But where did it come from? Sarah Rilston traces the tale of the hunt to find out, highlighting the fragile ecologies on which both humans and plants depended.

This is the story of a single flower that took Europe and America by storm. The exceptionally rare orchid, dubbed 'Cattleya labiata', had a striking purple and crimson bloom, and quickly became one of the most coveted flowers in the world. But where did it come from? Sarah Rilston traces the tale of the hunt to find out, highlighting the fragile ecologies on which both humans and plants depended.

Cycleways are often a hot button topic, but not in the Auckland district of Rodney, where plans are underway to build a 120k trail from Puhoi to Mangawhai for cycling, walking, running and even horse riding in some areas. Currently there are 23 'Great Rides' around the country, cycle trails that attract cycling tourism and stimulate local economies but none of them are in the Auckland Province. New Zealand marathon great Allison Roe is the founding Chairperson of the Matakana Coast Trail Trust, she spoke to Jesse about the issue.

Some people are joiners, and some people feel like outsiders their whole lives. We grow up believing that belonging is everything, that happiness depends on finding our people, our tribe, our place in the crowd. But not fitting in is not a flaw says psychiatrist Dr Rami Kaminski. For 40 years he's seen patients who come to him yearning to be like other people, chasing a feeling at odds with their individuality. Dr Kaminksi says it can be a strength to embrace independent thinking and to stand a bit outside of the circle instead of always joining in. His new book is called The Gift of Not Belonging: How Outsiders Thrive in a World of Joiners.
Take the quiz here

The Australian iteration of Lego Masters - the reality game show that takes the concept of building blocks to new heights - is about to return. In the latest season Australian teams will compete against teams from all over the world, including New Zealand. Emily Fryer and Sarah Mosley will be flying the flag for New Zealand after competing in the first season of our version of the show. Emily and Sarah - AKA 'Team Mum' spoke to Jesse about their love of Lego.

Wellness is more than the absence of illness. Positive psychology is a growing field that shifts the focus from what's going wrong in our lives, to what's going right. Dr James Pawelski is a pioneer of using evidence-based research to transform education, business and even romance with positive psychology. He and his wife Suzie Pileggi Pawelski, co-author of the book Happy Together, joined Jesse to talk about the secret to happy relationships.

This week's critter of the week will resonate with highly observant nature lovers. You may have noticed strange little markings covering the surface of leaves, turns out these are actually tunnels created by some of our leaf mining insects. Insects like the leather-leaf star miner. As the name suggests, the caterpillars of these small brown moths make distinct star shapes on the leaves they mine through. As we have been looking at stars in the sky lately with the rising of Matariki, there are even more stars to find in our forests!

New Zealand scientists say they have developed 'world first' technology which has the potential to solve a huge problem in our horticulture industry Sustainability venture 'Powered by plants' has produced a system which converts surplus produce into dried ingredients, bio energy and organic fertiliser. Currently 20% of the 6.2 million tonnes of produce grown in NZ is sent to landfill and NZ manufacturers import thousands of tonnes of dried food ingredients and extracts into the country. The lead scientist on the project, Dr Andrew Prest, talks to Jesse.

While tuberculosis is not a major health issue in New Zealand, worldwide it remains the leading infectious disease killer.
The vaccine against tuberculosis, called BCG, was first developed in France more than 100 years ago using a strain of bacteria that lost its disease-causing ability. Scientists refer to this as a live attenuated vaccine.
On Our Changing World, the Malaghan Institute’s Dr Kerry Hilligan explains to Claire Concannon how this old vaccine is teaching researchers new tricks.

For 50 years, the movie Jaws has kept us looking down for what might be beneath the waves when we go swimming. Carl Cottlieb is one of the screenwriters responsible for our discomfort. His friend Steven Spielberg handed him the original script and asked him to eviscerate it. Gottlieb was there every day on set to witness the mechanical shark constantly breaking down, the budget overruns, the delays and ultimately the making of highest grossing film of all time. Carl Gottlieb shares his memories as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Jaws.

After a lifetime of struggling with a shy bladder, the clinical term is "paruresis", filmmaker Steven Jackson set out to understand and confront his fear of urinating in public In his short film, he approaches this often-taboo topic with both humour and honesty, speaking with experts and loved ones about his experience. Ae he tells Jesse, along the way he discovers a hidden global community of fellow sufferers.

On average in New Zealand, Police respond to an episode of family violence every four minutes, and yet, it's estimated 67 percent of incidents go unreported. A new study is highlighting an often-unaddressed segment of these incidents for the first time: child to parent violence and abuse. The survey was carried out by VisAble, an organisation that primarily works to support people experiencing violence, abuse, and neglect. Lee Tempest has almost two decades of lived experience and tells Jesse just how challenging the issue is.

We know her name, but the story of Yoko Ono has been largely ignored or told only as a footnote in the story of John Lennon and The Beatles. Music journalist David Sheff was the last person to interview Lennon and Ono just before Lennon was murdered in 1980. He's maintained a friendship with Ono over all these years. She's now 92, and Sheff's new book 'Yoko: A Biography' spans her life as the child of wealthy parents in pre-war Tokyo to the avant-garde art world. Jesse asks David the question, did she break up The Beatles.

Tonight, Skycity Theatre in Auckland will host the grand finale of Miss Universe New Zealand. The woman crowned Miss Universe NZ 2025 will go on to compete at the 74th Miss Universe competition, which this year is being held in Thailand. One of those competing this year is Dr Deborah Lambie, who - if she's announced as the winner this evening - would be the first mother to be crowned Miss Universe NZ. She tells Jesse it's a chance to show that traditional beauty standards have evolved.

There are more billionaires now than ever before. We know their names, Mark Zuckerberg, Peter Theil, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos. But we don't really know their lives. We share the same planet, but they occupy a different world. The New Yorker staff writer Evan Osnos began writing about the uber rich when Americans who professed disdain for billionaires then elected one as President. His essays come together in a book that offers a rare view from the penthouse that reveals the habits, fixations and obsessions of the very rich and how they see the rest of us. The book is called "The Haves and the Have-Yachts: Dispatches on the Ultrarich."

Experts are warning one of the immediate repercussions of the conflict in Iran could be a spike in fuel prices. Infometrics chief executive Brad Olsen told Morning Report that if the Iranian side responds with attacks on US shipping, quote, "worries about oil supply will increase substantially". But there are things you can do to manage and drive your car in a more efficient way that will save petrol and save money. We thought this would be a great time to get some tips, so I'm joined by Terry Collins, Principal Policy Advisor for AA.

Sunday the 22nd of June was the shortest day of the year, and as is tradition, the winner of National Flash Fiction Day was also announced. The competition has been running since 2012 and it celebrates short stories in all their glory. Aucklanders dominated the podium this year, and our congratulations to runners up Jack Remiel Cottrell and Gretchen Carroll. But the big winner was Claris Harvey, who took out the top spot with her story "The Golden Glove".

He's well known to kiwi audiences through his hit shows - Guy Montgomery's Guy Mont-Spelling Bee, Have You Been Paying Attention, and Thank God You're Here. Guy has recently found success across the Tasman with the Australian version of his spelling bee show proving a big hit with audiences. The show was picked up for a second season and he's been nominated for a Logie for Most Popular New Talent at the prestigious Australian Televison awards.

Ximena Smith joined Jesse to review Missing in the Amazon - a new 6-part investigative series from The Guardian about journalist Dom Phillips and indigenous rights advocate Bruno Pereira who went missing in the Amazon three years ago. She also reviewed Heavyweight a podcast by Jonathan Goldstein, which returns after being cancelled by Spotify in 2023. The show helps people deal with moments from their past they wish they could change - funny, emotional, and thought-provoking without being naff.

There are certain materials we just can't go without, and one of them is concrete. Unfortunately, the production of cement leaves a large carbon footprint - it's estimated it's responsible for between 5 an 8 percent of global CO2 emissions. That's why my next guest has spent nearly 7 years trying to develop a sustainable alternative, and to do it, he's combining materials and practices traditional in both Roman and Maori engineering. Dr Enrique del Rey Castillo is a lecturer at the University of Auckland's faculty of Engineering and Design.

2020 saw the start of two global pandemics. Covid-19, of course, but also H5N1 bird flu, which has since swept around the world leaving millions of dead wild birds in its wake.
It has reached everywhere – except Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific.
On Our Changing World today, Alison Ballance has been finding out why this strain of bird flu is so deadly, and why scientists are keeping an eye out for gannets with unusual black eyes.

Don't worry, this won't hurt. When has that ever turned out to be true? Parents may try to ease a child's anxiety about a medical procedure with a white lie. But lies that mislead children about their experiences are not white lies, says Allison Sweet Grant. She endured terrible pain as a child from surgery to correct one leg that was shorter than the other. In her debut novel for young adults, Grant explores themes of agency, trust, and betrayal through a 19-year-old character facing the same medical trauma she did and learning how to heal. The book is called I am the Cage.

It was almost 10 years ago that Chris Parker first came on 'Bookmarks'. Back then he'd just won Best Newcomer at the New Zealand International Comedy Festival. It's safe to say he's no longer a newcomer. Since then, he's rarely been off our screens. He's featured regularly on 7 Days, Taskmaster NZ, appeared in films like Baby Done and The Breaker Uppers, and won the prestigious Fred Award for his stand-up. He's just kicked off his latest tour, 'Stop Being So Dramatic!', which still has 8 more stops around the country.

It may seem unfair that some people can eat anything without putting on weight, get by on just a few hours sleep and age ever so gracefully. It's just biology and the science of adaptation says Dr Herman Pontzer, a professor of evolutionary anthropology at Duke University. Dr Pontzer invites us to embrace human diversity and focus on how and why we differ as a way to better understand how our bodies work so we can all stay healthy. His new book is called Adaptable: How Your Unique Body Really Works and Why Our Biology Unites Us. He joins Jesse.

A Scottish curling club in Glasgow is credited for creating the first indoor bowling green in 1845. Fast forward, and the sport continues to flourish, in fact a growing number of young New Zealanders appear to be taking to the bowling green. The broad appeal of indoors bowls in this country was illustrated at the recent Indoor Bowling Nationals in Ashburton. The oldest champion was Bernard Bennett who attended his first nationals in 1955 and was a member of this year's winning Masters Triples team aged 91. The youngest champion crowned was 24-year-old Matthew Farquhar. Matthew joins Jesse.

Aotearoa will soon have a big decision to make - and on an issue where emotions run high. Governments around the world are weighing up whether to allow mining of the ocean floor for metal ores and minerals, and that includes New Zealand. Senior Lecturer in Law at Auckland University of Technology Myra Williamson believes seabed mining could become one of the defining environmental battles of 2025. She joins Jesse to discuss the issue.

Genius is in the eye of the beholder. You can tell what a society values by who it calls a genius says Helen Lewis, acclaimed Atlantic staff writer and podcast host for the BBC. Too often the title has served as a tool to legitimize eccentric and harmful behavior that would otherwise be condemned. Lewis challenges ideas about creativity and innovation and who gets credit for inventions that might just be inevitable in her book, The Genius Myth: The Dangerous Allure of Rebels, Monsters and Rule-Breakers.