Davien
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davi-en.bsky.social
Davien
@davi-en.bsky.social
260 followers 680 following 240 posts
Boygirl girlboying about town. Sociological menace and climate realist.

they/them, Queer, death before detransition

📍Ōtautahi Christchurch, Aotearoa New Zealand
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davi-en.bsky.social
Sometimes, the right book falls in your lap at the right time. @erikkennedy.com’s Sick Power Trip is that book. Need something beautifully realistic and tenderly addressing the state of the world? This’ll be your medicine too.
Erik Kennedy’s Sick Power Trip on OP’s green stripy duvet, next to their hand holding a cup of coffee. A rather pleasant Saturday morning scene.
September 20, 2025 at 12:02 AM
davi-en.bsky.social
Manawatia a Matariki ✨ thankful for a beautiful new year to remind me how grateful I am for my creative practices and my whānau.

Gotta revel in moments of art to keep up the good fight. I love you, Aotearoa 💋
Close up of a cafe table with Ocean Vuong’s “The Emperor of Gladness” open to the first chapter, next to a closed black journal and an iced americano. Stack of printed collaging materials on a leather chair. Top piece is titled “war is over” from a peace activist mag from the 70s, sourced through justseeds. Photo of Davien’s blue jeans and black platform low cut doc martens with red socks. They have a black journal on their lap and are sitting on a park bench, with grass visible in the background.
June 20, 2025 at 2:46 AM
davi-en.bsky.social
Sometimes, motivation for finishing the semester has to be a *gift to self* that you can’t use till you submit everything. I finished Vuong’s “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous” last week, so this seemed like a fitting choice. Plus, a new fancy journal never hurts the poetic process…
Hand holding Ocean Vuong’s new novel and a new unopened black moleskine journal in front of a window. There is grass visible outside and a yellow pot with an (admittedly sad) plant on the windowsill behind the books.
May 28, 2025 at 10:52 PM
davi-en.bsky.social
ATTENTION ŌTAUTAHI: SJP🇵🇸 calls on students at the University of Canterbury to rally ‼️TODAY‼️ at 12pm to protest UC’s institutional complicity in the genocide of Palestinians. Say NO to >$330,000 invested in armaments!
#nzpol
Flyer from Student Justice for Palestine chapter at the University of Canterbury. Circular logo is in the top left. Reading top to bottom, the flyer reads “Nearly 365 days ago, UC students demanded their institution take action to cut ties to genocide. We’re still waiting (underlined). COMPLICITY KILLS: ONE YEAR LATER AND UC IS STILL DEADLY SILENT. RALLY FOR PALESTINE. DEMAND UC TAKE ACTION. 12pm Friday May 23rd, The Undercroft, University of Canterbury. Globalise the student intifada.” Bottom right has a QR code to the SJP instagram, with an arrow pointing to it reading “@sjp.canterbury”.
May 22, 2025 at 8:34 PM
davi-en.bsky.social
Canterbury Memo stickers popping up around Ōtautahi Christchurch. If you want to hear what institutional student mags are censoring or what radical students are organising around, get your copy at UC campus or read at www.memozine.nz
Amplify student voices!
#nzpol #AoNZ
Stickers on a graffitied inner-city wall in Ōtautahi Christchurch. In bold black text on a white square background, they read “CARE ABOUT CLIMATE JUSTICE? READ, WRITE, RESIST. The Canterbury Memo - Te Pukapuka o Waitaha Magazine of Progressive and Environmental Writing. Est. 2024 by UC Students, Ōtautahi-Christchurch / www.memozine.nz / @the.memo.zine”
May 7, 2025 at 9:49 PM
davi-en.bsky.social
“How’s the semester/political climate/health system going for you?” Well…
Cropped screenshot of a Spotify “jump back in” page, with Grace by Jeff Buckley next to INSIDE by Bo Burnham.
May 7, 2025 at 2:06 AM
davi-en.bsky.social
SJP CALL TO RALLY: #University of #Canterbury in Ōtautahi, Aotearoa have $300,000+ invested in armaments, despite assuring students otherwise.
Tomorrow, May 1 at 12pm, we will rally at Ilam campus to demand they commit to #BDS and stop enabling genocide in our names, with our fees. Join us!
#nzpol
SJP chapter at the University of Canterbury have distributed a flyer calling for a rally to protest the university’s investment in armaments. It has a black and white keffiyeh border, with a black and white photo of students protesting in the middle. Laid over the photo is drawing of a dove holding a Palestinian flag, with a QR code to the SJP’s Instagram post about the armaments. From top to bottom it reads: “Demand UC divest it’s $300,000 in military weapons and equipments. Student rally for Palestine: UC Ilam, May 1, 12pm, C Block lawn. Say no to genocide with your fees. No apartheid in our name! Student Justice for Palestine.”
April 30, 2025 at 4:07 AM
davi-en.bsky.social
UPDATE: We closed NIOA for the day! There was great turn out, but looks like even the threat of disruption was too scary for war profiteers.
Keep up with PAŌ on Instagram, I’ll repost actions here if you’re off meta
#nzpol #peace #activism #aotearoa
Chalking outside NIOA in Rolleston with varying messages like “fuck off NIOA” and “these war crimes won’t be tolerated”.
April 7, 2025 at 12:00 AM
davi-en.bsky.social
Christchurch babes - help Peace Action Ōtautahi disrupt the business of war in Rolleston, TODAY at 10am! Zionist weapons manufacturers cannot be allowed to profit in peace. Join us!
#nzpol #aotearoa #christchurch
Screenshot of @peace.action.otautahi ‘s Instagram post, reading “SHUT DOWN NOIA. Monday 7th April. 10am. 45 Stoneleigh Drive. Rolleston.” on a red and purple gradient background. Image next to it is of a figure holding a sign reading “if the government won’t shut down war criminals, the people will”
April 6, 2025 at 9:20 PM
davi-en.bsky.social
Have burned myself to a crisp, and have needed to replace my “soothing” doomscroll with an equally accessible silly game. Gubbins has taken the top spot.
Gubbins pencil mode scoresheet reads “you scored 3555 points, and found 15 words.” Underneath, from purple to blue to yellow, reads the following words with point correlation: “topically, progress, diaspora, recedes, fossick, gangs, brine, meek, lisp, sibe”
March 23, 2025 at 5:05 AM
davi-en.bsky.social
Ōtautahi - mark out next Wed 19th for Greens’ MP Tamatha Paul to discuss issues of policing in Aotearoa. Considering that we have an 11x higher fatality rate than England, it’s high time systemic change was on the table.
#nzpol #greens #christchurch
Infographic on a green gradient background reads: “TAKING ACTION. Safer communities together: A talk with Green MP Tamatha Paul about police reform in Aotearoa. Undercroft 101 Wed. 19th March. 6-8pm”. The UC Greens and Peace Action Ōtautahi logos are beneath an image of Tamatha Paul with a megaphone.
March 12, 2025 at 6:50 PM
davi-en.bsky.social
URGENT: Peace Action Ōtautahi has SHUT DOWN international weapons manufacturing company NIOA’s new HQ in Rolleston.

They need numbers - 45 Stoneleigh Drive. More details on the PAŌ instagram:
www.instagram.com/peace.action...
Black and red text on white background reads: URGENT! Numbers needed in Rolleston now. March 03: Just now, Peace Action Ōtautahi has shut down international weapons manufacturing company NIOA’s headquarters. A photo of NIOA HQ with 2 individuals on the roof, and 3 banners. Left to right, they read: “no war profiteers in our city: NIOA supplies genocide”, “Peace Action Ōtautahi @peaceactionotautahi”, “Shut NIOA down”
March 2, 2025 at 7:17 PM
davi-en.bsky.social
Currently reading Audre Lorde’s autobiographical novel, and while the entire narrative is beautifully written, the poignant reflections on her writing practice resonate so sharply.
I’ve been highlighting throughout - this snippet is a perfect summary.
Photo of page 135 from Audre Lorde’s autobiographical novel, with the following underlined in pencil: “[w]riting was the only thing that made me feel like I was alive”.”
March 2, 2025 at 3:02 AM
davi-en.bsky.social
“Why would you even move to Ōtautahi, all the Queers are in Te Whanganui-a-Tara 🙄”
One of many stickers I came across on my way home last week:
Sticker on the end of a park bench, white with crinkled edges, reads “I heart gay sex in my wheelchair”
February 23, 2025 at 9:23 PM
davi-en.bsky.social
Pretty ideal #thrift find for a #sociology major. Even better with the pre-graduation discount. Local secondhand purchases >>
February 17, 2025 at 1:43 AM
davi-en.bsky.social
What to do in an increasingly hostile political environment? Organise your reading piles into genres, of course!

My #nonfiction pile has a gorgeous intersection of #feminism, #anti-racism, #Queer and #climate liberation, and #creative practice.

When the world’s burning, there’s always books. ❤️‍🔥
February 13, 2025 at 11:27 PM
davi-en.bsky.social
Ōtautahi #Christchurch #poets, #poem lovers & #liberationists - set aside Sunday 23 Feb for a pro-Palestine (PSNA) #fundraiser night at darkroom.

I’ll be doing a feature set of fresh poetry, alongside an astoundingly brilliant lineup. Check out the FB event for tickets (or search Fierce Salon!).
Event banner reads “Fierce Salon: Poetry with Bite. darkroom 23rd February, door 7pm for a 7:30pm start. Tusiata Avia, Juanita Hepi, Ariana Tikao, Danielle O’Halloran, Davien Gray, Melanie McKercher.”
January 27, 2025 at 11:57 PM
davi-en.bsky.social
Excerpts from a fresh WIP, tentatively titled “Wellington Temporality, and Maybe, a Goddamn Break”.

Living in Ōtautahi now, but the Wellingtonian identity is one hell of a drug. Withdrawals and all.

#poetry #nzpoetry #aotearoapoetry #lgbt
Screenshot of Times New Roman, 12pt font reading: “Harbourside - yield your power and widen your jaw. Scoop me from indelicate affairs with your tongue, and write an away from office signature for me.” Screenshot of Times New Roman, 12pt font reading: “Whip me across fleeting Island Bay stability, the most threatening of them all, then suffocate me in parliamentary prose. Dip me into your panoptical breast, dry my tears with your salty buoyancy. Rip me limb by limb by limb So all of me can live somewhere Buried in the fig tree.”
January 26, 2025 at 12:59 AM
davi-en.bsky.social
Hyper personalised algorithms are both freaky and inexplicably funny.
Two YouTube video recommendations. The first is titled “ASMR for Autistic People”, with a woman posing with plastic ASMR tools in the thumbnail. The second is titled “Philosopher Slavoj Žižek on ‘soft’ fascism, AI & the effects of shamelessness”, with the philosopher lecturing in the thumbnail.
January 21, 2025 at 9:01 AM
davi-en.bsky.social
Excerpts from my puberty blocker submission, done hours before it closed yesterday.
Being a trans adult means I was a trans minor. My government should not be able to other me or my trans whānau because it’s currently in fashion to do so.
The proposed changes will lead to materially different medical care on political grounds which is straightforwardly inequitable. The Ministry of Health itself has confirmed that puberty blocker medications are safe, reversible, and low risk; if there were legitimate concerns about the safety and efficacy of puberty blockers, access would be restricted for all patients equally. In fact, puberty blockers show a “statistically significant improvement” in the wellbeing of transgender youth (page 21, evidence brief). Targeted restriction cannot be equitable and fair. Healthcare specialists and rainbow advisors alike speak clearly to this, and it is not evident that there is any empirical, non-ideological reason for these proposed changes. This is not a decision for the government to make. The increasingly polarised politicisation of transgender people in the media around the world should not become an excuse for our government to discriminate against us. Decisions regarding whether a patient should have access to a medication should be up to professionals, and not politicians trying to win an ‘up’ in the culture war by using our bodies and rights as pawns. Our government has an obligation to treat us fairly, as equals, and provide us with the mana and dignity to make our own agentic decisions about our healthcare. There are existing checks and balances to ensure that any medication a minor begins taking is done with consent and understanding of risk. Transgender healthcare is in no way a separate sect of care in which separate legislation against us is appropriate or necessary. I am in my early twenties. I am proudly transgender and access to gender affirming care as a minor saved my life and many of my friends’ lives. I was, and am, deserving of healthcare that sees me as an agentic and autonomous individual. My government should not be using my healthcare as a political chip due to a renewed frenzy about transgender people. My transgender whānau and myself have been around much longer than these debates, and we deserve dignity and respect. We are equal citizens, and our healthcare is a right, not a privilege. If I was to go back in time and be denied access to GAC based on my transgender identity, I would not have had the alleviation of suffering that has enabled the life I have now. I contribute to my community, care for those around me, and have so much in my life to offer to my country. I would never have had the opportunity to become this person. My healthcare saved my life. Please don’t prevent that same healthcare from reaching future transgender youth; they are children deserving of care and dignity like all others. We all deserve agency and freedom in our gender expression, and we are more than a political football. Please ensure we are not discriminated against in Aotearoa’s healthcare system.
January 20, 2025 at 7:11 PM
davi-en.bsky.social
I remember when the concept of a billionaire felt absurd and unethical. Now, the billionaire class is earning billions *every day*.

www.rnz.co.nz/news/busines...
January 20, 2025 at 6:37 AM