Dear Bishop of Coins – An Open Letter

Nathan Crombie

I am Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa, Clan Crombie, Ngāti Raukawa. Carterton is my birthplace but I was bred and buttered in Masterton. I am a Makora College old boy who as a latecomer completed a newsroom cadetship, reaching intermediate grade as a reporter with my hometown daily, the Wairarapa Times-Age. After a brief stint filing copy for the daily from the US capital, Washington DC, I struck out on my own for several years as a freelance reporter. I covered hard, breaking, entertainment and music news back in my home region. I also worked fulltime as the first tribal reporter in more than a century for Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Māori Executive Taiwhenua iwi authority, producing the monthly authority newspaper, Te Piwaiwaka (Māori name for the NZ fantail and a chatterbox). I have tutored creative writing and basic computer skills for Wairarapa REAP, worked as a life drawing model for UCOL Wairarapa, and as an extra and in security for film and television in and beyond the region. I also have worked as a Massey University laboratory and field technician in Wairarapa and as doorman at several nightspots and entertainment venues throughout the valley. I returned to the Wairarapa Times-Age a decade ago, working a daily news beat, breaking stories nationally and internationally, and rising to chief and senior reporter. I was digital and social media editor as well for our daily regional newspaper. I train in Shorinji Kan Jiu Jitsu and Judo and have traded training leather as a kickboxer and boxer. With friends I walk the rare wilds of our Wairarapa mountains, while alone I assault the iron pile at the gym every couple of days. I have performed with MATS in musical theatre. I write songs and sing. I am a poet.