Don Rowe (Ngāi Tahu) is a staff writer at The Spinoff. He was the 2015 Canon Media Awards student journalist of the year and the 2017 junior long form feature writer of the year. Email him on don@thespinoff.co.nz
Don Rowe reveals a chilling conspiracy that saw one lizard almost lost forever to the power of the state.
Sought after for thousands of years, and worth upwards of $10,000/kg today, ambergris washes up on beaches across New Zealand all year long. Don Rowe goes looking for it.
For a time in the late 2000s, youth of all backgrounds in this country began to dance. Don Rowe remembers the brief flash when techno became a unifying force in New Zealand.
Through clever manipulation of scale and mythos, the latest iteration of God of War makes the most of Immanuel Kant's theory of the sublime to deliver a truly beautiful game.
For a brief moment, New Zealand was home to Big Foot, a mythically potent RTD served in a giant bottle and apparently aimed squarely at teens. Don Rowe talks to the brain behind it.
In a foreshadowing of the excruciating debate to come, FamilyFirst have gone head-to-head with an actual scientist on the issue of marijuana. But there's an agenda on both sides, writes Don Rowe.
Every day in the leadup to Christmas, open the door to reveal a Spinoff writer’s short, sizzling commentary on a weighty subject. Today: Don Rowe on why we should call off this garbage year a few weeks early.
In a new ecology-focused Civ VI expansion, Kupe leads the Māori in an attempt to dominate the globe through kaitiakitanga.
From an academic suspecting foul play to the spooks blocking Huawei gear in the new broadband roll-out, China is suddenly in a lot of headlines. Don Rowe rounds it all up.
In the age of advanced genetics, whakapapa is a powerful tool against hereditary illness. Don Rowe talks to Dr Karyn Paringatai, the stomach-less doctor reconnecting whanau to save lives.
For a brief moment in the late 20th century, New Zealand produced some of the dopest hand-painted clothing on Earth. Don Rowe talks to the founders of Kozmik Klothing.
The Testimatic is New Zealand's first medicinal glory hole, providing an eye contact-free testicular examination. Don Rowe gets his balls squeezed in public.
Ant Timpson got a fright to discover his FlyBuys had been stolen, cameras purchased and the goods sent to a notorious Auckland address
Tonight in Singapore, it's PM meets Veep. We preview the worst working dinner imaginable.
100 years from the end of WWI, Sir Peter Jackson has released They Shall Not Grow Old, a groundbreaking restoration of footage from The Great War.
Yesterday corporate boxer Kain Parsons succumbed to a brain injury sustained in a charity bout on Saturday night. He won't be the last, writes Don Rowe.
Hundreds of millions of dollars are lost by punters at the TAB every year. Where does it go, asks Don Rowe.
Yesterday saw yet another story of young home owner success splashed across the news. But this time both sides of the political divide kicked off, sledging the government and the new mortgagees alike.
Who is the political operative giving advice to the rogue National MP?
As the number of New Zealand citizens deported from Australia grows, so too does the death toll. Don Rowe reports on the rising human costs of Australia's immigration reforms.
Genetic modification offers space-age healthcare, booming agriculture and a new weapon in the war on invasive species – if we choose to use it.
Ngāi Tahu spent 150 years in poverty, dispossessed of the vast majority of their whenua and mahinga kai. Today, 20 years on from their landmark settlement with the Crown, they're sitting atop a billion dollar pūtea.
When Hinewehi Mohi was asked to sing the anthem before New Zealand's 1999 quarter final versus England, she made a choice that would change the pregame ritual for good.
After ten years of public fallout, New Zealand's favourite Nu-Metal band are back. Don Rowe talks to Blindspott.
Jacinda Ardern flies to Nauru this week for the Pacific Islands Forum, and the host is already making headlines way beyond the official agenda
The acclaimed Hunt for the Wilderpeople is the main attraction on a new line of Instant Kiwi scratchie cards, raising concerns among actors, artists and anti-gambling activists.
