f you can’t tell based on my last name,
I'm part Irish. I’m also part a bunch of
other things. Growing up in Canada with
parents and grandparents who were never
too in touch with their heritage either,
I don’t really have any culture other
than Canadian. I don’t have a second
language, and I’ve never been to any of
the countries I can trace my family back
to. | know I’m far from alone in feeling
that disassociation from my heritage.
It makes days like Saint Patrick’s Day
a little weird. For me, Saint Patrick’s
Day doesn’t really enter the equation of
things I think to celebrate. It falls in the
busy month of March for my family as
the day after my mom’s birthday, and

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New Westminster, BC V3L 5B2
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Lauren Kelly
Editor-in-Chief
M editor@theotherpress.ca

Mercedes Deutscher
News Editor
M4 news@theotherpress.ca

Davie Wong
Sports Editor
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Cazzy Lewchuk
Opinions Editor
M opinions@theotherpress.ca

Lauren Paulsen
Multimedia Editor
M4 multimedia@theotherpress.ca

&
A
@
2
Q

one of the few days leading towards

mine and my cousins’. It’s the one big
Irish celebration, but I never really do
anything for it—not that most people
celebrate it in an especially culturally-
sensitive way. Regardless, I just don’t feel
any real connection with it in any way.
Still, it’s easy to feel a little left out when
you have heavily-Irish friends who are
actually celebrating with their families
and doing cool Irish things. It’s not even
that I particularly want to be more in
touch with my roots. It just feels like I’m
missing what is an integral part of a lot of
people’s lives, whatever their culture is.
It’s something that I’m used to, though,

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M editor@theotherpress.ca
¥ © /theotherpress
f/DouglasOtherPress

Chandler Walter
Assistant Editor
Massistant@theotherpress.ca

Caroline Ho
Arts Editor
M arts@theotherpress.ca

Brittney MacDonald
Life & Style Editor
M lifeandstyle@theotherpress.ca

Rebecca Peterson
Humour Editor
WM humour@theotherpress.ca

Cara Seccafien
Layout Manager
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&.
Z
£
9.
&

and it’s something that I’m okay with.
In recent years, I’ve spent holidays with
my family retracing our Canadian roots—
travelling to Humboldt, Saskatchewan,
where my great-uncle served as mayor
for many years, and Englefeld, where
he, my Papa, and their many siblings
were raised; visiting Marie-Reine and
Peace River, Alberta, where my step-
dad lived when he was young; going

to my great-grandma’s old house and
my great-grandpa’s place of work in
Edmonton to see where my Nana grew
up. Along the way, we've visited a lot of
cemeteries to say goodbye to relatives

I may have never met, but who are still
a part of me, and visiting the houses of

Image via midnightsunak.com

my still-alive relatives in other provinces
who | hadn’t yet gotten to know.

So while Saint Patty’s Day may not be
for me, and J may not know much about
all the countries I’m technically from,
I’m lucky to have learned a lot about the
my family and its roots around Canada
over the last few years, and gotten in
touch with my own, familial culture.
And I think that’s incredibly valuable.

Until next issue,

Lauren Kelly

Editor-in-Chief

v

Angela Ho
Business Manager

Jacey Gibb
Distribution Manager

Joel McCarthy
Graphics Manager

Elizabeth Jacob
Production Assistant

Ed Appleby
IHustrator

Jony Roy
Social Media Coordinator

Aaron Guillen
Staff Reporter

Greg Waldock, Jessica Berget,
& Carlos Bilan

Staff Writers v

Analyn Cuarto
Staff Photographer

Jerrison Oracion, L.A. Bonté,
& Colten Kamlade
Senior Columnist

Jan Prchal
Columnists

The Other Press has been Douglas
College’s student newspaper since 1976.
Since 1978 we have been an autonomous
publication, independent of the student
union. We are a registered society under
the Society Act of British Columbia,
governed by an eight-person board

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