it fen: ee Oe TP *e al Photo by Analyn Cuarto v fice The sweet, savoury, and sacred Hawaiian Carlos Bilan Staff Writer few months ago, Iceland’s president Gudni Jéhannesson said that he would ban pineapples on pizza if he could. This sparked the never-ending, heated, and worldwide debate on the topic of whether pineapples belong on your pizza or not. The debate has caused a divide among people, but as a “pineapple knight,” I will defend the sacredness of the Hawaiian pizza. Pizza is considered a guilty pleasure by many, but including pineapple on a meaty pizza is healthier than having a pizza with just meat. Even for a meat-lover like myself, eating pizza without healthier toppings makes it feel like an unhealthy eating experience. Pineapples are rich in vitamin C, vitamin B2, magnesium, and other nutrients, so having them on top of your pizza makes the eating experience feel less guilty. Avid haters of the Hawaiian say that liking pineapples on your pizza makes you weird, or that you belong to a minority. Well sorry, haters, because the people who love Hawaiian pizza are actually the majority. According to statistics from CNN, Buzzfeed, Telegraph, and even Public Policy Polling, the majority—attracting over 50 per cent on average—are in favour of having pineapples on their pizza. Only around 30 per cent said that they hate Student media 1s essential > Support your college paper Cazzy Lewchuk Opinions Editor rint media is a declining field. Across the country, newspapers are shutting down or reducing staff. There’s more content now than ever before, but standing out enough to reach an audience is difficult. This is true for both print and online news media. Quality media is more important and possibly less visible now than ever before. Originally, Douglas had two newspapers: the Douglas Press, and the later-founded Other Press. Today, only one remains, explaining our misleading title. While some schools have two newspapers, Douglas is only big enough to maintain one. Personally, I would love to have a second student newspaper, if only as an alternative option for those who don’t care for us. There is enough subject matter relevant to students in every section of our paper that an entire publication could be devoted to any one of them. A newspaper devoted to arts around the community, current events, and affairs, or life and style options for today’s student would have a place in the school, if it existed. Sadly, the Other Press is the only major source for such stories. Print media doesn’t have to take newspaper form, either. Student-based magazines, book collections (like the annual Pearls anthology), and zines (mini alternative magazines, many of which can be found in the library) all fit into that rare medium known as print. Douglas does not fund these collections to the same extent as it does the Other Press, and our extra funding leads to more free copies, a higher frequency of publishing, and payment to all contributors and staff members. Of course, our content is not only published on paper. Articles from past issues can be found online, furthering our reach. At the Other Press, we are committed to delivering quality, student-based print media to almost 25,000 students. In many cases, we are the source for the most detailed, up-to-date information about Douglas’ many events and activities. We are independent from the Douglas Students’ Union and have even clashed with past student governments for attempting to report on sketchy activities. We are proud to report unbiased, fact-checked stories from all across the community. Many feel angered by the five dollars allocated to the paper from student fees, particularly if they don’t read it. Many would also resent an increase in funding, despite the thousands of dollars they give up to the school each semester for tuition and the hundreds more that goes towards the DSU. I believe funding the arts is very important and beneficial both in and out of schools. There is so much more room for print media at Douglas, if only it had the funding. We have thousands of students paying to learn the arts, ae ia) oe | Peed so why can't we pay more students to learn how to write about it firsthand? Not everyone reads this newspaper. A lot of people don’t even know about this newspaper. Others deliberately avoid it. If you don’t like the Other Press, we encourage feedback and suggestions. Without our readers, this paper would be nothing. We publish because we are passionate about pineapples on pizza, and less than 10 per cent do not mind either way. Why, then, is there such a negative stigma surrounding the love of pineapples on pizza? It’s just because the haters of pineapples on pizza are very vocal about their hate. Do you see us Hawaiian pizza lovers saying pizzas without pineapples suck? Nope. We just stay in our lane and indulge in the sweet and savoury pizza delicacy—while reaping those nutritional benefits. bitten 3 © writing, journalism, and student life. We exist as a resource for the student body, and we are constantly looking for ways to update and better our publication. You are encouraged to get involved and add to our content. We even pay our contributors! Media only works when it is open and receptive to change, and that can’t happen without student involvement.