Bex Peterson Editor-in-Chief

eptember is finally here, with blue (mostly smoke-free) skies greeting the first few days of the fall semester. For me, at least, September tends to feel far more like the start of a “new year” than January 1 ever does. Even when I wasn’t going to school and was working full-time, I always seemed to move from one place to another at the end of August or the beginning of September. It’s a time for change, and I could insert a whole metaphor about leaves changing and whatnot, but

this is already getting pretty cliché.

For a lot of you, this might be your first week at the college and your first time picking up a copy of the Other Press, so to all of you: Welcome to Douglas! The Other Press is your friendly autonomous student newspaper with a long and illustrious history of providing college and local news to the masses. Well, to the very specific masses of Douglas College campuses, but we're online as well, so there’s that. Within these pages you'll find campus news, art

Rm 1020 — 700 Royal Ave. Douglas College

New Westminster, BC V3L 5B2 & 604.525.3542

Bex Peterson Editor-in-Chief M editor@theotherpress.ca

Cara Seccafien Layout Manager M layout@theotherpress.ca

Katie Czenczek News Editor M4 news@theotherpress.ca

Jessica Berget Opinions Editor a opinions@theotherpress.ca

_ Greg Waldock | Web Editor | Mwebeditor@theotherpress.ca

reviews, fashion views, opinions too, and

I can't figure out a way to rhyme the rest, so I'll just say we've got creative writing, humour articles, comics, crosswords, and a

feature about political unrest in Nicaragua. That’s one thing I love about the

Other Press—our independence allows us

to cover not just stories about students,

but stories we think will be important

to students. You never really know what

youre going to find in one of our issues.

I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn’t take this moment to mention that we publish student writing and are currently hiring for staff positions—and we actually pay our staff and contributors! Take a look at what we do here and if you feel like you have something to contribute, email us (contact info directly below this article) or come to our meetings on Mondays at 6:30 pm in room N1020 at the New West campus. Even if you don’t apply for a full staff position, we love our freelance contributors, and we love it when people wander into

our little dungeon for meetings. Currently we’re still accepting resumes

@ theotherpress.ca

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

Caroline Ho Assistant Editor M assistant@theotherpress.ca

Lauren Kelly Graphics Manager © graphics@theotherpress.ca

Position vacant Arts Editor arts@theotherpress.ca

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

Klara Woldenga Entertainment Editor © humour@theotherpress.caiiwans

for Staff Writers and Staff Reporter (see

the hiring ad on page 16 for more info.) We're also hiring a new Arts Editor this

week, as our previous Arts Editor Caroline Ho has now moved up to Assistant Editor.

Congratulations Caroline, good luck, and sorry for making you read and edit a 1000-word rant on how much I like

Dragon Age IT, a game that came out seven

years ago. We are all about the hottest

of hot takes here at the Other Press.

I'd also like to take a moment to

wave a fond farewell to our previous

Editor-in-Chief, Chandler Walter. He’s

got a full-time adult job working as a staff

writer for the Daily Hive, providing an

excellent example and success story that

the Other Press can use as a recruiting tool for decades to come. I followed in

Chandler’s footsteps every step of the way here, taking on the position of Humour

Editor once he moved up to Assistant

Editor under the legendary Lauren Kelly,

then taking his place as Assistant when he took the reins of the paper. Thank

you, Chandler, for paving a path to glory

for Humour Editors everywhere.

Fada) INTERSE|

Photo by Lauren Kelly

anymore; it’s Entertainment Editor now. This conveniently brings us back to my initial point about change, tying up this Lettitor with a neat little narrative bow. The Other Press is an ever-evolving publication, and I can honestly say becoming a part of it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I’m fortunate to work with incredible people. We have a fun and talented newsroom, and we're all looking forward to making this volume

of the Other Press the best it can be. Finally, it seems as though there's an unofficial tradition for Editors-in-Chief here to choose a good Lettitor sign-off and stick with it throughout their term. In the spirit of this I’ve searched through several articles about email sign-offs and while I was thinking of choosing a pretty mundane one, I have to share this truly awful, intensely cringe-inducing one first. | was a Humour Editor once

after all. Some things never change.

Have a wonderful bountiful lustful day,

Bex Peterson

We don't even have a Humour Editor

Angela Ho Business Manager

Jacey Gibb Distribution Manager

Chandler Walter Production Assistant

Cara Seccafien Illustrator

Position Vacant Staff Reporter

Positions Vacant Staff Writers

Position Vacant Staff Photographer

Ethan Gibson, Duncan Fingarson Senior Columnists

Chandler Walter, C J Sommerfeld Contributors

Cover photo of Nicaraguan protestor via Wikimedia Commons

v

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

of directors appointed by our staff.

Our head office is located in the New Westminster campus.

The Other Press is published weekly during the fall and winter semesters, and monthly during the summer. We receive our funding from a student levy collected through tutition fees every semester at registration, and from local and national advertising revenue. The Other Press is a member of the Canadian University Press (CUP), a syndicate of student newspapers that includes papers from all across Canada.

The Other Press reserves the right to choose what we will publish, and we

will not publish material that is hateful, obscene, or condones or promotes illegal activities. Submissions may be edited for clarity and brevity if necessary. All images used are copyright to their respective owners.

Filling funding gaps with unregulated

tuition

Stats show 2017, 2018 worst wildfire years

on record for BC

And more!

Former Douglas College alum in the race for city council

> Priscilla Omulo vies for a seat in Port Coquitlam

Katie Czenczek News Editor

Mees elections are just

around the corner, and Priscilla Omulo wants to encourage students to get out there and vote.

October 20 is when voters all across the province can pick out their council members and mayors who will best represent them in the municipal elections. If people are out of the country or otherwise unable to vote on that day, there are advance voting dates on October 10, 13, and 17.

Priscilla Omulo, who graduated with a BA in psychology while attending Douglas College, said in an interview with the Other Press that what inspired her to run for council were the families she met while working at non-profits who were separated due to being unable to find affordable housing in Surrey.

“With my understanding of what it’s like for low-income families who may not be working, who may have mental

health issues, or addictions, a number of children, but then adding in those other pieces that there is some discrimination there, some lack of understanding that everyone deserves to rent with dignity and respect, and I don’t think that’s taken into consideration with rentals,” she said.

Omulo has worked at various non-profits over the last 10 years, most recently working as an Outreach Counselor with Xyolhemeyl—, the Fraser Valley Aboriginal Child and Family Services Society. It was through this experience that she wanted to call to attention the various issues that arise out of the housing crisis, she said.

“T think that a lot of people talk about affordable housing and subsidized housing as being key issues, but I do honestly think that there’s a lot of discrimination and racism in housing that people don’t recognize,” she said.

It was through Omulo’s experiences at Douglas that she said laid the groundwork for her being ready to take on politics.

“A huge part of why I got involved

started at Douglas,” she said. “I was a part of the students’ union at Douglas. We were a part of the U-Pass campaign, so we did a lot of lobbying for that,

Photo of Priscilla Omulo via @priscillaomulo on Twitter

and it came in when we were in office. Learning the skills then has helped me now. Take as much as you can for Douglas—and what it has to offer— because not only does it improve your campus life, but when you broaden it and see the rest of the world, it'll teach you so much more than what you will get from the books in a classroom.” Omulo also said that she wanted to not only encourage students to vote, but she also wanted students to know that municipal elections have the ability to affect housing laws, where transit stops will be located, and roadways. “One thing that the city can work on is where the bus stops are going to go, we can look into putting forward rental caps that are based off of the tenants’ income, not the market value of a condo, she said. “It’s really important for college students to vote, and also to encourage others to vote. It’s not just that it affects your day-to-day life, but we are blessed here to have the democratic process that others may not even get to do.”

”

DSU makes leaps in online accessibility

> New and improved website and app

Katie Czenczek News Editor

hat started as a project over a year ago became reality last week as the DSU announced their updated

website and app on August 22.

The new website has multiple new webpages added to it including a volunteer sign-up portal for DSU events, a separate events page, and more information about the services provided by the DSU than what was previously accessible online. The DSU clubs directory has also been updated

so it is now more user-friendly. Tracy Ho, organizer focused in advocacy for the DSU, said in an interview with the Other Press that she spent a lot of time on the

complete rebranding for the website. “I’ve been living and breathing this

website for the last six months,” she said. Ho, who worked along the website

designer in order to make the changes

happen, said that the previous DSU

Board of Directors wanted a fresh start. “The previous website was really old and didn’t have a lot of functionality with it, so what they wanted to do was give it a bright, fresh new look to make it more engaging—and also have more

abilities to engage on the website and

make it useful for students,” she said.

Ho also emphasized the importance of putting the DSU’s best foot forward for students and potential partners whose

introduction to the union is the website. “Tt is often the first impression for students, potential students, community members, and any partners we might have. This is the first impression of the union, so the Board of Directors wanted to put their best face forward and put new information on there, but

also reflect the needs of students.” Along with the functional changes made to the website, the DSU logo has opted for a sky-blue backdrop and a new font, ditching the orange and blue combination that

was featured in the previous logo. “The old logo was quite dated—it

was really ’90s—and the blue and

orange was really difficult to make

good design from,” she said.

Ho also said that the main goal of redoing the website was to create an online platform that was welcoming

before students even made it on campus. “One of the things that we wanted to do was make a welcoming space—even online—and then highlight the things that the Student Union does,” she said.

sit

“We made it so online you can see the services we provide, our campaigns, events, and clubs and collectives.

We really wanted there to be enough information for students to navigate

to get their questions answered.”

Ho also took the time to explain the projected path for the renamed DS App, in which you can access most

online portals through a single app. “The DSU envisions that the app

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will become a resource that students can use every single day. We want to

get to the place where when students log into the app, they can check their emails, waitlists, Blackboard—we're not quite there yet but that is the goal—to ultimately have a digital space where students can use something that is functionally useful and where students can connect with each other,’ said Ho.