St. Patrick's Day and Representation
Yesterday, I gleefully woke up knowing it was St. Patrick's Day. I cued up the Irish music (including traditional fiddling and my adolescent favorite CD by The Corrs), spent $25 on corned beef from my local Irish restaurant, and watched the Disney Channel Original Movie, Luck of the Irish.
I don't drink alcohol, so St. Patrick's Day has never meant a day of big events for me. It is simply the day that I get to think about what it means to be Irish. While all of my Irish ancestors came to North America before 1900, our pride runs strong, and my family knows what villages and counties heralded our great-great-great grandparents. In Massachusetts, some of my Devlin ancestors belonged to the Fenian Brotherhood and plotted to hold Canada hostage for Ireland's freedom (their plan almost worked). We love being Irish.
Still, I can't quite articulate why St. Patrick's Day brings me such joy. Other than that it is the day I feel that part of my identity is represented and celebrated. As someone who is very normative as well as blond-haired and blue-eyed, I have never had to search hard for representation on screen or in books. I listen to people explain that it adds to their struggle to not be represented, and I try to understand it emotionally as well as rationally. Yesterday, I reflected on how happy I was to be wearing green, and I realized that was the joy at this little slice of myself being represented. And it made me wish everyone felt that way, every day.
I also know that celebrating the Irish culture once a day doesn't do it justice. I don't actually know much about Ireland beyond the stereotypes, even though I have visited three times. As I try to diversify my writing to include characters who are not the same characters who have been represented for centuries, I struggle with the balance between being inclusive and being superficial. Yesterday was my chance to reflect on my personal experience of seeing a part of my identity expressed - and I can also imagine how frustrating it is to Irish people when we Americans stake our generations-old claim on their culture. I hope that this is my entre to understanding more empathetically as we all move towards a more inclusive world.
I don't drink alcohol, so St. Patrick's Day has never meant a day of big events for me. It is simply the day that I get to think about what it means to be Irish. While all of my Irish ancestors came to North America before 1900, our pride runs strong, and my family knows what villages and counties heralded our great-great-great grandparents. In Massachusetts, some of my Devlin ancestors belonged to the Fenian Brotherhood and plotted to hold Canada hostage for Ireland's freedom (their plan almost worked). We love being Irish.
Still, I can't quite articulate why St. Patrick's Day brings me such joy. Other than that it is the day I feel that part of my identity is represented and celebrated. As someone who is very normative as well as blond-haired and blue-eyed, I have never had to search hard for representation on screen or in books. I listen to people explain that it adds to their struggle to not be represented, and I try to understand it emotionally as well as rationally. Yesterday, I reflected on how happy I was to be wearing green, and I realized that was the joy at this little slice of myself being represented. And it made me wish everyone felt that way, every day.
I also know that celebrating the Irish culture once a day doesn't do it justice. I don't actually know much about Ireland beyond the stereotypes, even though I have visited three times. As I try to diversify my writing to include characters who are not the same characters who have been represented for centuries, I struggle with the balance between being inclusive and being superficial. Yesterday was my chance to reflect on my personal experience of seeing a part of my identity expressed - and I can also imagine how frustrating it is to Irish people when we Americans stake our generations-old claim on their culture. I hope that this is my entre to understanding more empathetically as we all move towards a more inclusive world.
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