Dear BILD readers, Mela (who is now traveling in India) asked me to step in for her to write this year-end message. It has been an honour to be involved in the BILD community since 2017, where I have the privilege to read people’s thoughts and musings about issues of belonging, identity, language, and diversity. I know as a regular blogger myself, each time when we write, we take risks. We make ourselves vulnerable by inviting people into our world of inner thoughts and feelings. We don’t know who will be reading it, how it is going to be received, and whether the topic we discuss or the experience we describe will have an impact on the reader as it did on us. But when it does and when a reader tells you how their experience reverberates yours, we feel an indescribable connection, a shared human experience that makes us whole. 

As the year is coming to an end and COVID’s looming presence starts to recede, let us not forget the lessons we learned from the pandemic. Our lives are more interconnected than we have ever thought. It is not just about humans but all forms of life, material, and technology. Let’s contribute together to BILD’s growing community, whether as readers or as bloggers, to continue and extend our discussion, thinking, and exchange on language and identity matters. Let’s be vulnerable and share our thoughts and feelings just so we can move each other to build a stronger community where more equitable participation in our multilingual and multicultural worlds is made possible. 

All of us at BILD are taking a break over the holidays. We will return to regular posting on January 8th, 2023.

Sunny Lau, Bishop’s University