Crossing that bridge

We've arrived. It's time to cross that bridge and release my little words into the big wide world. On y va!

Welcome to my new and overdue endeavour - writing! I’ve been thinking about writing, talking about writing, writing about writing and now finally sharing writing. I’ve often written about various topics - politics, travel, living abroad, Brexit, cultural moments, my live laugh love moments, yet I never quite found the right “niche” to run with. As I run out of storage for my many unpublished texts and reach the middle of my self-declared year of change, I’m changing things up, trying a bit of everything and seeing how it goes…

So allow me to introduce The Bridge!

We’ll begin with a little story to set the scene. For my 25th birthday, I squished around 30 friends into my studio apartment for a boozy Sunday afternoon. Friends had come from all over to be there - friends I had grown up with, my bunk bed buddy from Uganda, friends from Erasmus, old roommates I had been lockdowned with, colleagues whose Teams messages turned them into friends… It was quite the bunch. This humble brag is not only to show how popular I am, my point is coming. As I stood there in the chaos of Espresso Martinis, I felt myself having an existential moment. Overcome by love, I was also overcome by the power of watching all of these different people genuinely connect. People who met merely hours before were arranging cinema trips together, others were planning trips to the UK. At the end of the night, a friend thanked me for bringing everyone together and told me I was like “a bridge” by connecting them. 

This stuck with me. I’ve always loved connecting the dots and putting things together whether that is people, ideas, events, random moments, anything.

So I’m running with it - starting with The Bridge newsletter where I’m hoping to connect dots that I see in my life, bridge them together and share them with whoever fancies reading.

The bridge has become an increasingly fitting metaphor. In many ways, I am a bridge:

• As one of the lucky Brits who arrived in Belgium before the dreaded Brexit deadline, I’m an unofficial UK-EU bridge

• As someone with access to the so-called “Brussels bubble” and a vision to change this and connect it with the broader world, I am a bit of a bubble bridge

• As an immigrant in Belgium looking to exist outside of the international sphere and connect at a local level, I am an aspiring community bridge

• As the family member / friend who enjoys debating any -isms (particularly classism, colonialism) at the dinner table, I seem to be the socially critical & culturally conscious bridge

So I hope these various “bridges” will allow me to share a somewhat interesting perspective on the world and the way it continues to turn. 

With The Bridge, I hope to share ideas, start conversations, encourage critical reflections and see where it goes. I do not seek to educate nor lecture, I simply wish for you to take from it what you want. Please engage and share your thoughts, I am curious to hear them and happy to be challenged. You should have a new edition ready for you every Sunday evening so watch this space and enjoy crossing this bridge with me!

---