When I first started writing interwoven, I kept returning to the idea that no one person is truly individual. Thus, “my very being was passed on to me.” I didn’t know it at the time, but that line would anchor the entire story. Writing this piece helped me explore how identity isn’t something we build alone but is rather stitched together from the people, places, and memories that shape us.

I came to Canada from Ukraine when I was seven. At first, I felt like I had left everything behind: my grandparents, my language, the rhythm of a life I knew. But in writing this story, I realized how much I carried with me: the songs my Dido sang, the lessons my Baba taught me, the encouragement from my Mama, and the wide-eyed wonder I felt looking at the world around me.

Through memory and storytelling, I began to stitch those pieces back together. Interwoven became a way to trace that thread, to show how even in the midst of change, we remain connected to who we are. Being part of this project reminded me that there is space for stories like mine, stories of movement, memory, and reclaiming belonging, and I hope some readers see themselves in these pieces and feel, in some small way, that they too are a part of something larger.