Emma & Dylan & Anjuli & Luise.

I’m on my way to the Microsoft MVP Summit, and there is something that has been bothering me for a while. So while I'm on my plane, somewhere over Greenland, I'm starting to get it out in writing. What is the problem? There is something going on that I don’t want to look away from. Some of my MVP friends are not making their way to the Summit and I think that’s a problem. In part because I will miss them, but there is a deeper, more significant issue. The reasons being raised, are the following: The current political stance of the US, which mainly discourages people of color, trans people and people with non-western heritage from travelling to the US. The healthcare evolutions, where certain forms of care are not available. This mostly affects transgendered individuals, non-binary people and women. The fact that everyone has to pay their own way to make it to Redmond affects, which anyone who lives further away, is in a lower income region or doesn’t have an employer who sponsors them.