From the field
As a storyteller witness, I often write my reflections while experiencing these tables. It is an important part of the HuCon process. I also pull direct quotes from each table. These short lines capture the energy in each city at the time of recording.
Kenny, Convener
Kenny's dispatch
"We climbed to get here. Most of us arrived winded. up on a hill above the city, above the noise."
Barcelona has 1.5 million residents. In 2025, it welcomed 16 million visitors. Up on that hill, in Noemí's studio, we asked the question nobody below seemed to be asking: who does this city belong to? The table that followed did not resolve it. It held it. honestly, generously, without pretending.
Request full dispatch →What the city said
"I no longer recognise my own city."
Anonymous. Barcelona table
"I won't be forced to forget where I come from."
Anonymous. Barcelona table
"This is home. And I am not leaving."
Anonymous. Barcelona table
Kenny's dispatch
"How do you describe a table graced by people who hold unconditional love and clear-eyed tension in the same breath?"
Sol. 7pm. The blue light fading into something like an oil painting. Most Madrileños just leaving work. Around the table. people who came to Madrid for different reasons and stayed. Old wounds opened quietly. New friendships formed. No one wanted to leave.
Request full dispatch →What the city said
"Madrid is like a lover. You fall in love with the city or you don't."
Anonymous. Madrid table
"I went somewhere else in Spain and experienced racism and homophobia in the same conversation. When I returned to Madrid, I said: ¡Viva España! Because in Madrid, I knew that would never happen."
Anonymous. Madrid table
"I don't feel like myself here. I am myself here."
Anonymous. Madrid table
"We're all closer to the bottom than we think."
Anonymous. Madrid table
Kenny's dispatch
"You came to Rome to begin again. But what did it cost your well-being?"
An Afghan musician played Bella Ciao. and was told which neighbourhoods of Rome would welcome it and which wouldn't. An Argentinian actor described the two lines at the immigration office: one for citizens, one for extracomunitari. A retired Southerner who moved to Rome to search for happiness found it. not in one moment, but in the daily rush of joy when he left the house each morning.
Request full dispatch →What the city said
"There are three Romes. The first: the postcard Rome, the magic I experienced as a child. The second: the city of my father. I arrived when he was leaving. And now: the city of care."
Anonymous. Rome table
"When I arrived in Italy, I read Rinascimento. Rebirth. And for me it truly was a rebirth."
Anonymous. Rome table
"In Rome, you can be yourself. You don't have to be someone you're not."
Anonymous. Rome table
Kenny's dispatch
"In a city that rewards image and performance, how are you really doing?"
A ballet dancer returned to Italy after fifteen years abroad and arrived in Milan with hope. A young professional described the decade she spent following someone else's pattern for how a life should go. until she stopped. A wellbeing professional who once wore scrubs every day and never thought about what she put on. The city that doesn't ask how you are. it asks what you've achieved.
Request full dispatch →What the city said
"The park was full of people. And I thought: so many people in Milan, and I'm here alone. Why is it me, alone? Where are the others?"
Anonymous. Milan table
"I'm surrounded by people and I don't have a real friend to call. I'm sick. who do I write?"
Anonymous. Milan table
"The moment I decided I didn't want to perform anymore, that I just wanted to be myself. that's when I actually started experiencing life."
Anonymous. Milan table
Earlier tables
Pittsburgh
March 2026 · Care & dignity
"The folks who have the least ability to pay out of pocket for healthcare are the same ones who are not receiving it through their employers."
Anonymous. Pittsburgh table
"Our stress is being commodified for profits."
Anonymous. Pittsburgh table
Lagos
Nov 2025 · Money & health
"The term mental health is bastardized. People use it as an excuse."
Anonymous. Lagos table
"Even commuting stress can snowball to affect every part of your life. Every discomfort is a significant conversation."
Anonymous. Lagos table
"Grow into more than just survival."
Anonymous. Lagos table
Valdosta
Jan 2026 · Self-image & body
"It is amazing how some of these things happen, and then they live in us. We feel we have outgrown them, but we end up seeing them constantly as we navigate life."
Anonymous. Valdosta table
Bari
2025 · Caregiving & loss
"Every time I hear her on the phone, there's this attempt to make me feel guilty. Or maybe I already feel guilty."
Anonymous. Bari table
"I've carried the sense that I abandoned the family. Yet I go on. maybe because I am selfish. so I go on anyway."
Anonymous. Bari table
"If once I was a tree, now I'm becoming a toothpick."
Anonymous. Bari table