Mom.  Hugs.  Home. Understanding.  Warm. Cocktails.  Mac and cheese.  Matzo brie.  A deep breath. Trust.

Friends. Exchange. Family. Empathy. My dog. Love. Tenderness. Human. 

Openness. Acceptance. Food. 

Belonging. Care. Thoughtfulness.  

I think hospitality with me is going home. My family lives very far from me, so whenever I go home, I'm just surrounded by hospitality. 

Openness. 

Hospitality is saying “Good morning.” I like “good morning” because you never know what the person's state of mind might be. They could have a good morning, a bad morning, but it opens that up to say, “Hey, from this point on, I want you to have a good morning.” 

Kindness. Kindness is magic. It's the way you want to be treated. 

My family. We're all very connected. We're all very close to each other. That's the essence of hospitality. 

Grace. Acceptance. Inclusion. 

Welcoming. Feeling comfortable. Being happy. Safe. 

My dogs. Cause I can cuddle them. 

Embrace and safety. Accepting and welcoming. Comfort and food.

A piano - because many of the warmest moments that I remember experiencing hospitality or providing hospitality for others involve the embrace of music.  

This little stuffed bear that we call Little Bear that has been with me since I was one. He’s in my bed every night, and I bring him with me literally everywhere.

La porte ouverte. Le voyage. L'entraide. La découverte. 

Pétanque balls. Because I love playing the pétanque, especially for the atmosphere that it creates, and with the people with whom I play pétanque. Because it's a moment where we can discuss, we can laugh, we can drink, and for me, pétanque in Savoie is with all my friends and with my family, so it represents moments of happiness, of joy, of celebration, of conviviality. 

Karaoke. I love karaoke. That's like a passion of mine. And I think going to a karaoke bar is a space of hospitality because I think you're welcome there, no matter how well you sing or how terribly you sing. As long as you get up there and you're authentic, people love it. So it's always a space where I've felt acceptance and where anybody can feel a sense of accomplishment when they get up and perform.

La bienvenue. La gentillesse. L'acceptance.

Openness, respect, yearning, longing.

Love. Perhaps that's quite general, but hospitality is, to me, it's showing that you're open to knowing someone, that you're open to hearing them. You're open to learning more about them, and that you want them there with you in that space. And to me, that's a form of love.

Humanity. Welcome.

Working with my colleagues in the classroom. Being a mother.

With the death of my sister, the people around me, the support, the soutien des autres, that's my hospitality for me.

Friendship, love, acceptance, tolerance, appreciation, respect.

Food and music. 

Welcome and exchange.  Welcome and warmth. 

Generosity, food, drink, friends, holidays, arts, home. 

Warmth, safety, trust, respect, compassion, thoughtfulness – and deep human consideration.

Kindness and respect. 

Food and love.

Family and friends. 

Freedom, love, and encouragement.

Love, kindness, relaxation, flexibility, adventure, joy and learning. 

My apartment. Open mindedness. Family. Sharing. Well-being.  Lack of fear. Fearlessness. Feeling welcome. Caring. My family - my husband, my children, the people I wake up with, the people I go to sleep with. Love, yes. 

Gathering, food, and music.

Community, belonging, and diversity.

The kitchen table in my parents’ house.

The fireplace in my grandparents’ house when I was growing up. 

The library.

The dining room table.

Hospitality to me is more than a physical space – it’s wherever I am.

I think it could just be anywhere. It could be walking down the street. It could be in my classroom, could be at the gas station, could be opening a door for somebody who I don't know going into a movie theater.

Homes, hotels, airports, museums, lobbies, restaurants, and libraries.

It's my backyard. It's open to all my neighbors. And we get together once in a while on the weekends. And we have lunches. We have conversation. And it's like a meditation.

A couch where you can have conversations and just sit down and talk. 

The theater space when I'm participating in class or teaching when I'm in a theater experience. My kitchen. My parent’s home. My childhood home. Golden Gate Park. The street - the street festival that we have once a year on my street. And all of the camps that I teach with children.

A place that represents hospitality is actually in many ways the place where I don't belong. This is something I find when I'm traveling, when I'm elsewhere and arguably I'm not a part of the community, but I'm welcomed in any way.

A home, with your routine and stuff. A school. And a park or a museum. Yes, a museum - showing culture of the place where the person is visiting.

In my home, the table - because we play games there, we eat there, we talk there, and we do a lot there, as a family, and with our guests.

Another place of hospitality for me is my friend group here. I have friends that have so many different life experiences and places of origin and countries of origin. And I consider them like really an extended family at this point. They've made me feel really welcome in different ways - and really accepted.

Our library – which is the first room of the house and all of our books are there. And people have shared books with me and I share my library with others. I feel like that giving knowledge and discussing knowledge is representative of hospitality.

The home - in terms of welcoming people into it. Also, the public street, and the friendliness, politeness that you can exude to other people when you're out and about with people you don't know.

I think of two places : the home of very dear friends in France, in Brittany. The way I feel when I walk through that door, that I am welcomed. And also my home, here in San Francisco. 

New York and San Francisco.

San Francisco. Redwood Forest. The seashore. And an old, big house in a recurring dream… it’s this welcoming place. 

Theaters. Libraries. Nature. Agnes Douillet’s kitchen table. The fire trail in the Berkeley Hills, that looks over the Bay.

Ma chambre, mon école, et la maison de mon amie.

I've had the privilege of being to 36 different countries and I have had amazing experiences of hospitality across the globe, where many people have opened their homes to me, and their experiences to me and to the groups that I've led. I think that just shows that hospitality doesn't live in one physical place or one country, but that hospitality is experienced everywhere.

Japan, just because it was so different for me than other places that I've lived and their culture has such a strong feeling of hospitality towards strangers.

A place that represents hospitality for me is actually French-American International School. We moved from Sweden, and I grew up here in California, so coming back home but being a foreigner - to come into this community really felt like it was a very hospitable environment.

I think three places of hospitality are definitely the theater upstairs, Back à Dos Theater. My summer camp, Catalina C Camp. And my mom's living room, at Christmas time when we have a fire and all my siblings are home from college. 

I hope our school, International High School and specifically the fifth floor, our office is a place of hospitality, trying to welcome students and be a safe space for them. 

Places that represent hospitality to me? First of all, my boarding school in Colorado, which was real family. Then, Italy. I've been to Italy many times and every time I've come away, I've have felt almost like it's a second home. Then, this is silly, but on the weekends I like sitting alone in my car out by the ocean and just doing my photo editing and writing my movie reviews. I feel welcome there. Finally, every summer I go to Taos, New Mexico. And Taos, for me, ever since I was five years old and first saw Taos, New Mexico, I felt a real kinship there.

Because I've been so fortunate to travel so much, I think of places that I have been especially well received. They are Italy, and Egypt, and Uzbekistan, and Tahiti. Those are places where I can remember every person who welcomed me, everybody who had the joy to want to know me, and who embraced me and gave me everything that they had.

The couch of my friends. My father's armchair. The space for sewing. The women's circle. When we have our family meetings - that's a place of hospitality for me.

Ma chambre, mon école, et la maison de mon amie.

My mom and dad’s house. My own home. The Theater.

A memory of hospitality? We went to a small town in rural China. They didn't have lots of means, and they were running a simple school in a small town. The teachers and the students there really welcomed us with open arms. They brought us into the space, they cooked for us, they took care of us. Our students really left saying they wanted to bring them back. They welcomed us so much, and it really made me think about the way hospitality is about crossing boundaries and international experience. (Allegra M.)

I think hospitality with me is is going home. My family lives very far from me, so whenever I go home, I'm just surrounded by hospitality. My parents and relatives and friends that I see, who I don't see very often, and I see once every few months. (Angela W.)

I've got a very specific memory of my aunt and uncle who had this basement and all the aunts and uncles would have this huge party. We would just come in and there’s  food everywhere. There's pizza. There are people everywhere. There's a lot of noise. There's a lot of talking. There's music playing. They're just opening their home for us. (Brad C.)

A memory of hospitality is being with our seventh grade students in Morocco last year and getting to visit the home of one of the Moroccan chaperones who was with our group. We got to visit with her family and speak with her niece and her mother. And we were presented this wonderful mint tea and all of the snacks that we could want and made to just feel comfortable. We got to ask them questions about their lives, and it felt really special. (Casey C.)

I was in Munich and I had not planned to go there at all. And this family welcomed me as if I was their granddaughter. And they took me visiting, they advised me. It was the first time I was outside of France and I found it incredible. (Christine B.)

My grandmother was first generation Polish American. Her family came to this country with, with nothing, no resources. I've actually written a lot of poetry about my grandmother because even though she had no material wealth, there was so much wealth within her. When I was a little girl, my parents were both working, and I would go to my grandmother's house while they were at work. And my grandmother, she would ask what you wanted for breakfast and she would make you anything you wanted for breakfast. So, I would ask for a tuna salad sandwich for breakfast and she would make it. (Emily W.)

When I was living in Casablanca, Morocco, I was hosted in the home of a friend for a Ramadan feast that was so extravagantly generous. This is a practice that I feel I would wish to adopt in my own life – of this just extravagant generosity. There’s the abundance of food, and then they ask, ‘do you want to take some home with you?’ And you leave with a full belly and a plate besides. Also, just being welcomed into a practice that wasn't necessarily my own practice. (Emily W)

When I went to Paris to visit my correspondent, they were really welcoming and that was really nice. I really bonded with my correspondent. She made me feel safe. And comfortable. Now we're really good friends. (Emily H. and Ninon L.)

A memory that comes to mind when I deeply felt hospitality was during summer vacation many years ago, when I was still in high school and my brother went to a music camp in the south of France and made friends with a family in Béziers. They invited me to come down and visit them for the weekend. And when I arrived at the train station, the entire family was there on the train platform welcoming me and cheering me as I came down. I climbed down from the train station and they just welcomed me into their home as the older brother of this American boy they met just a few weeks prior. That has always stuck with me. (Ramon F.)

I think most of my thoughts around hospitality moments are around my grandmother and her welcoming home and always having food. (Emma C.)

A moment of hospitality which I remember very well was in Iran. I was going cycling with two friends. Me, I was more interested in the journey itself than the bikes, but we ended up on bicycles cycling in Iran. We had maps that were not very precise … it was before the internet. So, we ended up in the middle of the night in villages where there were absolutely no hotels. We were really in the middle of nowhere. And the way people welcomed us! When they opened the doors of their houses, gave us food, gave us a shelter for the night, it was extremely touching. (Fabrice U)

The memory I'm going to tell you about hospitality is seated just on my left. I arrived here in the middle of COVID. Everything was closed, and even when I arrived, the next day the sky was orange because there were fires all around California. So there was this feeling of discovery, but at the same time something that doesn't move at all. And François gave me an appointment at school. And he started showing me around the place and he introduced me to all of that. And as the evening went on, we started having a meal together, then we started having drinks, and we drank a few shots, and then it went on, and on, and on – until it was over. (François B.)

My family went to France for a year on sabbatical in 1984. We didn't speak a word of French. At school, at the Collège Jean Moulin, I was like a deer in the headlights. I was completely lost and embarrassed. And this class, this whole class, just took me in and shepherded me through the halls and they collectively translated for me and they said, ‘this teacher's like this and that one’s like that.’ This class just folded me in, and I spent a whole year with that class, 4B, in the Collège Jean Moulin. (Michelle H.)

Well, I'm Turkish and in my culture, hospitality is really, you know, it goes beyond a virtue, an act of generosity or kindness. It is really a way of living, a way of being. And, I was reading an article about hospitality and about traveling to Turkey and it said : ‘be prepared to drink lots of tea!’ It is true in Turkey wherever you go people offer you tea and the tea is that gesture of friendship and respect. But it's more than that. It's an excuse to have a conversation, where people gather together and want to converse, to hear about your life and your feelings and your thoughts.  (Ipek B.)

A memory of hospitality from my life really comes from my early stages of childhood. The first thing that I remember is visiting my grandparents. My grandparents had a very warm and inviting home and I always enjoyed going to visit them. And I really believe that they are the ones who instilled the idea of hospitality in me as well. So whether it's offering food or offering just time to spend together and chat, that was really my first memory of hospitality. (Jennifer H.)

I had a good friend, who's no longer with us, whose parents were Holocaust survivors in Queens.  I met him in college and during our first break, they invited me for a Passover Seder, to their place. The feeling of hospitality was just overwhelming, and I'll just never forget that. It was similar to the feeling of hospitality I had with my family for similar events when we invite people over. But this was something very special. (Ken B.)

About eight years back, I did a big trip to Mexico City with some friends and the host of the place we stayed at  - which was like an AirBNB - was a family. They made us feel like we had always been there. Inviting us to have dinner with them if we needed, giving us anything we needed. They really opened up their house and world to us. And I felt that was a really amazing thing. (Marc C.)

When I was 17, I traveled to India on a school trip and experienced Indian hospitality - just the openness of people to feeding and taking care of complete strangers was something that was very interesting for me.  (Rebecca B-W.)

I think the most profound experience I've ever had of hospitality was the summer that I turned 19. I went to France on a university project, and we were in the Breton countryside. It was the first time I'd ever really heard French spoken by French people. I had a lot of learning to do. I was incredibly fortunate in the family that welcomed me. And welcome me, they truly did. Those six weeks were the experience of un accueil profond qui m'a changé la vie complètement. Ce sont toujours des amis, des meilleurs amis de notre vie. I joined a family, but I also learned about another way of life. Another way that I could live my life. (Melinda B.)

My memory of the experience of hospitality goes back quite far, to when I was very small. To my grandmother in Virginia. She would always have a toy ready - that she had bought. And I would go and find it every time. I would know which door to open, it didn’t matter what kind of toy it was. It was just a toy. But it was always there. And she was always there. (Bill W.)

Jesse and Susan. I had just graduated from college, and a friend of mine was teaching at this ranch school up near the northern, northern border of California. Bar 717 Ranch School. And I went up there just to visit for a week, and ended up ended up teaching there for the rest of school year. It was like a middle school age prep school, but on a ranch. And Jesse and Susan were just so hospitable, and then they invited me to go up with them to visit Jesse's brothers and family to a ranch where they were building log cabins. Jesse and Susan have so deeply represented hospitality, that even I returned to them in my dreams. (Matthew P.)

I was in Ecuador on a school trip and we visited all these, like, local stores and, the people there were very welcoming – as we're foreigners and most of us didn't speak the language. But they welcomed us with open hands and made us feel very welcome. (Mollee B.)

An object that represents hospitality for me is in my mother's house, she has an oil painting. It's three fish and a koi pond. And it's a very beautiful painting. And it was bought when my family was in Hawaii one time. And when it came home with us, it was a constant reminder of this feeling of the people of Hawaii. Because when we went and met the artist when he was, where he painted it, he was so kind to us and he showed us the fish and the koi pond where it was from. It just always makes me feel that way of being in Hawaii with the warm weather, the kind person, the artist, and him sharing his life with us. (Ned M.)

An object in my home that represents hospitality? I have many, many mementos -  there's hardly anything in my home that doesn't have a memory or something that means a lot to me.  My favorite possession of all is the photo that I brought last time when you were here. It's a picture of me and my baby sister – it’s a formal portrait and she definitely made me feel like, like home, like I mattered. You know, she was just very little, but we were very, very close throughout our lives. (Rick G.)

A specific memory related to hospitality for me would be returning back to Ronnie's family in Canada, which we don't get to see too often. The way their apartment is set up, Ronnie's mom and her decorations from South Africa, for example. It’s a very welcoming place and their cooking and the routine we have with them is beautiful and very important. (Ron)

I can say the same for Jitka's family. I think hospitality really demonstrates acceptance of the individual and I went to Czech Republic not knowing Czech language, not knowing the culture, nothing. And I was accepted into Jitka’s family. They started learning some English to communicate with me and I started learning some Broken Czech to communicate with them. (Jikta)

A memory of when I experienced hospitality was recently in China. We went to Shian, which is a city in Xi province. And I stayed with this family. I don't speak very much Chinese and they don't speak very much English, but we used a translator app to go back and forth. And they treated me like I was another one of their children. Like they cooked so much food for me, and they took us -  myself and their child - to see everything and go everywhere. And they never stopped asking if I was comfortable, if I needed anything. And I think that's the most hospitality I've ever experienced in my life. Even though we didn't share very much language, we could still connect. I'm still in contact with them. (Rowan)

It was in Egypt in 1981, traveling with my brother and a French friend. We had no money. We traveled without a credit card back then. We were going to visit my father in Southern Sudan and we were going to go overland, from Cairo to Juba. And we had a hundred dollars in our pocket, but they closed the border. And so then we had to have plan B. It meant going to Alexandria in fourth class and we were standing, we were standing in a car where everybody was like this, with others outside on the roof, everywhere. And everybody around us wanted to make us feel at home and help us. Most of them were Egyptian soldiers. They all wanted us to smoke their cigarettes. We didn't smoke, but we had to. And at one point they said, ‘Will you sing a song?’ Ha! So, at that time, it was kind of the reaction I have right now. Really? And so we struck up Willie Nelson's song. ‘On the road again, just can't wait to get on the road again, the life I love is making music with my friends, and I can't wait to get on the road again,’ I'll leave it at that, but I guess that really is the idea of hospitality. Everybody in the whole entire car, clapping while we sang. Everybody was fixated on this. It was like out of Dr. Zhivago. It's incredible. And, it was very memorable and everybody there just wanted to make us feel at home. (Scott)

I guess the most significant for me is the memory of hospitality under conflict. We were living in Algeria when I was a boy in 1967. I was at a French school and the war was imminent in the Middle East, which turned out to be the six day war. The U. S. government suggested all Americans should leave Algeria, as they couldn't guarantee our safety. And I know my parents stayed up all night trying to debate what to do. Ultimately, they asked their friends, their Algerian friends. And the Algerian friends said, ‘you are our friends. This is not a question of politics, this is a question of you being our friends. We will protect you and we help you in any way possible because you are our friends.’ These are our neighbors, these are people that we knew, that my father knew, in his work. As it turned out, we were the only Americans to stay in Algeria.  My parents decided because of the strength of that message of hospitality – that we were their friends and so nothing could possibly happen because of that. In the end, many Americans who left were never allowed back into Algeria.  We built friendship, but more importantly, we had the confidence that when somebody gives their parole, it's something very strong and its very important to remember that. (Scott)

I was a young coach, living on my own and I was coaching young high school boys in Marin County. One of the parents realized that I was fairly lonely in my work. So, they made it a point to open their home to me. Every week they would invite me to dinner at their home - not at a restaurant, not a place where they could pay, but they opened their doors to their home. And I got to know them over the next six years. I got to know them and their boys. They became friends and mentors and saviors in that, in that warmth. That has led to 30 years of friendship. And they have been to my wedding and I have experienced their grandchildren being born. It’s a wonderful opportunity when somebody opens up themselves to you and let you come in. And it was that hospitality I've wanted to reciprocate that so many times. (Steve)

It would be my parents always having everybody over at our house. They always let me have friends over and they always served food to everybody. And our home was always the house that everybody came to after school, after sports events. You know, before proms. And so I feel like my parents really instilled the hospitality to bring people in. And everybody was always allowed at Thanksgiving. We'd have, you know, 50 people. I feel like that was truly the first time I realized, ‘Oh, you can bring people together and make them feel good by giving them a nice place with food and, you know, drinks and music and laughter.’ (Tescia)

I would like to take care of human beings because it gives me purpose and a sense of meaning and it warms my heart. 

I would like to take care of human beings because its right and necessary. 

I would like to take care of human beings because we are all connected to each other and we bear a shared responsibility for taking care of each other. 

I would like to take care of human beings because I witnessed so much suffering growing up, so I would like to do better jobs than other people can do, and I have the experience, and I have the connections, and hopefully, for me, I'll be able to change even one person at a time.

I would like to take care of human beings because the connection that humans have is based on support and I believe that if we didn't have that kind of support things would go pretty badly.

I would like to take care of human beings because I think we all are more truly ourselves and more capable of being the best citizens when we are taken care of.

I would like to take care of the humans because that gives meaning to what we do. 

I would like to take care of the humans because they take care of me. 

I would like to take care of the humans because love, and I believe love is intrinsic. It's innate in our hearts.  

I would like to take care of humans because we are all part of the same fabric.

I would like to take care of human beings because I think we have a duty to one another.

I would like to take care of human beings because they need to be taken care of and we’re all in this together.

I would like to take care of human beings because so many human beings have taken care of me, and it's my duty to do my part in taking care of others. 

I would like to take care of human beings because we all deserve it. 

I would like to take care of human beings because it's our responsibility. 

I would like to take care of human beings because it's in my morality.

I would like to take care of human beings because I love humans. I love people. I would like to take care of human beings because that's what my nature tells me. That's what my heart tells me to do.

I would like to take care of human beings because many other people have taken care of me, and it makes me feel welcome.

I would like to take care of humans because there is no other choice. 'Because it’s a circle. It’s reciprocal. The more I give, the more I receive.

I would like to take care of Earth because it gives us everything we need. Air, sun, sand, oceans, trees. Everything we need, everything we consume, everything we wear is from Mother Earth.

I would like to take care of the Earth because the Earth is the most beautiful artist that ever was. And we are so fortunate to be in it, and on it, and of it. And we need it, and it needs us.

I would like to take care of the Earth because it is our space to be together. 

I would like to take care of the Earth because it's our home, and that home requires tending and nurturing and upkeep to keep it vibrant. 

I would like to take care of the Earth because it's our home, and it's the only home we've got, and if we don't preserve it, then we won't have a home.

I would like to take care of the Earth because it's the only home that we have and it is a beautiful thing that deserves respect.

I would like to take care of the Earth because I would like to leave it in good condition for those who come.

I would like to take care of the Earth because it offers us everything we need and because it allows us to live. 

I would like to take care of the Earth because it is beautiful and it welcomes us. 

I would like to take care of the Earth because it's Mother Earth.

I would like to take care of the Earth because it takes care of us.

I would like to take care of the Earth because this is our home.

I would like to take care of the Earth because it's the source of all life. When I think of all the life, all the forms of life on the planet, and the landscapes, and the water, and the rivers, and the oceans, and, it's a miracle and it needs to tended. 

I would like to take care of the Earth because we are one with the earth, and the earth just holds all of us and is one with us. So to take care of the earth is to take care of ourselves and everything within it. We are not separate. 

I would like to take care of the Earth so that my children and their children have the experience I had.

I would like to take care of the Earth because it is really the reason we are all here and alive. If we don't take care of the Earth, we aren't here. And then there's no hospitality.

I would like take care of the earth because it's our nourishment. Because we all come from the earth. Because eventually I will return to it.

I would like to take care of the Earth because we received it in very good condition and the children should receive it in the same way. 

I would like to take care of the Earth so that we can continue to live a beautiful life in the future.

I would like to take care of the Earth because it's the future for all of us. It's my children, my grandchildren, your, your children, grandchildren, all of us. It shouldn't be owned by one generation.