A taste of what's inside
At the Table was made for the conversations most people avoid, about politics, identity, power, and what we actually believe. The kind of conversations that change how you see someone, or yourself.
Grew up discussing politics around the dinner table. Built this so others could too.
Digital download, print at home or at any print shop
Digital PDF · Print at home or send to any print shop
Who made this, and why
I grew up in Chandigarh, India, at a dinner table where politics was never off-limits. My family spanned the full spectrum, different beliefs, different instincts, different conclusions. Disagreement was never a problem. It was the point. It was how we understood each other.
That stayed with me through law school, through a graduate degree in international law and diplomacy, and through years of civic work in San Francisco, as an advocate, a commissioner, and someone who has spent a long time thinking about how policy actually shapes people's lives.
The moment At the Table became real was an evening with friends over a glass of wine. I found myself walking them through San Francisco's political landscape, the tensions, the tradeoffs, the history. People who saw things differently started really listening to each other. Someone changed their mind about something. Not because they were argued into it. Because they felt safe enough to think out loud.
That's what I wanted to bottle. We don't avoid hard conversations because we don't care. We avoid them because we have not been given the right conditions. At the Table is my attempt to create those conditions, for your dinner table, your living room, your family, your city.
— Kudrat Kontilis
"I left my heart in San Francisco"