Founder Diaries

Opinion

A Pope Between Worlds: Chicago, Trujillo, Barcelona

Natalie Batlle
A man from Chicago. Spanish spoken with an American accent. A priest who spent years in Trujillo, Peru, my husband's city. A Jesuit, like the schools that shaped my education and, today, that of my children here in Barcelona. These intersections are not theoretical. They are personal. Especially because, these days,...
Opinion

Barcelona lived well. Now it wants to optimize itself

Natalie Batlle
Barcelona never had a problem with longevity. And yet, now it seems obsessed with it. Europeans already live longer and, in many cases, are also happier than Americans. And yet, in cities like Barcelona, the Silicon Valley-style longevity culture is everywhere. Seeing it here is a bit disorienting. Because if...
Opinion

Explain Sant Jordi to someone who hasn't experienced it

Natalie Batlle
A friend, a brother, someone from Chicago—this time my cousin—always ends up arriving in Barcelona to visit me just in time for Sant Jordi. It has become a pattern I’ve stopped questioning. And that has, unintentionally, turned me into the translator of something that cannot be translated. Or that, in...