KQED's Perspectives

At-home COVID test kits are in short supply, posing some tough choices for families like Vanessa Dueck's. 

A most unusual relationship is at the heart of young Jackie Tavernetti’s introduction to homelessness.

As teachers, administrators, students, and parents wrestle with COVID restrictions, Richard Swerdlow sees a bright ray of hope. Schools from coast to coast are struggling to stay open as the pandemic rages. With so many teachers out sick, schools are deploying everyone, even superintendents, to cover classes. I was sent to teach first grade. Teachers may be essential workers, but classrooms feel l...

As the pandemic drags on, Dr. Baldeep Singh is seeing many patients who are not only having trouble physically but also mentally and emotionally. When Dennis came to see me, I could see something was wrong. He started telling me about fatigue, headaches, and trouble sleeping. After some probing, he shared that his marriage was tense, work was a struggle, and the stress of COVID on him and his fami...

A persistent question makes grieving the loss of her sister to COVID much harder for Anna Beuselinck.

At age 7, Mateo Berger traveled to Guatemala to meet his birth mother and explore endless questions.

A night long ago in a Balkan village highlights for Richard Friedlander the changed standards for how we treat the elderly.

Colleen Patrick-Goudreau carves up the notion that eating meat is manly.

Putting the perception of others over our own values can often lead us down a slippery slope. At a young age, Teiji Futamase learned a valuable lesson in trusting your instincts and the importance of family. What would you do if your loved one needed your support — but you let peer pressure get the best of you? I remember a sunny warm day in second grade when I learned a lesson I’d never forget. L...

Joe Epstein says 'near-sourcing' is one answer to the badly broken supply chain.

Li Miao Lovett remembers how the Civil Rights Movement helped to diversify America.

Michael Ellis celebrates pomegranates, a healthy fruit with a special place in ancient mythology.

When my parents generously offered to give me their 20-year- old Acura sedan, my first thought was: Me, a car-free, transit-riding, e-bike loving San Francisco resident, take possession of a fossil-fuel-burning, climate-change machine? But in an impulsive act of quarantine indulgence, I accepted their offer. I named the white car Casper, after the friendly ghost. And while I still prefer to travel...

It is the beginning of a new year which means that friends, even my very best friends, who should know by now how much I distaste making resolutions, are sending me emails with titles like this: “Resolutions For a Life Worth Living: Attainable Aspirations Inspired by Great Humans of the Past (including Seneca, Baldwin, Whitman, Le Guin and more…).” Or this more benign email from my sister: “The Bi...

Paul Staley says the marketplace of ideas isn't the emporium of free thought it's cracked up to be.

Christine Schoefer sees intricate beauty in the common vegetables on her kitchen counter.

Chinese Americans like Charles Feng must confront the the persistent questioning of their American-ness.

Engaging other journalists of color has helped YR Media's Shaylyn Martos find her career path, and much more.

Gillian Reynolds has learned that being exceptionally unexceptional at everything she tries can be pretty exceptional.

Harsh times have Larry Lee yearning for a strong dose of the humility and kindness of Mr. Rogers.

Pete Gavin's new job delivering medications has him feeling connected to others.

Everywhere he looks, Richard Swerdlow sees ex-Christmas trees dumped on the sidewalk.

The world is full of busy, buzzing doers. But Lane Parker calmly weights when might be the right time to do most anything.

When he was down and out, a friend helped him feed his kids, even though she didn’t have to. It was a kindness Lloyd Jones has never stopped repaying.

Ellen Greenblatt considers the profound personal loss of the people behind the statistics.