KQED's Perspectives

YR Media's Ivelisse Diaz feels pressure to sacrifice her own interests to help fix a broken school culture.

As the pandemic's surge in animal adoptions slackens, volunteer Leslie Smith advocates for those left behind.

Jonah Raskin joins a large crowd advocating continued closure of the Great Highway to motor vehicles.

Sara Alexander's elderly friend is not one to censor her answers to questions -- even on a mental health test

Richard Swerdlow says today is not a day the superstitions take lightly.

Michael Ellis says a member of what's known as the Little Five is a clever but vicious insect.

At an old-fashioned Vermont town meeting, Andrew Lewis experiences the kind of politics where winning and losing isn’t the only thing that matters.

When Sandhya Acharya's pandemic bubble burst, it was her young son's note that healed her.

When Paul Wolber thinks of vaccine hesitancy, he hears the voice of his mother, long ago, giving some instructions many would do well to heed today. I like to tell people younger than me that I’m old enough that I survived all those diseases no one catches anymore. That’s an exaggeration. I did get measles, mumps, chicken pox, scarlet fever and so many ear infections that I was deaf for a year. Ho...

Les Bloch says a better future can only be built if it can be imagined. Imagine.  Just imagine.  It’s something that envelopes and rewards us, something that has gotten us humans to the moon, something that stretches our brains like hamstrings in yoga class.  It started with language 40,000 years ago.  Before the written word, Homo sapiens carved statues from mammoth tusks and told stories of the...

Fostering an animal awaiting adoption is a great service but Colleen Patrick-Goudreau learned its not without its challenges. Several years ago, I was volunteering at an underfunded county animal shelter socializing cats, cleaning their cages, and providing some enrichment to their little lives. Adoption days were few and far between, and one day I impulsively decided to bring a cat home to give h...

Tracy Cote outlines the right way to discuss politics in the workplace.

Larry Murphy cherishes fishing trips in the back country as reminders of the common origin of all things.

Sometimes, no one finds fault with choosing the easier road to success. But for Jim McClellan’s summer camp director that wasn’t going to happen. They say fortune favors the brave. I think there’s some truth to that, as I was reminded in a recent discussion about childhood memories. I spent a few summers at a great camp for boys in the Adirondack Mountains in New York. Willie, the camp’s director,...

Many people put on extra pounds during the pandemic and Dr. Baldeep Singh wishes there was more he could do for his vulnerable patients. When Javier came to see me, he had gained 10 pounds. It was a surprise but since staying at home during COVID, he had stopped exercising and had started eating more. The result was the “Quarantine 15”, the weight gained due to pandemic stressors, such as losing j...

Simi Monheit's recent trip to the Sierra brings fond memories and dread for the future.

Mediator Richard Friedlander says the words he hears the least are the words most likely to encourage conflict resolution.

While human lives are upended, life is normal for the plants and creatures of Peggy Hansen's farm.

At every stage of life, someone wants a piece of Luke Pease's wallet.

Michael Ellis has this Perspective on a Bay Area tree with an ancient history. Millions of years ago a tropical forest flourished throughout California. Rainfall exceeded 80 inches per year and both temperature and humidity were high. Large broad-leaved evergreen trees dominated a landscape interspersed with conifers. Slowly the climate became drier and cooler and … Continue reading Michael Ellis:...

It’s 3:30 in the morning, and I’m sitting in my favorite chair: a crinkled and worn, brown leather recliner. One of our cats has discovered I’m up, and he’s come to say hello. Miles, our 11 year-old springer spaniel, is curled up on his bed beside me, snoring. Otherwise, it’s quiet, except for the distant humming of an appliance, the wind outside and the creaking of the house. When I find myself u...

When Maxine Rose Schur needs to clear her mind she heads straight for the foggiest part of San Francisco – the Sunset District.

Jim McClelland turns to an ancient Japanese art for hope that a broken country can be repaired, and better for it.

Marilyn Englander says backpacking will teach you the value of every drop of water.

Paul Staley says the Declaration of Independence asserts the right to pursue happiness, not attain it.