KQED's Perspectives

Michael Ellis tours the three types of desert in California.

Laura Weil says the pandemic has made us look at everything differently, including how we die.

Sandhya Acharya looks at the year of the pandemic and considers what she will miss and what she won't.

Paul Staley celebrates the day before his birthday as a reminder that he’ll spend far more time not in this world than in it.

Jaime Flores advocates for supportive programs to keep young people out of jail.

The email that told Dorothy O'Donnell she was too old for the hiking group surprised her. Then it made her angry.

Charlotte Sivanich says too few students are taught financial literacy and many never learn.

Can plants talk to us? Lane Parker says science fact is meeting science fiction.

As schools cautiously begin to reopen, Vanessa Dueck and her young children are ready for a taste of normal.

Margie O'Driscoll set out to observe how the pandemic has changed San Francisco.

Angel Island graces San Francisco Bay, but its buildings house one of the darkest times in American immigration history, when Chinese, even Chinese American citizens, were subjected to harsh discrimination. Larry Jin Lee has this Perspective. I have not been on Angel Island since I was a teenager and a visit was long overdue. But I was not fully aware back then of the historical significance of An...

More than three million Americans are getting vaccinated each day, and Debbie Duncan says each shot is a story.

Deidre Silverman encounters a wondrous swarm of bees on a simple walk near her home.

Hiring managers say they’re looking for something called ‘presence’. Tracy Cote says it’s code for ‘just like me’.

Avery Grant says the quiet voices are often the ones most worth listening to.

Racism thrives on ignorance of the history that isn’t taught is history erased. Sarah Javier has this Perspective. Patriotism was plentiful in my childhood as a Filipino-American U.S. Navy brat. But despite how American I was, I often felt like a foreigner in my conservative Southern hometown. I thought things would change once I moved to the Bay, where I was finally surrounded by people who looke...

In the COVID vaccination program, Lynn Bruno sees elements of a health care system we can only dream about.

Ellen Greenblatt encounters herself during a walk under a full moon.

Richard Swerdlow says that pandemic inactivity has led to a spike in overweight children.

Michael Ellis looks at the family of Bay Area jays and why they keep whacking into our windows.

Young Asian Americans are focused right now on making sure their parents are safe.

She’s been on life support before, but now her survival is in serious jeopardy. Molly Curley O’Brien has this Perspective. We lost a Bay Area legend last week. Benicia born and Oakland raised, a critical thinker, a leader, a feminist, a social justice warrior, and committed to the pursuit of knowledge. Mills College, as we know it, died of COVID-19 related complications. She was 169 years old. Or...

Asian Americans speak many languages, but in the midst of unprecedented attacks, they speak with one voice. Billy Zeng has this Perspective. 請聽聽我們 Please Listen to us We are frightened, upset and frustrated 請跟我們說話 Please talk to us In Hoisanwah, Thai, Mandarin, In Vietnamese, Khmer, Cantonese In Korean, Japanese, Hakka, In Tagalog, Cebuano, Teochew And in many languages we speak Which m...

As vaccinations climb and pandemic restrictions ease, many are contemplating how to make up for lost time and missed opportunities. Marilyn Englander has this Perspective. It’s been a year of fear, trimming expectations and hoping to control fate. Chastising my kids to be careful, scolding when someone forgets the mask, scowling at rule-breakers – it’s been exhausting. And pretty much fruitless: p...

Hank Smith struggles to live up to the simple words from his autistic son.