Kqeds Perspectives

A funeral. A eulogy. An ice storm. Evan Sagerman puts his father to rest.

Paul Staley says we’re walking in a world of the seen and the unseen, of paradox and contradiction.

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.

Stewart Florsheim struggled with whether to retire, but now he's taken the plunge. 

Zachary Matsumoto discovers that his family history is alive in him today.

In the lost and found of life, Holly Hubbard Preston learned that what you find isn’t necessarily what you were looking for.

For Lili Beechinor the most profound love has nothing to do with candy and flowers.

Michael Ellis takes a look at one of California's most dramatic birds.

Although not Jewish, Evan Ho is mesmerized by his first experience of a Bar Mitzvah.

Owners of rooftop solar systems, like Andrew Lewis, are outraged by a PUC proposal to impose sharp new costs on them.

High school student Sidrah Siddiqui wears a hijab and the reactions are awkward and uncomfortable.

Rat poison wipes out a family of owls that had delighted EK Bayer's neighborhood. 

Marilyn Englander says the pandemic has given birth to a new kind of village square.

YR Media's Nina Thompson feels she must choose between protecting her health and a good education.

After all the tests, pills, and procedures, the best medicine is still something that can’t be prescribed. Jane Thomas-Tran has this Perspective. I’m a medical student, just a few months from being a doctor, and 100% of my clinical training has occurred in the COVID era. To me, hospital rooms filled with get-well-soon cards and eager visitors are a relic of the past. A beloved grandfather comes to mind. On the day of admission, he couldn’t open his eyes, just moaned a little. For three days, he didn’t speak. On the fourth day, he awoke to an empty room and asked, “Where am I?” On the sixth day, his soft voice told us: “I’ve lived a long life. A good life.”  On the seventh day, his wife and daughter brought his dentures and hearing aid. They couldn’t come inside the building because of pandemic rules. I met them outside. “That’s his room, his window, right up there!” I pointed. “Wait here." Back in the hospital room, yelling so he could hear, “Your wife and daughter are outside your window!” He seemed confuse

It's been a rough year for San Francisco's eclectic entertainment community, but Connie Champagne hopes better time aren't just somewhere over the rainbow.

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 like Russian roulette, all day in one room, sharing your air with dozens of others. Most essential workers in harm’s way have protection – health care workers are masked, gowned, and gloved; police wear protective vests; firefighters kitted out in fire-resistant gear. Teachers, in some districts, are not even issued masks. But my district does have safety protocols, providing teachers and students with PPE and testing. The teacher was out sick with COVID, but she left a lesson plan – after reading and math, it was “show and tell” time. One girl displayed a terra cotta pot and explained how she grew the tiny sprout. A

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 family had become overwhelming. I decided to screen him for a mood disorder. During the pandemic, about four in 10 adults have reported symptoms of anxiety or depression, up from one in 10 prior to COVID. Many adults report difficulty sleeping or eating, increased alcohol consumption or substance use, and worsening chronic conditions, often due to worry and stress over life’s changes due to the coronavirus. As the pandemic wears on, continuing and necessary public health measures can foster isolation and loneliness, while at the same time, so many people have lost jobs or left unsafe ones, both circumstances that woul