Kqeds Perspectives

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. Life was simple back then, just hanging out with friends and almost never having homework. As a kid, waiting for recess was my biggest worry. The ring that reminds every student that recess has just begun and it was time to play had rung. I smiled and ran as fast as I could out the door while holding my lunch bag and couldn’t wait until I was seated eating my snack. I played with my friends as usual, but when it ended I spotted something unusual. My friends and I were walking back to class when I spotted my little brother in kindergarten crying on a bench. I became astonished and immediately wanted to help him but so

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 by Muni, I must admit owning a car has its perks. I take Casper to visit my grandparents in Vacaville every month. My four-wheeled phantom was there to rush my sick dog to the emergency vet one night at 3 A.M. The car even served as a satellite office when my neighbors ran a jackhammer all day while I was trying to work from home. But the downsides soon became clear. Casper costs thousands of dollars to own and operate – so much more than my monthly transit pass. Meanwhile, sitting in traffic is stressful. I’d much rather be gliding down the street on my e-bike, groceries in tow, instead of cooped up in a metal box,

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 Big Three for 2022”. Her list of resolutions at least was short. Only three items of proposed self-improvement, followed by the simple invitation: “Feel free to share your goals for the New Year if you are so inclined.” I have no such inclination. And then there was this one from a dear friend: “Resolution Time: A Poem My Neighbor Wrote.” This poem, by the way, included a line that I find quite disturbing: “No matter what happened Yesterday or last year Or in your childhood, Today is a new beginning…” Now that I am 74, despite decades of therapy, meditation, and being a therapist – and I do aspire to make courageous ch

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.