Kqeds Perspectives

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 looked like me. I realized I was still an outsider. The United States has erased Asians from its past. History books gloss over the estimated 200,000 Filipinos killed during the Philippine-American War. The horror of Japanese internment camps was hastily covered in my high school American History class. I learned about the Chinese Exclusion Act from young adult fiction books. And although AAPI representation is improving in Hollywood, progress is slow. On a personal level, anti-Asian racism has led me to grieve the lack of knowledge I could have had growing up. I was never taught about the role that Filipino-American labo

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 did we? What is happening with Mills College is not unprecedented. Women’s colleges have suffered from declining enrollment in recent years, with several forced to close or start admitting men in order to survive. There are just 34 women’s colleges left in this country, down from 230 about 60 years ago. As an alumna of Mills, this is a shame. I sat next to classmates who were encouraged to bring their children to lecture with them when childcare fell through. I learned in a classroom racially and economically diverse. And I learned from the Oakland community, because the pedagogy of Mills and Oakland are interconn

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 may or may not include English 請看看我們 Please look at us We are many in a loose category. We are your doctors, lawyers, nurses, engineers, We are your janitors, caretakers, grocery workers We are your therapist, acupuncturist, masseuse 請認識我們 Please know us We are not your model minorities. We are not your immigrant poster child We are not your tools used to diminish the suffering of others. 請幫幫我們 Please help us We are also your tired, your poor, and your huddled masses. 請聽聽我們 Please listen to us We are your friends We are your heung li. We are your neighbors We are your fellow Americans. 我們是你們的美國同胞 With a

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: people will do what they will do. Now, two dear 80-something friends in Philadelphia, exhilarated by their vaccinations, announce they’re embarking on a 6000-mile road trip in a big rental RV. They’ll help their adult daughter and boyfriend move east from California. Never mind they haven’t driven anywhere in five years, let alone in a 32-footer. Overlook recent health crises and other frailties. Ignore the prospect of a crowded return trip with four adults, plus the couple’s four dogs and five rats —in one RV. They’re off— East Coast to West and back in three weeks. White line fever! Of course, I protested. Then I ca

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

Andrew Lewis seeks to protect the fragile, miraculous life of a wounded Monarch butterfly.

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

Vaccines are ramping up and with them, of course, the conspiracy theories. Tom Moriarty finds one of them especially ironic. My favorite conspiracy theory about the coronavirus vaccine is that each shot contains a tiny microchip designed to track our every move. I admire this particular piece of nonsense because it overlooks the fact that most of us have already been tagged and can be tracked down by Bill Gates or the government pretty much at will. Big business and other nefarious actors can also use the device to read our minds and accurately predict which products we’ll buy and who we’ll most likely vote for. And to make matters worse, these masters of the dark arts of persuasion can even nudge us toward certain brands or candidates or ideas, and not only predict what we are going to do, but almost make us do it. All with just the push of a button. The microchip delivered via the vaccine is allegedly so small that it’s all but impossible to detect. The device I’m talking about is much bigger, and if you

Teacher Alisa Peres says she gets through the stress of teaching in a pandemic with a lot of help from her colleagues.

Wearing a mask shouldn't be a big deal, but to some it apparently is, and that has Shantha Smith mystified.

Paul Staley says there's a whole lot of mutating going on.