Kqeds Perspectives

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 Angel Island to my family. My great grandfather and grandfather were detained there several times even though they were U.S. citizens. Angel Island, unlike Ellis Island, was not built to welcome tired and poor huddled masses but to reject as many Chinese immigrants as possible. Many had long forced stays. There were hysterical fears of Chinese at the time, and, yes, the term invasion was often invoked, fomenting anger and scapegoating them for depressing wages. Thus, the first federal immigration law was also the first directed at a single racial group — the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. Chinese American citizens coul

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