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 wo...
Jan 27, 2022•4 min
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 ...
Jan 26, 2022•4 min
A persistent question makes grieving the loss of her sister to COVID much harder for Anna Beuselinck.
Jan 25, 2022•4 min
At age 7, Mateo Berger traveled to Guatemala to meet his birth mother and explore endless questions.
Jan 24, 2022•4 min
A night long ago in a Balkan village highlights for Richard Friedlander the changed standards for how we treat the elderly.
Jan 21, 2022•4 min
Colleen Patrick-Goudreau carves up the notion that eating meat is manly.
Jan 20, 2022•4 min
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, ...
Jan 19, 2022•4 min
Joe Epstein says 'near-sourcing' is one answer to the badly broken supply chain.
Jan 18, 2022•4 min
Li Miao Lovett remembers how the Civil Rights Movement helped to diversify America.
Jan 17, 2022•4 min
Michael Ellis celebrates pomegranates, a healthy fruit with a special place in ancient mythology.
Jan 14, 2022•4 min
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 Vacavil...
Jan 13, 2022•4 min
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-imp...
Jan 12, 2022•4 min
Paul Staley says the marketplace of ideas isn't the emporium of free thought it's cracked up to be.
Jan 11, 2022•4 min
Christine Schoefer sees intricate beauty in the common vegetables on her kitchen counter.
Jan 10, 2022•4 min
Chinese Americans like Charles Feng must confront the the persistent questioning of their American-ness.
Jan 07, 2022•4 min
Engaging other journalists of color has helped YR Media's Shaylyn Martos find her career path, and much more.
Jan 06, 2022•4 min
Gillian Reynolds has learned that being exceptionally unexceptional at everything she tries can be pretty exceptional.
Jan 05, 2022•4 min
Harsh times have Larry Lee yearning for a strong dose of the humility and kindness of Mr. Rogers.
Jan 04, 2022•4 min
Pete Gavin's new job delivering medications has him feeling connected to others.
Jan 03, 2022•4 min
Everywhere he looks, Richard Swerdlow sees ex-Christmas trees dumped on the sidewalk.
Dec 31, 2021•4 min
The world is full of busy, buzzing doers. But Lane Parker calmly weights when might be the right time to do most anything.
Dec 30, 2021•4 min
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.
Dec 29, 2021•4 min
Ellen Greenblatt considers the profound personal loss of the people behind the statistics.
Dec 28, 2021•4 min
Marcy Fraser was an AIDS nurse throughout that plague. Now she reaches out to all nurses on the frontlines of a new scourge.
Dec 27, 2021•4 min
On Christmas morning, millions of gifts will be unwrapped. But Heidi Swillinger has had her small but favorite gift for many years.
Dec 24, 2021•4 min
Sandhya Acharya says that when life gives you rain, its best to play in a lake, if you just know how.
Dec 23, 2021•4 min
Colleen Patrick-Goudreau looks at how we remember the animals we have loved.
Dec 22, 2021•4 min
Thomas Plante says a recent surgeon general report is raising the alarm about the state of youth mental health.
Dec 21, 2021•4 min
With cheerful moments in short supply, Evan Ho finds respite in a middle school concert.
Dec 17, 2021•4 min
Growing up, Jaime Flores didn't have the places to play with his peers that others take for granted.
Dec 16, 2021•4 min
