Bianca Taylor

Aug 23, 2024 | kqed.org | Bianca Taylor

Aug 23Failed to save articlePlease try againDestiny Muhammad, a Bay Area musician, vocalist and composer, plays the harp during a yoga class at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco on June 12. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)Sitting on stage with her harp resting in her lap, Destiny Muhammad repeats this mantra: “Excellence, Beauty, and Success.” It’s part mic-check and part pump-up. When she first started learning to play the harp, the Oakland-based composer and musician used to suffer from stage fright.

Jul 12, 2024 | kqed.org | Bianca Taylor

Jul 12Failed to save articlePlease try againHana Vu is busy. She just released her second album and started a North American tour that will end in her hometown of Los Angeles. Critics have called her an “indie-pop prodigy” who’s “old beyond her years.” That’s because the prolific musician, who started recording and playing shows in her teens, is just 24. That maturity can be heard on her latest release, Romanticism.

May 10, 2024 | kqed.org | Bianca Taylor

May 10Failed to save articlePlease try againBeth Rodden climbing in Yosemite in 2022.  (Courtesy of Beth Rodden)Beth Rodden is considered rock climbing royalty. She has a reputation for conquering some of the most treacherous climbs in the world. In some cases, she was the first person ever to scale such heights. In a long list of accomplishments, a few things stand out. She was the first woman to complete two routes up Yosemite’s notorious El Capitan, with no gear helping to pull her up.

Mar 29, 2024 | kqed.org | Bianca Taylor |Carlos Cabrera-Lomelí |Scott Shafer

upper waypointMar 29Failed to save articlePlease try againFrom left to right: KQED reporter Carlos Cabrera-Lomelí, Politics Editor Scott Shafer, Sandy Stier and Kris Perry. Stier and Perry were two of four plaintiffs in the landmark lawsuit that overturned California’s ban on same-sex marriage. The couple visited the KQED offices in San Francisco on March 3, 2023.  (Kori Suzuki/KQED)When California voters passed Proposition 8 in 2008, they dealt a blow to the LGBTQ community.

Jan 17, 2024 | kqed.org | Bianca Taylor

Fort Scott — whose official name is actually Fort Winfield Scott, after one of the most prominent U.S. officers of the 19th century — was built in 1912 to be the Army’s new Coast Artillery Headquarters. The soldiers stationed here defended the Pacific Coast from offshore attacks.