First Person

"First Person" is On Point's radio diary series. Pitch your own story about life during the pandemic at onpoint@wbur.org.

Barry Rosen, 77, a former US diplomat who was one of the 52 hostages held in Iran during 444 days from 1979 to 1981, speaks to AFP journalists outside the Coburg palace in Vienna , Austria, on January 14, 2022. - When Rosen, one of the 52 hostages in the seizure of the US Embassy in Tehran, traveled to Vienna to demand the release of prisoners in Iran, he had no idea of the impact of his initiative. (Photo by JOE KLAMAR / AFP) (Photo by JOE KLAMAR/AFP via Getty Images)

First person: He was held hostage for 444 days

Barry Rosen says he can understand in some way what the hostages in Gaza are going through. Rosen was press attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in November 1979...

10:16Nov 20, 2023

'I could not deliver the care my patients needed': A doctor's experience of moral injury

Health care professionals across the country say they're being forced to compromise the quality of care they give their patients in the name of profits.

04:53Apr 4, 2023

A diver checks the coral reefs of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. on May 9, 2019 in Moorea, French Polynesia. (Alexis Rosenfeld/Getty Images).

First person: Why clownfish need darkness

Emily Fobert is a research fellow at the University of Melbourne in Australia. In the lab, Emily studies how light pollution affects marine life.

05:31Mar 15, 2023

The famous tongue replacement isopod, Ceratothoa famosa, in the mouth of a Cape seabream.

First person: Behind a scientist's discovery of a tongue-replacing parasite

Professor Nico Smit specializes in aquatic parasitology at Northwestern University in South Africa. Many years ago, while working on his Ph.D., Smit ran across something special in the coastal waters...

06:48Mar 13, 2023

A bookshelf packed with children's books. (Catherine McQueen/Getty Images)

First person: The book bans leaving Florida school bookshelves empty

In July 2022, Florida Governor DeSantis signed Florida House Bill 1467. It requires all schoolbooks to be reviewed by a district employee holding an educational media specialist certificate. Shortly after...

07:00Mar 3, 2023

The view of Yosemite Valley from Tunnel View in Yosemite National Park, California. (Diliff/Wikimedia Commons)

First person: Finding everyday awe in nature in Yosemite National Park

John Reynolds has lived in Yosemite National Park his entire life. In this 'First person' diary, he shares how living in nature helps him maintain a sense of awe.

05:37Feb 3, 2023

The main entrance of the temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is seen in Kensington, Maryland, near Washington, DC, April 18, 2022. (EVA HAMBACH/AFP via Getty Images)

First person: The fight to 'ordain women' in the LDS church

Currently, only men in the Mormon Church get to ascend the religious hierarchy. Kate Kelly founded the group Ordain Women roughly a decade ago to try to change that.

08:06Jan 31, 2023

A train passing amongst pine trees in the Santa Cruz Mountains, California, 1930. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)

Earth's growing population: 'A direct affront to our own survival'

Elizabeth Hadly is a professor of biology at Stanford University, and director of the Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve in California's Santa Cruz Mountains. For four decades, she's been an eyewitness...

05:02Jan 11, 2023

Reporters work on their laptops as Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) speaks during a campaign event at Vernier Software & Technology May 9, 2008 in Beaverton, Oregon. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

First person: Faces of the 2020 'shecession' today

From February to May 2020, almost 12 million American women lost their jobs compared to 9 million men. But new analysis finds that gender was not the main driver behind...

19:09Nov 25, 2022

Ukrainian soldiers help a fleeing family crossing the Irpin river in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, March 5, 2022. (Emilio Morenatti/AP)

First person: Leaving Russia to avoid war in Ukraine

Timothy Snyder says Russian President Vladimir Putin is vulnerable at home, as Russian men leave to avoid being sent to fight in Ukraine. Dmitry Grigoriev is Russian man living in...

05:21Oct 25, 2022

Monarch butterflies are pictured on December 10, 2008, at the Sierra del Chincua sancturay in Angangueo, in the Mexican state of Michoacan. (Mario Vazquez/AFP/Getty Images)

First person: Thinking globally, acting locally to save the monarch butterfly

Jose Luis Alvarez, co-founder of Forests for Monarchs, and Martha Askins, a retired lawyer, discuss the beauty of the monarch butterfly, and conservation efforts to save them.

11:22Aug 2, 2022

This photo provided by NASA, the James Webb Space Telescope is separated in space. (NASA via AP)

First person: A scientist's discovery puts space into focus

Robert Gonsalves is the creator of the phase retrieval imaging technique now being used by the James Webb Space Telescope.

08:09Apr 1, 2022

A Tesla car is displayed in a showroom at a Brooklyn Tesla dealership on April 4, 2017 in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

First Person: Behind the wheel of a 'self-driving' Tesla

In a podcast special, we share what it's like behind the wheel when Tesla software is in action.

06:20Mar 3, 2022

The "frailejón" pictured above belongs to the plant genus espeletia -- a member of the sunflower family. Frailejones are unique to the high-altitude "páramo" ecosystems found scattered across the equatorial reaches of the Andean plateau. The frailejón is an iconic symbol of the Colombian highlands, of which a Bunker Hill student writes in her poem "La Meseta."

First Person: 'The shame did not belong to me. The shame belonged on him'

The suffering caused by domestic violence is emotional, spiritual and physical. But there's one aspect of that suffering that is almost invisible: brain injury. Survivor Freya Doe shares her story....

13:15Jan 20, 2022

An American flag flutters in the wind over the charred remains of vehicles and a home destroyed by wildfires Thursday, Jan. 6, 2022, in Superior, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

First Person: 2 Colorado residents on how Western wildfires have shaped their lives

Are cities in the West prepared for a perpetual fire season? 2 Colorado residents share how Western wildfires in Superior, CO and Louisville, CO have shaped their lives.

07:56Jan 10, 2022

A Publix grocery store cashier and customer in Florida wear face masks and gloves. (Jeffrey Greenberg/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

First Person: Reflections on COVID's impact on the food service industry

"It was nice to see the world recognize the food industry as essential workers. And our people stepped up, and they're still doing it months later."

05:42Dec 23, 2021

OxyContin pills arranged for a photo at a pharmacy. (AP Photo/Toby Talbot, File)

Drugs were Katie Mack's connection to the world. Until she found real community in sobriety

An addiction-driven feeling of being loved adds to our understanding of why opioid overdose deaths soared 30% last year. When we say taking opioids can feel like love, what does...

09:28Dec 16, 2021

In this Oct. 14, 2020, file photo, housing activists erect a sign in front of Gov. Charlie Baker's house in Swampscott, Mass. (Michael Dwyer/AP)

First Person: Activist Tiana Caldwell on finding strength in the face of eviction

"I fought, I didn't just lay down. It makes you feel like you are not powerless."

08:09Nov 30, 2021

Audience members join hands in worship at the Franklin Graham Decision America event at the Pitt County Fairgrounds in Greenville, N.C. on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2019. (AP Photo/Chris Seward)

First Person: A pastor reflects on how politics divide his congregation

"We have failed across the board in this country to help people in our congregations understand what it means to be Christian."

05:00Nov 19, 2021

An aerial view shows how close some of the homes are to the lagoon on September 13, 2019 in Kivalina, Alaska. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

First Person: How climate change shapes the community of Kivalina, Alaska

Colleen Swan and the members of the indigenous Iñupiat community who live on Kivalina, climate change isn't a remote abstraction. It's an emergency that's threatening their lives now.

05:01Nov 8, 2021