This week, as we near the end of 2025, the writers and editors of KQED Arts & Culture are reflecting on One Beautiful Thing from the year.

In college, no one warns you how difficult it will be to maintain friendships in adulthood. The campus provides endless opportunities to run into friends, grab a bite together in the dining halls and dance at the same parties. “Long distance” usually means your friend lives on the opposite corner of the walkable and bikeable environment you call home. There’s even the “freshman year friend group” effect — the people you mostly befriend out of convenience, because you live on the same floor of the same building.

San Francisco is, geographically speaking, relatively small. Not campus small, but the space is tight enough that running into people you know

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