Cecilia Lei
@cecilialei.bsky.social
📤 226
📥 32
📝 21
Bay Area journalist, aspiring optimist.
@coyotemedia.org
co-founder
@kqednews.kqed.org
contributor
pinned post!
New Asian grocery stores are opening across the Bay Area and are positioned as retail 'saviors'. Immigrant culture gets celebrated when it’s profitable — and villainized when it’s not. I wrote an essay about it, and about the mall that raised me: Pacific East Mall ❤️
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What the ‘Asian Market Boom’ Is Missing: An Ode to Pacific East Mall
As shiny, new Asian grocery stores are hailed as retail "saviors," the decades-old Pacific East Mall in Richmond shows how immigrant cultural spaces matter beyond their economic benefits.
https://www.coyotemedia.org/asian-market-boom-pacific-east-mall-richmond/
about 2 months ago
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Cecilia Lei
Ida Bae Wells
22 days ago
Our founders, though deeply flawed, understood that democracy requires an informed citizenry and a government accountable to it people. That’s why the press is the only profession protected by the Constitution. It’s also why autocrats and oligarchs seek to control and destroy it.
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COYOTE
22 days ago
COYOTE's featured alongside a handful of our fellow worker-owned outlets in
@niemanlab.org
today, talking about the reality of doing democratically managed journalism. Summary: It's a lot of fucking meetings!
www.niemanlab.org/2026/02/jour...
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Journalism coops seem utopian. What’s it like working in one?
"If I was less self-directed, I'd probably be freaking out."
https://www.niemanlab.org/2026/02/journalism-coops-seem-utopian-whats-it-like-working-in-one/
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Cecilia Lei
COYOTE
28 days ago
"This is the worst fucking time. But watching people's response to ICE has just been the most affirming thing in the world.” We interviewed our friends over at
@racketmn.com
about what it’s like to cover the crisis in Minneapolis as community-centered journalists
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How Racket, Minneapolis’s Worker-Owned Newsroom, Is Covering Its Hometown Fascist Invasion
“This is the worst fucking time. But watching people’s response to ICE has been the most affirming thing in the world.”
https://www.coyotemedia.org/how-racket-minneapolis-worker-owned-newsroom-is-covering-its-hometown-fascist-invasion/
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Cecilia Lei
Emma Silvers
about 1 month ago
i am so proud of
@coyotemedia.org
for being a place that can run stuff like this without pulling punches and i also feel it should be known that
@soleilho.com
wrote this powerful piece in like two hours *with the flu*
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Cecilia Lei
soleil ho
about 1 month ago
wrote a special newsletter today for
@coyotemedia.org
that's chock-full of mutual aid links for work happening in Minneapolis-St. Paul
www.coyotemedia.org/coyote-weekl...
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COYOTE Weekly: Heave ho!
Keep pushing.
https://www.coyotemedia.org/coyote-weekly-heave-ho/
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Cecilia Lei
COYOTE
about 1 month ago
At home in the dark during SF’s massive blackout last month, as journalist
@idamoj.bsky.social
scrambled to save food, she also wondered how we got here. It’s too simple to cast PG&E as the only villain, she argues: Why aren’t we talking about the CPUC?
www.coyotemedia.org/in-the-dark-...
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In the Dark: Who’s Really to Blame for the Great SF Blackout?
‘The fish rots from the head,’ says one expert — and the smell is coming from the governor’s mansion.
https://www.coyotemedia.org/in-the-dark-whos-really-to-blame-for-the-great-sf-blackout/
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Cecilia Lei
kat
about 2 months ago
before 99 ranch opened in my city (suburbia baby!), the ranch and the plaza it’s in is the one I frequented the most bc it was the closest at the time. the video store that we would buy dramas there and I rmr my dad bought this one violent movie and the lady was like “don’t watch this with your kid”
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Cecilia Lei
isaac
about 2 months ago
Loved reading this. “It’s impossible to shake the irony of reading about Asian grocery stores as retail saviors at a moment when immigrants are being framed, yet again, as threats — to jobs, to safety, to the nation itself.”
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Cecilia Lei
Nuala Bishari
about 2 months ago
“What does it mean when essential facets of immigrant life, like our food and gathering places — which were traditionally ‘othered’ and sidelined — go mainstream?” asks
@cecilialei.bsky.social
. Check out her beautiful essay on the Pacific East Mall and the Asian market boom 👇
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What the ‘Asian Market Boom’ Is Missing: An Ode to Pacific East Mall
As shiny, new Asian grocery stores are hailed as retail "saviors," the decades-old Pacific East Mall in Richmond shows how immigrant cultural spaces matter beyond their economic benefits.
https://www.coyotemedia.org/asian-market-boom-pacific-east-mall-richmond/
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Cecilia Lei
Reo Eveleth
about 2 months ago
Loved this piece by
@cecilialei.bsky.social
on what the "Asian Market Boom" of 2025 actually feels like when you've grown up going to Asian markets. A lovely ode to Pacific East Mall, family, tradition, change, and food.
www.coyotemedia.org/asian-market...
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What the ‘Asian Market Boom’ Is Missing: An Ode to Pacific East Mall
As shiny, new Asian grocery stores are hailed as retail "saviors," the decades-old Pacific East Mall in Richmond shows how immigrant cultural spaces matter beyond their economic benefits.
https://www.coyotemedia.org/asian-market-boom-pacific-east-mall-richmond/
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Cecilia Lei
COYOTE
about 2 months ago
The Bay Area is experiencing an 'Asian Market Boom.' But what does it mean when immigrant cultural spaces become economic solutions? Read
@cecilialei.bsky.social
's personal essay on Richmond’s Pacific East Mall, the "retail savior" narrative, and why she’s craving a different story.
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What the ‘Asian Market Boom’ is Missing: An Ode to Pacific East Mall
As shiny, new Asian grocery stores are hailed as retail "saviors," the decades-old Pacific East Mall in Richmond shows how immigrant cultural spaces matter beyond their economic benefits.
https://www.coyotemedia.org/asian-market-boom-pacific-east-mall-richmond/
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Cecilia Lei
Emma Silvers
about 2 months ago
Love, love, love this
@coyotemedia.org
essay about Pacific East Mall from my colleague (and fellow Albany kid)
@cecilialei.bsky.social
. Also it's Ranch 99. I did not realize this was up for debate
www.coyotemedia.org/asian-market...
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What the ‘Asian Market Boom’ Is Missing: An Ode to Pacific East Mall
As shiny, new Asian grocery stores are hailed as retail "saviors," the decades-old Pacific East Mall in Richmond shows how immigrant cultural spaces matter beyond their economic benefits.
https://www.coyotemedia.org/asian-market-boom-pacific-east-mall-richmond/
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New Asian grocery stores are opening across the Bay Area and are positioned as retail 'saviors'. Immigrant culture gets celebrated when it’s profitable — and villainized when it’s not. I wrote an essay about it, and about the mall that raised me: Pacific East Mall ❤️
loading . . .
What the ‘Asian Market Boom’ Is Missing: An Ode to Pacific East Mall
As shiny, new Asian grocery stores are hailed as retail "saviors," the decades-old Pacific East Mall in Richmond shows how immigrant cultural spaces matter beyond their economic benefits.
https://www.coyotemedia.org/asian-market-boom-pacific-east-mall-richmond/
about 2 months ago
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Cecilia Lei
soleil ho
about 2 months ago
cleanse your brain, cleanse your spirit: read
@rahawahaile.bsky.social
and
@maggietokudahall.bsky.social
in conversation about pigeons
www.coyotemedia.org/local-woman-...
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Local Woman Has Hobby: Maggie Tokuda-Hall’s Pigeon Paintings
“Everything that we think is disgusting about human life, pigeons wear without shame.”
https://www.coyotemedia.org/local-woman-has-hobby-maggie-tokuda-halls-pigeon-paintings/
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Proud of my colleague
@emmaruthless.bsky.social
for breaking this important story, and for highlighting how interconnected our local independent creative networks are. What an honor to be trusted, and what a responsibility that
@coyotemedia.org
takes seriously as we navigate uncertainty together.
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about 2 months ago
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❤️ this shoutout (takes a bow) FYI Oakland residents!! Right now, a year of
@coyotemedia.org
costs less than that time you forgot your parking meter expired. Use promo code COYOTE26 before Jan 1!
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about 2 months ago
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Cecilia Lei
Reo Eveleth
2 months ago
20,000 words, 150 footnotes, 100+ timeline events = our attempt at documenting and synthesizing all the ways that the federal government has attempted to destroy access to gender-affirming care since January
unbreaking.org/issues/trans...
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Transgender Healthcare: Explainer — Unbreaking
How the administration is breaking the government, and what that means for all of us.
https://unbreaking.org/issues/transgender-healthcare/
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Cecilia Lei
Emma Silvers
3 months ago
$68! A full year’s worth of journalism for $68. It’s like a doordash order that benefits you year-round
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Highly recommend you making beans🫘 the
@soleilho.com
way. I used their guide when I was crammed to make a quick lunch, and wanted to clear my fridge and pantry. Not a pretty pic, but wow delicious!
www.coyotemedia.org/how-to-make-...
3 months ago
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If you’ve been cheering on
@coyotemedia.org
from afar (thank you!) or have been enjoying our stories until you hit the paywall (we get it!), THIS is the time to subscribe. Get 15% off annual subscriptions (+ gift subscriptions!) and help us reach 2,026 paid subscribers before 2026.
3 months ago
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Cecilia Lei
Lex Roman
3 months ago
Bay-area based COYOTE needs to get to 2026 paid subscribers by end of the year. They're only a few hundred away. Back their project and tell your coolest friends!
www.coyotemedia.org/media-coop-m...
@coyotemedia.org
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Forget Girl Math — Welcome to Media Co-Op Math
What we’ve learned from 2.5 months on the job.
https://www.coyotemedia.org/media-coop-math/
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Cecilia Lei
COYOTE
3 months ago
COYOTE Media Collective is launching ‘Sprint to 2026’ — our ambitious/maybe a little delusional quest to hit 2,026 paid subscribers by Dec 31! 🐺👟💨 We’ve published more than 70 pieces in 2.5 months with a tiny, feral team. To keep doing that, we need ~600 more members.
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Come for the tote bags and live DJ set, stay for the inevitable journalism gossip.
luma.com/f2jy4dho
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3 months ago
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Cecilia Lei
Rahawa Haile
3 months ago
“…if you need to talk to your trying-to-be-down auntie about how a land acknowledgement at dinner isn’t enough, please do let her know she can simply text FREESAM to 53-555 and make a tax-deductible donation to actually change the material conditions of Natives.” Also here:
givebutter.com/c/9qW07O
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Cecilia Lei
Reo Eveleth
3 months ago
Really proud of my colleagues for launching this new series at
@coyotemedia.org
-- First Aid Kit, a set of pieces that help you be safer, healthier, and more helpful in your community. How to respond to an overdose by
@nuala.bsky.social
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COYOTE First Aid Kit: How to Compassionately Respond to an Overdose
Naloxone, rescue breathing, and 911: Learn the do's, don'ts, and best practices for reversing an overdose.
https://www.coyotemedia.org/how-to-compassionately-respond-to-an-overdose/
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Cecilia Lei
Nancy Jane Moore
3 months ago
Very good piece from
@coyotemedia.org
on how to deal with protests safely.
www.coyotemedia.org/first-aid-ki...
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COYOTE First Aid Kit: How to Stay Safe at a Protest
Know your rights, know the risks, and know what to do if you’re arrested.
https://www.coyotemedia.org/first-aid-kit-staying-safe-at-protests/?ref=coyote-weekly-newsletter
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Cecilia Lei
COYOTE
3 months ago
What should you consider if you're a non-citizen heading to a protest? What's safe to post on social media while you're there? Should you even bring your phone? Read these tips and more in this First Aid Kit Guide on 'How to Stay Safe at a Protest' ✍️: by
@cecilialei.bsky.social
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COYOTE First Aid Kit: How to Stay Safe at a Protest
Know your rights, know the risks, and know what to do if you’re arrested.
https://www.coyotemedia.org/first-aid-kit-staying-safe-at-protests/
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Healthy democracies require protests. But how do we do it safely? I made this guide to help us navigate the risks. Check it out, and please share with your networks.
@coyotemedia.org
's First Aid Kit stories are always paywall-free! ✊
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3 months ago
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Cecilia Lei
COYOTE
3 months ago
This afternoon, OUSD sent an email alert to parents confirming ICE activity in West Oakland. We are re-sharing COYOTE's 'What We Can Do About ICE' guide to help our communities stay ready and empowered in alarming moments like this. Please share with your neighbors and friends.
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What We Can Do About ICE
ICE is in the Bay Area. And yes, we can all do something about it.
https://www.coyotemedia.org/what-we-can-do-about-ice/
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Cecilia Lei
COYOTE
3 months ago
Given the passing of disability activist and light-in-the-world Alice Wong, we at COYOTE invite people to share what she and her work meant to them. Whether you knew Alice personally, organized with her, or were simply a fan of her writing, we'd love to hear from you. (1/3) (📷: Jen White-Johnson)
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Cecilia Lei
Nuala Bishari
3 months ago
Even when
@coyotemedia.org
was just a little baby pup of an idea I knew I wanted service journalism to be a major part of it. Today I'm thrilled to introduce our First Aid Kit: an acknowledgement of today's challenges, and a rejection of despair.
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Introducing COYOTE's First Aid Kit
A how-to guide to surviving in the Bay Area.
https://www.coyotemedia.org/introducing-coyotes-first-aid-kit/
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Proud to share that
@coyotemedia.org
is launching First Aid Kit, our ✨paywall-free✨ series that helps you navigate the many challenges of living in the Bay Area and beyond. These stories are a part of our pledge to share critical information during this time of upheaval. ❤️🩹
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3 months ago
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Cecilia Lei
Emma Silvers
4 months ago
good morning
@coyotemedia.org
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I just LOVE what's been happening in the aisles of Seafood City. Joy and whimsy - what will sustain our communities right now, if we can manage to find and create these moments for each other.
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4 months ago
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Cecilia Lei
Gabe Meline
4 months ago
Read
@emmaruthless.bsky.social
on the Waymo that killed her neighborhood cat and the ways we delude ourselves into accepting evil forces, somehow, in our cities.
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In Which We Deserve Options Other Than Rapists and Robots
I don’t want to be assaulted by a driver, nor surveilled by cat-killing robot cars. Is this really the best we can do?
https://www.coyotemedia.org/in-which-we-deserve-options-other-than-rapists-and-robots/
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Cecilia Lei
COYOTE
4 months ago
While the feds continue to play stupid games, SNAP recipients are set to lose food aid for the next month. In the Bay Area, a growing number of restaurants are stepping up to help, and we're maintaining the list. Share with anyone who needs it.
www.coyotemedia.org/these-bay-ar...
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These Bay Area Restaurants Are Offering Free Food to SNAP Recipients
Amid a government shutdown that will cut off aid for 42 million Americans, local food scene folks plan to pick up the slack.
https://www.coyotemedia.org/these-bay-area-restaurants-are-offering-free-food-to-snap-recipients/
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My latest for
@kqedarts.bsky.social
. The Chinese Culture Center of SF started in 1965, during the Civil Rights Movement, as a response to 'urban renewal' and the threat of community erasure. It's shaped the culture of SF Chinatown ever since.
4 months ago
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Cecilia Lei
COYOTE
4 months ago
While this federal administration has been busy empowering ICE to become, essentially, an extrajudicial militia allowed to disappear people from our streets, the Bay has been organizing. We will not be beaten down.
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What We Can Do About ICE
ICE is in the Bay Area. And yes, we can all do something about it.
https://www.coyotemedia.org/what-we-can-do-about-ice/
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Nuala Bishari
5 months ago
Reporting from
@coyotemedia.org
cited in here 👀
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Cecilia Lei
COYOTE
5 months ago
Litquake (
@litquake.org
), the Bay Area’s sprawling literary festival, kicks off today! Check out picks from COYOTE staff, including events featuring
@annaleen.bsky.social
,
@susiebright.bsky.social
,
@vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social
,
@janelleblarg.bsky.social
& more
www.coyotemedia.org/litquake-gui...
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7 Can’t-Miss Events at Litquake 2025
Here are COYOTE’s picks for the beloved literary festival, which kicks off Oct. 9.
https://www.coyotemedia.org/litquake-guide-2025/
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Cecilia Lei
Emma Silvers
5 months ago
tried to write a breezy lil show preview for
@coyotemedia.org
about Mabuhay Gardens’ reopening party wound up twisting myself into knots over SF’s musical nostalgia issues and how to reconcile the words “tech week coworking space” with “birthplace of SF punk”
www.coyotemedia.org/mabuhay-gard...
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Mabuhay Gardens to Reopen, Attempt to Remain Upright Under Weight of Expectations
The birthplace of San Francisco punk can’t be what it once was. Is it time to let it be something else instead?
https://www.coyotemedia.org/mabuhay-gardens-reopen/
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Cecilia Lei
Reo Eveleth
5 months ago
A few months ago I started looking into a missing sculpture. I had no idea I was in for a sculptor with an endless parade of wives, a religious awakening, and a freaky pie.
www.coyotemedia.org/where-did-th...
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Where did the Fairyland dandelions go?
For more than 45 years, three huge steel and bronze dandelion puffs reached for the sky outside Children’s Fairyland only to disappear without a trace. COYOTE went on a quest to find them.
https://www.coyotemedia.org/where-did-the-fairyland-dandelions-go/
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Cecilia Lei
COYOTE
5 months ago
Awoooo! We hope you are enjoying reading our stories as much as we've enjoyed creating them! 🎉 We were so excited to share our work with you that we made all COYOTE content FREE for 2 weeks. Today, we're implementing registration and paywalls on the site. Here's the scoop... 1/4
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Cecilia Lei
Reo Eveleth
5 months ago
We had some really cool pieces go up this week at
@coyotemedia.org
! 〰️ neighbors taking care of one another in the face of ICE 〰️ towns not known for protest standing up for Palestine
www.coyotemedia.org/albany-and-e...
〰️ a complicated win for trans folks
www.coyotemedia.org/but-what-did...
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A New Kind of Neighborhood Watch
Sonoma County’s ‘Adopt a Corner’ program aims to protect undocumented day laborers from ICE.
https://www.coyotemedia.org/sonoma-county-adopt-a-corner/
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Cecilia Lei
COYOTE
5 months ago
“I’ve been looking for this for my whole adult life, really. And finally, I feel like I’ve found something,." A grassroots group for Palestine started with bake sales and street protests but has grown into something much deeper: a mutual aid support system, and a source of life-changing friendships.
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Albany and El Cerrito Weren't Known for Protest ... Until Now
In two quiet Bay Area towns, organizers for Palestine are getting loud — and forming deep friendships along the way.
https://www.coyotemedia.org/albany-and-el-cerrito-werent-known-for-protest-until-now/
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My first story for
@coyotemedia.org
is about the towns I grew up in, small cities that even I dismissed as being "too quiet" or "in a bubble." Read about Albany and El Cerrito for Palestine, a group of neighbors that have created a joyful, mutual aid collective while organizing for Palestine.
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Albany and El Cerrito Weren't Known for Protest ... Until Now
In two quiet Bay Area towns, organizers for Palestine are getting loud — and forming deep friendships along the way.
https://www.coyotemedia.org/albany-and-el-cerrito-werent-known-for-protest-until-now/
5 months ago
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Cecilia Lei
Emma Silvers
5 months ago
NEW on
@coyotemedia.org
this morning: a delightful story about Albany and El Cerrito showing up for Palestine, written by Albany’s own
@cecilialei.bsky.social
, and edited by Albany’s own me
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Cecilia Lei
Nuala Bishari
5 months ago
I love love love this story from
@cecilialei.bsky.social
about two East Bay towns organizing for Palestine 💚❤️🤍🖤 “I think we try to bring, in all this darkness, some joy and creativity in the work that we're doing. I'm just having a hell of a good time.”
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Cecilia Lei
COYOTE
5 months ago
If you were lucky enough to be at last night’s
@oaklandballers.bsky.social
game you not only saw them win it all — you were also in the presence of some elusive statues that the team is on a mission to rescue.
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Where Did All the Abandoned A’s Elephants Go?
A scrappy group of Oaklanders have built a “sanctuary” for the sculptures that the A’s left behind.
https://www.coyotemedia.org/where-did-all-the-abandoned-as-elephants-go/
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Cecilia Lei
COYOTE
5 months ago
After months of dreaming, scheming, plotting, and building, we are SO ready to celebrate the official launch of
@coyotemedia.org
! 🥳 🎉 Join us at Mad Oak this Sunday, 9/28, for an evening of clinking glasses, giving daps/high fives/hugs, and if the mood is right, a collective howl at the moon? 🌙✨
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COYOTE Media Collective Launch Party! · Luma
After months of dreaming, scheming, plotting, and building, we are SO ready to celebrate the official launch of the COYOTE Media Collective – we can’t believe…
https://luma.com/yz7m4csy?tk=LP8AaS
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