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Cecilia Lei

@cecilialei.bsky.social
311 followers 37 following 30 posts

Bay Area journalist, aspiring optimist. @coyotemedia.org co-founder @kqednews.kqed.org contributor

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Cecilia Lei @cecilialei.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
It was an honor to put this piece together, and reflect on Bea Dong’s incredibly powerful legacy with the community.
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soleil ho @soleilho.com · 24/09/2026
in which I get real pissy about Newsom enabling the Paramount merger, vetoing protections for abortion & gender affirming care providers, and pulling policy fakeout after fakeout while acting like he's the saving grace of the left
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Maggie Tokuda-Hall @maggietokudahall.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Coyote really is doing the best work
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soleil ho @soleilho.com · 15/09/2026
I almost forgot that 1 year ago, @coyotemedia.org went live!!! holy shit, what the hell? in the past year, we’ve published so much good shit, like @annaleen.bsky.social asking Bay Area govs to be more visionary with transit www.coyotemedia.org/funding-bay-...
coyotemedia.org
A Modest Proposal for Funding Transit Instead of AI
In the ’60s, the Bay Area almost got a high-speed train from Marin to San Jose. What could happen if we dreamed big again?
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Martha Smith @mostlymartha.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
I've been sorta making friends with someone not over 35 lately, and I have yet to convince them how extremely important it is that I be home with my skincare done and my jammies on before 1am.
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soleil ho @soleilho.com · 11/09/2026
I rarely talk about how I was 6 blocks away from the WTC on 9/11. & it's less bc of the trauma and more the sheer shame of how the US turned that trauma into grist for more killing. here, I talk about how the attacks became a formative moment in my political life www.coyotemedia.org/september-11...
coyotemedia.org
I Watched the Planes Fly Past My Classroom Window. Then Came 25 Years of Grievance
For Soleil Ho, September 11 was their political origin story.
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soleil ho @soleilho.com · 09/09/2026
today on COYOTE: @cecilialei.bsky.social on a Bay Area dance party made for tired-ass millennials and gen Xers www.coyotemedia.org/can-we-kick-...
coyotemedia.org
Can We Kick It? Yes, We Can. Just Not Too Late.
So So Anxious is giving elder millennials and Gen Xers — a generation that grew up on club nights — a nostalgic yet new way to party.
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Cecilia Lei @cecilialei.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
I had so much fun writing a case for the 35 and up to get their butts on the dance floor. Also, this was the first time I wrote the words "horny" and "ass-throwing" in a piece. Shout out to So, So Anxious for all the silliness and joy!
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Cecilia Lei @cecilialei.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
I've been working on a @kqednews.kqed.org series about how early Chinese immigrants have shaped our civil rights. My latest story is about how they organized a massive civil disobedience campaign against The 1892 Geary Act, which required them to carry documents, or face deportation.
kqed.org
Chinese Immigrants Led the First Mass Resistance to America's Deportation System | KQED
Long before immigration raids and deportations became political flashpoints, Chinese immigrants defied the federal government’s expansion of immigration powers in the late 19th century.
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Nuala Bishari @nuala.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Today we got a note from a reader who was like "thanks for bugging me to subscribe, I finally did it after you reminded me over and over." So this is me bugging 🐛🐜🐝 you: If you love @coyotemedia.org but aren't a subscriber, you can save $ with our 25% off deal but ONLY UNTIL Aug 8. Don't hit snooze!
coyotemedia.org
COYOTE’s Summer 2026 Subscriber Drive
We're having a sale!
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COYOTE @coyotemedia.org · 07/08/2026
Coyotes are having a cultural moment. We named our newsroom after them, and artist @wolfchirp.bsky.social wrote a book, "Trickster at the End of a World", about being obsessed with them. So naturally, @cecilialei.bsky.social had to chat with Helen about it. www.coyotemedia.org/helen-shewol...
coyotemedia.org
Why Coyotes Have Sunk Their Fangs into This Author
Coyotes have become a Bay Area icon. In ‘Trickster at the End of a World,’ author and artist Helen Shewolfe Tseng shares what they could teach us.
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COYOTE @coyotemedia.org · 27/07/2026
We started COYOTE because we refused to believe local journalism had to die with the rest of the industry. Help us prove it by joining our pack. 🐺 Use code HOTDOG by 8/8 to get $20 off a new annual subscription — just $60/year. Visit coyotemedia.org!
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COYOTE @coyotemedia.org · 07/07/2026
Last Sunday, San Francisco District 6 Supervisor Matt Dorsey relaxed after what was, for most, a fun-packed SF Pride by repeatedly prompting xAI chatbot Grok to provide justifications for the killings of civilians in Gaza by Israeli forces. www.coyotemedia.org/s-f-lawmaker...
coyotemedia.org
S.F. Lawmaker Asks Chatbot About 'Suicidally Motivated Civilians' in Gaza
A San Francisco supervisor finds an eager listener in xAI's Grok.
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Reo Eveleth @reveleth.com · 06/07/2026
Hey Bay Area folks, just a reminder that I curate the @coyotemedia.org calendar and am always looking for interesting stuff. What are you all up to this week? Do you know of cool things going on? Send them my way! calendar@coyotemedia.org <3
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Alfred Twu @alfredtwu.com · 29/06/2026
I've been to Out Museum twice - first on the opening day, and again this weekend, where what I planned as a short visit turned into an afternoon of conversation and hanging out with other visitors. It really is more than a museum - it's become a community center! 🏳️‍🌈❤️ Open Saturdays: outmuseum.org
outmuseum.org
OUT Museum
全球第一家華語酷兒博物館和檔案館
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soleil ho @soleilho.com · 25/06/2026
I edited this one, by @cecilialei.bsky.social, and what really got me was the story at the end, about a 70-year-old trans man from Guangdong who stopped in at one of Chen's shows to tell his story. 😭
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Cecilia Lei @cecilialei.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
Before Pride weekend ends, sharing my latest for @coyotemedia.org where I visited a new museum in SF Chinatown that’s telling queer Chinese stories while honoring, and reimagining, tradition. 🌈 (Fun fact I learned: Hu Tianbao, or The 🐰 God, is a folk deity who blesses relationships b/w men!)
coyotemedia.org
A Home for Queer Chinese Stories Opens in Chinatown
‘It’s rare to see Chinese LGBT people or to hear their stories.’ Lesbian artist Xiangchi Chen shares the origin story of the OUT Museum in San Francisco’s Chinatown.
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Ida Bae Wells @nhannahjones.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
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 @coyotemedia.org · 04/02/2026
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...
niemanlab.org
Journalism coops seem utopian. What’s it like working in one?
"If I was less self-directed, I'd probably be freaking out."
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COYOTE @coyotemedia.org · 29/01/2026
"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
coyotemedia.org
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.”
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Emma Silvers @emmaruthless.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
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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soleil ho @soleilho.com · 19/01/2026
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...
coyotemedia.org
COYOTE Weekly: Heave ho!
Keep pushing.
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COYOTE @coyotemedia.org · 16/01/2026
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-...
coyotemedia.org
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.
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kat @kathographee.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
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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isaac @sevier.io · 10/01/2026
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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Nuala Bishari @nuala.bsky.social · 10/01/2026
“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 👇
coyotemedia.org
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.
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Reo Eveleth @reveleth.com · 10/01/2026
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...
coyotemedia.org
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.
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COYOTE @coyotemedia.org · 09/01/2026
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.
coyotemedia.org
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.
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Emma Silvers @emmaruthless.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
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...
coyotemedia.org
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.
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Cecilia Lei @cecilialei.bsky.social · 10/01/2026
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 ❤️
coyotemedia.org
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.
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soleil ho @soleilho.com · 08/01/2026
cleanse your brain, cleanse your spirit: read @rahawahaile.bsky.social and @maggietokudahall.bsky.social in conversation about pigeons www.coyotemedia.org/local-woman-...
coyotemedia.org
Local Woman Has Hobby: Maggie Tokuda-Hall’s Pigeon Paintings
“Everything that we think is disgusting about human life, pigeons wear without shame.”
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Cecilia Lei @cecilialei.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
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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Cecilia Lei @cecilialei.bsky.social · 29/12/2025
❤️ 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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Reo Eveleth @reveleth.com · 19/12/2025
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...
unbreaking.org
Transgender Healthcare: Explainer — Unbreaking
How the administration is breaking the government, and what that means for all of us.
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Emma Silvers @emmaruthless.bsky.social · 07/12/2025
$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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Cecilia Lei @cecilialei.bsky.social · 04/12/2025
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-...
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Cecilia Lei @cecilialei.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
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.
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Lex Roman @lexroman.com · 03/12/2025
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
coyotemedia.org
Forget Girl Math — Welcome to Media Co-Op Math
What we’ve learned from 2.5 months on the job.
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COYOTE @coyotemedia.org · 03/12/2025
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.
Purple background with a graphic of a coyote with heart eyes and tongue out. Headline says: Coyote sprints to 2026! Let's get to 2,026 paid subscribers by the new year!
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Cecilia Lei @cecilialei.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
Come for the tote bags and live DJ set, stay for the inevitable journalism gossip. luma.com/f2jy4dho
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Rahawa Haile @rahawahaile.bsky.social · 27/11/2025
“…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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Reo Eveleth @reveleth.com · 25/11/2025
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
coyotemedia.org
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.
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Nancy Jane Moore @nancyjane.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
Very good piece from @coyotemedia.org on how to deal with protests safely. www.coyotemedia.org/first-aid-ki...
coyotemedia.org
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.
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COYOTE @coyotemedia.org · 24/11/2025
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
coyotemedia.org
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.
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Cecilia Lei @cecilialei.bsky.social · 24/11/2025
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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COYOTE @coyotemedia.org · 19/11/2025
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.
coyotemedia.org
What We Can Do About ICE
ICE is in the Bay Area. And yes, we can all do something about it.
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COYOTE @coyotemedia.org · 18/11/2025
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)
Digital portrait by Jen White-Johnson featuring a photo of Alice Wong, an Asian American woman with honey blonde hair. She is in a wheelchair and there is a tracheostomy at her neck connected to a ventilator. She is wearing a silky multicolored shirt and a bold red lip color. She is looking intently at the camera with the heat of a thousand suns. Behind her are red and purple flowers with a red circle in the background framing her face like a warm sun. The background of the portrait is purple.
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Nuala Bishari @nuala.bsky.social · 17/11/2025
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.
coyotemedia.org
Introducing COYOTE's First Aid Kit
A how-to guide to surviving in the Bay Area.
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Cecilia Lei @cecilialei.bsky.social · 17/11/2025
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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Emma Silvers @emmaruthless.bsky.social · 12/11/2025
good morning @coyotemedia.org
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