Cecilia Lei

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.

Journalism coops seem utopian. What’s it like working in one? "If I was less self-directed, I'd probably be freaking out."

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...

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.”

"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

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*

COYOTE Weekly: Heave ho! Keep pushing.

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...

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.

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-...

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”

Thank you for reading and sharing!

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.”

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.

“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 👇

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.

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...

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.

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.

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.

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...

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.

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 ❤️

Local Woman Has Hobby: Maggie Tokuda-Hall’s Pigeon Paintings “Everything that we think is disgusting about human life, pigeons wear without shame.”

cleanse your brain, cleanse your spirit: read @rahawahaile.bsky.social and @maggietokudahall.bsky.social in conversation about pigeons www.coyotemedia.org/local-woman-...

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.

❤️ 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!

Transgender Healthcare: Explainer — Unbreaking How the administration is breaking the government, and what that means for all of us.

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...

$68! A full year’s worth of journalism for $68. It’s like a doordash order that benefits you year-round

COYOTE Independent journalism with a bite!

Proof that @coyotemedia.org's paywall-free 'First Aid Kit' pieces are handy in a pinch!

Support this kind of service journalism (and everything else we do!) THIS month: 15% off annual subs before 12/31:
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coyotemedia.org/Yapper2026
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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-...

Forget Girl Math — Welcome to Media Co-Op Math What we’ve learned from 2.5 months on the job.

We’re a scrappy group of journalists trying to make BIG moves in local journalism. Help us become sustainable! 💪🏼🐺

coyotemedia.org/Reader2026
coyotemedia.org/Yapper2026
coyotemedia.org/gift-subscription

And, read more about our campaign!

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.

Forget Girl Math — Welcome to Media Co-Op Math What we’ve learned from 2.5 months on the job.

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

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!

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.

Come for the tote bags and live DJ set, stay for the inevitable journalism gossip. luma.com/f2jy4dho

“…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

I did the same exact thing, also because of who I am as a person. 🤝

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.

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

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.

Very good piece from @coyotemedia.org on how to deal with protests safely. www.coyotemedia.org/first-aid-ki...