Cecilia Lei

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 ❤️

Today: an immigration lawyer on the coming ICE surge in California and how rapid response networks have been key to preserving immigrants' rights. www.coyotemedia.org/ice-arrests-...

“a group of journalists left their legacy media outlets to build the Coyote Media Collective” says the SF Chronicle lol the legacy outlet was YOU 😂

This is extremely cool! I love the idea and I love that Coyote has a newsroom.

When KALW executive director James Kass first approached me about potential office space for COYOTE, I was like pffft…yeah right, we WISH. And now, it’s a reality! ✨ So proud of our small and mighty newsroom. We’re dreaming big over here.

It was an honor to put this piece together, and reflect on Bea Dong’s incredibly powerful legacy with the community.

Coyote really is doing the best work

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!

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!

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...

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!

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...

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

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

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!)

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.

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...

"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*

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”

“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 👇

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...

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.

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...

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!

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 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