Melanie Marich

The CUNY Board of Trustees bypassed normal procedures to okay a $4m contract for a security company that describes student protesters as “engaged in guerrilla warfare.” @cityascanvass and I are back at it again, this time for @HellGateNY! hellgatenyc.com/cuny-contract-…

We're putting together an article summarizing advocacy and awareness efforts for #LongCOVID Awareness Day and Month 2026. Please share this form with advocates organizing events and actions! bit.ly/4sxqtpg

Drop a heart for our new podcast producer, Melanie Marich (@marichreports)! And stay tuned for season two of Still Here, coming soon to your favorite podcast app! bit.ly/3PhvDr0

🇵🇷 Bad Bunny | Puerto Rico on the Big Stage As Bad Bunny performs at the Super Bowl today, he does so after a year that tied global fame to a very deliberate project at home: using his platform to materially invest in Puerto Rico and confront the forces reshaping it. In 2025, Bad Bunny staged an unprecedented 31-show residency in Puerto Rico titled No Me Quiero Ir de Aquí (“I Don’t Want to Leave Here”), running from July 11 to Sept. 20 at San Juan’s José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum. The first nine shows were reserved exclusively for Puerto Rican residents, prioritizing locals before international tourists. The final performance, Una Más, was held on the eighth anniversary of Hurricane Maria and livestreamed worldwide on Amazon Music. The concerts had a sizable effect on the island during its slow hurricane off-season. Roughly 600,000 people attended, doubling typical seasonal tourism and pushing hotel occupancy rates up by about 70 percent. Estimates of the total economic injection range from $200 million to $400 million. Between 2,000 and 8,000 temporary jobs were created across hospitality, event production, and retail. Local operators saw revenues rise by 14 percent, and artisans and traditional food vendors reported major sales spikes. Moody’s Analytics raised its 2025 growth forecast for Puerto Rico from 0.3 percent to 0.4 percent, explicitly citing the “Bunny Bump.” That economic intervention runs alongside a clear political current across his latest, Grammy-winning album. One of its sharpest statements comes in LO QUE LE PASÓ A HAWAii, where Bad Bunny frames Hawaii as a warning for Puerto Rico’s future, taking aim at gentrification, displacement, the erosion of native culture, and the steady transfer of land and natural sources to outsiders. 🎶 In it, Bad Bunny sings: No quería irse pa Orlando, pero el corrupto lo echó He didn’t want to go to Orlando, but the corrupt man kicked him out Y no se sabe hasta cuando— And it is not known until when— Quieren quitarme el río y también la playa They want to take away the river and also the beach Quieren al barrio mío y que abuelita se vaya They want my neighborhood and they want grandma to leave No, no suelte’ la bandera ni olvide’ el lelolai No, don’t let go of the flag or forget the lelolai Que no quiero que hagan contigo lo que le pasó a Hawái I don’t want them to do to you what happened to Hawaii Aquí nadie quiso irse, quien se fue sueña con volver Here no one wanted to leave, whoever left dreams of returning 🎥 Video: Al Jazeera speaks to a university professor specializing in decolonization who worked with Bad Bunny to create visualizers for YouTube videos on his latest album.

Millenial mayor means the DJ’s now playing Hillary Duff’s “What Dreams are Made Of.”

Picanha referenced in the inauguration speech Brazilian New Yorkers rise UPPPPPP

"People don't really care if disabled people die. That's kind of what this whole era of the pandemic showed me. They see you as vulnerable already on your way out the door." 🎧#TheTake's @kdhirten hears from disability advocate @Imani_Barbarin: youtu.be/2EX65Ra6rds

@AJEPodcasts @ozmuhabir @kdhirten @lilahass @ndeltoro @HeidiZhouCastro @mmbilal @realmoamer @dylanlscott @roundrobin42 @rebeccanagle @AleVelascoNYU @Manuel_Rapalo @muhammadshehad2 😷Imani Barbarin on disability rights, COVID and the war on Gaza Guest: @Imani_Barbarin Host: @kdhirten 📅Dec 2025 aljazeera.com/podcasts/2025/…

@AJEPodcasts @ozmuhabir @kdhirten @lilahass @ndeltoro @HeidiZhouCastro @mmbilal @realmoamer @dylanlscott @roundrobin42 @rebeccanagle @AleVelascoNYU @Manuel_Rapalo 🚨Who was Israel-backed Gaza militia leader Yasser Abu Shabab? Guest: @muhammadshehad2 Host: @kdhirten 📅Dec 2025 aljazeera.com/podcasts/2025/…

I've been at @AJEPodcasts for nearly a year now and I wanna do better at sharing my work! Here's a thread of the episodes I've produced for The Take🧵

Produced an episode with my personal celebrity and hero Imani Barbarin, who dropped SO many nuggets of wisdom re disability justice, systemic ableism, COVID, genocide, and so much more!! Hope you’ll listen❤️🎧