Bad Bunny’s history-making feast of music, dance, imagery, and elation felt a little like resistance, but more like insistence...a euphoric refusal to accept all the darkness, the divisiveness, the hate, and the oppression, and a persistent assertion of the power of love and goodness.
In the time-travel journey this performance prompted, I began to perceive that I am who I am today because of the power of my childhood experiences in Puerto Rico. Young though I was, I witnessed the pervasive presence of poverty, the deep-seated degradation caused by centuries of colonialism and slavery—and also the kindness of strangers in humble hilltop villages welcoming and sheltering us when we had to head to high ground during hurricanes. The celebration of the senses in the food, the music, the clothing, the art, and the colors—all this was rich and enduring defiance against dominance and deprivation. Those early experiences ultimately made me fiercely political, a seeker of justice, an advocate for joy and an evangelist for equality. And so, halfway through the Super Bowl, I could see how it all unfolded in me and why I continue to offer up the gifts I’ve been given to lend a little light in these dark times.
This podcast features two of my original songs: RIVER OF LIFE ©2026, and OH, WE WILL ALL BE THERE ©2025 by Sandi Ault
