Maya Shwayder

Boston

Multimedia Journalist at Freelance

Freelance Journalist at WBUR-FM (Boston, MA)

Writing things @BostonSymphony and elsewhere | @Harvard, @Columbia alumna | native Detroiter | she/her | occasionally a little overdressed

Articles

Tufts Student Returns to Massachusetts After 6 Weeks in Immigration Detention

4 days ago | nytimes.com | Vimal Patel |Anemona Hartocollis |Maya Shwayder

Rumeysa Ozturk's plane touched down in Boston on Saturday evening, ending a six-week odyssey for the student in federal custody that stirred outrage over President Trump's immigration crackdown. Her return to Massachusetts, where she was arrested in March, came one day after a federal judge in Vermont ordered that she be immediately released from a detention facility in Louisiana.
Judge Rules Against Trump Administration on Passport Changes

3 weeks ago | flipboard.com | Amy Harmon |Maya Shwayder

13 hours agoWhen Marco Rubio fired the man in charge of dismantling USAID, he made enemies inside the MAGA movement. Peter Marocco, the Trump administration official in charge of dismantling USAID, left a meeting at the White House last week to return to his office at the State Department. But when he arrived, …
Judge Rules Against Trump Administration on Passport Changes

3 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Amy Harmon |Maya Shwayder

A group of transgender plaintiffs sued President Trump and the State Department over a new rule prohibiting passports from including a gender different from the sex listed on an original birth certificate. A federal judge in Boston on Friday ordered the Trump administration to issue passports that reflect the self-identified gender of six transgender people rather than requiring that the passports display the sex on the applicants' original birth certificates. The order from Judge Julia E.
Watertown School’s DEIB Director Aims to Create Spaces Where Folks Can Connect

1 month ago | watertownmanews.com | Maya Shwayder

Now in her second year in the role of the Watertown Public School’s Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging, Dr. Ceronne Daly said she approaches her work with a goal to build connection not just between her and students, but between families. Her work incorporates programs that started before DEIB began, and she seeks to make it part of what students and families experience in the Watertown Schools. “We’re not doing DEI as an add-on,” Daly stresses.
Judge Keeps Pause on Program Offering Federal Workers Incentives To Quit

Feb 11, 2025 | portside.org | Noah Weiland |Maya Shwayder

Judge Keeps Pause on Program Offering Federal Workers Incentives To Quit Published February 11, 2025 A federal judge said on Monday that the Trump administration’s deferred resignation program would remain paused until he ruled on its legality, hours before a deadline for roughly two million federal workers to accept incentives to quit.
Judge Keeps Pause on Program Offering Federal Workers Incentives to Quit

Feb 10, 2025 | nytimes.com | Noah Weiland |Maya Shwayder

A federal judge said on Monday that the Trump administration's deferred resignation program would remain paused until he ruled on its legality, hours before a deadline for roughly two million federal workers to accept incentives to quit. Federal officials had set a deadline of 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on Monday for employees to join the resignation program, known as " Fork in the Road," part of an Elon Musk-led initiative to drastically slash the size of the federal government.
Teixeira Is Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison

Nov 12, 2024 | nytimes.com | Maya Shwayder |Eileen Sullivan

A federal judge sentenced a Massachusetts Air National Guardsman on Tuesday to 15 years in prison for posting secret intelligence reports online. In court documents, the government has described the airman, Jack Teixeira, as among the most "prolific leakers" of classified information about national defense secrets in the country's history.
Ortiz work provides the highlight in NEP’s ambitious season opener

Oct 21, 2024 | bostonclassicalreview.com | Maya Shwayder

The New England Philharmonic is a talented all-volunteer orchestra. While their passion is undeniable, their resources and scale differ from larger professional ensembles. It’s good to keep this in mind when attending a concert like NEP’s season opener, which, was well-executed and enjoyable even with a few missed moments Sunday evening at Jordan Hall.
Ethel Kennedy, Matriarch of Family Dynasty, Honored at Cape Cod Funeral

Oct 14, 2024 | nytimes.com | Maya Shwayder

About 200 people, along with prominent members of the Kennedy family, crowded into a Catholic church on Cape Cod on Monday for the funeral of Ethel Kennedy, the widow of Senator Robert F. Kennedy and a powerful figure in the family's political dynasty. Mrs. Kennedy, who never remarried after her husband was assassinated in 1968 in Los Angeles, died last Thursday at 96 from complications of a stroke she had this month.
Anoush’ella: A Sweet Taste of Armenia in the Heart of Watertown

Oct 4, 2024 | watertownmanews.com | Maya Shwayder

Tucked inside the Armenian Cultural and Educational Center (ACEC) in Watertown, the café Anoush’ella — a name that translates to “may it be sweet” in Armenian — has quickly become a beloved weekly fixture, serving more than just food.