I actually uttered these words at my aqua aerobics class.

I have probably written about my fitness with octogenarians class in the past, but for the last two weeks, I have been working on convincing my water buddies that Bad Bunny is actually very good and quite clearly not a rabbit. This may have been the most difficult teaching I have done recently-and I am teaching an Intro. to Con. Law class to international LL.M. students this semester. I live in New England where even harmless looking seniors in old fashioned bathing caps[1] have strong opinions about football and halftime shows. Especially this year-but no more on that: it is too soon.

They had heard there was controversy about the choice of Bad Bunny to perform at Super Bowl LX[2]. So, I asked them what they had heard. They had heard a bunch of things that were the talking points from the loud –but inaccurate– folks out there who seem to forget that Puerto Rico is part of the United States. They had heard that his music was full of hate. But they hadn’t even listened because it was in Spanish. I told them that he was a champion of women, fervently against ICE, and (I know my crowd), just an adorable young man. His current–grammy winning–hit even talks about playing dominos with his grandfather (Ey, hoy voy a estar con abuelo to’l día, jugando dominó[3]).

These people are retired doctors, lawyers, nurses, and high level administrators; folks who had stayed in the area after graduating from Harvard or MIT. They are older but also wiser people who are well educated and fascinating to talk to-and yet, they believed the pre-packaged story about Bad Bunny. They were, to their credit, taken aback about who had manufactured the packaging when told, but if these folks could believe things without firsthand knowledge, I have to wonder about what our students “know.”

I think we, as law educators, have to remind students not to believe everything they hear. Curiosity is a valuable tool as a law student and more so as a lawyer.  I think we also have to remind students to not bad mouth themselves–to themselves– and then believe the bad hype they have self-generated. Interrupting this narrative loop is crucial to success as well. We can help students look for other metrics or even just share better information[4]. Asking questions is a strength not a weakness.

As someone deep in Patriots’ territory, I can say that Bad Bunny’s performance was the best part of the Super Bowl. He warmed up a very cold night with a simple idea, “…hate gets more powerful with more hate. The only thing that is more powerful than hate is love.[5]”  The wedding during the show was real love on national display.[6]

My next instructional hurdle: getting them to love Zohran.

(Liz Stillman)

[1] https://nanaswhimsies.com/tag/esther-williams/

[2] Can we talk about how many students may only know roman numerals from football sometime??

[3] From Debí Tirar Más Fotos

[4] I also worry that students will look for and find alternative sources of information that some will tell them is better but isn’t the main show like those who sponsored a second halftime show.

[5] Bad Bunny at the Grammy’s, 2/2/26.

[6] https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/music/music-news/bad-bunny-couple-married-super-bowl-halftime-show-1236500136/