Rosana Cruz's blog

On Sunday morning, around 10 am, I posted this image (right) and accompanying text on Instagram: “I was starting to get salty about having to work on Mother’s Day. Then I got some perspective handed to me real fresh & simple.”

The flyer advertises a "free support group for children of homicide victims." [...Read more]

For many of us, April has been a very challenging month. Looking back from today, this country has seen a resurgence of fear, violence and racism. [...Read more]

The Academy celebrated Les Miserables stars Hugh Jackman (nominated for his role of Jean Valjean) and Anne Hathaway (winner of Best Supporting Actress for playing Fantine) last night for their depictions of a Formerly Incarcerated Person and a sex worker. [...Read more]

Good natured New Orleanians may be laughing about Sunday night's blackout during the Super Bowl, as a "now you see how we live" type moment for the rest of the country.  I'm actually feeling pretty PO’ed. Not by the black out, no. I am infuriated by the overblown language that some media makers have used to make hay over a pretty minor inconvenience, RELATIVELY SPEAKING, *ahem*. [...Read more]

On the news tonight they’ll be talking about undecided voters and swing states, and who the voters choose: Obama or Romney. What they probably won’t be talking about is those who didn’t vote, not because they’re lazy or ignorant or anti-American, but because it’s against the law. [...Read more]

While Romney and Obama dance around race, the Gulf Coast continues to suffer devastating racial disparities, worsened by the government's inaction. By Rosana Cruz [...Read more]

It is “Back to School” season in New Orleans. But a recent article by Andrew Vanacore in the Times-Picayune shows that despite recent improvements to the labyrinthine enrollment process, some parents are still finding it impossible to get their children into the school of their choice in New Orleans. [...Read more]

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As the parent of a New Orleans Public School student I can tell you, the reality of sending your child to school has completely changed from when many of us were growing up. When I was a kid, we went to our local neighborhood schools. In New Orleans, since Hurricane Katrina, just sending your child to the closest school is no longer an option. [...Read more]

In a letter to the editors of the Times-Picayune this month, New Orleans resident Mona Castillo wrote that the key to decreasing crime is to make prison "less comfortable."  She wrote, "At the present time, jails are more like hotels.  Many prisoners live better there than they did on the outside." [...Read more]