Jessica Ruano

Blog

  • Ottawa Citizen: Motherhood during a pandemic

    Ottawa Citizen: Motherhood during a pandemic

    Written by Lynn Saxberg. Full article published in Ottawa Citizen. Jessica Ruano intends to introduce her adopted daughter, Joy, to all of the friends, family members and activities that make up a rewarding life, and make sure she stays connected to her Inuit roots.  They’ve had a good start. In the first few months of… Read more

  • Ottawa Citizen: Ottawa playwright fights back against online harassment

    Ottawa Citizen: Ottawa playwright fights back against online harassment

    By Evelyn Harford. Originally published by Ottawa Citizen, September 2016. An Ottawa playwright received an onslaught of online harassment after applying for a grant for her dance-theatre production on sexual violence in Canada, called The Ghomeshi Effect. Now, after receiving thousands of upsetting messages, Jessica Ruano has decided to fight back. A sampling of the tweets Ruano received since applying… Read more

  • Faces of change: Jessica Ruano advocates for the arts community in Ottawa and abroad

    Faces of change: Jessica Ruano advocates for the arts community in Ottawa and abroad

    Originally published on Capital Current, 2020 From theatre to community support to journalism, Jessica Ruano has worked to pave the way for younger artists in Canada and abroad.  In 2006, she founded the Ottawa Arts Newsletter in response to what she felt was a lack of local arts coverage. “I think when your community demands something, eventually you have… Read more

  • Ottawa Citizen: Ottawa students need arts education to thrive during COVID-19

    Ottawa Citizen: Ottawa students need arts education to thrive during COVID-19

    Originally published by Ottawa Citizen, September 2020 Author and speaker Sir Ken Robinson passed away last month after a brief battle with cancer. I was introduced to him years ago through his humorous and compelling TED talk titled “Do schools kill creativity?” Through a series of anecdotes backed up by his own extensive research, Robinson made a… Read more

  • The Catalyst: Surviving Suicide Loss

    The Catalyst: Surviving Suicide Loss

    Originally published on The Catalyst, Mental Health Commission of Canada, October 2023 Navigating stigma, grief, and loss and finding healing, hope, and community support after a death by suicide. A personal story. Each November, people around the world take part in special events to mark International Day for People Impacted by Suicide. Those directly affected… Read more

  • One year after my girlfriend’s death, I’m taking my three year old on a trip across Europe

    One year after my girlfriend’s death, I’m taking my three year old on a trip across Europe

    I’ve always loved summers in Ottawa. It’s festival after festival, outdoor theatre production after outdoor theatre production. It’s sinfully hot; sometimes there are thunderstorms. I can travel almost everywhere on my bicycle. People come out of hiding, out of hibernation. Especially last summer, when things were finally starting to open up after the worst of… Read more