It is a sad day for our country when the moral foundation of our law and the acknowledgment of God has to be hidden from public view to appease a federal judge.

Stories are more than compelling facts. People remember stories more than they remember statistics.

I grew up in a family of educators - my dad was a professor, my mom was a high school grammar and French teacher - so certainly my entire life education was stressed as incredibly important. And I think especially for my parents, who are both immigrants, and when immigrants come to this country, they understand that education is something that no one can take from them. You might leave the country with absolutely nothing, but no one can take your education from you.

People want to know how do they pay for education and they want to figure out how to find and maintain meaningful employment. Education and the economy are polled by Latinos as the top two most important issues. But those are also the issues that everyone cares about, regardless of race; so we don't need to be divided over it.

If you can tell a story well, you can move people to do something.

I look forward to beginning a relationship with Al Jazeera America, which has made a commitment to producing quality programming and pursuing underreported stories.

When you have a child who has special needs, you really start thinking about children across the board with special needs.