I had such a fun day this past Monday, working an event that we
(Hicklebee’s) did for Sonia Sotomayor.
I spent the morning helping back up books and bringing them over to the theater we hosted her in, then bringing them in, organizing them, and prepping them for our bookstore and the people who would be picking up their books at the event. 
Then I came back I helped sell books outside (at our little pop up shop right by check in) and inside (in the cafe area of our theater) then got to go in and listen to Sonia speak!
She was AMAZING. She actually stepped off stage and encouraged kids to come give her a hug. They were lined up in this really long line and they’d ask her questions and she answered!
How wonderful to see this. For the kids, it was wonderful to get to interact with such a legend and feel heard and have their questions answered. For adults it was a reminder to not be jaded and remember that we DO have power and we CAN do great things. For us booksellers it was a nice break and something to enjoy after all of our time spent working up to this moment. (Most everyone else at work worked harder and for longer hours on setting this up than I did; mainly because I’m seriously part-time!).
I wanted to write this post to share some of the things she said with EVERYONE, because I think everyone needs to hear these things. Some I made into lettering pieces!
On work/life balance:
Her motto when she was growing up?
“I think I can, I think I can!”
What do you do if you feel afraid?
What would she do if she had a magic wand to change something?
“I would make the world so everyone was equal. I would fix education first.
I think everyone should have an equal education.”
On bullies and people making fun of you:
What’s her favorite children’s book?
“I found it when I was an adult, giving it as a gift.
It’s called The Giving Tree.
It talks about love and that we should give love
and not expect that it needs to be given back.”
(people feel very strongly about The Giving Tree, one way or the other!)
General good life advice:
If she wasn’t working in as a judge, what other job would she have?
(this was my question submitted ahead of time!)
“Nothing. I have the perfect job! I’m right where I need to be!”
What do you do when you don’t know what to do?
After she talked I helped let people know when it was their turn to come up to the signing line. Everyone had a wristband with a number, and came up accordingly. As you can imagine, people had to wait a while. I decided I’d try to make their wait really fun, and as the night went on I help up signs not just of the numbers that were going to be coming up, but also some jokes, challenging people to tell me what they thought the punchline was when they came up to me.
They waited on the ground floor, I was on the staircase where they could see me about a story and a half up, and then they had a bit more waiting to do once they passed me. I cheered everyone up (or at least tried to) as they made their way past me.
At the end of the night I even got to meet Sonia myself and get my books signed.
She was so cheerful and you would have never known that she’d already spent near three hours chatting with people and signing books.
What a great event!
We may or may not have signed stock left,
but here’s a link to all of Sonia’s books so you can get one or all of them for yourself!
Happy reading and bye for now,
Kathy Ellen
