Solid ground

Qian Julie Wang, author of Beautiful Country, came to the United States in 1994 when she was seven years old. She often went to school hungry and was put in special education classes because she didn’t speak English. Eventually, she graduated from Yale Law School. Her mother was a professor who taught math and computer […]

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Beauty and dignity

Qian Julie Wang, author of Beautiful Country, reports that her mother told her “that a woman could be beautiful without being pretty, but that a woman could not be beautiful without having dignity.”

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Be still

Rushing. I think I have lots to do. Maybe a bit overwhelmed. “I’ve been thinking,” says Emily St. John Mandel in her book Sea of Tranquility, “a great deal about time and motion lately, about being a still point in the ceaseless rush.” –Joy

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A woman without a man

“A woman without a husband is not a problem to be solved,” writes Jane Austen in her book Persuasion. Jane Austen is a wise woman. I am reading Persuasion again. –Joy

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Reasonable?

Jane Austen writes: “How quick come the reasons for approving what we like!” Jane Austen is a wise woman.  I am going to read Persuasion again. –Joy

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Wise and reasonable

Jane Austin writes: “She hoped to be wise and reasonable in time; but alas! Alas! She must confess to herself that she was not wise yet.” I am going to be wise and reasonable—and read Persuasion again! –Joy

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Good company

I am watched the movie Persuasion—based on the book by Jane Austen, of course. The movie was delightful, and I am going to read the book again. Jane Austen writes: “My idea of good company…is the company of clever, well-informed people, who have a great deal of conversation; that is what I call good company.” […]

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The perfect affirmative-action baby

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor says that she is “a product of affirmative action. I am the perfect affirmative action baby. I am Puerto Rican, born and raised in the south Bronx. My test scores were not comparable to my colleagues at Princeton and Yale. Not so far off so that I wasn’t able to […]

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Defining your worth

“I do know one thing about me: I don’t measure myself by others’ expectations or let others define my worth,” says Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

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No need to apologize

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor says that she has no need to apologize. The “look-wider, search-more affirmative action” that Princeton and Yale practiced opened doors for her. “That was its purpose,” she explains, “to create the conditions whereby students from disadvantaged backgrounds could be brought to the starting line of a race many were unaware […]

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