I am growing to love DC. But the core of Sonia is a New Yorker.

A surplus of effort could overcome a deficit of confidence.

When I call myself an affirmative action baby, I'm talking about the essence of what affirmative action was when it started.

We have to look and ensure that we're paying attention to what we're doing, so that we don't reflexively institute processes and procedures that exclude people without thought.

I accept the proposition that...“to judge is an exercise of power” and because...“there is no objective stance but only a series of perspectives – no neutrality, no escape from choice in judging,” I further accept that our experiences as women and people of color affect our decisions.

My hope is that I will take the good from my experiences and extrapolate them further into areas with which I am unfamiliar. I simply do not know exactly what that difference will be in my judging. But I accept there will be some based on my gender and my Latina heritage.

I think being a Catholic made me a better person. It taught me how to choose good over evil, and how to be a more caring human being.