With every friend I've known, in every situation I've encountered, I have found something to learn. From a task as simple as boiling water, you can l… - Sonia Sotomayor

With every friend I’ve known, in every situation I’ve encountered, I have found something to learn.

Few aspects of my work in the DA’s Office were more rewarding than to see what I had learned in childhood among the Latinos of the Bronx prove to be as relevant to my success as Ivy League schooling was.

I scheduled the lessons, rolled up the carpet and committed myself to learning salsa. No longer would I sit there like a potted plant watching others on the floor. The gawky uncoordinated Sonia would make peace with herself in motion.

I am 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 succeed at those institutions.