The light she brings

I'm still thrumming with excitement from the book launch event on Tuesday evening. It took place at the historic Apollo theater, a fitting venue to welcome to the world the intimately told and inspiring story of a history making woman, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. To have been chosen as the co-writer for the first Black woman to sit on the Supreme Court of the United States was truly the privilege of a lifetime. In terms of the book team, the entire project, beginning to end, could not have been more charmed. Everyone involved in bringing this story to the page was operating from a place of love, because that is the tone set by the Justice, and it was also our great good fortune that, after being courted by publishers everywhere, she chose this particular team. I loved every single person whose effort touched the book, from the publisher and the editor to the capable assistant editor who wrangled all the production details once the manuscript was written and formally accepted. 

The Justice wrote wonderful acknowledgements of our work together, thanking me as well as every other person who played a part in making the book. I won't name names here because this blog is mainly a place where I write to make sense of my own shifting self and record the highlights of my life and the doings of my loves. But if you want to know the names of those who made this book happen, turn to the acknowledgements. Truly, this entire endeavor was a labor of love that took a village, and what a village it was!

At the launch event at the Apollo Theater on Tuesday evening, broadcast journalist and CBS Mornings co-host Gayle King sat with Justice Jackson for a ninety minute conversation about the book before a sold-out theater. At one point, the Justice even broke into song, and darned if the whole audience didn't spontaneously sing along! Goosebumps! It was so clear how well loved she is. As Gayle King said to the audience at one point, "You know, I asked [a woman backstage] why we love her so, and she said, 'It's because she stood in her agency.'" 

When she first walked out onto the stage, the entire audience sprang to their feet and the applause was enthusiastic and sustained. This happened again several times during the event, which felt like it went by in a flash, leaving us wanting more. Afterward, the guests of the Justice remained in our seats while the theater was cleared, and then we were ushered backstage to greet our Supreme and take pictures. There were so many of her Harvard College cohorts there, as well as high school friends, and former law clerks and people from all eras of her life, because it appears that the Justice never loses a friend. One of her Harvard roommates, a woman I'd interviewed for the book, texted me the next morning. "The light inside her!" she wrote. "Now everyone gets to see it!!!"

I could go on and on, but instead I'll just share a few photos from Tuesday evening and hope that you'll pick up the book and discover who this remarkable human is for yourself. 

Greeting the woman of the hour

The Dream Team

The editor at right, the agent, and me with the Justice's husband, a top surgeon in his field. It is enchanting to witness how completely he loves, believes in, and champions his accomplished wife, his big heart on his sleeve.

The man and me—oh it was a night!