Her Honor

Dear Lila,

Your teacher assigned a "Wax Museum" project in which you had to choose a real-life person, learn about that person's life and accomplishments, dress up like said person and recite a dozen facts from memory about him/her during a presentation at your school today. You chose to be Ruth Bader Ginsberg and you totally looked the part:

On the flip side, you didn't totally sound the part. You and your classmates stood in spots around the school gym and when a parent walked up to you and made you "come alive" (by doing what each of your signs said, whether it was "Shout 'fly!'" for Amelia Earhart or "Bang my gavel!" for you), you had to recite your memorized facts. You had no problem saying your rehearsed speech but in true Lila fashion, you spoke at an incredibly soft volume. Even with me, you talked so quietly that I couldn't hear what you were saying despite me putting my ear about six inches away from your face. Over the course of the morning, I worked my way around the gym to listen to your classmates' speeches and every time I looked over at you, every parent that stood in front of you was leaning in so close to you to hear what you were saying. After the parents left, other classes went to the gym to participate and you told me that two boys banged your gavel. When they couldn't hear what you were saying, one said to the other, "Maybe if we bang her gavel again, she'll talk louder." Hahaha! Oh, Lila!

I am super proud of you, though. There was a time when you wouldn't have spoken up to so many strangers at all, so to recite your speech over and over all morning (you probably had to say it about 30 times to all the parents and kids!) was a huge accomplishment for you. And you worked so hard on this project. You read multiple books and articles about Ruth Bader Ginsberg and practiced for days to memorize facts about her--and you memorized a lot for your speech. There were a lot of times you were tired of rehearsing but you did it anyway and your effort really paid off this morning. You were an excellent (albeit nearly mute) RBG!

Love,
Mom