Just the way I see it.

Essays about life, -isms, community, and the words we use to express where, who, and how we exist in the world.

Maybe you’ll agree, or maybe not. Let’s talk, let’s learn from each other. It’s how we build community. It’s how we build the world we want, better than before.

Hillary Sobel is an independent, wise-cracking warrior for social justice, kicking ass comfortably in both cowboy boots and heels.

What a name for a newsletter.

“The Cowgirl, The Shark, and Stilettos.” It sounds like a Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys mystery. Or maybe a new version of the game Clue: the Cowgirl killed a shark with stilettos – shoes or a sword?

Nope. Its origin is a tweet reply. In June 2012, someone tweeted “what’s the name of your memoir?” And then an instant, I replied:

“The Cowgirl, The Shark, and Stilettos.”

  • She represents my independence, that lore of the West: kicking ass, taking names. I’ve always worn cowboy boots, simple sometimes stylish, leather or snakeskin, always “shit-kickers.” The Cowgirl. She and I have an independent mind and a strong, independent, sometimes fearless, voice. You’ll see it here.

  • It has two meanings representing two related traits. Like a Great White Shark I’m constantly in motion, moving forward towards something, something out there. It’s not aimless motion. I know where I’m headed: towards a world guided by justice, legal and social, economic and environmental. Did you know that a tough as nails lawyer is called a shark? I spent decades fighting for fairness in the courtroom; the fight outside the courtroom keeps me in perpetual motion.

    My godson Saul painted the beautiful shark you see below. As a then six-year-old he didn’t know what a lawyer was or the shark connotation. He just painted this gift for me, his godmama, a  lawyer.  I cherish my watercolor shark; a softer, kinder, gentler shark.

  •  Killer shoes or killer sword? In my case, both. I’ve always worn killer heels; hell, my mother was a shoe model way back when. As for the sword, a colleague once said about my witness examinations that you didn’t know I’d stabbed you until you got home and realized you bled to death. A figure of speech for sure, but it does tell you something: I have a killer instinct on behalf of justice and the causes I hold dear.

My godson's shark.

Not what you were expecting when you read the newsletter’s title? Good. I’m not what most people expect and I embrace that.