Dana sat down with Governor Madeleine Kunin following her talk at the recent Green Festival in Washington DC to talk about her latest book.  Pearls, Politics, and Power is a call to action for new political engagement and leadership from the women of America. Informed by conversations with elected female leaders from all levels, Kunin, former three-term Vermont Governor and Ambassador to Switzerland, asks: What difference do women make? What is the worst part of politics, and what is the best part? What inspired these women to run, and how did they prepare themselves for public life? How did they raise money, protect their families’ privacy, deal with criticism and attack ads, and work with the “good old boys”?  Dana talks to the author about these issues as well as her thoughts on the recent landmark election.

All the way to the airport I was about to pass out from nerves. But as soon as I got on the plane (which was very tiny) I felt a little bit better. Then it started to move. It kind of felt like being in a car, so I got more comfortable. It moved around the airport to get lined up for take off, then super shot to like a million miles an hour! (Needless to say, the seat I was sitting in has permanent indentations on the arm rests from my hands). After that the rest of the ride was actually quite fun. I popped in my headphones and turned on some super awesome music and parked my face looking out of the window. The clouds were so pretty so I took a ton of pictures. I’m actually excited to get back on a plane someday. I think that’s why I’ve never really gone anywhere, I pictured a horrible Richard Matheson scene on planes where would be something on the wing trying to take out the propellers. My imagination is one of a 5 year old.
The first day we were there we went to see all of the tourist sites. It was very cool. Everything was really beautiful, you really can’t tell how big something is just by seeing a picture of it. The Lincoln Memorial was HUGE! I felt kind of dumb when I saw it because I was telling everyone that I was going to try to sit on Abe Lincoln’s lap. Yeah, that wasn’t happening. We walked everywhere while we were there so my feet were very sore, but I was happy we did. It was really neat to see all of the buildings, they were so detailed and really cool. They were so eye-catching that I almost fell on my face looking up at them (luckily Kelly was beside me to catch me).

The Green Festival was amazing. It was cool talking to people about Better World Books, and seeing their reactions. It gave me a chance to see BWB through other people’s eyes. Everyone that I talked to was blown away by what we do at BWB. It was also funny how some people that were there already knew about Better World. One person told me that he had been buying his books from us for the past year or so. I also heard someone saying ‘Better World Books? Wasn’t that business created by those Notre Dame kids?’

So, that’s pretty much how my trip went. I also got to meet some really awesome people from the San Francisco and Atlanta offices. Cory, Eddie, Geoff, Christian, and Dana (you guys rock!) My eyes were totally opened to what else is out there besides this little town. And it will definitely not be another 24 years before I travel again.

–Destinie

Partnering with the Washington DC VFW, the Greater Mt. Calvary Holy Church, and SunTrust Mortgage Bank, we collected over 15,000 books!  Proceeds from the sale of those books will help First Book get books into the hands of children.

Our team (pictured) went through all of the books in just 3 days.  It was a lot of fun meeting our new partners and getting out of the office to sort some books!

You can still help support First Book by donating your books to generate funding for them.