It was activity day at the school I work at and we were driving over 90 minutes to take a bunch of urban kids skiing. They are a mixture of rich kids who had their own skis and low income kids who may never ski again. Everyone on the bus was on their phone passing the time. A few other teachers and I were on Facebook discussing how much we loved Michelle Obama and I stated I couldn’t wait to get the book off of reserve from the library. The library gods must have heard me because thirty minutes later I was notified I was finally off the wait list. It is perfect timing that this is when I had access to her book. So much of her memoir talks about the opportunities she had growing up on the South Side of Chicago. In turn she spent a lot of her adult life making opportunities for other young people. Here I was with a diverse group of students, taking some to have a brand new experience. It was important to my school’s staff to let every student have the opportunity to ski so we had made sure students knew they could get scholarships to pay for it, that we would find them coats/snow pants/gloves, and that lots of people had never skied before so they didn’t need to worry about looking cool. This was my first year as chaperone of this trip and it was an amazing experience to watch these kids try something new.
Michelle Obama and I are very different people on the surface but she is so relatable that I found many times throughout her book I felt a connection with her. I grew up in medium sized Iowa city with middle class parents and I am now middle class myself. I never aspired to go to an Ivy League school, always knowing I wanted to work in education and wanting to stay close to home. Both of us though want to do work to make lives better for people and would not be fulfilled in jobs that didn’t allow us to do that. Her tone is also familiar, if you have seen her interviews, and felt like an easy mix informal and educated (I had to look up a few words).
Her book begins with her childhood up to her time in college. I enjoyed learning about her childhood and I think if I was younger and still finding myself her earlier chapters would have spoken more to me. Where I really got drawn in was after she realized she wasn’t happy in corporate law and went to find a job she was more passionate about. When someone is truly passionate about things, like Obama was of Chicago and in particular the South Side, it is inspiring and thrilling to read.
Later Obama discusses the balance of work and motherhood. This is a struggle for many moms out there. I think it is especially hard as a teacher because you have your own children and then you have your student children. Similarly both Obamas had their daughters and then the nation to think of. They made the same decision I did, that in order to make the world better you have to be a good parent first.
Some other moments that I enjoyed were Obama’s accurate depiction of Iowa and Iowans. I think lately we are seen as a state full of farms that supports Steve King and still doesn’t allow ex-felons to vote. People don’t think about the fact our other three representatives are all Democrats and two are women. We made gay marriage legal before many other states and despite a lack of funding have a strong education system. I also liked her frankness when talking about Donald Trump. I couldn’t help but wonder if when her husband’s book comes out if he will be more diplomatic or as honest as she was.
This is a book I would recommend to anyone who likes Michelle Obama to buy. As I was reading it I kept contemplating buying it, I never spend full price on books so I just couldn’t bring myself to. I plan on buying it as soon as I see it on sale. Despite the fact I would have to return it I highlighted passages in my library e-book because they struck me as too important to not highlight. This book further deepened my appreciation, love, and respect for Michelle Obama and I plan to read it again.
