BECOMING
is an autobiographical account of the former Michelle Robinson who served as First Lady of the United States from 2009-2017. The book includes 426 pages with three sections
- Becoming Me, Becoming Us and Becoming More.
Michelle’s parents lived in an upstairs apartment in Chicago which was owned by her great -aunt. The apartment was designed for no more than two persons; however, Michelle, her parents and her brother occupied the small space. In fact, Michelle and her brother shared a bedroom which was
divided by a partition. The porch was later enclosed for a bedroom for her brother. The Robinsons were the only ones in their block who were not homeowners.
In kindergarten, Michelle learned how to advocate for herself. She misspelled ‘‘white” when she was quizzed. She went home and studied and asked her teacher if she could spell all of her colors again the next day. At first, the teacher denied Michelle an opportunity to take the oral quiz again. The teacher relented after Michelle demanded another chance to take the test. Michelle’s mother also was an advocate for her. When Michelle was in the second grade, her mother had her to transfer to another class because she was not being challenged by her teacher.
Her great-aunt taught piano lessons in the apartment downstairs where she lived with her husband who was a Pullman porter. Michelle and her brother were both taught how to play the piano by their great-aunt. Piano lessons caused much friction between her and her great-aunt. She does credit her great-aunt for providing an opportunity for her to play the piano at a recital at Roosevelt University in downtown Chicago.
When I am reading, I always try to connect what I am reading with something that I have read previously. When I read about Michelle’s recital at Roosevelt University, I thought about Jamesetta Jones, a teacher at Saint Paul’s Practice School of Lawrenceville who received her master’s degree in music from Roosevelt University. I was only in the third grade when I read about the credentials of the faculty members of Saint Paul’s College and Saint Paul’s Practice School. This information was included in Ella’s college catalog from Saint Paul’s College. I would read whatever reading material that was available in our home. Jones was a talented musician who taught many students how to play the piano. She also served as the organist at Saint Paul’s Memorial Chapel. I shared with you previously that her granddaughter is Audra McDonald, a winner of six Tony Awards.
In the book, I was looking for clues in Michelle’s childhood which may have positively impacted her life. This is only my perspective.
Her mother, father and brother were positive role models for her. She saw how hard her father worked to take care of his family even though he struggled with multiple sclerosis. She never heard him complain about his illness. He owned a car which allowed Michelle and her brother to be able to visit places outside of the community and take vacations During Michelle’s formative years, her mother did not work. This allowed her to be visible at Michelle’s school. Michelle had an hour for lunch. This allowed her and several of her friends to eat lunch at her home. Michelle’s mother prepared lunch for all of them. This provided her extra time to bond with her mother and her friends.
By having one telephone line and one bathroom, she learned how to share. By living in “cramped” quarters, she learned how to brighten the corner where she was. Her parents allowed her to make decisions. Michelle did not have a curfew but she knew that her parents had high expectations of her. Many of the members of Michelle’s family lived in Chicago. They had gone to Chicago during the Great Migration. They were very nurturing. This is how Michelle learned about family dynamics. Playing the piano required her to have to focus. She had to ride the bus three hours each day to and from Whitney Young High, a magnet school. This required her to be independent. This school was very challenging. At Whitney Young, it was safe to be smart. Thus, she was competitive. By taking a trip to Paris during high school, she learned about cultural diversity. While riding the bus, she studied. Thus, she learned how to use her time wisely.
Having been told that she was not Princeton material by her counselor, she became more determined to succeed. From this experience, she learned how to deal with disappointment. She also learned about the importance of having a back-up plan. She asked the assistant principal to write her a letter of recommendation to Princeton instead of having her counselor to submit it. She learned about physical endurance by having to ride the bus during the chilly winters of Chicago. Her father was a precinct captain for the Democratic Party and she was a friend of Jesse Jackson’s daughter, Santita. From these two individuals, she learned how to become politically active. Having to navigate the streets of Chicago, she became “street smart” at an early age. The skills which she acquired during her childhood enabled her to be successful at Princeton and Harvard.
Given: Michelle Obama is highly intelligent. It is evident that she also possesses good social skills. Her social skills enabled her to get the attention of Barack Obama. She played her hand so well that she became his wife. She proved to be an outstanding helpmate to him as well as a great mother to their daughters.
Before reading this book, I had read a biographical account of the former First Lady. This book was written from the heart. She invites you into her world. She does not ‘‘sugarcoat” her experiences. Not only does she tell what was happening during a certain time but she reveals how she responded to the stimuli.
As I am writing, it is 1:20 a.m. The Rachael Ray Show is on Channel 8. This cannot be so. Ray has a copy of
BECOMING
in her hand. She shares an excerpt of an interview with Michelle Obama. Michelle said that the last chapters that include being the First Lady were the least important. She believes that the first two sections include the “meat” of the book – the journey. I discovered that this was a repeat show in that only six million copies of the book had been sold when that interview was taped.
Michelle Obama says that she does not believe that anyone ever “becomes” in life. She states, “I see it instead as a forward motion, a means of evolving, and a way to reach continuously toward a better self.” When one goes from living in an apartment that included 900 square feet of space with one bathroom to the White House that includes 55,000 square feet of space with 132 rooms and 35 bathrooms, what does one call it? Her bedroom in the white House was bigger than her whole apartment in Chicago. I believe that it is upward mobility which most people do not achieve during a lifetime
No, Michelle has not put all the pieces of her jigsaw puzzle together and she never will. This book has enabled me to see the beautiful pieces of the puzzle of her life that she has painted so far. Michelle’s philosophy is probably similar to Robert Browning‘s, “Ah but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp Or what’s a heaven for?” She would probably further agree with the words of Browning in
Rabbi Ben Ezra – “
Grow old along with me, the best is yet to be. “ Life is definitely not a destination but a journey.
For me, this book was a page turner. It further strengthened my belief that it is not where one is from but it is where one goes in life. I highly recommend this book to readers. In particular, I would recommend this book to book clubs. I would also recommend that middle and high schoolers read the first section that deals with how she beat the odds as a student in the public schools of Chicago. Michelle Obama is commended for sharing her experiences with readers.
