Becoming

“March 2017”

Michelle Obama remembers being asked as a child what she wanted to be when she grows up. She responded with “pediatrician” because this got a good response from adults, but now Michelle thinks this is a pointless question. People aren’t just one thing, and Michelle reflects on the various roles she’s lived out, including the First Lady of the United States of America, “a job that’s not really a job” (xii). Michelle has seen many different sides of America, from the wealthy to the poor, the superficial to the honorable. She has also been praised, critiqued, and scrutinized: “I’ve been held up as the most powerful woman in the world and taken down as an ‘angry black woman’” (xiii). Michelle believes there’s more to the country she still doesn’t know, and because of the teachings of her parents, Fraser and Marian, she believes in “the value in our story, in my story, in the larger story of our country” (3).

Michelle’s life has changed dramatically since leaving the White House. Many aspects to White House living were elegant and glamorous, but she also had to relinquish her family’s privacy. In her new home, Michelle marvels at her ability to make herself a piece of toast without causing a fuss, as well as having an empty house all to herself.