What I'm Reading: Becoming

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I love memoirs because they give you a sneak peek into someone's life and how they live. I also have a huge amount of respect for Michelle Obama as she navigated the role of First Lady with so much class and grace.  So I knew I wanted to read her book, Becoming, as well as have it on the shelf in my library for my students to read!

I enjoyed learning about her childhood, and how she and Barack met, but what was most interesting to me was seeing behind the scenes of the Presidential campaign.  I don't follow any campaign that closely - especially during the primaries, so there was a lot of information that was new to me.  Learning about the rules and regulations that pertain to the First Family was also fascinating - I understand that they live under the public eye, but I didn't realize just how much that affects their daily life!  Additionally, because I love the Royal Family, I loved her stories about her interactions with Queen Elizabeth!

I really enjoyed this book, and if you haven't read it yet, I hope you will!

For now I will leave you with some of Michelle's words of wisdom:

• "Your story is what you have, what you will always have.  It is something to own."  

• "So many of us go through life with our stories hidden, feeling ashamed or afraid when our whole truth doesn't live up to some established ideal.  We grow up with messages that tell us that there's only one way to be American - that if our skin is dark or our hips are wide, if we don't experience love in a particular way, if we speak another language or come from another country, then we don't belong.  That is, until someone dares to start telling that story differently."

• "For me, becoming isn't about arriving somewhere or achieving a certain aim.  I see it instead as forward motion, a means of evolving, a way to reach continuously toward a better self.  The journey doesn't end"

• "It's all a process, steps along a path.  Becoming requires equal parts patience and rigor.  Becoming is never giving up on the idea that there's more growing to be done."

• "It's not about being perfect.  It's not about where you get yourself in the end.  There's power in allowing yourself to be known and heard, in owning your unique story, in using your authentic voice.  And there's grace in being willing to know and hear others."

And probably my favorite quote in the entire book comes at the end: 

"Let's invite one another in. Maybe then we can begin to fear less, to make fewer wrong assumptions, to let go of the biases and stereotypes that unnecessarily divide us.  Maybe we can better embrace the ways we are the same."