Former First lady Michelle Obama told the 2018 American Library Association Annual Conference audience in New Orleans that her upcoming memoir, Becoming, will be a “rehumanization effort” in which she shares the “ordinariness of a very extraordinary story” that she hopes will give voice to people who feel voiceless, the Associated Press reports.
The memoir, which will be released in the U.S. in November, explores her childhood in Chicago, the years as an executive and her years inside the White House.
Her parents, Fraser and Marian Robinson, were the former first lady’s main influences who helped shape who she is today, Obama told the audience Friday. She says that readers will learn about how she lived with the challenges of being married to a high-profile politician while holding down a high-level executive job.
“I didn’t come into [being first lady] with a blank slate,” she said. “I had big jobs. I went to Princeton. I went to Harvard. I am a lawyer. But as Barack’s ascent got faster and higher, I had to figure out and balance marriage and balance becoming a spouse. I’ve learned that you can have it all, but not all at the same time.”
Michelle Obama, who has always been class personified, has kept a relatively low profile since leaving the White House in January 2017. Many Americans continue to miss her presence in the wake of the Donald Trump show that calls itself a presidential administration. And while Obama was known for being a stylish, classy first lady, Melania Trump is wearing “I really don’t care, do U?” jackets to the border, where her husband is separating children from their parents.
Michelle Obama was a great one. And now she is gone. Be grateful for what we had, folks.