Since it is already on my mind, last night I was seriously lucky enough to get tickets to Michelle Obama's first book tour event in Chicago. It was billed an "intimate conversation" which was pretty funny because the United Center holds 23,000+ people.
Oprah hosted and interviewed the event which was pretty cool. She looks like she has been rocking her Weight Watchers plan.
The event started with a long video of Michelle- her upbringing, her time in the White House, different appearances on shows like Jimmy Fallon or Dave Letterman. Then Oprah came out to talk for a few minutes before introducing Mrs. Obama. Their conversation lasted about two hours and it was really interesting. I haven't really seen any interviews this past week because life has been crazy so she may have talked about some of these things already....
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| The stage was pretty far away so at times it was easier to watch on the large monitors |
One of the more interesting things Michelle talked about was how it felt like she was the "mom" of the country and Barack was the "dad." So while she is happy to be open about IVF, going through marriage counseling, etc. now she didn't really think that it was appropriate to talk about it while she was in the White House. There were so many other things going on at the time, she didn't want to be a distraction.
She also spent a lot of time talking about her experience in being the only woman or the only minority in the room with powerful men. Basically she spoke about how women and minorities' voices are important so we need to make sure to speak up. Also, there were tons of powerful men in these rooms but they weren't necessarily smart. :-) I'm butchering what she was saying, but it was powerful and true.
Anyway, I'm super happy that I was able to snag tickets for this hot event! I NEVER seem to get the hot tickets so the fact that I was able to get three (my mom and sister went with me) is amazing. Now excuse me as I have to call my new BFFs Michelle and Oprah. :-)
6 comments:
Soooooo jealous, it sounds like an amazing event! Ha ha ha to an "intimate conversation" with over 20,000 people. I love Michelle Obama, and this book tour is making that love deeper!
The next best thing to going? Getting to enjoy an awesome write-up of the evening. Thank you for doing this!
I am a bit jealous you got to go to this event. I mean, how amazing to have 2 insanely bright and intelligent woman having a candid discussion about being a minority on two different levels in positions that are insanely important. It makes me shudder to think about our current First Lady and all the more grateful that Michelle Obama held the role for 8 years.
I’m not surprised either about her comments about others in the room. Given my experience, it’s often about who your dad knows, not that you are the best person for the job, that gets one into those positions. Again speaking even more about her and Barack.
I am given pause about the fact Michelle didn’t feel like she could openly talk about infertility and IVF until now. Not because I think she should have (I’m in agreement with her reasonings) but because of how taboo those issues are. We really do have a long way to go.
Amazing that you had the opportunity to go to this event! I'm looking forward to reading your upcoming posts and catching up with what's going on in your neck of the world.
Like the others I'm also envious of you going to that event! I am looking forward to reading Michell's book
This sounds like an amazing evening. She has such a great presence, and I (like so many others) was glad that she finally got to talk about her IF struggles. My heart goes out to her that she felt she had to keep that to herself for so long.
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