Reading Michelle Obama's memoir Becoming

I started reading this book with assumptions that turned out to be totally wrong, and I am happy to be wrong.

Raised to strive for better and more opportunities in life by getting an education and staying out of trouble, the segment set out below sums up her approach to life.

This excerpt was recalling her first visit to the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson school which is a public all-girls school in a poor area of London and most of the students are from immigrant families where English would not be the first language:

"I’d realized early on that school was where I could start defining myself......that an education was a thing worth working for, that it would help spring them forward in the world.

"In different moments, I’d felt overwhelmed by the pace, unworthy of the glamour, anxious about our children, and uncertain of my purpose. But here, finally, speaking to those girls, I felt something completely different and pure....an alignment of my old self with this new role. Are you good enough? Yes, you are, all of you."

It was interesting to note that as FLOTUS, she had biannual recorded conversations which was rich resource material for the book and certainly would have helped with fact checking and recollections.

Michelle Obama convinced me that her work as FLOTUS had an impact on the movement to improve nutrition in USA public school systems and also to help families feel they have control to make healthy lifestyle choices.

With regards to her mission to have greater acceptance of Blacks in the White House, I do not know how to judge that based on the electorate's move to the populist politics of the next president, Donald Trump.

I do not think that her lifestyle and outlook is regarded by the more vocal Black community as representative of their community. The book does not revere any outstanding American leaders or Black Leaders. The leaders she admires are Madiba Nelson Mandela and her friend Her Majesty The Queen.

As a Jamaican, it was interesting for me to compare her family story with that of migrants from the West Indies, and writing it this way, instead of saying from the Caribbean, denotes that I am speaking about the English Speaking Caribbean.

Michelle Obama's grandparents on both sides migrated from the rural South and ended up in jobs that were available to them because of a combination of their skin colour and lack of education. These southerners knitted a community in Chicago but cut off many trailing strings connecting them to the South. Michelle did not grow up on Southern food or music or stories and folklore and style of speaking. The typical West Indian carries many of those cultural markers with them, proudly, and pass them on and share them within the culture they now live. An example is Carnival in Toronto and London, the ongoing demand for ingredients to make local dishes, the music and attire that still give identity, and religion.

What Michelle Obama's family had, was a resolve that pursuing education and working within what the dominant system offered was the best way to keep the family inching forward, and her parents, through careful actions, did that.

It surprises me that her well-regarded public high school had a learning trip to France, but had not considered visiting the nearby University of Chicago, because it was dominated by White culture and so seemingly culturally far removed from them. In the same way, she spent her entire time as an undergraduate socialising with Black and minority students and working in the diversity office on campus. Meanwhile, her dear Jamaican roommate and friend was comfortable participating in non-minority campus activities.

Throughout her life, Michelle Obama has declaimed pride for her hometown, the South Side of Chicago, a working class to poor part of the city with worsening attendant social ills. I think it is a credit to her, that she influenced her husband to move back there after he left office as President and to use their influence to support the ongoing advancement of the city.

Although she is proud of the Southside of Chicago, it is covering over a bit of insecurity that maybe she is not good enough, but she suppresses those thoughts quite effectively whenever they arise.

On a fashion note, I was not convinced that Michelle Obama did not care much for fashion. She is a self-confessed follower of pop culture and loved branded clothing from her youth, K Swiss shoes and Vanderbilt jeans. This is not in her book, but I remember how Michelle Obama's choice of sleeveless attire revolutionised the dress codes of USA television anchors. Women seemed to have been quietly pining to be able to display their arms and her style was the excuse and example for them and that forced open those flood gates.

The days of ladies maids seem to be over. I do not understand why a public person cannot have on retainer - or on call - a competent cosmetologist who can style hair, apply makeup, prepare nails and put an outfit in order. If a cosmetologist knows you, then they can have the correct tools and products in place to get to work.

I enjoyed spending the last few days with Michelle Robinson Obama and look forward to seeing her continue to mature and be a positive influence for all who come into contact with her. It is wonderful that there is a young readers version of Becoming.