Michelle Robinson grew up in legendary South Chicago. It was quite an upbringing. Her advantage is that though she was aware of racial discrimination for the beginning, nevertheless she had the advantage of growing up in a melting pot of different kinds of people. Some of us never had that advantage.
She took piano lessons from her great Aunt Robbie, a tough taskmaster. She talks of her first recital. Always find Middle C first. Her father drove a big Buick, his pride and joy. I like the way she says her parents guided her: lovingly but not micromanaging.
She was fortunate to test into a magnet school. Rode city busses 90 minutes a day for the privilege.
One of her HS classmates was the eldest daughter of Jesse Jackson. Michelle's first taste of politics came from Santita Jackson and experiencing the world of her father.
For a reason she doesn't disclose, Michelle was interested in East Coast colleges. Despite discouragement from her high school counselor, she was accepted at Princeton where her brother was already a student. Off to Princeton, she was ready to conquer college syllabi. Michelle gives the impression that even though she liked where she came from, she heard the sound of future drums. The push and pull of her feelings as she grew up at Princeton I understand.
Michelle watched some students arrive fall semester at Princeton in stretch limos.
At Princeton for the first time she felt dropped into a white male dominated environment.
She had few white friends at Princeton. Hard for minorities to fit in.
Always conscious and made aware of the color of her skin at Princeton, this in the 1980's.
"Am I good enough? Yes, I am." P. 90
To my reading Michelle never really tells why she wanted to go to law school. What did want to with a law degree other than the prestige and to make money?
Michelle skips over her Harvard law experience and picks up the story as she returns to Chicago to work for a prestigious law firm after graduation and meets a summer intern named Barack Obama. He is a hotshot with a reputation coming to Chicago after only one year in law school at Harvard.
"Nice guy," her father said after meeting Barack Obama. "Too bad he won't last."
Michelle found Barack hard-wired for optimism.
Barack was a unicorn. Unusual name. Odd heritage. Hard to pin-down ethnicity. Missing dad. Unique mind. P. 117
After his 1989 summer in Chicago, Barack returned to Harvard law school while Michelle remained with job in Chicago. They had to work out their long-term relationship. At first Barack said he was a letter rather than a phone person, but Michelle changed him into a phone person.
Introduced to the unfairness of life thru what happened to her Princeton roommate Suzanne.
While still in law school Barack Obama was a big deal. He fad such a strong sense of confidence and purpose that he could make a difference in the world. P. 131
"I wasn't built to practice law." This truly shocks me. P. 133
Michelle does undergrad at Princeton, Harvard law, and lands a corporate law job in Chicago and then she decides she doesn't like practicing law. Quite amazing to me.
Reading Michelle's account of her developing relationship with Barack makes me imagine two alpha personalities slowly moving into the same orbit.
Money first; happiness later.
-Mrs. Robinson
Barack Obama was elected to the Illinois state senate in November of 1996.
She failed her first attempt at the Illinois bar exam but passed the second attempt.
Barack Obama: Stick to your principles and everything will work out.
A Harvard-trained lawyer who decided she didn't want to practice law. P. 146
Fraser Robinson III died at age of 55.
Barack Obama: A solitary-loving individualist. P. 171
Barack the intellectual; Michelle not so much evidently.
The Obamas found a personal babysitter after Mailia Ann was born. P. 192
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