Becoming: An Intimate Conversation with Michelle Obama at the Xcel Energy Center

On Wednesday evening I saw Michelle Obama at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul. She was appearing as part of her book tour to promote her excellent book Becoming, which I reviewed here. Obama appeared with Michele Norris, former host of NPR’s All Things Considered. It was a memorable evening, and it was a lot of fun to see Michelle Obama in person. It’s hard to really call it “an intimate conversation” when you’re speaking to about 15,000 people, but Michelle Obama did a good job of making it feel as though we were just listening to her chat with Michele Norris. 

Obama’s humor really struck me—there were several times during the evening when I laughed pretty hard. Michelle Obama seems like a really cool person, and if you have the opportunity to see her in person, you should do it. Obama also does a great job of connecting with young people in whatever community she’s in, and the evening began with several Twin Cities women talking about who they are in the process of becoming. I like the title of Obama’s book, and I really like the idea that we are all “becoming” something. As Obama says in the book, it isn’t like you just become something and then never change or grow after that. We’re always continuing to change and do different things in our lives. It will be interesting to see how involved Michelle Obama stays with public policy and what she does in her post-First Lady career. I know she’s ruled out running for President in 2020, but I think she’d be a darn good President.