Becoming by Michelle Obama – An Excerpt

Question

Non-Fiction, 2018
Published by Crown Publishing Group

THE GARDEN CHURNED through the seasons, teaching us all sorts of things. We grew cantaloupes that turned out pale and tasteless. We endured pelting rainstorms that washed away our topsoil. Birds snacked on our blueberries; beetles went after the cucumbers. Each time something went a little awry, with the help of Jim Adams, the National Park Service horticulturist who served as our head gardener, and Dale Haney, the White House grounds superintendent, we made small adjustments and carried on, savoring the overall abundance. Our dinners in the residence now often included broccoli, carrots, and kale grown on the South Lawn. We started donating a portion of every harvest to Miriam’s Kitchen, a local nonprofit that served the homeless. We began, too, to pickle vegetables and present them as gifts to visiting dignitaries, along with jars of honey from our new beehives. Among the staff, the garden became a source of pride. Its early skeptics had quickly become fans. For me, the garden was simple, prosperous, and healthy—a symbol of diligence and faith. It was beautiful while also being powerful. And it made people happy.

Over the previous few months, my East Wing staff and I had spoken with children’s health experts and advocates to help us develop the pillars on which our larger effort would be built. We’d give parents better information to help them make healthy choices for their families. We’d work to create healthier schools. We’d try to improve access to nutritious food. And we’d find more ways for young people to be physically active. Knowing that the way we introduced our work would matter as much as anything, I again enlisted the help of Stephanie Cutter, who came on as a consultant to help Sam and Jocelyn Frye shape the initiative, while my communications team was tasked with building a fun public face for the campaign. All the while, the West Wing was apparently fretting about my plans, worried I’d come off as a finger-wagging embodiment of the nanny state at a time when controversial bank and car-company bailouts had left Americans extra leery of anything that looked like government intervention.

My goal, though, was to make this more than government. I hoped to learn from what Hillary had shared with me about her own experiences, to leave the politics to Barack and focus on my own efforts elsewhere. When it came to dealing with the CEOs of soft drink companies and school-lunch suppliers, I thought it was worth making a human appeal as opposed to a regulatory one, to collaborate rather than pick a fight. And when it came to the way families actually lived, I wanted to speak directly to moms, dads, and especially kids.

I wasn’t interested in following the tenets of the political world or appearing on Sunday morning news shows. Instead, I did interviews with health magazines geared toward parents and kids. I hula-hooped on the South Lawn to show that exercise could be fun and made a guest appearance on Sesame Street, talking about vegetables with Elmo and Big Bird. Anytime I spoke to reporters from the White House garden, I mentioned that many Americans had trouble accessing fresh produce in their communities and tried to remark on the health-care costs connected to rising obesity levels. I wanted to make sure we had buy-in from everyone we’d need to make the initiative a success, to anticipate any objections that might be raised. With this in mind, we spent weeks and weeks quietly holding meetings with business and advocacy groups as well as members of Congress. We conducted focus groups to test-market our branding for the project, enlisting the pro bono help of PR professionals to fine-tune the message.

In February 2010, I was finally ready to share my vision. On a cold Tuesday afternoon and with D.C. still digging out from a historic blizzard, I stood at a lectern in the State Dining Room at the White House, surrounded by kids and cabinet secretaries, sports figures and mayors, along with leaders in medicine, education, and food production, plus a bevy of media, to proudly announce our new initiative, which we’d decided to name Let’s Move! It centered on one goal—ending the childhood obesity epidemic within a generation.

What was important to me was that we weren’t just announcing some pie-in-the-sky set of wishes. The effort was real, and the work was well under way. Not only had Barack signed a memorandum earlier that day to create a first-of-its-kind federal task force on childhood obesity, but the three major corporate suppliers of school lunches had announced that they would cut the amount of salt, sugar, and fat in the meals they served. The American Beverage Association had promised to improve the clarity of its ingredient labeling. We’d engaged the American Academy of Pediatrics to encourage doctors to make body mass index measurements a standard of care for children, and we’d persuaded Disney, NBC, and Warner Bros. to air public service announcements and invest in special programming that encouraged kids to make healthy lifestyle choices. Leaders from twelve different professional sports leagues, too, had agreed to promote a 60 Minutes of Play a Day campaign to help get kids moving more.

And that was just the start. We had plans to help bring greengrocers into urban neighborhoods and rural areas known as “food deserts,” to push for more accurate nutritional information on food packaging, and to redesign the aging food pyramid to be more accessible and in line with current research on nutrition. Along the way, we’d work to hold the business community accountable for its decision making around issues impacting children’s health.

It would take commitment and organization to make all this happen, I knew, but that was exactly the kind of work I liked. We were taking on a huge issue, but now I had the benefit of operating from a huge platform. I was beginning to realize that all the things that felt odd to me about my new existence—the strangeness of fame, the hawkeyed attention paid to my image, the vagueness of my job description—could be marshaled in service of real goals. I was energized. Here, finally, was a way to show my full self.

Chunking Activity
Stop 5 times during your read today and write down something you think is important.
Title of Reading:

Connect
Choose two of the details you selected and finish the five sentences for each detail.
Important Detail #1:
This is important because…

This is related to the topic because…

When I wrote this down, I thought it was important because…

This tells me that…

This supports the main idea that…

Answer 1

Title of Reading: Becoming by Michelle Obama – An Excerpt

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Important Detail #1: The garden on the South Lawn became a source of pride and included produce donated to Miriam’s Kitchen for the homeless.

This is important because it illustrates the impact of personal initiatives such as gardening and food cultivation not only on personal health but also on community support and engagement.

This is related to the topic because it highlights the broader theme of health and wellness, which is central to Michelle Obama's Let’s Move! initiative, showcasing how gardening can lead to healthier eating habits and community involvement.

When I wrote this down, I thought it was important because it reflects how seemingly simple actions, like gardening, can have significant, far-reaching effects on people's lives, particularly those in need.

This tells me that the act of growing food can serve as both a personal benefit and a means to aid those who are less fortunate, underlining the interconnectedness of health, community, and social responsibility.

This supports the main idea that personal actions, such as gardening, can lead to broader societal change, aligning with the overarching goals of promoting healthier lifestyles and fighting childhood obesity.

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Important Detail #2: The Let’s Move! initiative aimed to end the childhood obesity epidemic within a generation.

This is important because it sets a clear, ambitious goal that frames the entire initiative, emphasizing the seriousness and urgency of addressing childhood obesity.

This is related to the topic because it ties directly into Michelle Obama’s commitment to improving children’s health and wellness, reflecting a proactive approach instead of a reactive one.

When I wrote this down, I thought it was important because it shows the importance of having specific, measurable objectives in health campaigns to mobilize support and resources effectively.

This tells me that a focused goal can serve as a unifying theme that encourages collaboration across various sectors, including government, healthcare, and education.

This supports the main idea that successful initiatives require a clear vision and collective effort, as it galvanizes diverse groups to work together toward a common mission of fostering healthier futures for children.