TresSugar

Oh Snap! Smile Diplomacy

TresSugar — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 11:00:26 -0700

First Lady Michelle Obama posed with Indonesia's Kristiani Herawati, France's First Lady Carla Bruni Sarkozy, and other spouses of G20 leaders earlier today. Michelle hosted the spouses at the Creative and Performing Arts School in Pittsburgh, PA.

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Japan's New First Lady Has Been Abducted by Aliens

TresSugar — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 10:00:00 -0700

Japan mixed things up this week by electing the opposition party for the first time in 50 years. Along with Prime Minister-elect Yukio Hatoyama, the country will welcome his eccentric wife Miyuki Hatoyama as their first lady. Here are some key facts to help you get to know more about the newest addition to the First Spouses Club.

Miyuki is a lifestyle guru, macrobiotics enthusiast, retired actress, and designer of such garments as a skirt she made from coffee sacks.
She says she was abducted by aliens 20 years ago and traveled to the planet Venus.
Miyuki also says she knew Tom Cruise in a previous life, when he was Japanese. She'd like to make a Hollywood movie with her old friend.
Then-married Miyuki met her husband in San Francisco, when he was studying at Stanford and she was working at a restaurant. Yukio said: "The average man chooses his mate from among unmarried women. I chose mine from among all women."

I don't know about you, but I can't wait to follow Mr. and Mrs. Hatoyama as they make their way on the international stage!

Better Halves: 9 First Ladies of Style

TresSugar — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 14:15:36 -0700

Michelle Obama and Carla Bruni both landed on Vanity Fair's latest best-dressed list, solidifying them as style icons. But they aren't the only first ladies with an eye toward fashion; check out Sweden's Filippa Reinfeldt (right) photographed with Michelle Obama. Being married to a head of state means spending time in the spotlight and conducting yourself with grace. So take a style lesson from these nine wives of world leaders who define "better half."

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Terms of Service: Should the First Lady Be on Payroll?

CitizenSugar — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 15:30:05 -0800

Being the first lady is not all tea and cake and greeting foreign dignitaries. Even when it is, there's still a staff to be managed.

The idea of paying the first lady goes back to 1946, when a congressman proposed a $10,000 salary for First Lady Bess Truman, calling the position "the only case of involuntary servitude in America."

Congress rejected the proposal and it never returned to the House again, but that doesn't stop equality revelers from talking it up every four to eight years. Now with the arrival of Michelle Obama, who was the family breadwinner at one point, the question is posed again.

Opponents worry that paying the first lady would set a precedent for senator and governor spouses, who perform many of the same duties on smaller scales. Some see the role as a privilege - an adventure! - that is served at the president's pleasure. Shudder. The president also earns $400,000 per year - eight times the average American household. Not to mention, it could make things messy for a president who prides himself on being clean and accountable. And, well, she's not asking for it!

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Laura Bush's Rumored Advance Looks Small Next to Hillary's

CitizenSugar — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 03:00:58 -0800

Outgoing First Lady Laura Bush is said to have received an advance of $1.6 million for her memoir, which is scheduled for release in 2010, though sources say it could be more. Though it seems like a large number, the sum is far below the rumored $8 million that Hillary Clinton received from Simon & Schuster for her eventual bestseller, Living History. The check is in line, however, with the $2 million Nancy Reagan and Laura's mother-in-law Barbara Bush were said to have received for their memoirs.

Yesterday 32 percent of CitizenSugar readers said they were interested in Laura's story, while 44 percent said they were more interested in Hillary's. Could it be no one expects Laura has a dirty story to tell, or is she simply perceived as less of a public figure and political powerhouse than Hillary?

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Which Former First Lady's Memoir Piques Your Interest?

CitizenSugar — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 09:30:46 -0800

Yesterday news broke that First Lady Laura Bush has signed on to pen a memoir with Scribner, the house of Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Laura's mother-in-law, Barbara Bush. The book is currently untitled, but scheduled for release in 2010, and it's unclear what type of secrets she will reveal. Memoirs are somewhat of a right of passage for former first ladies - Hillary Clinton, Barbara Bush and Nancy Davis Reagan have each written one. Is there one you find particularly alluring?
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First Lady or First Runner-Up? It's Harder Than You'd Think!

CitizenSugar — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 08:46:30 -0700

On my high school quiz team, I was the go-to gal for answers to any and all questions about former Miss Americas. Would that I were making that up for dramatic effect, but alas, it's true. That's why when I found this new quiz from the Radar masterminds - telling the difference between aspiring first ladies and beauty pageant contestants - I mean the Barack vs. Jesus quiz was not a fair fight, but this one! This is my event!

Or, uh, not. The proof of my utterly embarrassing performance. But in my defense! Anyone would put Adlai Stevenson's wife with a book about an Egghead. Come on! Take it for yourself and see if you can steal my tiara and/or tasteful pearls.

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Quiz Nation! Behind Every Great Man. . . .

LibertySugar — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 16:00:44 -0700

First ladies are everywhere! France's first lady, Carla Bruni, channeled a certain American first lady yesterday when she arrived in Great Britain. Hillary Clinton's travels with Sinbad as first lady (especially her recollection of them) are all over the news.

Since we paid tribute to America's presidents in our Presidential Faceoff, let's have a look at their better halves. Take the quiz and see what you know!

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New York Times Traces First Lady's Slave Roots

TresSugar — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:00:00 -0700

The New York Times ran a captivating historical piece today about a six-year-old slave named Melvinia. The paper traces her family's five-generation journey from slavery to modern success.

It's a fascinating American story that just so happens to be part of first lady Michelle Obama's story, too. Using old public records, fading photos, and recollections of older family members, the New York Times, along with genealogist Megan Smolenyak, have uncovered Melvinia's story, which fully connects the first lady to the history of slavery for the first time.

To see an excerpt from the piece, read more.

In 1850, the elderly master of a South Carolina estate took pen in hand and painstakingly divided up his possessions. Among the spinning wheels, scythes, tablecloths and cattle that he bequeathed to his far-flung heirs was a 6-year-old slave girl valued soon afterward at $475. In his will, she is described simply as the “negro girl Melvinia.” After his death, she was torn away from the people and places she knew and shipped to Georgia. While she was still a teenager, a white man would father her first-born son under circumstances lost in the passage of nearly two centuries.

In the annals of American slavery, this painful story would be utterly unremarkable, save for one reason: This union, consummated some two years before the Civil War, marked the origins of a family line that would extend from rural Georgia, to Birmingham, Ala., to Chicago and, finally, to the White House.

Melvinia Shields, the enslaved and illiterate young girl, and the unknown white man who impregnated her are the great-great-great-grandparents of Michelle Obama, the first lady.

To many, Michelle's family story powerfully represents African-American advancement. But her mixed background is also representative of Americans in general, as Henry Louis Gates, Jr. explored in his definitive documentary on genealogy called African American Lives. A historian who discovered that he had black relatives when he researched his memoir tells the New York Times: "We’ve all mingled, and we have done so for generations."

First Lady Offers First Rate Advice

TresSugar — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 11:00:00 -0700

For its annual Women of the Year issue, Glamour made Michelle Obama the first First Lady to grace its cover. The issue honors Michelle for her commitment to mentoring young women, and the First Lady shows off these mentoring skills inside the magazine, where she offers readers advice on life and love. Here are some excerpts:

On how it's important to invest in yourself: "I have always tried to put my kids first, and then. . . put myself a really close second, as opposed to fifth or seventh. One thing that I’ve learned from male role models is that they don’t hesitate to invest in themselves."
On what to look for in a partner: "Cute’s good. But cute only lasts for so long, and then it’s, Who are you as a person? Don’t look at the bankbook or the title. Look at the heart. Look at the soul. . . When you’re dating a man, you should always feel good . . . You shouldn’t be in a relationship with somebody who doesn’t make you completely happy and make you feel whole."

Do you think Michelle offers some solid advice?