M. Suzanne Terry

We’ve been training this week on a new program to implement to fight interpersonal violence on our campus, so there were several quotes that we heard throughout the week from inspirational sources. When we saw the quote from Obama’s Super Tuesday speech in 2008 – “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek,” I almost had to leave the room, because I am a damn professional and I recognized that it’s unsettling for others for me to sob in training. This week has been emotionally rough, in part because of the subject matter of our training, but also because saying goodbye to this administration is incredibly difficult.

Most of the time, blog posts are for you. Yes, they are navel-gazey and all about me, but I hope there is something that you can draw from them, and that’s usually my intention in writing them. But this one is just to mark the week. Maybe you need it, too, but it’s here because I need to pause and say thank you to the First Family for their service to our country.

1. Obama’s farewell speech (complete with transcript for those who are in public and can’t watch video. But also with video because take your earbuds to the library and watch it.)
2. One Last Time – Hamilton at the White House
3. The Bush sisters write the Obama sisters (do not read this in public – it has a high probability of making you ugly cry. Unless you like ugly-crying in public, and then…you do you)
4. Biden honored with Presidential Medal of Freedom (his little face!)
5. People tell Michelle Obama what she means to them (and then they get surprised – I would straight up fangirl all over the place)

Thank you to the Obamas and the Bidens for the last eight years. I’ve been proud to call you our leaders.