Tuesday, February 9: “Michelle Obama: First Lady, American Rhetor” presentation by UNCG faculty authors Jody Natalle and Jenni Simon. 4 p.m. Hodges Reading Room, Jackson Library 2nd floor, UNCG. FREE. “When Michelle Obama held the Bible for her husband’s swearing in on January 20, 2009, it was a turning point in first lady history,” write Jody Natalle and Jenni Simon of UNC Greensboro’s Communication Studies Department, who have produced an essay collection about Mrs. Obama. They go on to describe Mrs. Obama as “not the ordinary first lady we have come to expect as the supporter of the president. In fact, it is because she is extraordinary that we choose Michelle Obama for a rhetorical-cultural analysis that uncovers some of the ways American women communicate gender.” Their book, Michelle Obama: First Lady, American Rhetor is an edited anthology that explores the persona and speech-making of the country’s first African American first lady. The ...