Any news from Michelle Kwan these days?

jenaj · Nov 23, 2016

I remember now why BP is on my ignore list!

Blades of Passion · Nov 23, 2016

I can't believe this was already 7 years ago - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppc4UPI2CVs (Kwan's return to skating)

Already at that point it felt like she had been gone from skating for half of a lifetime.

Mathman · Nov 23, 2016

:

http://www.rutgersprep.org/kendall/7thgrade/cycleD_201314/09_PW/michelle_olympic_2.jpg

Mathman · Nov 23, 2016

Blades of Passion said:
I can't believe this was already 7 years ago - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppc4UPI2CVs (Kwan's return to skating)

Already at that point it felt like she had been gone from skating for half of a lifetime.

Thank you. :love:

Happy Thanksgiving!

skateluvr · Nov 23, 2016

This is great to see Mathman because most people who were her fans have no idea how much or exactly how hard she worded for Hillary. I am happy to see that. And in the politics thread I found two links that said top cyber people are trying to get Hillary to contest three states due to what they feel is evidence of Election Day hacking of electronic voting places.

But Obama White House wants clear quiet transition. I say shut up Mr President!!! Because theevidence is very compelling. And we saw what Putin did before the election. Aaaaand there are 6 electors so far on record who will be " faithless" electors who refuse to vote for trump. The popular vote for her has passed 2 million mark!!!

And lastly As Michellle may know there are like 5,000,000 sigs at Change.org trying to reach the electors to dump Trump. So cheer up Michelle and you have til Friday to file for Wisconsin revote. I mean your campaign. I hope they do it. It seems the right thing to do even if it makes Donald upset. But too bad. Fair elections without Russian hacking should be primary.

I wish Michelle had been really into maintaining her us fan base. We could use them now. So glad to see she did mingle with us regular folk!!! I guess social media is a necessary evil these days. And thanks for whoever compiles all that.

brightphoton · Nov 23, 2016

I'm not sure why everyone is so upset.
Just because someone had a great outside to inside change of edge spiral and a consistent Lutz, it doesn't mean they are a great politician, a great politician's wife, a good politician's surrogate, or even a great ambassador for certain organizations.

At least with Yuna Kim donates lots of money to UNICEF. What has Michelle ever done with her millions? In tech world, Bill Gates has started up a really big deal charity organization that tries to solve global problems, while his counterpart Steve Jobs bought yachts and avoided paying child support.

Anyone who followed the Rhode Island governor election knows that the Pell election campaign was run embarrassingly badly. From
- Clay Pell not living in the state prior to running for election
- Pell not really articulating why he should be governor of Rhode Island. At least not well ... if anyone watched his interviews, he didn't come off that very charismatic
- Clay Pell voted maybe 4 times since he turned 18
- Michelle Kwan only voted once since turning 18
- Michelle Kwan's Toyota Prius that was stolen/misplaced
- Michelle Kwan's Toyota Prius that was stolen ... a second time
- Michelle Kwan's Olympic hockey stick that was stolen

During the Hillary campaign, it looked like she was in charge of
- organizing the other employees and volunteers
- doing funny figure skating poses at the office
- wearing pretty clothes

Not blaming Michelle for either the Pell or Clinton loss, but she has not shown herself to possess the best political decision-making skills. At least, not in choosing which campaigns to join.

Now, does Michelle "owe" anybody anything? No. But if she wants to have a career as a politican, there are probably better paths to her goal.

Mathman · Nov 23, 2016

Here is a nice fluff piece from People magazine about Michelle and the campaign. Michelle says pretty definitely (last line) that she has no interest in running for political office.

http://people.com/celebrity/michelle-kwan-works-for-hillary-clinton/

el henry · Nov 23, 2016

I don't see anyone who is "upset", except for someone posting endless disses about Michelle Kwan.

I did not know very much about Michelle, TBH, other than her work for Hillary. I did not even follow her while she was skating. :roll9: now, thx to @icecoverage, @Mathman and @VietGrl, I have learned much more about her and have a renewed appreciation for how she has conducted her life off ice. I have connected with my friends in Wickford, and they have nothing but good to say about her.

So I thank you @BrightPhoton, for causing me to learn more about Michelle and increase my respect for her. :clap:

Happy Thanksgiving!

ice coverage · Nov 23, 2016

brightphoton said:
I'm not sure why everyone is so upset. ...

Let's see ... for starters:

(1) I'm upset that you do not know the meaning of the word "examples." :rofl:

(2) I'm upset because I have read so much nonsense in this thread.

Such as the assumption that being "common people" is a basis [ETA: a necessary basis] for success in politics. :rofl2:

The President-Elect of the U.S. received votes from over 60 million Americans, and he is far from "common people."
Same for the Democratic candidate, who is leading the popular vote.

ETA:

el henry said:
I don't see anyone who is "upset", except for someone posting endless disses about Michelle Kwan.

I did not know very much about Michelle, TBH, other than her work for Hillary. I did not even follow her while she was skating. :roll9: now, thx to @icecoverage, @Mathman and @VietGrl, I have learned much more about her and have a renewed appreciation for how she has conducted her life off ice. I have connected with my friends in Wickford, and they have nothing but good to say about her.

So I thank you @BrightPhoton, for causing me to learn more about Michelle and increase my respect for her.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well said, el henry

. Happy Thanksgiving to you :ghug:

.

I should not be upset.
I should have started each of my comments by saying instead that "I'm amused ...."
B/c the nonsense posts in this thread really are laughable.

clippers8200 · Nov 23, 2016

These posts are extremely misguided. I worked on the campaign as well and can attest to how much Michelle genuinely cares about issues. She isn't doing this to meet famous people, get praise, or post on her Instagram. She cares about promoting the AAPI community, about protecting those with disabilities, about making our country fairer and stronger. She worked extremely long hours seven days a week for the campaign and every single staff member appreciated the hard work she did. She was not in charge of "organizing the other employees and volunteers," she was in charge of making sure that other surrogates were willing and able to promote the campaign's message on a variety of platforms. So she may have well used her celebrity to do that, but she did it to do help the campaign and in the interest of her country. She is not a politician, so I don't think it's even fair for you to make these invalid characterizations -- she has been a dedicated staff member to causes she believes in. Nothing is wrong with that.

brightphoton · Nov 23, 2016

Mathman said:
Here is a nice fluff piece from People magazine about Michelle and the campaign. Michelle says pretty definitely (last line) that she has no interest in running for political office.

http://people.com/celebrity/michelle-kwan-works-for-hillary-clinton/

That's good. Especially after the mess of the Rhode Island gubernatorial election, I'm sure she wants a break.

Mathman said:
She also went to Wartburg College, Simpson College and Drake University on this junket. Just plain folks, one stop after another. :yes:

It's ironic that the Clinton campaign chose Michelle to tell millennials in college to early vote, considering Michelle was a non-voter in her youth. But something worked. In the electoral college, Iowa was a sea of red countries, and ultimately went to Trump, but the college areas were blue.

She does good work with the Special Olympics too.

I think Michelle might be better as a "goodwill ambassador" rather than a politician. She excels at giving positive speeches, looking good, and doing photo ops. The nice thing about this is that she can do this under any presidency, Bush, Clinton or Trump.
- hey college smarties, you should vote!
- go Special Olympics!
- go skating, and exercise in general!- go Asian and Pacific Islanders?

However, when her husband forayed into politics, and she had to think on her feet, her contribution was a lost hockey stick. Her husband could do politics and make her a political wife, but he needs to also make better political decisions.

Skateluvr, I don't think Trump is going to be un-elected. It just seems ... unrealistic? Has anyone been un-elected before? In the future, perhaps we should go back to the old-style paper ballots. They're harder to hack.

stella luna · Nov 23, 2016

As with many of my favorite skaters who are no longer on the competitive circuit, I would still love to see Michelle skate again. It wouldn't matter if she didn't have all of her jumps.

drivingmissdaisy said:
She seems like a perfectionist who might not want to perform in shows if she is unable to reproduce anything close to her competitive form. She had some serious physical ailments at the end of her career that, along with her age, may prevent her from skating as well as she'd like to.

Mathman · Nov 23, 2016

brightphoton said:
Anyone who followed the Rhode Island governor election knows that the Pell election campaign was run embarrassingly badly...

I am trying to understand why you are obsessing over whether Clay Pell ran a good campaign or a bad one two years ago. Do you live in Rhode Island? (In retrospect, no one was going to beat the candidate of the Democratic establishment, Gina Raimondo, who was also backed by a war chest from big money interests. Raimondo, by the way, is already floating speculation about possibly entering the Presidential race in 4 years.)

Anyway, I like Michelle and wish for the best for her. We have watched her mature from a little girl with a talent for sliding on ice into a woman of substance, compassion and charm. It seems both pointless and small-spirited to rag on her on a figure skating board, a decade after she left the sport.

lyndichee · Nov 24, 2016

skateluvr said:
Calm down lyndichee are you Danny Kwan. Giant bold sentences about what people can and cannot opine. So Brightphoton is perhaps not a Michelle Fan. Maybe he preferred Tara and Sarah. I started the thread to ask folks what they heard especially after the election which was devastating for so many people. I don't have a problem with someone who is not a fan of any skater I liked- why is he a troll? Because he is critical of her and doesn't worship her? That is ok.

Please address my individual points. Where am I wrong? Why is my statement wrong? You can't even put together a coherent argument. You can't just dislike something because it doesn't agree with your entitlement. It is wrong for you to say that Michelle owes the public a performance because does not. She never promised, she fulfilled her contractual obligations on tour and for company sponsorships and she has no contractual obligation to skate for anyone. Morally, she fulfilled her side of the agreement and has not agreed to anything.

If you did some due diligence by looking at a few of my posts rather than resort to a personal attack, I am a young female who lives in Canada.

You were ignorant; you don't know what is going on social media. Yet you formed an opinion based off of one person's obviously negative opinion. That should suggest there is bias and you should do your due diligence to research.

skateluvr said:
If we all agreed it would be very dull. Sometimes users get upset at what they read but maybe it is a relative. Anyway I don't usually respond tit for tat. But I think the skaters I respect the most have really done a lot of free shows for so many causes and I kind of expect that from the most rich successful lucky skaters out there. That is how I think.

We might not all agree on who is a good skater/who is the best artist, but this is not a matter of opinion. It is a matter of fact; Michelle Kwan does not owe anyone a performance. Why you think she does and that her life choices make her selfish is unfounded and unreasonable.

You don't respond tit for tat shows me you are unwillingly to to have a productive discussion. Unless you are unable to prove that Michelle Kwan owes you something? Because she got paid millions for fulfilling contractual obligations now she should dance like a monkey on ice because "it is owed"? At least I can break down your opinions and dissect what is wrong with them.

skateluvr said:
I really wonder how many skaters, coaches, judges etc read here regularly. Not to mention family. Anyway when someone is a sports celebrity working high up in a political campaign- that is a public person. I truly doubt Michelle cares either way how she is perceived here- though I WOULD BET MONEY A CURRENT SKATER - Gracie Gold knows all about what we say about her. She is not a tough girl. Anyway Michelle is a long way away from caring about skating fans opinions of her. That much is clear. But I think people should be able to say what they think unless it is fake news, false gossip or really breaching the rules. I have never called anyone a troll. I think that is pretty mean to a fellow poster even if you hate what they think.

You don't know if Michelle cares or not. You don't even know recent news about her until you asked when it was easily googled. Just because Michelle's life does revolve around skating anymore, doesn't mean she doesn't care. Frankly if she had the choice between promoting figure skating and a candidate that she believed could be the best choice for arguably the most powerful person in the world, I would prioritize the latter. Clearly with the popular vote controversy, the fight for her is not over.

brightphoton · Nov 24, 2016

Mathman said:
I am trying to understand why you are obsessing over whether Clay Pell ran a good campaign or a bad one two years ago. Do you live in Rhode Island? (In retrospect, no one was going to beat the candidate of the Democratic establishment, Gina Raimondo, who was also backed by a war chest from big money interests. Raimondo, by the way, is already floating speculation about possibly entering the Presidential race in 4 years.)

No, I followed it because:
1) I want to see how mid-30s Michelle (and her husband, I guess) fares at politics, given her previous aspirations and college and post-college degree. Some people are happy to look at the announcement for candidacy and say wow, okay, and move onto a new tab. That's fine, but I'm interested how well she navigates politics and the issues that come up.

She has two degrees in International Relations or Political Science or something, and she married a famous politician's grandson. She learned about how to navigate Washington under the Bush administration, and she did some more work under the Obama administration. Then, for some reason, her husband chooses to make his entry-level job in politics the governor of Rhode Island. Inexplicable, but ambitious.

What choices would she and her husband make?
How would she and her husband convince voters that they're serious about Rhode Island?
What issues would they chose to cover?
How would they navigate an election campaign and its inevitable surprise issues?

My favorite politicians don't win all the time. But when they lose, they lose with dignity, or with as much dignity one can have in politics. Whatever issues they campaigned for, they made a good case for them during the election. They can still garner future supporters based on their platform. The Pell campaign performed disappointingly in that regard.
This election could have established Clay Pell, and by extension, Michelle Kwan, as a supporter for public pension reform, perhaps Social Security reform, and job growth. But instead, post-election, he became known as some rich kid with a famous wife and famous grandfather, who can't bother to vote and lost his wife's car, twice.

Which is why Michelle has stopped doing politics, when she could have been one of the more prominent go-to experts for Social Security retirement monies. It's a shame, really.

2) Heck, I love a media circus. And that race turned into a delightful media circus.

Mrs. P · Nov 24, 2016

FWIW, it's clear that Michelle still follows skating, because she often tweets in response to skater's tweets such as:

* This one from Evgenia Medvedeva congratulating Ashley on her SA win: https://twitter.com/MichelleWKwan/status/790264424393310208
* Also to this GS tweet (!!) quoting Ashley: https://twitter.com/MichelleWKwan/status/716009655089106944
* This one from Arsenio Hall letting Michelle know he was going to watch Jason Brown compete at Glacier Falls: https://twitter.com/MichelleWKwan/status/759524826335895552

She even made a photo collage for Yuna Kim for her 25th: https://twitter.com/MichelleWKwan/status/772906666228641792

brightphoton · Nov 24, 2016

skateluvr said:
it makes sense to ask here but it's in cafe thread now? Oi vey. Yes easy to google but not easy or in my plans to do Twitter Instagram etc. so Imask here. Moving the tread is rude mods. Too sick to bother with the games played.

It's okay when mods discusses politics in the Edge, but when someone else does it, off to the Cafe it goes.

skateluvr · Nov 24, 2016

Especially me. Lol. I just hope Clinton announces quickly the recount because I believe she wins. We cannot let it all go. Al gore fought and we saw how Jeb Bush fixed Florida for Bubba there. I believe we can turn this ship away from hitting the ice berg. Please anyone post news.

Icey · Nov 24, 2016

Can't believe she is 36. If you look at the donor political records from California, you will find that Michelle gave to the Republican party during that period, never to a Democratic candidate. Wonder why the change occurred in party and when?

Mathman · Nov 24, 2016

Icey said:
Can't believe she is 36. If you look at the donor political records from California, you will find that Michelle gave to the Republican party during that period, never to a Democratic candidate. Wonder why the change occurred in party and when?

I don't know about Michelle's family for sure, but many Chinese immigrants to California from places like Hong Kong and Taiwan traditionally voted Republican. I doubt that Michelle paid any attention to partisan politics in her youth. Her first exposure (to this dismal profession) came through her first political mentor, then-Secratary of State Condoleezza Rice. Through Rice's influence she got an appointment as goodwill ambassador in the George W. Bush administration, and she decided to take up political studies and international affairs in college and graduate school. She was more or less on the Republican side in this period, though, again, she cared more about public service than about partisan politics.

When President Obama took office in 2008, Michelle's appointment to the U.S. State Department was extended and expanded. (She became a "Senior Advisor," a title that must have made her smile.) Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was her boss, whom she admired just as she had admired Secretary Rice. After two years of working in the Obama administration she figured she had better join the Democratic party (2010).

She met her future husband, Clay Pell, in 2011 when both applied for a white house internship. Pell got the Fellowship and, as Michelle said later, she got the Fellow. They hit it off immediately and found that, political parties aside, they had a lot in common in terms of their ideas for and commitment to public service, especially in the fields of education and of equality of opportunity for women. (Pell himself had been raised a Republican, although he was the grandson of Democratic Senator from Rhode Island, Claiborne Pell. Clay "converted" when he went to college at Harvard.)

Any news from Michelle Kwan these days?

jenaj

Blades of Passion

Skating is Art, if you let it be

Mathman

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skateluvr

brightphoton

Mathman

el henry

Go have some cake. And come back with jollity.

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clippers8200

brightphoton

stella luna

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lyndichee

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Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!

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