There exists a moment halfway through Oprah Winfrey’s “The Life You Want Weekend” when you question whether you will ever actually see Oprah. Or if you still want to.
Don’t misunderstand me; she is everywhere. At least in O Town - the pop-up theme park town of hospitality tents, set up in all eight cities she is touring this drop. But it is Faux-prah - not her full-bodied self - that greets the thousands of women who pour into these outdoor marketplaces, always situated a brief walking distance from where she and her self-help “trailblazers” ultimately talk.
“Quick, let’s take a picture with her and post it on Facebook, ” said one woman who arrived at the Detroit O Town on a gloomy Friday morning last month. I whipped my head around looking for Oprah, just to see the woman race off with her friend to a life-size version of The popular host oprah on a large screen filled with the tour’s logo - an orange-and-yellow range, signifying the renewal and energy of a sunrise. A willing stranger clicked their picture as they mimicked Oprah’s stance in the photo - arms uncovered to the world, mouths wide open with glee.
“One from the reasons I stepped off the show, ” Oprah confided in us, “is because the only thing I was really interested in talking about is what we are talking about these days, ” adding later, “I am here to help you turn up the volume in your life” - which appeared to work, particularly in the afternoon, when an impromptu conga line took place on the floor.
In between the workshops, we heard from Oprah’s trailblazers. Tag Nepo’s meditation nearly put me to sleep, but Elizabeth Gilbert of “Eat, Pray, Love” fame, perked me up with her perkiness immediately. She advised us to become the heroes of our own stories (something she certainly overcome when Julia Roberts played her), then Iyanla Vanzant, the biggest star apart from Oprah on OWN, told us to get rid of the “humping puppies” (the unfavorable voices in our heads) while sipping Champagne (it was her birthday, and that we all sang to her).
After various breaks (including an arena-wide team SoulCycle session) and a lengthy lunch (where everyone complained about the cost as well as quality of the food, including the $15 pre-ordered Oprah box lunch, which included only half a sandwich, an apple, a bag of chips and water), I felt as if I had been at a weeklong slumber party - tired as well as emotional and ready to go home.
Oprah, however , still seemed ready to go. Turns out she experienced even gone out to the parking lot for a mimosa with a group of tailgating females. “All of a sudden she climbed out of a black car and had been taking pictures with us, ” said Patty Waynick, 48, who, unlike me, have been able to get close enough to Gayle to make the request that Oprah visit their own group.
Wondering whether anyone had actually found the “life they wanted” over the weekend, I decided to contact a few of my new friends. Jen Muse, forty two, an architect from Ohio who had sat next to me, said: “I want I had a super ‘aha’ that made me realize how to live my best living, but it’s just not that easy. But what I did take away is that all the stresses as well as trials are O. K. They are part of my journey. ”
And though Erica Hobbs and Jeanine Smith had both found the consumerism distasteful, the actual speakers seemed to have made them forget the expense. “I believe what Oprah states, that we are the masters of our fate, ” said Ms. Smith, a songs composer. “Life is not serendipity but opportunity, and you have to be prepared for it in regards your way and align it. ”
“I was totally blown away, ” stated Ms. Hobbs, who initially bought her ticket just to hear Ms. Gilbert speak. “I am now completely on the Oprah bandwagon. ”
“To notice her in person, with her presence and energy, cannot be replicated, ” she additional. “She is a force out there. ”
Even Ms. Hall, who seemed to require Oprah the least of anyone in the audience, said she couldn’t help however admire what she was achieving on the tour. “She creates a safe, comfy atmosphere for women where they can be emotional, ” Ms. Hall said. “I have not seen so many friendly women in one place. ”
Perhaps Oprah’s parting terms also helped. “Thank you for your money, ” she said, shortly before putting in a bid her devotees goodbye. “I know how hard you all work. ”
After which, on my way out, I somehow found I couldn’t help myself any longer. I gone and bought her book and one of her $60 hoodies.
Feeling tired - O Town in Detroit was a coffee-free area, unfortunately - we headed to the Reinvention Tent, where we quickly fulfilled some people filling in the end of the sentence “I bring it by... ” on a white board wall. As I looked at what others had written - “Paying attention, ” “Staying connected, ” “Loving others” - I turned and found next to me a guy contemplating his answer, an exotic sight in the heavily female O City.
“I am here because my wife put a gun to my mind, ” he deadpanned.
Waiting for a Pantene-sponsored head massage, I met Pamela McCoy, 65, a retired nurse. “I am just so excited to be right here, ” she said, though she admitted to being slightly annoyed which her two working daughters could not join her until 7 that night, whenever Oprah would finally take the stage. “There is so much to do here and thus many people to meet, ” she said enthusiastically, excited about the packed schedule associated with events taking place outside on the O Town stage - yoga sessions, food preparation demonstrations and a fashion show featuring University of Michigan cheerleaders.
In a 45-minute-long line, where one could win a $999 V. I. P. upgrade, all of us met Evelyn Oja, 54, the mother of three 20-something boys all nevertheless living at home. “I came alone, wanting to become a calmer person, ” stated Ms. Oja, who said she has been a huge Oprah fan ever since the girl first watched her show on “A. M. Chicago” in the mid-’80s.
“If I wanted a girl’s weekend, I would have gone shopping with my friends, ” she additional, obviously not yet aware of how much shopping was actually taking place all around her.
In the close by Oprah shop, women were whipping out their credit cards to buy Oprah’s guide “What I Know for Sure” ($25), as well as “Oprah’s Soul Library” (five included paperbacks for $79), not to mention the T-shirts ($38), hoodies ($60) and cell phone covers ($20), all branded with Oprah’s big “O” signature, alongside the peace and love sign.
Meanwhile, my friend Achla was getting cranky. Not just did we not win the V. I. P. upgrade, which would possess gotten us floor seats for that night and access to special V. We. P. tent lines (kind of like Disney’s FastPass), but the freebies had been scarce.
“You came! You’re here! ” she shouted to be able to us. “Why are you here? ” she continued, calming us down. “I don’t sing or dance, and Stedman said to tell you I don’t have a strike record, ” she said teasingly, referring to her boyfriend, Stedman Graham. Due to the fact the last time I had been at this arena, which has a capacity of 20, 000, would see a sold-out Coldplay concert, I had to stop and think. But then she clarified the question for us, “I am here to help you figure out why you are here. ” Later, she would admit that even Oprah sometimes needs Oprah’s help. “Now and then I listen to a tape of what I have said to take my own guidance, ” she told us. I wondered if she had to pay for which.
For the next two hours, Oprah revealed herself to us under a Jumbotron screen of serenity - images of an oak grove where she loves to sit and think, of water flowing over rocks, and sunrises approaching over horizons. Punctuating her story about being an unwanted child, getting pregnant in 14, breaking into television at 19 and changing her show to become a force of good, not evil, in the late ’80s, she told us stories regarding Stevie Wonder, Maya Angelou, Steven Spielberg and Mr. Graham. “Stedman explained I am not a nice person, but that Gayle is, ” she stated, making us laugh alongside her.
And though she shared her favorite educational quotes from Martin Luther King Jr. and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, among others, it was Oprah’s catchphrases - “You are the master of your fate, ” “You are responsible for the energy you bring into your space, ” “Whatever has occurred to you has happened for you” - that had the crowd clapping, waving, crying and hugging. Finally, around 9 p. m., she delivered us home like schoolchildren, instructing us to “get ready to use our own power” the next morning, when we were all due back at 9.
When i walked out with my new girlfriends from Ohio, one of them said: “I feel like we were in a living room, not a concert hall, tonight. It really feels like she actually is your friend. ” I had to agree, though others felt less girl-friendly about Oprah.
“I don’t worship at the altar of Oprah, so I discovered it rather strange that people around me were chanting, ” said Nadine Hall, 46, a teacher, who came only because she was given a free ticketed that day. “But I am probably not her target audience. I don’t need to find objective or repurpose in my life right now. I am actually quite happy. ” I asked yourself if she would be bored the next day.
When we returned Saturday morning, the industry had a completely different feel from the previous night. With the lights now upward and our wristbands turned off, you could see the seats were only a bit more compared to half full. Gone was Oprah’s gown, replaced with work clothes - bluejeans, a red twin set and red glasses to match (that afternoon she'd change into a turquoise top with yet another pair of matching glasses).
Now we kept workbooks in our hands for the three Oprah-led workshops we would experience that time, and it was clear that it was time to get serious. And we did, first through writing a paragraph on what we wish for someone we love (spoiler advise - it turns out to be you); then filling out a pie chart of our life with happy and sad faces (“This can’t be good, ” Achla believed to me, giving me a peek at her circle full of frowns); and finally making a vision for our future - something we did not have to do that day however were meant to work on in the future. I tried to vision, visioning.
“Where’s the free vehicle? ” Achla asked, remembering the 2004 TV show in which Oprah gave everybody in the audience a brand new Pontiac G6. I pointed out that there was indeed a car within the Toyota-sponsored tent, where she could have her picture taken, and that we had certainly received both a travel-size tube of Crest and a small bag associated with Tide capsules in the Reinvention tent, but that did not help.
It turned out i was not the only ones feeling anger over the disorganization and dollar signs. “I failed to come all this way to stand in lines, ” said Jeanine Smith, who had flown to Detroit from North Carolina to meet her sister and mother who reside in Chicago (the family estimated that the cost of the weekend, with hotel, plane tickets, food and transportation, was totaling $2, 000).
“I wonder how much you have to spend to not have to pay for stuff? ” asked Erica Hobbs, 30, who had purchased a ticket for $199. “I came here to be spiritual, not commercial, ” she added.
Like us, most women ended up leaving O Town after a few hours and heading to the nearby super-mall, where we could all do some actual shopping and bonding (our plastic Oprah wristbands made it easy to identify each other in the stores).
But that night, everything changed. And not just because the two women through Ohio sitting next to me generously gave me one of the four glasses of chardonnay that they had bought at the concession stand just before the show started. It was because the second had finally come: to see Oprah... not on TV, not on the cover of the magazine or a book, not on her OWN network, but in person.
When the lamps went dark, everyone’s cheering immediately subsided. Oprah’s voice started booming with the arena, but like the Wizard of Oz behind the curtain, she would still be not visible. “In the words of Carl Sagan, ” she said, “we are made of star stuff. ” Our wristbands suddenly lit up a white. It was as if she had the power to turn the room and us into one large constellation.
“We love you Oprah! ” people started shouting. And then just like her soothing voice reminded us that “No matter how dark this gets on the hills, the sun will always rise, ” she rose, on some kind of elevator complete with stairs that she then walked down onto the phase to join us. With our wristbands now glowing orange to reflect the sun as well as her full-length gown a shimmering green, people jumped to their feet evangelically clapping wildly.
View the original article here
No comments :
Post a Comment