A Window Into Another World

As a tiny girl, I grew up in a world of different languages. Although it was only a small
town in rural Illinois, my town was full of immigrants from 'the old world' who carried with
them their own native languages and traditions. Every day I heard German and Polish, and
occasionally Italian. My British grandfather and uncle, who spoke a decidedly different form of
English, recited me nursery rhymes in Welsh. Before I was old enough to speak, it seemed
normal to me that different people spoke in different ways. Therefore, it seemed natural that I
would someday learn to speak in as many different ways possible.
I heard the stories of my grandfather's trip from England when he was nine years old, of
sailing into New York harbor, and I dreamed of ocean voyages and seeing the Statue of Liberty
as he had. While I didn't know what I would need to know in order to accomplish a life of travel,
I did have the wanderlust early. My small farming community did not offer many chances for
big dreams. I knew that learning a foreign language would be one ticket out of that small town
that trapped its residents into either a life of farming or one in the coal mines. It was not an ideal
place for a little girl with big dreams, but it did spark in me a desire for a broader world.
From my earliest memory, I was a storyteller like my family around me. Rich oral
traditions were part and parcel of my family life, and I learned early that my stories would need
to be interesting if they were to be heard. Observing and remembering the lives and events
around me became important, and my earliest journals reflect a fascination with nature as well as
character in my daily life. I wanted to meet and talk to as many people as possible.
When I reached high school, my interest in languages was rekindled. Because there were

only two languages offered, I did not have much of a choice. Reasoning that not as many people
in the world spoke French, I chose Spanish. And so began the journey that became one of the
best decisions I would ever make.
Although I was not a stellar student in high school Spanish, I did love the language. Not
only did I find the rules of pronunciation and grammar to be easier than English, I thought it
beautiful and poetic. As I continued, I found that it appealed to my sense as a writer. I had
always been a keen diarist and poet, and the studies of poets such as Pablo Neruda and Jorge
Luis Borges inspired me to try writing my own simple poems. While I was not terribly
enthusiastic about plowing through longer literature such as Lazarillo de Tormes, I did appreciate
short stories such as those by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, whose stories I still love to this day.
A pivotal event in my life was a trip to Spain my 17th summer. As a student at the
Universidad de Salamanca, I took an intensive course in language and literature. It was there
that my future career was charted. Not only had my language immersion begun in earnest, but I
also became immersed in the study of the greats of Spanish writing. This experience shaped my
desire to continue my studies in the future and to become a Spanish teacher. I also continued
writing my own poetry and short stories.
A watershed event occurred during my university years. I had the amazing good fortune
to be hired as a student worker in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature at SIU
Carbondale, where my supervisor, Dr. D. Lincoln Canfield, was chair. Dr. Canfield was
considered the worlds foremost authority on Hispanic linguistics; he was also the author of a
dictionary with the University of Chicago. I became fascinated with the area of linguistics, and
Dr. Canfield even taught me a great deal about American linguistics in his spare time. However,

it was also during my employment in that department that I was able to work with other
professors of literature teachers of my courses who spent time with me outside of class to
work on my poetry and short fiction.
My teaching career afforded me the opportunity to travel, both with students and alone.
During some summers, I would enroll in summer immersion classes in which I would study
language and literature while living in a Spanish-only local home. My experiences in Spain,
Costa Rica, Mexico, Colombia, and Peru were life-altering, as I met people who would become
life-long friends. Not only did I gain a greater knowledge of new vocabulary and different
dialects of Spanish, I encountered new poets and authors such as Olga Elena Mattei, Mercedes
Abad, and Clara Jans. Most importantly, I made lifelong friends with whom I am still in contact
today. My life and learning have been the richer for it.
I still read my favorite poets and authors and seek out new ones. Among all the different
dialects and literary styles there is much more for me to learn, and I work to keep my fluency by
reading and writing. By continuing to read favorite authors such as Garcia Marquez and finding
new writers and poets, I find more to love about the language I chose so long ago.
By traveling to new places, immersing myself in the culture and history, and studying
literature, I discover new writers and also find new experiences about which to write. By
learning Spanish, not only did I learn a new language, but I gained access to another, more richly
textured world.
Courage is to tell the story of who you are with your whole heart.
Whether you succeed or not is irrelevant. Making the unknown known is what is
important. Georgia O'Keefe