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Linae Rangel  Ever since I can remember I wanted to be a teacher. I loved school, played school, and dreamed about my next visit to the Northern School Supply in Fargo, No. Dakota (conveniently near my home). My maternal great-grandparents were immigrant farmers from Norway. My great-aunt Isabelle was a teacher in a one-room school on the prairie. My father was able to trace his roots as far back as 1760’s Virginia, where the paper trail ended. Both his grandfathers fought in the Civil War. He was a successful, “self-made” businessman. However, he confided to me later in life that he would have really liked to have been a social studies teacher. Although he only completed a formal education to the 10th grade, some of my most precious memories are of my dad reciting Shakespeare and Edgar Allen Poe. My mother took me to the library. She got me hooked on Dr. Seuss. She read to me as we cuddled. She read with me as we giggled. She listened so intently and approvingly as I read to her. True to my Norwegian/English heritage, I love to travel, explore, and learn about different people and places. In high school I studied Latin, French, and Spanish. After graduation I went to Cali, Colombia, as an exchange student. In college I went to Paris, France, to student teach at a bilingual school. Marriage and babies slowed me down quite a bit, but Spanish became the language spoken at home, and México my home away from home! I raised four children - an actor, a poet, a linguist, and a soon-to-be teacher who all speak English and Spanish (one also speaks French). At Riverview I’m still teaching language and culture --- even Mexican folkdance, from my wheelchair. In conclusion, I would like to share a few words of wisdom which were made famous in my family by my brother who recited them as a young child in school: I saw a bird up in the sky It dropped some whitewash in my eye I will not pout, I will not cry I sure am glad that cows don’t fly!!! |