NONFICTION  -  
​      With a Theme of Time    
"I remember as an entering freshman, being downstairs in Dwinelle Hall,
standing in an empty hallway,
reading the results of the Spanish Language Placement Test scores posted on the wall."

                 Photo by Weebly.com                         

Circle in Time
by  Barbara Applegate

Photo by Barbara Applegate
How many years ago was it that I would sit perhaps on a bench in Dwinelle Plaza* and watch the world go by? The benches are still there and more trees have been planted. The brick designs in the concrete look the same. I can still see the top of the Campanile and nearby Wheeler Hall. But how different I look from the young girl who would sit, perhaps on this very bench, and watch the world go by 65 years ago.
 
Only an occasional small group and a sprinkling of individuals are walking across Dwinelle Plaza on this bright summer day. How I would love to sit here mid-semester to see more of how the world of this plaza has changed. I wonder if all the students are still addressed as Mr. or Miss So-and-so by the professors and if the professors are still addressed always by their title and last name. Thinking back to those long-ago years, I remember how sitting in Dwinelle Plaza in the sun watching fellow students pass by was such a pleasure to me. Sixty-five years later, it still is.
*  Author's Note:   Dwinelle Plaza, University of California, Berkeley, CA
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As I sit here, I can't help but think about my student days in the early 60's. I remember as an entering freshman, being downstairs in Dwinelle Hall, standing in an empty hallway, reading the results of the Spanish Language Placement Test scores posted on the wall. I stood there reading and rereading my name. Was there a mistake? My name was listed with those eligible to enroll in Spanish IV, yet I had only two years of high school Spanish. My score demonstrated a knowledge of Spanish equivalent to having already completed 12 college units! I stood there in shock, and in that very moment, felt Destiny placing her hands on my shoulders and turning me onto a path that I would follow for the next 40 years. ​I knew then that my love of Mexico and its people, which were in my blood, and my academic experience were going to be integrated.
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Many times over the years I have questioned my destined path. Why didn't I go to Mexico where I could stay with my father? Why didn't I go to school in Mexico? How was I going to earn a living? I would just have to fall back on teaching. Do I really want to do that? I carried those 10-pound, 4 inches thick anthologies of Spanish literature around for what? I should have majored in my second love; botany! Something practical!
 
But year after year I kept on; taking the next step that my old friend Destiny pointed out to me. After graduation and another year for a teaching credential, with intervening visits to Mexico where my love for the people, the culture and the language steadily deepened, I set out on my destined path: high school Spanish teacher (misery!), bilingual Head Start teacher (fun and wonderful learning experience), bilingual Head Start Director (fun and challenging), Director of a Community College Child Development Center (creative and challenging), county-wide Child Development Coordinator (exciting, creative and challenging). After all these years I look back and see that spending my life working for equity for Spanish speaking children and their families truly was my destiny.
 
So here I am, 65 years later, returned as a visitor to campus; no 10-pound texts to carry, no student papers to grade, no Head Start home visits to make, no teacher applicants to interview, no classrooms to visit. It is as if I have circled back in time as I sit here on this warm summer day in Dwinelle Plaza.
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​​Barbara Applegate received a BA at UC Berkeley, with a major in Spanish, and an MS in Education at CSU, East Bay. As an administrator of Early Childhood Education, she developed a program to teach parents in non-English speaking families the value of helping their children retain the home language while learning English. She is the mother of 3 daughters, a traveler and a contemplative. She loves taking writing classes - not only because she learns from them, but because they give her structure for writing.
Other works in this issue:
Inside OLLI
​Interview with Mike Lambert


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Vistas & Byways Review is the semiannual journal of creative writing and photography by members of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at San Francisco State University​.
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at San Francisco State University (OLLI at SF State) provides communal and material support to theVistas & Byways  ​volunteer staff.
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