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CSUN College of Humanties Newsletter
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"As Shirley Jones sang in Oklahoma, ‘Never ask an August Sky, where has last July gone?’ "

 

Not quite the PROUST QUESTIONNAIRE continued from p. 3


Robert LopezDr. Robert Lopez
English Department


What is your idea of perfect happiness?
The year 1987, minus the Stock Market Crash.
Which historical figure do you mostly identify with?
It’s a tie: Phillis Wheatley and Walt Whitman, two writers who found creative happiness in unexpected places.
Which living person do you most admire?
Bobby Jindal, governor of Louisiana, and General David Petraeus.
What is your favorite journey?
My 2004 trip through Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana.
What or who is the greatest love of your life?
My wife, of course.
Which talent would you most like to have?
I wish I could have the flexibility I had when I studied dance, as a teenager.
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
I’d put my foot in my mouth less often.
If you were to die and come back as a person or thing, what do you think it would be?
A turtle. They look so laid back and self-sufficient.
What is your most treasured possession?
My daughter.
What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
What is misery?
Who are your favorite writers?
Aeschylus, Virgil, St. Paul, Boccaccio, Wheatley, Thoreau, Poe, Whitman, Melville, William Wells Brown (the guys I teach).
Who is your favorite hero of fiction?
Hector, Prince of Troy- I like family values and lost causes.
What is your motto?
As Shirley Jones sang in Oklahoma, “Never ask an August Sky, where has last July gone?”

Yarma Velazquez VargasDr. Yarma Velázquez Vargas
Chicana/o Studies Department


What is your idea of perfect happiness?

I don’t believe in perfect happiness. I LOVE an imperfect world and the messiness of life. But cake, health and living passionately make me happy.
Which historical figure do you mostly identify with?
I don’t identify with any historical figures, but I admire Pedro Albizu Campos and Susan Brownell Anthony among others.
Which living person do you most admire?
What a complicated question; as a scholar I admire the work of Judith Butler, Eileen Meehan, Lee Edelman, but there is no comparison to the love and admiration I feel towards my parents.
What is your favorite journey?
My favorite journey is the one that takes me to the place where the heart beats faster, my smile is bigger and my lungs complain.  San Juan!
What or who is your greatest love?
My greatest love is my family and their complex imperfections.
If you could change one thing about yourself what would it be?
I would be a night person, it seems to me that I miss all the fun.
If you could come back as a thing what would it be?
If I could come back as a thing I would come back as a wooden spoon, to always be in the middle of the action.
What is your most treasured possession?
My computer because it gives infinite joy. The computer facilitates my work, guards my secrets, stores the images of the past, allows me to communicate with my loved ones, and facilitates my procrastination.
What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
Unwanted loneliness. There are times when you seek for personal space, but loneliness can be cruel and merciless.  Interestingly, often we are lonely in a crowd.
Who is your favorite hero of fiction?
My apologies, but I hate fiction.
What is your motto?
My motto comes from a salsa song from Hector Lavoe “vive tu vida contento y asi viviras muy bien. Que si te apuras te mueres si no te apuras tambien.”

 

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