A Spiritual Thing

Francine Oputa can't be missed on campus with her bright smile and humble determination to help others

By CINDY GONZALES

If you’ve seen Francine Oputa walking across the Fresno State campus, she has probably smiled at you and said hi in her sweet voice — even if she doesn’t know your name.

You have recognized her, though; Oputa is the type of person you don’t forget easily.

She dresses in bright, colorful gowns embroidered around the neckline, framing her face, and ties her short hair back, drawing attention to her soulful black eyes.

“Francine is a beautiful person who is talented, gifted and concerned about her community,” said MaryLee McGough, Poetry Jam co-coordinator and Women’s Resource Center volunteer.

Oputa is the Women’s Resource Center director who runs support groups and is involved in crisis/peer counseling and is in the midst of creating the Central Valley Cultural Heritage Institute.

Involved in several different organizations and hoping to finish her doctorate before the end of the year, Oputa said she hopes to be “accessible to people for whatever reason.”

Having known many students during her career at Fresno State, Oputa said she gets the most satisfaction from being a part of students’ lives and seeing them develop into confident and self-assured graduates.

“The energy you get from the students is unbelievable,” Oputa said. “I love my job. I love what I do here.”

Marcy Cuellar, a junior majoring in fine arts who said she “hangs out in the Women’s Resource Center,” believes Oputa’s outgoing personality is what gets people motivated to make a difference.

“When I see her working with people, she’s always doing a good job,” Cuellar said.

After talking to her, you realize it may be her voice that draws you in. Oputa talks in a slow, quiet tone that resonates the letters of each word she is saying to create a hypnotizing melody.

Creating is something Oputa is familiar with. She is also a performance artist.

She is currently working on her show, “An Evening of Storytelling, Poetry and Song,” which takes place Feb. 18 and 19 at Edison High School.

Oputa, the daughter of a Baptist pastor, said she has been performing for as long as she can remember, whether it be in the church’s Easter play or the elementary or junior high choir.

Although Oputa has been performing for a long time, she does not prepare for her shows in the typical way of rehearsing each piece days before.

“I can’t explain it,” Oputa said, “but I can feel what I’m supposed to do. It kind of flows.”

When she picks a piece from her repertoire to perform, Oputa said she wakes up early that morning and spends time on meditating, then chooses what she will be performing that night.

Oputa is concerned with the message that her performance has on her audience.

“It’s never about me, the performer,” Oputa said. “It’s what I feel is supposed to be said to this group.”

She said she usually has a couple of pieces in mind and when she arrives at the performance venue, it becomes clear what she’s going to perform.

“When it comes, it comes, and I know it was interesting,” Oputa said, laughing.

Her inspiration?

“It’s a spiritual thing,” Oputa said.