A Spiritual Thing
Francine Oputa can't be missed on campus with her bright smile and humble
determination to help others
By CINDY GONZALES
Known for her bright smile and easy-going personality, Francine
Oputa takes pride as the coordinator of the Women’s Resource
Center, as well as a performer on stage. Photo by Emily
Tuck |
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.
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