VICTORIA NOUEZ


 siempre estaba llena. Gente matriculada y gente que venia que queria sentarse
 atrAs...Al fin, yo dije, pero qu6 es lo que pasa, toda esa gente esperando
 afuera, yo pregunt6 un estudiante.

 Esperando a que usted Ilega para verla.
 ZY porquV?
 Usted ensefia un curso qu se llama 'Cambio social.'
 Eso, Zqu6 tiene que ver?
 Usted usa sandalias, usted tiene un afro. Se dice que usted es un Black Panther.
 (laughter) ,C6mo yo puedo ser un Black Panther? Yo soy Puertorriquefia; esa
 es una entidad Negra de j6venes negros.
 Bueno, usted es socialist y usa sandalias.
 0, Ltodos los que usan sandalias son socialists?
 No, es por las ideas del curso. (Pantoja Interview, tape #3, side A)

 It is evident from this account of her conversation with students that if
Pantoja was controversial and poorly received by her adult peers (at this
point she was about forty-eight years old), she continued to be well received
by the younger students at the University. She describes beginning to feel
derrotada (defeated) until her friend from New York City, Luis Alvarez, arrived
and told her to come back to New York where she was needed and
appreciated. Significantly in the oral history, she switches at this point to
English in relating Luis's comment to her: "We need you in New York." Her
words are poetic and her voice is emotive as she shares her decision to
leave. Choosing an image of a snail to describe her life, she recalls,

 Como el caracol con la casa en la cabeza, me volvi a marchar.. .Volvi a migrar
 y antes de irme yo habia hecho una lista de las razones por las cuales yo
 volvi a irme, yo dije, no vuelvo mds (strong emphasis). Yo pertenezco a Nueva
 York con mi gente y yo alli al destino mio. Si me muero de asma, me muera
 de asma. (Pantoja Interview, tape #3, side A)

 This series of work experiences represents a paradoxical social situation
that reflects the changes that were occurring in the United States. In New
York City, an opportunity structure was being created that allowed a trickle
of college-educated Puerto Ricans, regardless of their class, to move forward
into middle class, white collar occupations and in some cases to positions
of leadership. Puerto Rico's opportunity structure was not evolving in the
same way in the late sixties, thus Pantoja encountered a closed opportunity
structure. From a work and personal actualization standpoint, these
experiences further reinforce New York as a place of economic and social
opportunity and Puerto Rico as a place of restrictions and constraint in
Pantoja's narrative.
 Pantoja returned to live in the continental States in 1971, and then moved
to California for ten years before acting on her desire to return to Puerto