During three years at a military base in Puerto Rico (1968 -1971), my Hispanic friends happily helped me practice and improve my limited Spanish (two years in high school - my undergraduate degree was in English). I enrolled at USC in 1975 with no goal except to refresh my Spanish (which I was rapidly forgetting!) and seven years later emerged with a master's in the language.

Between 1982 and 2001 my career as a bookseller was paralleled by an avocation as a part-time Spanish instructor. I turned to Spanish as a full-time career in 2001 and love what I do!