By Shanice Davis

Features Assistant

On the first day of any class with Professor Dale Metcalfe, one would definitely be in for a ride.

As students sit and wait with anticipation to see who the professor is, whether she is rude, nice, a hard grader, or intimidating, they will find that she is a professor who is animated and clearly loves her job. Anyone who has seen her knows that she stands out immediately because of her chic, shoulder length, gray hair.

Born in Boulder, Colorado, but spending a good chunk of her childhood in Tulsa, Oklahoma,  Metcalfe was always a restless soul on a quest for something more. Professor Metcalfe is very fond of the time she spent growing up on farms, experiencing rural life. She says that she is very grateful for having endured this period of her life. But at the time, Metcalfe remembers the constant desire of escape from it all, which swung into full force once she went to college.

“I did some undergrad work at the University of Oklahoma and I did my M.A. and PhD work at the University of California: Davis,” Metcalfe said. “I grew up in Oklahoma and did everything to escape, it felt very provincial and small town, especially after being in college for a couple of years. I ended up going to New York and lived there for a number of years, and I really loved it there. I came to California to go to grad school and never really left since, I lived in Chicago for a few years and Washington D.C., but always came back to California.”

Here at Cal State San Marcos, Metcalfe is a Professor of Literature with eight years under her belt, but initially, she wanted to obtain a degree in acting and directing due to her love for theater. She ultimately ended up teaching Intro to Literature because she loved reading so much. Even though she did not go into theater, Metcalfe says that she loves her job as a professor here at CSUSM, but on the other hand while laughing and shaking her finger from side to side she adds, “What I don’t like is grading papers!”

When asked what her dream job would be had she gone a different route, her eyes begin to glisten as she says, “acting.”

“I actually still have fantasies of when and if I retire, maybe doing community theater. I think that this was more feasible, working as a professor, in terms of being able to support myself than taking my chances like some many brave people do and trying to make it in the theater; so it’s more of a practical choice that’s worked out very well.”

And if she could have magical powers she declared while giggling, “I would enlighten everyone, I would have everyone on the planet achieve instant enlightenment!”

As for advice that not only fellow literature majors can take from, but anyone else as well, Metcalfe cites passion as a good motivator.

“You have to do something that you genuinely love. And sometimes it doesn’t look very practical, but if it’s something you love, you will find a way to make it work in your life and you won’t hate yourself for making the wrong choice and you won’t burn out and get bored. Joseph Campbell, a famous student of mythology said, ‘Follow your bliss,’ and I think he was right.”