That day, leaving the telephone
company, Lupe felt she had hit bottom.
She had been terrified in the first place
to try to find an English class. Meeting
with rejection after rejection nearly
destroyed what little self-confidence
she had. She walked home in the rain,
crying. “I felt like a big barrier had fallen
across my path,” she said. “I couldn’t go
over it; I couldn’t go under it; I couldn’t
go around it.