Nancy Oakes: Up, Up, and Away, in a Belle Montgolfière

It is entirely possible to draw a straight line from the advent of human flight, to the world’s largest hot-air balloon fiesta, and thence to Nancy Oakes, our guest for this episode. That’s because Nancy was a high school French teacher in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, neighbor city of Albuquerque, the undisputed modern hot-air balloon capital of the world. It was there she established herself as a cultural, linguistic, and historical link between Albuquerque and Annonay, France, le berceau d’aviation, or the cradle of aviation. It was in Annonay that the Montgolfier brothers built and launched the world’s first hot-air balloon on June 4, 1783. Nancy created and maintained her status as an important Franco-American link by facilitating exchanges between American and French students from the two cities best known for hot-air balloons. But she didn’t stop with high school students. She has also been instrumental in arranging exchanges between hot-air balloon pilots in Albuquerque and their counterparts in Annonay. In a word, Nancy is all things balloons and French, therefore, the perfect guest for this episode, which we’re releasing just days before the start of the 53rd annual Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. We also discuss the difference between language equality and language equity.