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In honor of Women's History Month, the Santa Fe Community College Center for Continuing Education is co-sponsoring \"La Nina: The Story of Nina Otero-Warren,\" a one-woman show by Deborah Blanche.

[Deborah Blanche], of San Juan County, began performing Chautauquas one- person impersonations of historical figures in 1985 and became intrigued by [Laura Gilpin]'s life in 1988 while performing \"Brief Candles.\" The act was about seven women, including Gilpin, during World War I and World War II. That set off her desire to portray Gilpin individually. The artist died in 1979. \"The Enduring Navaho\" was written by Gilpin as a tribute to these Navajo people. Gilpin spelled Navajo with an \"h\" because she thought the \"j\" was the Spanish bastardization of the word, Blanche explained. ONE-WOMAN SHOW: Actress Deborah Blanche will portray photographer, artist and author Laura Gilpin during a Chautauqua performance Saturday at the Rio Rancho Public Library. Blanche is pictured in costume as Gilpin.; Photo: COURTESY RIO RANCHO PUBLIC LIBRARY; b/w

In a Chautauqua presentation, the performer assumes the persona of the noted personality being depicted. [Deborah Blanche] will speak as [Erna Fergusson] during the performance, and then she will answer questions as if she were Fergusson. Fergusson's storytelling was one of the things that attracted Blanche and led her to research the character. Not unlike Fergusson, Blanche travels the country telling stories for schools, libraries, conferences and theaters.

[ERNA FERGUSSON] is a compelling figure in New Mexico history. An Albuquerque native who became a member of the Santa Fe writers colony, she wrote about the beauty and the cultures of the region, trumpeting its fame to the world.Fergusson's life and work so impressed Deborah Blanche a writer, actor and storyteller living in Las Vegas, N.M. that through theater, Blanche is trumpeting to the world the life of that celebrated author, traveler and tour guide.Blanche's one-woman show, Erna Fergusson: New Mexico's First Lady of Letters, brings to life that dynamic woman, who lived from 1888 to 1964. As part of Legacy: Living Cultural Heritage, a Chautauqua program presented by the New Mexico Endowment for the Humanities, Blanche performs her show at 5:30 p.m. today, June 18, at the Museum of Fine Arts. Admission is free.Blanche first encountered Fergusson's legacy in 1980, when Blanche read about Fergusson in an Albuquerque Historical Society calendar featuring a native New Mexican of note each month of the year.\"Being interested in women's history, I thought I'd just file her away for a time but she got filed away for quite a while,\" Blanche said. \"I didn't come back to her until 1995.\"Some of Blanche's friends moved across the street from Fergusson's Albuquerque home and Blanche began to hear more about the noted author who was close friends with Witter Bynner.

  \"[Nina Otero-Warren] wasted no time after women got the vote before tossing her chapeau into the ring and becoming the first woman in New Mexico to run for U.S. Congress,\" [Deborah Blanche] continued. \"And she came very close to winning. Nina was an ardent feminist from the early school of the nineteen-teens, when political and social reforms were part of the progressive philosophy of the times. That was when the word 'feminism' was first coined and before it had the many varied connotations and associations that developed in the 1970s.\"

The ocean [Deborah Blanche Franzman] swam in was full of seals eating small sardines. Some experts say sharks see the silhouette of a swimmer in a wetsuit and fins, like Franzman was wearing, as similar to a that of a seal. Leona Evans, minister at Unity Church of San Luis Obispo, where Franzman was an active board member, remembered Franzman as having had an almost religious commitment to exercise. VICTIM: Deborah Franzman, center, with partner [Tessa], \"worshipped her son, [Alex],\" left, said a co-worker. \"Her entire thoughts would have been focused on him in those last moments.\"; PHOTOGRAPHER: Franzman family

[Deborah Blanche] said [Erna Fergusson], who obtained a master's degree from Columbia University in Latin American studies, lectured on Latin American affairs, the American Southwest and Native American topics. \"(Fergusson) had deep roots in Albuquerque,\" Blanche said. \"She made Albuquerque her home. Throughout that time, she was an author and traveled about during research.\" WHAT: Annual fund-raising luncheon of the American Association of University Women West Mesa Branch and Chautauqua of Erna Fergusson by Deborah Blanche.

In this case, they suspect that [Deborah Franzman], who was clad in a dark wetsuit and fins, resembled the seals that are abundant in the waters off Avila Beach and adjacent Port San Luis. Seals are the favorite food of mature great white sharks. Then Franzman's friend starting shouting for help from shore and lifeguards were soon sprinting down the beach to come to Franzman's aid. Four of them plunged into the water and swam out to help her. MAP: Avila Beach; CREDIT: Los Angeles Times; WATER BAN: Marty Smith of the Port San Luis Harbor District posts a sign closing beach waters.; BEACH PATROL: Authorities warn people not to enter the water off Avila Beach, where a swimmer was killed in a shark attack.; PHOTOGRAPHER: Photographs by Jayson Mellom The Tribune

Far from being some Peter Benchley character gobbled off a boat, [Deborah Franzman] had been swimming with dozens of seals, which she resembled in her dark wetsuit and fins, in dark water just after 8 a.m. Swimmers can take steps to reduce the likelihood of attacks, such as not paddling in dirty, dark or turbid water, especially with shark delicacies like sea lions, elephant seals and marine turtles.

The Saturday sighting followed the Aug. 19 death of sociology professor Deborah Blanche Franzman, who was swimming among seals 75 yards offshore. It was the first fatal shark attack in California since 1994, and the 10th since the early 1950s. Some experts say that, to a shark, the silhouette of a swimmer in a wetsuit and fins, like the gear Franzman was wearing, resembles a seal, a shark delicacy. The beaches that will be kept closed by the Port San Luis Harbor District until Wednesday, at least, are Avila Beach, Old Port Beach and Fishermen's Beach. The district's operations manager, Casey Nielsen, said the district was trying to get shark experts to indicate when swimming might be safe. KILLED: Deborah Blanche Franzman, pictured with her 15-year-old son, Alex, was killed by a great white shark Aug. 19.; SIGHTING: A fisherman spotted a shark attacking a seal offshore Saturday. He estimated that it was at least 15 feet long.; PHOTOGRAPHER: Sally Ann Connell For The Times