It was August 2004, a Friday the 13th, dinnertime. I was watching TV. My roommate got a phone call. She came out of her room, signaling me to follow her into my room. I thought, “Hey, get out of my room.” But I went in. She said, “This is Fort Lewis College, I can’t take the job, but you could. Go.” She handed me the phone. The History Dept originally had advertised for a medieval history position in the Spring of 2004, but then it got canceled. Now, two weeks before school started, they had it available again. She had applied for the position and probably would have gotten it. But when they canceled it, she got another job. I had never heard of Fort Lewis College nor Durango, so I was a bit caught off guard, but it was a job possibly, so I gathered my nerves and said, “Hello?” I interviewed Dr. Michael Fry and Dr. Neil McHugh for 30 minutes. Over the next three hours, I got three more calls for more info, and by 10 p.m., was offered the job (it was just a visiting position for one year; I applied for the full-time job the next year and got it). So I had about two weeks to pack up my life, find an apartment in Durango last minute (we all know how easy that is), drive out here, and get started. When I arrived, my department came over to help unload my moving truck. The first thing they said was not, “You have some nice things or a lot of books, or how can we help,” instead, they asked, “Where is your bike?” I didn’t have one and still don’t. I did have a little under 100 ties then, and now I have just a little over 1100 ties.
Speaking of 1100 ties, probably the reason I have so many is one of my favorite campus stories and how I appreciate how students impact teachers’ lives too, we don’t just impact theirs. It was my first day of teaching at Fort Lewis 19 years ago. I wore a shirt and tie as I often did when I was a graduate student at Western Michigan University, where I had been teaching before. We had just started when a student raised their hand and asked: “Do you always dress like that?” I said yes, I think it is respectful and looks nice. They said, “You know Durango was once voted the worst-dressed town in America.” I said I did not know that but would probably continue wearing shirts and ties anyway. The student said, “Well, we dress very relaxed here, so we’ll break you of that.” I just smiled and continued class, but in my mind, I thought: Challenge accepted! And now, 19 years later, I have 1149 ties. I know, a small collection, but it is growing. It is fun to wear a different tie every day, and students like to try and ‘catch me’ repeating a tie in an academic year (because I could wear a different tie every day for three years), which I only do for my chain mail tie. But it also catches people’s attention, and I like to think it can brighten their day a little, especially when I am wearing one of my more colorful ties, such as my holiday or cartoon ties or various animal ties, knowing how much people in Durango love their pets. They help open up conversations, and I get to know new people all the time one of my favorite stories of all time, campus-Durango-Fort Lewis, is about the people here I have gotten to know.
My name is Michael Martin, and I am the Chair and Professor of History.
You are listening to K-D-U-R Durango.